Partizano

Hi all, I' ve been reading these boards for a few days now and I must say you all guys really know your stuff. I' m in a rather unique situation right now and I was hoping to get some of you expert advise.

Due to work I am moving to the Northern most part of British Columbia, Canada into what many regard as the best Hunting area in the world. Within an hour of where I' ll be living there is world class Moose, Elk, Mule Deer, Stone Sheep, Dall Sheep, Mountian Goat, Black Bear, Grizzly bear, Timber Wolf, Lynx, Wolverine and woodland Cariboo hunting.

I' m a very avid angler but I haven' t hunted since I was kid with a .22. I' ve done a ton of reasearch on the net on which gun to buy but I what I really want is some advise from guys with hunting experience. I imagine what I read on paper is most likley very different in the field.

Here is my basic criteria for a rifle and my short list. I was told to buy a light kicking gun as this will be my first centerfire rifle. After shopping around I decided on a Tikka T3 . The price is great, I' ve heard great things about the accuracy, the synthetic stock is good for the harsh climate I' ll be in and it' s nice and light for the rugged terrian.

These are the 3 that I can buy in my area.

#1 tikka t3 - 270 win 22.5 inch barrel - 150 grain bullet ---- seems like a very good gun on paper just not sure if it' s got enough killing power for some of larger game at long range.

#2 tikka t3 - 308 win 22. inch barrel - 150 to 165 grain <---- leaning towards this , lightest recoil and I can use many different bullet weights. I' m just worried about the range on it.

#3 tikka t3 - 7mm Rem Mag - 24 inch barrel - 165 grain < Best on paper but it' s going to be much more heavy then the .270/.308 and I' m worried about the recoil.

NOTE -- I' m worried about 4 things, Recoil, Grizzly bears, long range shots and weight.

The Grizzlies in this area are the size of big black bears, it' s the east side of the Rockies and they are much smaller then their alaskan cousins that feed on salmon all the time. I' m not going to be hunting them but this is very very wild terrian and I want enough gun to stop an agreissve bear. Lastly I' ve heard that world class sheep are very hard to get and 250+ yard shots are common.

Thanks in advance guys and I' m sorry for my long winded post!

PS - not to worried about moose either, from what I' ve been told they are easy to get up there so I imagine I' ll be targeting more difficult quarry.