Looking at ballistics tables can drive a person nuts. Comparing how much one caliber drops to another or wind drift.
Hunting is generally 300yards and under. Just about any of the popular calibers are so close to each other that with a 200yard zero you would be in the kill area.
All of the advantages of premium bullets are shared, correct stock fit for recoil can be applied to any caliber. There really isn't much that can't be used for one caliber to give an advantage to another caliber within reason of course. A large caliber magnum is still going to kick in a hunting rifle.
The thing is what difference does it make if a 308 drops 6 inches more than a 6.5 creedmore at 500 yards? If one is dropping 45 inches and the other 51 inches they both drop. If the shooter can't judge the distance or read the wind they won't make the shot. It's not like a rifle is zero at 100 and goes out to 500 yards without adjustments.
I was at the range last year and a younger guy was out there. He was hooked on long range target shooting and excited about it. Wasn't using an expensive rifle or scope. He wasn't sure if he was going to like it so he didn't want to spend much to start. Shooting a 308 Mossberg. He was doing some handloads and ran out , shooting 1000yards and more. He had some left over norc steel cases surplus ammo to shoot. That's the ammo he learned on, didn't want to invest much. Said he had shot about two cases of it, that a lot of shooting. Hadn't shot it in a while, asked me to spot for him at 850 yards steel target( I had a spotting scope). His rangefinder and kestrasl were worth more than the rifle and scope. He looked in his notepad of what info he collected for that cheap ammo. He hit the target in the center first shot, continued to hit it. He put the time and effort into knowing what the ammo and rifle would do. Not match ammo, cheap steel cases ammo with poor ballistics. He only started shooting the previous year.
From my own experience once you go past 300 yards it more about practise, keeping track of conditions, reading the wind more than caliber. Really need to actually get out there and shoot. Not look at ballistics. I won't hunt past 300 yards but I will shoot targets past that. I had fun with my 308 and a 6 inch gong at 500 yards a while ago. Read the wind correct get hits, don't miss.
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