Even up to our time big-game hunters can get everything right, get the game, make a steady rest, press a clean trigger, and still get a lengthy and doubtful trail when the cartridge cannot drive a hunting bullet deep enough to strike life-giving organs at bad angles.
The present bullets are much superior to the soft and delicate designs which broke into pieces at a rapid rate. But it cannot be physics physics stops bullet tech. With the addition of body mass and heavy bone and thick muscle, the product of section density and impact velocity, and the construction of bullets, becomes much important than the ease with which a rifle can be shot off the bench.
The long-quoted rule of thumb used by Col. Townsend Whelen, which says that 1000 ft-lbs of impact on a deer-sized animal is adequate, is always repeated because it is such a simple method of approaching a complex task. The point is that the energy figures do not assure anything unless the bullet does not burst and comes to the vitals.
1. .223 Remington
Theoretically, the .223 is associated with flat trajectory and light recoil. Practically it demands too much of a small-diameter bullet in the event the animal is constructed like a tank. The combination of a small bullet weight and a small frontal area of the cartridge decreases its margin of error on heavy shoulders, steep angles, and deep vitals despite being combined with hard bullets that are intended to expand gradually. The round can be used with disciplined restrictions to work on deer, however, it is not always able to provide the penetration and disruption that should be offered to elk, moose, or big bear.
2. .22-250 Remington
Speed is the calling card of the .22-250, and at times speed may be a liability as light bullets are concerned. Kinetic energy increases rapidly due to the squaring of velocity but high impact speed also produces the possibility of violent expansion and shallow wound tracks unless the bullet is designed to handle it. Herein lies the weakness of the greater game: the bullets of light-caliber most frequently do not have sufficient momentum and sectional density to continue on their course upon striking heavy muscle and bone. The outcome is far too frequently mere superficial mutilation, instead of the essential, vital mutilation that puts the end to a hunt.
3. .243 Winchester
The .243 is a traditional deer shooting round, and it has the capacity of being effective with 90 to 100 grains bullets at sensible ranges. The trouble begins with the hunters expanding its job description to elk and moose. Even fast.243 ammunition may strain normal cup-and-core bullets in close quarters, so more robust constructions, such as bonded, partition-type, or monolithic, become suggested when it comes to harder use. Even at that time, the lighter weights of the bullets on the cartridge restrict sectional density to that of typical elk cartridges, and makes hitting through heavy resistance and striking the vitals consistently difficult.
4. .30 Carbine
Machined to a little military carbine,.30 carbine ballistics border more on magnum handgun than big-game rifle efficiency. Small-to-medium game can be shot at ranges close to it and under controlled conditions, but the low velocity and energy of the cartridge decrease penetration particularly when the angles of fire become a matter of through the shoulder. On such animals that deficiency can make a good shot an animal that leaves no blood and a country between it and the game.
5. 7.62x39mm
This is why this cartridge is revered as a practical shooter: it fits in the hand, it works, it works well within its own walls. In big-game hunting, such an envelope is small. Under normal loads of 123 grains, the velocity decreases rapidly and with it the strike velocity of most expanding bullets necessary to open dependably and still penetrate. Controlled-expansion bullets can assist, though the cartridge is still kept small like case capacity and downrange performance especially beyond about 150 yards where the shot angles and wind calls become less tolerant.
6. 5.56 NATO
Despite similar bullet diameter with the .223, 5.56 NATO has more pressures and higher loadings than the .223, but the constraint against big game is still the same light bullets, small frontal area, and low penetration into heavy structure. Bigger bullets could be useful, but they do not transform the cartridge into a cow hunting implement.
The choice of bullets is important, a bonded one or a partition-style one should be more likely to stay together, however, a small cartridge must still be able to generate the necessary momentum to penetrate deep viscose after overcoming resistance.
7. .17 HMR
.17 HMR is a precision rimfire designed to hunt varmints, and not hooves. Having approximately 250 ft-lbs at the muzzle, it is in a different universe than big-game cartridges and there is no design of bullet that could produce missing mass and energy. Where large game bullets are designed to swell approximately 1.5-2 times caliber without tearing apart, the minute bullet of the .17 HMR is merely not able to perform the same penetration needed to ensure reliable and humaneous penetration into deer and larger game.
In all these cartridges, the failure that is common to them is not precision, but poor terminal performance in circumstances where things no longer are ideal. Big game is a thing that just pushes the shot through hair, hide and bone and the heavy muscle and still a cartridge should be able to push a bullet through to the vitals. A construction of the bullet can broaden the usable window of a cartridge, whereas it cannot rewrite what its case capacity and the diameter of the bullet will allow. Cleanest hunts occur when the size of the animal, the design of the cartridge and realistic range are all equal to the size and permanence of the animal.
