I have actually sat with Elmer in his trophy room and had coffee with him,in Salmon.
I am waiting on a couple of Badger .50 cal bbls for some rolling blocks because a buddy and I intend to do a BPCR Bison hunt.
Once upon a time in Alaska in a very small tent,my former spouse asked me not to let the bear bite her again.He ended up with a direct frontal 12 ga slug into his mouth he went down and got back up.The slug broke up on his lower teeth and did not reach the spine.
One day at an informal dump where I used to shoot,someone had dumped the head of a hog.It wasn't very deep,forehead to the cut,maybe 5 or 6 inches.It was not frozen,this was warm weather.I leaned it against a piece of plywould and put a wheel from my SBH into it.240 gr JSPs.The plywood was not penetrated.Lead and jacket frags were on the ground in front of the plywood.
I have nothing against large slow projectiles.
I think a coup de grace with a 1911 is fine.
If someone has done their homework and really knows what they are doing,fine.
I still will not encourage elk hunting wih a 45ACP.It is a fine,balanced combat round or stopping a man.It is not overly powerful for manstopping.An elk is considerably larger and tougher than a man.
A 45 ACP will kill an elk.Maybe not quickly most every time..In Colorado,a .50 cal muzzle loader is minimum for elk,and the MV available from a black powder muzzleloader is considerably superior to what a 1911 will do.More important,shot placement with a good BP rifle is far more precise than with a handgun.
In the end,I hope folks will approach hunting elk with a tool appropriate to give an elk a clean death even when something goes a bit wrong.
Seems like,Brandy,you know what you are doing,and I appreciate your passion.I think we are looking at it from different directions.