IMHO this discussion, while interesting, is essenially meaningless to the majority of hunters. It only really matters to those on the extreme edges... those truly capable of "long distance" hunting, competitive target shooters, etc. A half inch or an inch means nothing to those of us who would never trust ourselves to take a shot over 300 or 350 yards.
Unfortunately, when I bought my first rifle I was too inexperienced to realize this and agonized over which caliber to get, pouring over ballistics tables, etc... and of course posting my own ever-popular "What's the best..." thread.
