I have shot a few elk with the 7mm Rem Mag and could not tell the difference between it and the .30-06 that I had been using. That said, when I began hunting areas where I could actually choose which bull that I would shoot, I have found the .300 mags and the .338s to be more effective from my point of view. I have also taken big bulls with a .375 H&H, the 9.3x62 and the 9.3x74R. With these larger bores, elk tend to die where I can see them or at least within hearing, something that did not always happen with the '06 or the 7 mag. Maybe I have just become more deliberate in putting the bullet where I want it.

Recoil, as Mark noted, can be tolerable or not, depending on stock configuration. As I have aged, I find that I can tolerate a little more recoil each year, but I also don't shoot rifles with stocks that don't feel right.

Another factor may be my "bench". I used to have a bench anchored in concrete just off my front porch. After I left the ranch, I shot off of a number of portable benches, none of which worked quite as well as I would have liked. A couple of years ago, I built a surface that I mounted on my Polaris Ranger that serves as my bench for load development and sighting in. It is very stable and it requires that I shoot standing up, which helps a lot with rifles that push back.

Ben

Some days it takes most of the day for me to do practically nothing...