If you are a meat hunter there is such thing as "too much gun" though that usualy has a little less to do with the caliber and more to do with the bullets speed. Ever hit a deer through the shoulders with a 7mm Rem Mag 140gr 3,300fps at close range? You can forget about eating any part of those shoulders that is for sure. I started hunting with more practicle cartrages several years ago and won't touch another hot magnum unless I am shooting WAY out there. 308, 7-08 6.5x55 SE, 30-30, 7x57 will kill them just as dead just as quick with proper shot placement, my friends hunt with larger calibers and magnum, and we track many a deer they shot, mine never make it more then a few feet. Of course I have passed on several shots last year when they did not persent a good angle, just picky like that. But what makes more difference then caliber is the deers mental state, if you spook one before you shoot him he gets a chance to get his adrenaline pumping, once that happens it does not matter if you hit him with a 22-250 or a 416 Rigby he is going to run, I have seen them run with their heat and lungs turned to liquid, it does not matter, the brain still works for a few seconds. Shoot them without spooking them they are much more likely to go streight down.
with my 6.5 I can eat up to the hole, though with Ballistic Tips I have to pick out a few pieces of bullet out of the lining of the rib cage before I cook them. Total meat damage is mabey an ounce or two, try that with your ultra mag LOL Medium speed cartrages can turn lungs unto a bloody chunky soup, complete destruction, now a 300 Ultra mag may very well be able to vapoize them, but I fail to see how that is any more effective. That is why I don't buy into the massive overkill mindset anymore, my little sissy kicker puts them down just as quick as my belted magnums as long as you place it right and have the penatration to back it up.
