soilarch,

It sounds as if you're looking for the cartridge with the greatest "knock down"! Well let me tell you, ther is no such critter on the face of the earth. Things die for one of two reasons. Disrupting the central nervous system, such as a bullet through the brain or spine. Or massive destruction of organs necessary for life, such as the lungs. As with people, the attitude of the critter at the time of the shot also has a bearing on how the animal goes belly up. An animal at rest will usually drop with a shot through both lungs. The same animal that has been spooked before being shot, and with the same hit, may cover a lot of territory before he quits. If you want them to drop, learn the anatomy of what you hunt and put your bullet exactly where it should go.

IMHO, the 24s are too smal for positive kills over the long run. An excellent cartridge would be the .280 Rem. You get a nice spectrum of bullets to cover your needs. The .308 or .30-06 are also excellent. Anything bigger is unnecessary overkill.