I have seen several gut shot elk hit with a 243 that just laid down and died on the spot to so that don't mean diddely squat.Gut shots are gut shots.

On the 7 Mags, The first time I switched was when I lost my right eye. I went from a right hand bolt to a LH bolt. Still was not happy with it. Then afriend talked me into buying his Ruger so I tried that brand. Didn't care much for it and sold it. Then I took a couple more in on trade while running my gun shop. Tried different bullets and loads. Decided that the 280 did everything I needed from a 284 bullet with less recoil so I just quit on them.

Running my gun store for twenty years gave me a chance to try just about everything that I had any interest in. Way back I wanted to like the 243 and the 7 Mag.But try as I might, I have no use for either.

I like the old ones to but I can't really tell any difference between the 7MM-08 and 7X57.