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Although I've prefered larger, .375 to .458 bores for past modern round hunting, today, I mostly carry my BRNO 7x57.
: The large bores weight more and seem to kill no faster than properly placed, descent weight 7mm's. The 7mm is a delight to shoot, easy to load for and a very accurate round.
: Through the years, I've had most of the small/medium & large magnum rounds out today, from the .264 mags, through to the .458mag. After all this time, I've gone back to the 7x57 for my carry rifle. My main quarry these days is Moose, Elk, Deer with the odd bear thrown in.
: I load bonded 140's for deer & bear and 160 TSBarnes for the heavier game. Both loads shoot within 2" of each other (vertical displacement), with the 140's running over 2,900fps and the 160's at just around 2,600fps. They're both sub-1" groupers and both kill well.
: I've seen absolutely no advantage to any larger case up to and incuding .30 cal. within normal, moral hunting ranges. For me, big game shots over 300 yards just aren't necessary and the norm is less than 110 yards.
: In the past, 7x57 proved itself to be a good round, and it's even better today due to the better bullets available. It's reputation was built on 173gr. RN softs and solids at a measly 2,300fps - reliable penetration form both and reliable expansion from thin-jacketed softs. Today, we've already magnamized it somewhat, by running deeply penetrating modern bullets up to 2,600fps and long range light big game bullets close to 3,000fps. More of either is rarely needed, and in truth, the light bullets need not be used at all. The 160's will handle any likely game to 300 yards, quite easily, in fact.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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