A-MEN! For my father, the "chosen" rifle was a 7x57, and that was because it was given to him. 3 sheep, 2 goats, 2 mulies, 2 moose, 3 antelope, 2 black bears, 6 elk, and many, manywhitetails can't argue that his rifle isn't effective. Only 1 of these animals required a second shot, and that was due to a clean miss. As it is his only centerfire rifle, he's become reasonably proficient with it.

When I decided that I,too, would like to hunt "big game", I purchased a .30-'06, knowing that it's capable of cleanly harvesting anything and everything I could envision hunting, and also knowing that I could shoot that rifleenough to shoot it well. I made my decision knowing the cartridge's limitations, and my own. For me, it was a great choice.

I own 6 handguns, and I can shoot all of them really well... afterI go through the3+ boxes of ammo it takes for me to refamiliarize myself with that particulargun. Funny, I don't have that problem with my '06!