Most rounds today work, just depends how far you want to shoot, and recoil and blast you want to tolerate, but the 'lower rung' rounds often reach and kill far better than many give them credit. In Real Estate, they say location location location. Killing game is similar....location of your shot placement. Usually fault lies with the driver, not the vehicle.
Yes, JB is always spot on.
These are wise words, and mirror my experience.
When things go wrong, very,very rarely is it something wonky with a bullet or a with an "under-powered" cartridge. Marginal hits and lack-luster shooting seem to have been the culprits nearly every time. I saw this as a teen, and I have seen it many times in the intervening decades, even with all of the fancy bullets that have come on the market since.
Amen.
Good comments by many in this thread, some funny. I will end with this, I killed a variety of critters with my old ADL 7 Mag, that came OEM with a Stainless Steel barrel, that was blacked by the factory, I believe using iron oxide? 145 Speer on my largest and first buck....that bullet blew up btw at 30 yds, it was the BTSP......deer did not go far, but it destroyed the front shoulders. 115's at 3375 mv, later throttled back to around 3-3,100 on coyotes, etc. My then father in law enjoyed it with either 162 Hornady SP or 160 Sierra SP, whichever loaded at the time, around 2860 mv.....
No doubt, the 7 RM is a fine round....but I guess 270s are more popular due to less recoil. An accurate 7 RM, using good loads, used by shooters who can shoot them well in the field, they do a great job like many rounds.
Since then, I killed critters, including deer and coyotes with various 6mm BR's....just as dead as the 7 mag, including my longest deer kill. 400 yds that was ranged at the far end of a field, with a 105 amax at 2850.
Whatever you use folks, just make sure you use a bullet that does 3 things.
1) HITS Vitals
2) Penetrates vitals
3) Expands so it destroys vitals
Most here know that.......but practice makes perfect. Tolerable blast, recoil and flinch-free shooting allows the best chance for proper placement. LESS Recoil allows more said practice in a session. I can shoot way more rounds of 6BRs, 243, 6.5 CM, Swede, 260, etc. in a day at the range than any 7 mag, and I am not a fan of muzzle brakes giving ear splitting blast with big rounds. Just me. YMMV.
Good hunting, be safe.
