Quilly,
I know what you mean. Part of the conversation I had with my co-worker was that his current 358 would be OK if he knew he'd shooting at game at around 200, maybe 300 yards. That's not a bad outer limit, there are many (myself included) who would be challenged by a 300 yard shot (I do plan on getting better though!).

I can see the rational for choosing a gun that'll do well for the ranges you know you'll hunt. But, when the time comes for me to buy something bigger I'll probably go with something that's more versitile. Supposing that I only ended up with one "big" caliber, I'd kick myself if I'd bought and then outgrew it. That's kind of the same rational I used in picking up my first rifle a short time ago, a 270WSM.

My co-worker got the same gun/caliber, and getting to the range first, was having a bit of buyers remorse. He was thinking what good is this long shooting gun when he was having trouble zeroing at 100 yards. We're both decent pistol & shotgun users, but new to rifles. My observation was that first we get good at the 100 and 200 yard targets, then we worry about shooting a deer or hog at 400 yards. It was funny in a way - I also suggested that an old piece of carpet and a balled up jacket probably didn't make the best benchrest, and that he should try again with sandbags. <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>