Is a Bigger Caliber Better?

One Good Shot – As Organic as it Gets!

The Setup

My good friend approached me at work on Monday morning, pretty much beaming. I asked about his weekend, sensing something was up. He couldn’t wait to tell me about his double-purchase of big game rifles on Saturday. I’m always excited to talk guns, so I listened to what he had to say.

I found out that he had taken the advice of a gun salesman at a local shop and purchased a 300 Winchester Magnum and a .308 Winchester,  both bolt action rifles from a reputable manufacturer. Without letting on, I was secretly a little bit disappointed. While the rifles themselves were good entry-level selections, I was struggling with a 300 Win Mag as a “starter rifle” for him or any of his family.

A Good Choice?

My friend was hoping to start with mule deer, pronghorn, and maybe some elk hunting when it might work out. To humanely take each of these animals, how much energy and bullet mass do you need? Well, maybe not quite as much as the salesman anticipated.

Shot placement is everything when taking big game. There are a number of factors that work against you in making a good shot. Recoil can destroy shot placement, especially with less experienced hunters. While my friend’s .308 wouldn’t be of any concern, the 300 Mag sure as heck would. It might take him quite a while to become a rifleman capable of making a good shot in the face of magnum recoil.

Your job as a hunter is pretty simple: make an ethical shot that results in death within seconds.

Some Numbers

What does it take to kill a big game animal? You must penetrate the heart or lungs with enough energy and bullet mass to create a wound channel well over an inch in diameter, in pretty simple terms. The bullet must be able to penetrate the near-side shoulder, ribs, lungs/heart, and at least lodge in the outside shoulder. It is certainly better to carry enough energy to fully penetrate the off shoulder to further incapacitate the animal and off-side hide to help with a blood trail.

I can tell you that my 25-06 Remington pushing a 100 grain Barnes TTSX at about 3250 fps at the muzzle will do exactly that on a full grown elk at 350 yards. I also know that many folks trust their .243 Winchesters with 90 to 100 grain bullets to cleanly harvest elk out to 250 to 300 yards. Although I know this is a very workable situation, I don’t necessarily advocate using 100 grain bullets on these big fellas.

Let’s bracket the low end of the energy/wound channel argument a bit. Is the .243 caliber 100-grain bullet at 2400 fps “more deadly” than a broadhead from a modern compound bow? Keep in mind that almost all archery elk hunters will limit themselves to 50 yards, with many limiting their shots to 40 or even 30 yards maximum. Why? Two reasons: first, you have to be sure your arrow can penetrate the near shoulder and both lungs, just as I described for a bullet. Second, and just as important, you have to make a good shot that does take the vitals.

The same concept is in play with rifles. An elephant rifle won’t help you if you shoot a leg off an elk. It might help for a gut shot, or a shot high in the hind leg, but nobody will deny this is overall a very bad situation with any cartridge. What archer would intentionally aim for the gut or back leg? What I can tell you is that the majority of us cannot make a clean shot at any long distance with an elephant rifle. Conversely, most of us can hit a volleyball-sized target every time from a bench rest at 250 yards with a .243 Winchester, 270 Winchester, and 30-06 Springfield.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better

Your job as a hunter is pretty simple: make an ethical shot that results in death within seconds. This means that you have to first establish the maximum distance at which you can hit a target that is about 75 percent of the diameter of your quarry’s vitals. For a true beginner, this might be something around 200 yards for deer sized game and perhaps up to 300 yards for elk. For my friend, his .308 should fit the bill and carry plenty of power for these species under these conditions.

As you become more accomplished as a marksman, under field conditions…not from a bench rest, then you can extend those ranges. When you start to be able to extend your maximum kill range, then you need to become more concerned about downrange energy. Ninety percent of modern big game cartridges will work fine for deer at 200 yards. About 80 percent will work fine for elk at 300.

There is a reason that the legendary Jack O’Connor had a love affair with the 270 Winchester. This cartridge is a legitimate long-range deer, antelope, and sheep round, and a very solid choice for elk out to 400 yards and beyond, with proper bullets and bullet placement. Especially with today’s bonded and copper alloy boattail designs, energy is sufficient to these ranges and bullet performance gets you the penetration and wound channel you need. The 270 is a moderate-recoil cartridge that most shooters can learn to handle well. For those who are more recoil-sensitive the 6.5 Creedmoor and 7mm-08 provide elk-killing power out to 350 yards and beyond, well beyond the range of your average newbie to take an ethical shot.

If you aren’t sure you will make a vitals shot, then do everyone a favor and don’t shoot.

How Much Energy?

No article on this subject would be complete without discussing energy. Don’t get your panties in a bunch over energy. If your bullet leaves a big wound channel and ends up in the off-side hide after penetrating at least one shoulder, you are in pretty good shape.  Muzzleloaders do this. That said, I will put this out there to make sure I get lots of comments from angry folks. For elk, 1500 foot pounds of energy will get it done. For deer-sized game, my rule of thumb is 1000 foot pounds.

Ammunition manufacturers publish bullet energy from muzzle to 300 or 500 yards at sea level. Bullets packing 1500 foot pounds of energy at 400 yards and capable of the expansion and penetration are enough. You still must make a vital-area shot. If you aren’t sure you will make a vitals shot, then do everyone a favor and don’t shoot. Answer me this: how much energy is a 425 grain arrow with a 1.5-inch broadhead packing at 30 yards? I guarantee you, even out of the stiffest bows it won’t be over 100 foot pounds.

But Really?

Any quality hunting expanding bonded bullet at over 2000 feet per second will make that broadhead’s wound channel look pathetic. This is why accomplished rifleman are comfortable taking elk with their .243s. They know the range limitations of their rifle and know how to make a good shot.

I have one more quick story to tell. A mutual friend of my dad and mine who is a novice hunter came to visit. He had recently bought a beautiful 300 Weatherby Magnum so he could hunt elk. My pop and I looked knowingly at each other when he showed it to us but said nothing.  After three years, our friend sold that rifle to someone else. Why? Because he simply could not tolerate the recoil.

There is no doubt that cartridge is a potent elk killer. If you are afraid every time you pull the trigger, not too many elk will fall to it. I have another friend who has a 7mm Remington Ultra Mag…same story. He struggles to make consistently good shots due to the pain/terror factor. Those same two calibers will take elk out to beyond 600 or 700 yards, if you can place the shot.

Conclusion

Time to boil it down and end this post. For new deer and elk hunters, you aren’t going to be handicapping yourself with the selection of a good bolt-action rifle in 30-06 Springfield, 270 Winchester, .308 Winchester, 7mm-08 Winchester, and 6.5 Creedmoor. If you lean toward elk as your main quarry, the 30-06, 7mm-08, and 270 are probably the better choices. For deer and antelope you will be happy with the 6.5 CM and the 270 Winchester. You may even choose a nice flat-shooting and low-recoiling 25-06 Remington or .243 Winchester.

When you extend your effective range with practice, start looking into the various 7mm and 300 magnums. I’m super confident that a 6.5 Creedmoor, fed 142 grain high-quality 6.5 mm caliber hunting bullets, you can take your elk to 300 yards and deer and antelope to longer distances if you are a capable marksman. Best of all, this bugger comes with low recoil. This will give you, your mother-in-law, and your daughter a better chance of becoming a great marksman!