I have shot gophers with a 450 Ackley Magnum with 500 gn bullets at 2500 fps......what does that tell ya !!!!!!!!
I have always subscribed to the principal that I don't get enough time hunting as I want...therefore if I do see an animal at 400 mtrs or a "not so good" quartering away position, I really don't want to have to forgo the shot as I may not get the opportunity again that year. I therefore generally carry a rifle in a cartridge that will still be effective at 400 mtrs using a bullet that will penetrate far enough for a clean kill on a quartering away angle. I have never felt any negative effects if the animal in question is only 50 mtrs away either. My super duper magnum still kills it perfectly dead. My motto also takes care of any grizzly concerns as well, and they have been a very real concern in a lot of areas I have spent a great deal of time hunting.
There is nothing wrong with using a rifle and cartridge capable of taking advantage of any scenario that game may present itself to the hunter, whether it is at 25 mtrs or 450 mtrs, broadside or quartering away or looking straight on and also being appropriate for any game on license and open in the area being hunted. My choice for many, many years has been the 30 cal magnums and for the past 30 years that would be the Wby using 200 gn bullets...........what can I say it works without question or reservation on all NA game, and 99% of all game world wide.
Too much gun was evidenced in a video I watched a while back showing US snipers in Afghanistan shooting Marco Polo sheep at a couple thousand meters with .50s. Don't know what kind of ordinance they were using but one would have had to do an extensive search to find all the pieces of the sheep they hit. It looked like the same effect as hitting a gopher mid ship with a 60 gn 6mm bullet from a 6-284 at right around 4000 fps.......
