What is with these big calibres?

[jjohnwm]

They're fun to shoot. They have panache. They sound cool. They look cool. They work. They damage almost no meat. They are required by law in some places for some game. They are required by common sense in some other places for other game.

Of course most people don't need them. So what? Most of us hunt and shoot because we want to.

I just shot my first Manitoba deer this year...a nice little eight point buck, taken with a .375H&H. I've used that cartridge for deer, bear, coyotes, groundhogs, crows, milk jugs, tin cans, several species of African game, moose, caribou, feral cats, balloons, metal gongs, paper targets...you name it. Using it reminds me of some of the cool things I've seen while using it, and the beautiful places I've visited while using it, and the amazing critters I've hunted with it. Why on earth wouldn't I use it?

Same goes for the other large cartridges. I intend to hunt an elephant before I die. I don't intend to start using the gun two weeks beforehand...I am going to be as comfortable and well-practiced and confident with the gun I use for that as I am with the .375.

 

[Kevan]

Excellent post JJohnwm !! That sums it up... couldn't agree more !!

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

Maybe it all boils down to compensation?

 

[gtrussell]

Sounds like it.

 

[c-fbmi]

Maybe for some, but there are those of us who ACTUALLY use these rifles and calibers on the game for which they were intended.

 

[Longwalker]

For me it's just about experience and competence with various guns and game. I have used a wide variety of cartridges to take a bunch of Canadian big game. Biggest cartridge that I have a lot of experience with is the .35 Whelen, mostly on elk and moose. I have been to Africa on a photo safari, which got me thinking a lot about a hunting trip there, and the .375 is the legal minimum smallest lightest "do all" cartridge for Africa, so I bought a .375 H & H. Shot a bull elk and a black bear with it this fall, and plan to do a bunch more target and game shooting with it before taking it to Africa in a year or two. I don't think I was "over gunned" on elk or bear, and don't think I will want something smaller for eland either. I might just go for cape buffalo, where the .375 is actually kinda like shooting deer with a .243. Adequate, but just barely... and deer don't bite, buff do, and stomp, and gore etc. etc. The first picture is a bull I took in Saskatchewan, the second a bull I photographed in Kenya

 

[awesomeame]

They damage almost no meat.

How's that? Bigger cross section = more meat damage, no? Or lower velocity = less meat damage?

M

 

[Raton57]

You haven't been charged by a huge buck yet.Even those spikes take a pretty big gun to slow them down.I also just hate elephants in the flower beds all the time.

 

[jjohnwm]

...and the .375 is the legal minimum smallest lightest "do all" cartridge for Africa, so I bought a .375 H & H...I don't think I was "over gunned" on elk or bear, and don't think I will want something smaller for eland either. I might just go for cape buffalo, where the .375 is actually kinda like shooting deer with a .243. Adequate, but just barely...

I like that comparison!

Good thing we don't have similar laws here...The CGN "but-you-don't-need-anything-bigger-than-.22caliber-for-moose!" crowd would revolt!

Any second now, one of them will inform us that W.D.M.Bell shot a trainload of elephants with a 7mm (true, but not recommended for us mere mortals)...that shot placement is everything (true with any cartridge, and therefore irrelevant)...and, best of all, that we should worry about something called "overkill"...

3...2...1...

 

[Sask_Hunter]

How's that? Bigger cross section = more meat damage, no? Or lower velocity = less meat damage?

M

Slow speed and bullets that are designed for big animals

 

[awesomeame]

ok, now I really want to try one of these big calibers..! Anyone near me have one to shoot?? I'll buy the beer for afterwards...

Matt

 

[jjohnwm]

How's that? Bigger cross section = more meat damage, no? Or lower velocity = less meat damage?

M

Try one sometime. Nice big holes, but no huge surrounding area of bloodshot meat. Wasn't it Elmer Keith who coined the expression that you could "eat right up to the hole"? He was talking about large caliber bullets at medium velocities...but, I guess he had no experience and didn't know what he was talking about, right?

Plus...check out groups on targets. A 1MOA group @ 100 yards printed with a .45-caliber cartridge is often one big ragged hole. A similar sized group out of a .22-cal looks like a modified-choke pattern by comparison!

 

[captonion]

Where is Shelburne? You are welcome to shoot my 375 Ruger..

 

[Boomer]

At times a big rifle can be a source of comfort

Other times its just fun

Sometimes they just leave tracks

You might even have a stand off

But when they appear from hiding spots

Nothing else will do

 

[awesomeame]

Where is Shelburne? You are welcome to shoot my 375 Ruger..

About an hour northwest of Toronto...where are you at?

Matt

 

[jjohnwm]

Oh, come now, Boomer! A .243 or maybe a 7-08 would certainly have sufficed on those little bears, as long as you did your part. After all, shot placement is everything. You don't want to engage in overkill, do you? A 125-gr pill in the boiler room is all that's required. What are you compensating for? You don't want to waste any meat...you are going to eat those bears, and provide for their cubs throughout their postsecondary education, right?

Did I miss any of the standard cliches?

 

[Boomer]

Oh, come now, Boomer! A .243 or maybe a 7-08 would certainly have sufficed on those little bears, as long as you did your part. After all, shot placement is everything. You don't want to engage in overkill, do you? A 125-gr pill in the boiler room is all that's required. What are you compensating for? You don't want to waste any meat...you are going to eat those bears, and provide for their cubs throughout their postsecondary education, right?

Did I miss any of the standard cliches?

Nope, I think that just about got em covered.

 

[captonion]

3 hrs from you, but I do go up your way from time to time..

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Try one sometime. Nice big holes, but no huge surrounding area of bloodshot meat. Wasn't it Elmer Keith who coined the expression that you could "eat right up to the hole"? He was talking about large caliber bullets at medium velocities...but, I guess he had no experience and didn't know what he was talking about, right?

Plus...check out groups on targets. A 1MOA group @ 100 yards printed with a .45-caliber cartridge is often one big ragged hole. A similar sized group out of a .22-cal looks like a modified-choke pattern by comparison!

One of his many. I in no way knock the use of 'smaller' calibres but if I'm to error on the side of caution, I'd rather go with too big VS too small. A Keith rule of thumb I subscribe to,

I've met the man and his experiences and actual in the field experiences help me from trying to re-invent the wheel.

 

[Cleftwynd]

Oh, come now, Boomer! A .243 or maybe a 7-08 would certainly have sufficed on those little bears, as long as you did your part. After all, shot placement is everything. You don't want to engage in overkill, do you? A 125-gr Berger in the boiler room is all that's required. What are you compensating for? You don't want to waste any meat...you are going to eat those bears, and provide for their cubs throughout their postsecondary education, right?

Did I miss any of the standard cliches?

Added the one important cliche for ya