I wonder how many deer and other game have been lost with a bad hit from a 300 Win Mag? Or a 3006, or 7mm Rem Mag, or any of the others. It's kinda like sky diving. Sometimes it works, and occasionally it doesn't.
Personal choice in caliber, is just that. If it works for someone, it is the right choice regardless of caliber. ...
There have undoubtedly been many deer and other animals lost with “a bad hit from a 300 Win Mag? Or a 3006, or 7mm Rem Mag, or any of the others”.
That said, I can say with 100% confidence that I’ve seen more game lost to a .243 Win, the smallest big game cartridge allowed in Colorado, than to any other cartridge - and probably more than all others combined. I’m reasonably certain that in some of those cases a heavier bullet would have provided much more satisfactory results even with identical placement. Even though small, lightweight bullets can be very effective in the right circumstances., they can be dismal failures in others.
If I was loading up my 14-twist .22-250 for deer I’d use one of the new 50g TSX and I’d drive it fast, around 3800fps - and I’d still limit my shots to around 200 yards. If I had a faster twist I’d probably run the 60g Partition.
By contrast, I have no qualms using my .257 Roberts with 110g AccuBonds @ 3163fps out past 500 yards, where they still have adequate velocity (2133fps), more momentum (1.5x) and more energy (1111fpe vs. 860fpe) than the above load for the .22-250.
Just because a choice works for someone once doesn’t mean it is a good choice for that person, let alone others. When a choice works consistently for a person it is a better choice than one that is inconsistent, but still not necessarily a good choice. I tend to put .22 centerfires in that category as I’ve seen some pretty unsatisfactory results on coyotes, which are much smaller than our Colorado deer. Let’s just say I consider a .22 centerfire a better choice for an expert than a novice, which is the same way I feel about a .243 Win for Colorado elk.