Originally posted by gossipnancy
What exactly would you plan to do with such an overpowered rifle? Shoot deer from a few miles away? Or blast there legs off completely?

Well, here's the deal:

It is not a hunting rifle.
It is a tactical rifle, that is why they named it what they did.
It is made for taking out human targets at a considerable distance, like bad guys holding hostages in a building and you closest place to set up for a clear shot is the rooftop of the next high-rise building down the street. That's why it has a bipod, in some of those situations, you get to take a good rest from the prone position. The .300 Mag carries a lot more energy when you are shooting at these long distances, that is why it is a .300 Mag.

You could still hunt with it, although it certainly would not be the gun I would choose to carry afield for hunting game.
There are plenty of hunting rifles chambered for .300 Mag and more powerful cartridges, they are used for hunting big game at long distances and dangerous game, like grizzlies, polar bear and big cats.

As far as the 'leg blasting' comment goes, a big gun is just fine for shooting whitetail deer. If I am hunting with a magnum and I'm shooting at deer, I aim for the head. If I miss, the deer runs away. But any hit is as good as a kill, without fail.. so far for me. I grazed the top of a big whitetail doe's noggin with a .264 Mag once, and she went down like a sack of potatoes. Not dead, but completely unconscious. I walked the hundred yards between her and I with not not a twitch from her and dispatched her with a slice of my 3 1/2" Case sheath knife.
I will not shoot at a running deer. I hunt for meat only, so I don't want to waste any of it.

Originally posted by butcherguy
You could still hunt with it, although it certainly would not be the gun I would choose to carry afield for hunting game.

The 270, 308, 30-06 and the 300WM are the standard range of deer hunting cartridges around here. I don’t see anything overpowered in that regard.

For people that wanting to shoot deer closer up with the 300WM, they do have light load cartridges. That are slower and have less energy than a 308.

You can get ammo that has more speed and energy than a 308.
You can get ammo with the same speed and more energy than a 308.
You can get ammo with the same speed and energy as a 308.

With a good ammo selection, I consider a 300WM a good all around hunting rifle for anything the size of a deer or larger.

the ammo is ridiculously over powered and over priced, especially for deer. all it does is make guys flinch and get poor hits. Plenty of elk and moose are taken with handguns, muzzleloaders and bows, every year. Obviously, then, it's not all that hard to get plenty close enough to use a 308. Head shots at not needed on big game for reliable kills, with the animal falling within 50 yds, with something like the 308, a Nosler Partition softpoint and a decent chest hit. Simply avoid the shoulder, and don't shoot at the south end of a north facing animal, and the 308 softpoing will do fine. Head shots, taken from the side, can easily result in shooting off the lower jaw, letting the animal run for days, until it dies a horrible death from starvation. The only humane headshot is from above/front, as the animal lowers its head to eat or drink, and it must be done at 50 yds and less if you dont have a braced firing position, or at 100 yds and less if you do. Otherwise, you can still end up shooting off his snout.