Thanks for the info guys. I'll do a little research. I'm not really interested in a cheapo per se, but also don't want to spend a grand for just the gun. Never owned an ABolt, but have always thought highly of them.

I have a couple guns I could unload to offset the cost, but honestly its such a hassle I haven't done it. And for what its worth, its not that he's in dire need of anything. Heck, that little ruger is a slayer - he kills everything he aims at with it I actually haven't even talked to him about it...he might tell me I'm crazy, he's using that .243 forever!

I have always like the 7mm-08, and in fact almost got one for him about 6-7yrs ago. Ended up with the .243 on a deal I couldn't pass up. Ironically, since I started talking about them and almost pulled the trigger on it - no less than 5 guys at our camp have purchased one. Three of them used to use 7mag's, they've since hung em up. LOL. Took them 20-25yrs to finally realize they didn't need that to kill a deer, and they were tired of the noise and pounding. Thats actually one of the reasons I was leaning towards the .280 - so he could have something different. (plus the fact we could use the same handloads most likely). Heck, I might even entertain a .260