...The local gunshop I frequented had a NIB tang safety M77 in .338 (this was in 2001; this particular shop had LOTS of old new stock). I put a 3x9 Vari-X II on it and haven’t looked back. If that exact gun would have been in .300, I would have bought it, put the same 3x9 Vari-X II on it and not looked back. I can shoot it well and it has done right by me. Is that to say a .300 or 7 Mag wouldn’t have done the same?
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Started out in 1982 with a 7mm RM and Hornady 162g BTSP handloads. Was unimpressed with the job the BTSP did on my first elk a couple years later, even though it died. Switched to 160g Speer Grand Slams and it too 20+ years to recover one. During that time I took more elk with that load than any other cartridge since. Took another with that load in 2015 at a lasered 411 yards, 4 steps and down.
During those years I wondered if I had made the right choice getting the 7mm RM as my first centerfire. In 2005 Sportsman’s had a closeout on Ruger Boatpaddle rifles and I bought one in .300WM. Since then I’ve used it to take several elk. Can’t really tell a difference in results between the two.
Then I got to wondering about a .338WM. Cobbled a Ruger MKII boatpaddle together from parts in 2010 and have taken multiple elk with it, including my longest ever at 487 yards. While it definitely makes larger holes, time from shot to down is has not been noticeably different than with the 7mm RM or .300WM.
My belief is that placement is primary and that increasing caliber is a game of diminishing returns. Choice of bullet matters more to me than cartridge.
