243 = less recoil, 7mm-08 = more knock down take your pick. and just a piece of advice, if I had a bullet pencil through like that I would do 2 things, first if he piled pretty quick I would look very carefully at internal damage when i dressed the animal a small exit wound could mean the bullet spent most of its energy before it reached the far side of the animal. if there wasn't massive internal damage with a 7mm-08, I would be sighting in the following day with a different bullet. what range was this at?