375, 416, 458, 500 or 600, it doesn't matter.

A well placed shot.

quote:

Originally posted by pagosawingnut:
I grew up being told by "hunters" that the only way to stop an animal fairly quickly was a heart/lung shot.

I think the heart/lung shot on any animal is a hangover from those early cartridges and bullets which could not always be relied on to penetrate through thick heavy hide and bone. The heart/lung shot, into the brown behind the shoulder, and likely to hit no more than a rib, is the safest shot on any animal and even lower velocity cartridges or bullets such as soft lead or cast will have a good chance of reaching the intended vitals.
Problem is a pure heart shot on any animal sees it leap up and speed off at a great rate often going quite some distance before tipping over, with some hunters, or inexperienced ones, thinking they have missed their target. Lung shots will slow an animal quicker but if hunting near bush both these shot placements create the danger of not finding the animal when it eventually goes down if it gets into the bush or in the case of dangerous game, can set the scene for an ambush.

With modern cartridges and bullets there is no excuse for not getting the bullet into the shoulder or upper brisket area of any animal or for that matter the rear hips and spine if you have to take that shot. Obviously you match the cartridge to the game hence I have always liked the heavier 7mm and now 6.5mm bullets for deer sized animals and am quite content with my 404 for buffalo I have hunted or any other DG game I may be lucky enough to hunt in the future. I have even shot some deer and large goats with the old 455 Webley revolver and hard cast heavy bullets, all with shoulder and brisket shots. Taylor carried the same service revolver and shot a couple of lion and hyena with his and if I recall correctly, these were shoulder or spine shots.

As always, and seemingly acknowledged by all on this thread, it is the shot placement that really counts and in my view the first well placed shot has the best chance of success.