SWIOWADEERHUNTER,FOR 1000.00 DOLLARS you can buy a whole lot of a rifle.My suggestion to you would be to look into a rifle chamberd in 300wm.I based this on the fact that you plane on shoting elk and bers with this gun,you have shot a 300wbm with no problem,and you plain on reloading for it.My thought with a 300wm for your first rifle is that it is a good all around rifle for almost anything you can hunt in north america.I would look into a rifle in the 500.00 price range and spend the rest of the money on a good 3x9 scope for it.If I was looking to buy a new big game rifle and planed on hunting diffrent parts of north america I would look into the Remington sps 700 in 300wm and top it with a Leupold vxII or vxIII scope,or nikon monarch scope.This combnation IMAO would be a great allaround set up