This will be my very first post on this forum. It is with some regret that I have to start off with a complaint. My complaint is with the posting of pictures of large bull elk. To a man frequently referred to as "Elkless Leeper", such photos are offensive in the extreme. That the same poster then posts a statement like, "Doubly so if you don't shoot anything", only rubs salt into the wound. My realization that by carrying extra cartridges I was just carrying unnecessary weight really brought home to me that, in my case, cartridge selection really is a moot point. True though this may be, I agonize over caliber choice as much as anyone and more than most and my reasons (?) for selecting a particular chambering are just as likely to be impossible to articulate as anyone's. I change barrels as readily as I change shoes. Maybe even moreso. I will re-barrel from 270 to 280 and think I've accomplished something even though I know better.
Since the velocity at impact is the only velocity that matters, it doesn't matter what cartridge was used to launch a bullet insofar as performance on game is concerned. A 150 grain bullet which hits at 1600 fps will have the same effect regardless of the cartridge from which it started. So, all that is required of the cartridge is that it be capable of starting the bullet at sufficient velocity to arrive at the target with sufficient velocity to do the job. Apart from that, the mechanical function is the only really important thing. For this reason, cartridges like the 7x57 and it's brothers, the 30/06 and it's offspring, and, to a slightly lesser extent, the 308 and it's progeny, are superlative game cartridges. They feed and function well. They achieve a ballistic performance level which is effective and reliable. They do these things with commonly available ammunition and/or components. The truth is, a person could be limited to cartridges developed prior to the Second World War and not be handicapped in the least. In fact, one could move that cutoff back to WWI and still be OK; at least as far as the big game fields are concerned.
When one chooses to hunt with a WSM, an Ackley Anything, or even any medium caliber magnum, he is doing so more as a fashion statement than a desire to achieve improved success in the field. I Have little doubt he could have done the same thing with a 30/06. Bullet choice will probably have a far greater effect than cartridge choice.
Now having said all this, I have to admit to believing that big bullets are better than little ones. While their is little difference between a 270 and a 30/06, I think there is a real difference between a 30/06 and a 35 Whelen. Apart from that, I think Chuck is mostly right. I still wish he would knock it off with those elk pictures though! Leeper.
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