RE: Comparing Different Calibers
They will all kill...and if you hit right with a proper bullet, they will kill quickly. I think basically all the endless arguments we all love to indulge in over the "ultimate cartridge" are silliness. What really matters is the man/gun combination. Give a guy most any gun you like and let him shoot it until he's good with it, understands its velocity, trajectory etc and ultimately you've got a lethal combination. I suspect most of us went through something like this progression with .22 long rifles when we started hunting. At first we weren't very effective and things needed to be fairly close. But by the time we had shot up our first brick or two of ammo, it was a whole different story. Before I stopped hunting with .22s, I got to where I could make shots no sane person with a 22LR would even try. And I'm sure many of youdid the same.
Now years later most of us have SEVERAL guns and may never shoot the same load twice in any of them....none of which is conducive to great skill with any of them. We all probably suffer from too many toys and options. Bottom line is most any modern cartridge will work fine if used as intended. Thousands of guys with nothing but their old 30/30s prove this every year.