I have done most of my big game hunting here, and in africa for several years with a handloaded 7x57 and 160 partitions. It has flattened elk, kudu, etc., my feeling is you have to go to the .338 to get a measureable difference in killing power at a large increase in recoil and/or rifle weight. For some reason, I still feel better hunting caribou in grizzly country with the .338 WM or .338-06.