ORIGINAL: HEAD0001

These are all calibers I own. Have owned. Have hunted with. Have shot deer and few elk. Have seen hundreds of animals shot with. IMO this is how they compare.

.243.257 .277 .284.308 .338 .458
1.Recoil 9 9 87 7 5 5
2.Range of bullet
weights 5 5 6 7 10 4 2
3.Average price of
ammo 7 5 9 7 10 4 4
4.Availability of ammo 8 6 10 10 10 4 4
5.Effective killing power
0-250 yards 7 7 8 8 9 10 10
6.Effective killingpower
250-400 yards 4 5 7 8 9 10 6
7.Drop themin their
tracks dead 6 6 7 8 9 10 10
8.Cartridges available5 5 5 6 10 3 3
9.Available rifles 8 7 10 10 104 8
10.Resale value 8 8 10 10 10 5 5

Total 67 63 80 81 94 59 57

This is just my personal opinion. This a comparison of caliber not cartridges. There may be other factors, but I think this is the top 10. IMO the 30 caliber is superior-due to these 10 factors. Tom.