A similar situation happened to a friend of mine except his shot was the other way as nearer the guts. Cat ran off and they found him the next morning. The PH told him he was glad he was using a 300 instead of a lesser caliber. I get your point and we all have opinions and mine is using a 243 on a leopard and putting all one's eggs in the "all that matters is shot placement" basket is foolhardy. Sort of begs the question too as to why there are minimum calibers allowed for certain game?

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com].

A good principle to guide me through life: “This is all I have come to expect, standard lackluster performance. Trust nothing, believe no one and realize it will only get worse…”