RE: suggestion for late season deer hunting
If he's shooting 1.5" groups at 100 yards, then it's not the rifle's fault that he's missing shots at deer, unless he's shooting at 400+ yards. I think that either you're getting nervous or excited and jerking the trigger, or maybe you have an undiagnosed flinch that becomes exaggerated under field shooting conditions, or you're just picking bad shots with interveneing cover. There really is no such thing as a "brush busting" rifle. If a bullet hits ANYTHING enroute to the target, unless the deer is standing right behind the cover, the bullet will be deflected or destabilized, which will result in a miss almost every time. The problem is that through a scope you may not see the branch that it'll hit. I had that happen to me a couple years back. 75 yards shot on a nice doe across a small creek bed with sparse trees. I thought I had a gap between two trees, and took what should have been a sure shot with my Savage 10ML. After the shot the doe just stood there for a moment like nothing happened, then her tail went up and she was gone. I couldn't believe that I missed, until I noticed a very small branch broken and dangling right on the bullets path. Bullet clipped the branch and went who knows where. It happens.
Mike