CB, no offense taken, but you have misjudged my thought process. Yes, first and foremost I want a new gun, regardless of what I may or may not do with my A-bolt. I not trying to make up an excuse for a new gun, I just want one. The reason for wanting to put my A-bolt into semi-retirement is that I like to keep my guns in pristine condition as much as possible. The new stainless/synthetics allow one to do this with much less upkeep. If I see a bit of rust on a gun, or get a new ding on that beautiful stock, it just hurts me to no end. With that in mind, I want to put it away so when my grandson looks at it one day he can say, "Old pops took very good care of this great gun, probably shot lot's of deer with it, and I sure am lucky to get this gun in such great shape."
Thanks for you recommendations, at one time I wanted a .270 but because it is so similar to the 308 and .06, I want to stay with the .06. No need to buy too many multiples of ammo, even though it is fun. In addition, I plan on going elk hunting next year and the synthetic stock would be nice to have.
Also the tip on optics is good, too many people put cheap optics on their nice guns and do not get everything that the gun is capable of as a result. In fact, if I was looking for an excuse to buy a gun, I do have one. I have a Zeiss scope I bought the other day on sale and don't have a gun to put it on. Wonder if I could get my wife to buy that excuse? Had not thought of that one.
