Originally Posted By: quarterboredYou're a slob hunter if you expect caliber and "energy" to make up for poor shot selection/placement. What caliber you use makes no difference...
I'll disagree with both statements to some degree.
Expecting caliber/velocity to make up for poor shooting won't necessarily make someone a "slob". It just means they need more knowledge than they have. Ignorance does not make a slob. Willful ignorance? Maybe. One should be open minded enough to learn.
Shot placement is very important, but so is caliber. Believe it or not, a great shot with a .17 HM2 isn't going to do the job very well.
Caliber and velocity ARE important...up to a point. An elk at 200 yards will be just as dead with good shot placement if shot with a .308, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, or 30/378 Wby. The 30/378 Wby has aproximately the same energy at 400 yards as the .308 Win at the muzzle, so the primary reason for using it is to get more effective range.
I'm not dishing those who can make the shots, either. Hunt as you will within your capabilities, but I know of several people who've tried these kinds of shots with their big boomsticks without ever having shot them at those ranges. When one relies on the capabilities of their equipment to increase their performance level, without having increased their own abilities to match that ezpected of their equipment then they're asking for trouble.
I don't use the .243 Win for elk, and I wouldn't as long as I have a better option. I've shot deer at near 500 yards with the 7mm Rem Mag when that was the only option, and I've shot coyotes way on out past that range with a .243 Win. 500 yard shots are within my capabilities, but I'd still rather take a 150 yard shot at an elk with a .243 than have to take a 500 yard shot with something bigger. Less time-of-flight for the bullet leaves less chance of the animal taking a step and getting "gut-shot", or an errant breeze altering the POI, or any of a number of things that can happen at long range (or a combination of them).
That said, I'd also not push the distance much with a .243 on larger animals. In general, if someone has to ask what the effectiveness of their cartridge is, they probably haven't shot it enough to do what they intend to do with it.
Daryl