As a teenager, my first rifle was a .308 Norma Magnum, Parker-Hale Safari, (not such a wise choice as a first rifle, in reflection, though it's performance made good sense on paper). I never shot a thing with it but on one occasion, I aimed at a brush-tailed possum in an old pine tree. I didn't allow for the difference between the scope line and the bullet path up close and so I hit the branch below and in front of it. The branch blew clean off and while flying backwards knocked the possum out of the tree and it lay on the ground senseless. So you could say, even a near miss with this hot-caliber can be deadly.