Thanks for the comments. Geoff lives in Missouri so I will nose around with some competent people and find out how they prefer things there. My daughter's father in law is a retired detective so I am sure he help steer me the right way. The rifle I settled on was a Tikka T3 hunter in .308 Win and I put a Nikon Monarch 2-7 variable on. Seemed more balanced. Anyway, more than enough to dust off Bambi on both sides. I am going to zero it tommorrow. Nice trigger. This was a new experience for me. I have never hunted deer but I have an invite. So out comes the 45 70.