One of these would work quite well at 200 yards, though the 1800 tons for the turret would be a bit heavy
Of course, if someone wanted to go old school, try this
Well of course the bigger bullet (0.458") is going to make a bigger hole, all things being equal. I would not want to shoot a 400 grain bullet a 2000 fps as the recoil would be only slightly less than any of the big boys pictured above. According to
this web page, Remington makes a 405 grain load which travels at 1600 fps, and it drops 16 inches at 200 yards. You better be right on in your elevation estimate to hit what you are aiming with a big, ballistically inefficient bullet. Of course, 40 to 60 pounds of recoil never creates flinch in the iron men who regularly use such guns to hunt rabbits.
I however am a wuss. I found myself kicking like a jackass somewhere between the third and fifth round shooting a 35 Whelen with 250 grain bullets off the bench. Shooting 225 bullets at 2400 fps, it took just a little longer before the recoil got to me. I truly did not like the scope eye piece in my eye ball either. Had to find a scope I could push a little more forward of the rifle.
I did once, get to shoot a Ruger #1 in 458 Win Mag. First shot was a surprise, the second was horrible. Two was enough fun for me.
No matter what the so called "one stop" power of the thing, a hit in the animals ass or guts will result in a wounded animal running off and dying a suffering death.
I do think that is why the big old black powder cartridges, such as the 45-110-535 were not as popular as the 38-55. Sure the big Sharps cartridge was a sure killer, but it was on both ends of the gun. And the trajectory was a rainbow.
I am sure it was a big splash when the 30-30 hit the market. Sort of like the Honda 750 four and the Honda Gold Wing did to the motorcycle community. Soon, after all the big bore stuff went on the ash heap of history as hunters were able to buy a lightweight, flat shooting, and low recoil rifle. (a 30-30 is not impressive by today's standards). Even though a 30-30 pushed a 170 grain bullet only at 2200 fps, the bullet expanded nicely. I have a WW2 era book by Van Ness who describes how reliably the 30-40 Krag bullet expanded. Hunting rounds pushed a 220 grain bullet around 2200 fps, but the bullet made a nice mushroom and penetrated all the way through.
For smaller calibers, bullet construction is so important, and also, it has to be a virtually impossible job to have one that will expand close up at high velocity (without exploding) and also have it expand at distance when velocities are under 1800 fps. An Elk hunter I talked to, he had a horrible experience with a brand of bullets in his 308 Win. He was shooting within 300 yards, and this brand (which I forgot), all the bullets exploded on the skin on the near side. None of them penetrated. That was not good. He later found a brand that went through the skin, and then expanded. That was much better.
early attempts to square that circle
And for these small, lightweight bullets to expand, they have to hit something with enough resistance to make the bullet expand. A bud of mine was having zero luck with 165 Hornady SST's in his 308 Win. In the inky shadows of dusk, when he shot a deer behind the shoulder, the bullet went right through the ribs/lungs without expanding, the deer ran off, and he would find it 200 yards away the next morning, eaten by coyotes. He fixed that by aiming between the should and the neck. There is a lot more meat and bone there, and that worked great. Knocked them down, legs waving in the air, dead within seconds.
At the distances he is shooting, which is mostly 50 yards and under, I really think a 58 caliber musket ball would do better. I know guys who shot all sorts of animals with old smoke poles. If the bullet hit bone, the animal would tumble. It may be hard to believe, but Col. Louis A. LaGarde in his early 1900 book :
Gunshot Injuries claimed Civil War weapons, with their big, soft, projectiles caused worse wound trauma than the 303 Brit, 8mm Mauser, 30-40 Krag service rifles.
The trajectory is like a rainbow, but 58 caliber Minies hit hard. And are surprisingly accurate. Bullet weight, 510 grains, velocity, around 800 fps.
