Here's another example, which might discombobulate some here:
One of my early elk-hunting mentors used a South American military Mauser .30-06 he purchased by mail while in high school in the 1950s, for something like $25. The modifications were all on the stock--it still had the military sights. He never had it scoped, because back then he'd seen too many scopes fog or otherwise fail.
He killed at least one elk a year from then on, along with hundreds of deer and some antelope. He handloaded, but was one of the very few handloaders I've ever known who actually saved money. He had a simple RCBS press mounted on a board across the back of one of the small closets in his tiny house. He used the "middle load " of IMR4320 in the Speer manual, with whatever 180-grain bullets were cheapest at the small local sporting goods store--EXCEPT Winchester Silvertips, which he hated. (Some had failed to penetrate sufficiently over the years.) Am guessing the muzzle velocity was around 2600 fps, which is why the bullets penetrated well.
He also sometimes used a .250-3000 Savage 99, again with the middle load of 4320, and whatever 100-grain bullets were cheapest. It also only had iron sights, but he quit using it on elk after he had to shoot one bull twice in the neck before it calmed down completely.
He learned to hunt elk in far western Montana in thick timber, and I doubt he ever shot one beyond 200-250 yards. He also shot more than one elk in many years, even though it wasn't legal back then. It was traditional to fill other folks' tags if you had the chance--especially if they were family members.
He did occasionally kill a big bull, but mostly because it was the elk that appeared first. One was killed in the classic situation where he was squatting down with his pants around his ankles--but the '06 was leaning on a tree right next to him.
He didn't know exactly how many elk that rifle had taken, but he guessed close to 100.
