Ain't this nice? Spirited discussion without telling the next guy he's wrong, can't, shouldn't ... And the best part is we appear to be in agreement that I AM RIGHT!!! HAIL THE 7MM, KING OF THE ELK CARTRIDGES!! BobinNH I couldn't say it better. My experiences and observations are just as you described. In over 30 years of hunting and guiding hunters in Colorado, I've seen this play out every year. Magnums in general are great and awesome tools... for the man that can truly master the recoil and shoot it well enough to use the extra range afforded. This is no small task. IMLTHO (less than humble opinion) most don't commit them selves to learning to shoot well enough to wring out all the performance the "standards" are capable of, much less the added task of mastering prodigious recoil to extend the range at which large amounts of energy and momentum can be delivered. That, IMLTHO, is what magnums really have to offer, extended range. The standards offer all the punch necessary to reliably kill elk to somewhere around 300 yards (actually a good bit beyond IMLTHO but let's not take the uninitiated there again) with proper shot placement, just as the magnums will wound animals at any range with poorly placed shots.
I will say this though, on marginal shots, slightly marginal not I shot him in the belly marginal, the fast magnums may have some advantage depending on the bullet used. If one is using a frangible bullet, a cup and core or maybe a VLD or Nosler Partition with its' cup and core front end, that produces a tremendous wound this may, possibly, cause enough tissue damage and hemorrage to cause an animal to run a little less far so you might have a little better chance of finding him, if tracking conditions are right, and you are a good enough tracker, if... It's kind of like the thinking behind a varmint gun, blow hell out of them.
My old '06 shooting 180 grain cup and cores did this about as well as a magnum within a certain range. Remember my comments about range? But wait, those bullets frequently don't penetrate as well as a premium. My experience indicates deep penetration is a desirable trait in an elk bullet. The Nosler Partition gives a pretty good compromise of both, but I have not found them to be as accurate as most other bullets I've used, though even that is no real argument at real hunting ranges. Isn't a 3 MOA rifle adequate out to 300 yards? The thing I don't like about Partitions, and all cup and core bullets, is that they tend not to penetrate adequately on bone, and the tear up too much meat! I want to eat this beast when I'm done!
The magnums amplify this meat-destroying trait with their increased speed. Eventually I went to premium bullets in my '06 just to preserve meat. I hated to see my hunters show up with magnums and standard bullets for this reason, coupled with the fact that I had more wounded game from magnums than standards for reasons stated above.
Whew! All this gun talk is getting me worked up to go hunting! So, where were we... yes, THE KING OF THE ELK CARTRIDGES! This is my choice because it offers all the power one needs to kill elk, it offers magnum ranges, and it is far more shootable, IMLTHO, than a .300 because it recoils less. That said I am currently shooting a .270 because after a 16 year affair I finally got tired of getting kicked around by my magnums, and COOPER, THE KING OF THE SEMI-PRODUCTION ANY ONE CAN OWN ONE FACTORY RIFLES doesn't offer a 7mm Remington Magnum... yet
Damm, cobrad � after getting through that lllloooonnnnngggg paragraph, I�m exhausted and my eyes hurt! ItwaslikereadingasentencewithnospacesbetweenthewordsifyouknowwhatImean.
I had to copy/paste your post into an editor and throw some randomly placed double line breaks in just to make it more readable.! Think next time you might find time to hit the carriage return/�Enter� key a few times? Please?
Silly me, I used a 7mm RM with 160g Grand Slams on elk for 20+ years because that was all I had. Didn�t learn until later that it was grossly deficient�
Should have guessed as much, however, as some managed to make it a few yards�
Coyote Hunter - NRA Patriot Life, NRA Whittington Center Life, GOA, DAD - and I VOTE!
No, I'm not a Ruger bigot - just an unabashed fan of their revolvers, M77's and #1's.
Spirited discussion without telling the next guy he's wrong, can't, shouldn't 
... And the best part is we appear to be in agreement that I AM RIGHT!!! HAIL THE 7MM, KING OF THE ELK CARTRIDGES!! 
BobinNH I couldn't say it better. My experiences and observations are just as you described. In over 30 years of hunting and guiding hunters in Colorado, I've seen this play out every year. Magnums in general are great and awesome tools... for the man that can truly master the recoil and shoot it well enough to use the extra range afforded. This is no small task. IMLTHO (less than humble opinion) most don't commit them selves to learning to shoot well enough to wring out all the performance the "standards" are capable of, much less the added task of mastering prodigious recoil to extend the range at which large amounts of energy and momentum can be delivered. That, IMLTHO, is what magnums really have to offer, extended range. The standards offer all the punch necessary to reliably kill elk to somewhere around 300 yards (actually a good bit beyond IMLTHO but let's not take the uninitiated there again) with proper shot placement, just as the magnums will wound animals at any range with poorly placed shots.
