I say it often here - the average hunter can’t shoot worth a d@mn. That’s fair.

But a gutshot with a 458 Lott is still a gutshot. Missing is missing.

I’ve instructed hundreds of new shooters, and I’ll share something which shouldn’t be surprising - magnum rifles cause flinches in poorly practiced shooters. Well practiced shooters hit their targets as the fruit of the labor invested, as big bore shooters learn to manage recoil and mitigate flinch. Average hunters are not well practiced. Missing is missing, and flinching because you followed advice to haul too much rifle for your skill set will cause misses just as readily as anything.

It’s well documented in countless articles by experienced shooters, and corroborated by thousands of instructors the world over - even the moderate 30-06 can be a challenge for new shooters to tolerate, let alone master. Now consider the influence of DOUBLING that recoil (165grn 30-06 vs. a 250grn 340wby)! I’m as recoil hungry as most guys come, and have decades experience shooting safari magnum rifles, but I won’t lie about the difference in the difference in mental preparation I do to shoot a 458 Lott compared to the more casual nature shooting a .30-06, let alone a 243win.

The point can be made, easily, such premium bullets offer no advantage to the average deer hunter, but I feel supporting that argument by suggesting a 340wby makes more sense than a 25-06 due to increased impact energy just doesn’t fit the argument. Not every battle warrants a nuclear option.