A friend of mine is looking to get a new bolt action rifle for deer hunting in Michigan, but he has some stipulations on the cartridge...

* The rifle cannot be chambered for a cartridge he already owns
* The rifle has to be 7mm or larger
* $600-700 maximum (cost of rifle and scope rings together; he already has a new 3-9 Leupold for the rifle)
* Would prefer to stay away from 30-06 derivatives

He currently owns a 30-06, 308 Win, 44 Rem mag, 30-30 and 348 Winchester. The rifle will be used for whitetail with shots out to perhaps 100 yards, but he would prefer something capable of going out to 200 yards if called upon. He has no plans to hunt anything larger than whitetail with the rifle.

He' s a hefty guy and he isn' t aftaid of a little recoil. He shows some interest in the 35 Remington, but I haven' t personally seen a bolt action offered for this load. My next suggestion was the 35 Whelen, but he batted an eye when I mentioned it is a resized `06. The 7mm Mag and 300' s strike some interest but are a little overkill for the hunting he does. Conversely, he really fancies big bores in the .35+ category.

In our conversation, I mentioned the cost of shells - he' s not too concerned about price as he doesn' t plan on shooting more than a box of shells/year from the rifle... range and hunting together.

Any suggestions?