Lovely coffee discussion

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   Great conversation!  
Many old guys in the history of the U. S. hunting pretty much anything they could find with a .30-30 rifle/carbine.  It works.

Karamojo (William M. D.) Bell took over 1100 ELEPHANT using three rifles, a 6.5 Mannlicher Schoenauer. a .264 Rigby (also known as a 7x57mm Mauser) and a (of all things) a .303 British, (No 1 rifle and the older 215 grain bullet).  By his diary tally, he fired about 1.5 rounds per elephant.  He used all 'solids' (FMJ) ammo and a keen knowledge of where to shoot.  

All that to say this.  Shoot a round with decent penetration and put it in the right place.  The critter will die promptly if not immediately.  (That also applies to self defense, but that's a different conversation.)

The .303 British round is quite suitable for much of North American (the continent) game.  It is a bit more than needed for coyotes, wolves, gophers and the like and probably a bit less than comforting for the larger bear (Kodiak, Polar).  But properly applied it will serve.  

Yes, there are laws about how big a rifle one needs for certain game.  I certainly don't encourage one to ignore the laws.  But having an automobile that will sustain a velocity of 120 mph for one hour does not mandate one must drive on a public road like that.  

My old trusted round is the 6.5x55mm Swede.  It is another old one that will do just about everything do-able.  But the .303 Brit is on my list.  And a couple of others.