I' d hate to resort to anatomy books. Please, check it out. A " center of shoulder" shot has no more bone impact factor than a " tucked in tight behind the shoulder" shot -- just ribs in either case.

Only if you move well forward or well downward of a " center of shoulder" shot do bones of consequence come into play. Especially when pursuing true big game (not deer), it' s always nice to have some " magnum bone crunching power" on hand to take care of impact points that end up being just a wee bit different from the intended aim points. I know this variance is hard to believe, but this actually occurs in the field, but of course, NEVER happens on the Internet Hunting Forums.

BTW, though, a 30-06 with 180 gr. Partitions is good medicene --- we consider it to be the minimum allowed in our elk camp (7mmRemMags okay as minimum too). It will run out of gas as ranges increase and arrive with less killing power compared to some cartridges that are available and I believe that is one of the concerns raised by the thread originator.

EKM