Hi Barry, welcome to the forum and thank you for your service to this great nation! Personally, I use a Remington .30-06 that I bought used in a pawn shop last year. I use 150 grain noseler ballistic tips and have fired 4 shots from that rifle since a friend and I sighted the scope in. All 4 shots were killing shots and the deer dropped immediately on impact. Again, welcome to the board, you'll find more info here than you know what to do with.