Originally Posted by
Nomercy448
It's really hard to make generalizations for recommended bullet weight for different game species without talking about velocity and bore diameter.
And yet, is ANY conversation about the performance of particular calibers but an exercise in "generalities"?
The average new hunter isn't familiar with things like Ballistic Coefficients, Sectional Density, etc. and their relationships to the task at hand. How do you reduce the conversation into something that doesn't result in overthinking the problem and complicating what is probably obvious to you and I?
We can throw numbers and science around all day long, but in the end, when that animal walks away from what, in theory, should have put him down, it all goes right out the window. And it happens. Regularly. People have been doing the impossible with inadequate calibers for years. And likewise, people have been failing when, by the numbers, their choice of cartridge should have been a sure thing.
I think I'd probably memorized the velocities and energy numbers in the old Remington catalogs back when I was a kid trying to decide what I wanted to buy. I don't think the internet and technology have made the task any less daunting of late, and with all the "other" choices now also available, it's just that much more confusing. My only intent here was to provide a simpler guideline to help the new hunters make a reasonable choice, absent a lot of tech-speak that some day they might care to understand - or not. "6mm Rem. 100-grain bullet. Good for deer. Too light for elk." ".308 Win. 180-grain bullet. Too heavy for deer. Good for elk."