Seen a few Elk killed with .243 Win 100gr SGK and 300WM Nosler AB 200gr hit in the Boiler room. . At camp hung they up side by side next to each other and could not pick which ones were shot with either cartridge. Both bullets passed through with devastating effects.
My wife's first elk was taken with a .243 Win. She killed the elk, but rather quickly decided that there were better elk cartridges.…..and this was many years before she met a handloading, hunting, shooting, certifiable gun nut!
When I met her she was shooting a .270 Win., and she had lots of kills with it. But, we had big plans to hunt Africa and Alaska ……once we were "rich and famous"!
With Alaska (Moose and Big Bears) in mind, and African big game on our agenda…..I convinced her to step up to a larger, more powerful cartridge. She would use that rifle/cartridge exclusively for all of her hunting, until she was so comfortable with it ….she and it were as one! It took her a season or two to obtain that level of comfort….but once there, she has no desire to go back to the smaller cartridges.
Having right at 50 years of big game hunting under her belt, with various cartridges used on various game animals, she's pretty certain that the larger cartridge gives her a distinct advantage over smaller, some might say, minimal cartridges!
Oh and, over the years I've removed two (that I remember) expanded, small caliber bullets from elk (both in the chest area), from elk that were quite healthy having suffered no permanent I'll effects …..prior to being "shot and killed" by a friend and by my wife!
Certainly, small caliber bullets can kill elk, and premium bullets enhance the probability of the kill…..but there's no arguing that larger, more powerful cartridges give the hunter an additional edge!
If I'm a paying client, and on perhaps, the only elk hunt that I may get…..I want as many Aces in my hand that I can get……provided that I can shoot/handle the rifle efficiently and effectively as is needed/required! JMO!
Sorry about the novel…..but, am laid-up with a bad knee and can't work around the place! memtb