Interesting that this thread has morphed into a referendum on the 30-06 as well as the .220 Swift, but it's making for some spirited discussion, anyway.
I'm going to hijack the thread momentarily and then we can get back to the .220 Swift discourse which (before somebody else says it) I know is a lot more interesting than reading my ramblings.
Not picking on you Shawnee (OK, maybe a little), but I'm going to get application-specific again RE: your .243/7mm-08 and 1/1000 comments -
with the understanding that you're talking about "there" and I'm talking about "here". I'm fortunate enough to live within 15 min. of game from sage rats to Mule deer to Rocky Mountain elk, coyotes everywhere, more than a few cougars and even the occasional black bear. Obviously, if I enjoy such proximity to a variety of game so do all the other hunters who live here, which skews the heck out of your 1:1000 ratio, at least locally. That said, population density in the 5000 square miles surrounding me is < 1/sq mi (interesting factoid - population density of Eastern Oregon is roughly the same as Alaska) - so, statistical proportionality aside, your ratio probably becomes more valid as the base sample increases. Also (got off track there) this is windy, wide-open country where distance and long-range shooting ability are the limiting factors rather than visibility.
So, while I agree that a .243 is a very good deer caliber (though bullet placement can get pretty iffy in the wind at the outer limits of its effective range) - I would suggest that here - in this particular application - the 25-06 or .257 Weatherby (me and Roy's favorite) is legitimately and objectively a better and more responsible choice for deer.
Similarly, because elk are a much tougher - skin and everything else - animal than deer; and again because in this country a 300+ yd. shot is the rule rather than the exception (insert long-range shooting ability disclaimer here) -- IMHO a .270 is about the lightest caliber that's responsibly adequate for elk. Now, I know guys who hunt (and have killed) elk with everything from a 25-06 to 30-30, to .300 Savage to .300 Win Mag to .375H&H and everything in between - my point is that a .243 is a good deer rifle around here if used with proper judgment, and for sure it can be used to pop coyotes, etc. - but it is absolutely not enough gun for elk in this country. I know you weren't suggesting that it was, my point is that hunters here legitimately "need" something bigger than the .243. Personally, I firmly believe that .30 caliber is the minimum that should be used on elk (the 30-06, for instance, is very popular with the local geezers
), but that opinion is worth exactly what it cost you.
In the main I agree with most of what you're saying; but as my high school English teacher told me - "generalizations are dangerous" - and that's my point - your "mythical/average hunter" does not represent 90% the
real average hunters around here; nor, I suspect, does that same mythical/average represent hunters generally between the Rockies and the west coast - maybe even the Mississippi and the west coast. Nationally, your ratio might(?) hold true - but I'd be willing to bet it's way off when applied regionally. And, neither does the .243 premise hold true where I - and a whole bunch of other western elk hunters - live.
And now back to our regular programming....