I can only answer from personal experience, not from surveys, tests, or testimonials. Don't take this as gospel, just for what it's worth. Custom knives can have a noticeable performance advantage, especially when done by a maker who has hunters as regular customers.
Some hunters are content with a blade that needs freshening on a single hunt, and that's fine. I prefer one capable of doing a whole job and finishing with a still-sharp blade. Field dressing can be done with most anything, but quartering and/or boning takes a very good blade. All things being equal, the latest steels are an advantage when correctly ground, treated, and edged.
440C can do it, but not with certainty on large game. I have used a Dozier Master Hunter and his D2 can do the job without question, still ready for more, where 440C would fall a little behind in ease of use toward the end of the job. The D2 continues to slice nicely where the 440C drags. All technical specifications aside, I think of D2 as stainless.
I had a well known VG-10 fail badly and faulted the steel before I got home, but found under magnification that it was my fault for not removing the entire burr. I can't offer an opinion yet. I'm going to give it another try. Don't rule out a blade based on one sour experience as so many tend to do. I thought it had chipped but it was only where the burr sections broke off leaving a ragged dull edge.
My comparison blade is a Pachmayr 200 that I rehandled in mesquite with a guard, 440C at Rc58. A flat ground drop point, it's a great blade that I think is as good as any for a fair comparison. I will not hesitate to use it any time because the difference with the latest steels is not enough to fret over.
S30V is worth it. The stuff keeps cutting well past what I have been used to with 440C blades from 20 or so years ago. A few bones will not be a problem so long as careless twisting and hacking on big hard stuff is not the routine. Mine is a USA Gerber Freeman that works very well. A BG-42 custom Buck seems about the same to me, lasting through the whole job with ease. AUS8 is OK, but not the genuine equal of hard 440C in my experience.
I have a custom in ATS-34 that I really like. It has a well-shaped handle and guard, tapered tang and Micarta scales, thick spine, stout tip, but is hollow ground. It's a great blade that also keeps a slicing edge without the touch-up I would expect to give 440C.
Lastly, I'll say two years ago a hunting friend quartered two elk on the same hunt saying he may need to resharpen his Gator (400 mystery steel, not 154CM) for the next season. I tend to believe it depends on one's expectations of how a blade should perform, but the 400 seemed to be better than expected.
I know this has been a little long-winded and random but it's a complex subject. My experience seems to me that a slicing blade profile, stout tip, handle design, and steel treatment are at least as important as superior steel alloy. Put them all in one hunting knife and it will be a winner. Finding all of these in a production blade takes a lot of searching. The difference is that a custom maker can do it for you to your expectations instead of aiming for the general market.
Good hunting and regards. ss.
