I just read Elmer Kieth's "hell, I was there". What repeatedly struck me was his strong insistence on a heavy bullet that would shoot through a lot of meat and bone and put down a critter (fill in the blank). I read carefully his descriptions of hunting shots and concluded that he did a lot of shooting at whatever part presented itself. Hit em in the butt? Sure, if it went through the heart and on out! Hit em in the shoulder and bust up a side? Sure, put a couple more in him!
This differs from much of the "shooting" on game done today with high power glass, high efficiency bullets, and rangefinders.
I guess what I am saying is the tech of that day allowed for certain approaches, while the tech of today allows for other methods.
Most of what Elmer wrote about still apple's today. No glass, no but stocks, no closed breach, all pertain to Elmer's methods today.
I compete with big glass, custom actions and barrels, as well as highly tuned actions and specific stocks. 100 to 1000 yards, and seek pinpoint accuracy.
But I don't use long guns for hunting, I prefer the same degree of difficulty, and prefer a hand gun. 1 hunt inside 300 yards, as that is what I consider sporting, and respect the sport enough to get myself that close. Inside 50 yards is my preference.
One has to realize, that to be a responsible hunter means, killing and not wounding! It is also done in uncontrolled conditions. In this case, performance means high percentage shots means 6" kill zones, slightly larger or smaller for some game. In this case, that added wieght and diameter are wellcomemed over same hole accuracy for marginal hits.
One example is winded, working your way up a steep climb, with unexpected game within range busting you, you have one shot to make it count. Those big heavy bullets are very welcome!
Now even for small game like squirrel, I would never use a light bullet hyper velocity load over a standard velocity heavy for rimfire hp.
Elmer was a hunter, and had little use of shooting paper from a bench. Plus his preference was to do it with a handgun, and preferred not to use a rifle, with exotic glass. But he did have a habit of taking pot shots I refrained from! But most rifle shooters are willing to take far to risky of shots, to allow them not to do the work necessary of getting close enough to get high percentage shots, much like Elmer.
