I'd look a long time at the .280 Remington, but might buy the .260 Remington instead!!

This is truely a matter of opinion. Almost any high power rifle will do the job. I like the middle calibers for all deer up to elk and some will do elk as well. I have taken lots of deer with the 6.5x55 Swedish. The 260 is a modern clone of that old workhorse. I started out with a 30-06 as my first high power rifle. I went through the Magnum phase and splattered deer all over the hillsides. Now due in part to a bad shoulder I have returned to the sanity of the middle ground. I will most likely never fire a rifle bigger that a 270 again but that gun will cleanly take any animal in North America as Jack O'Connor proved many times over.

Whatever I'm carrying that day. That being said some of what I have to choose from includes 257 Roberts, 6.5x55, 7x57, .307, 30-06 and 8x57. I'm trying to justify needing a big bore lever like a 45-70 or 444.

Like others have said there's a lot of personal preference in these choices. Here's mine.

A lot depends on the type of hunting you do as well as the terrain. Personally I like a bolt action rifle. For deer sized game it's hard tp beat the Rem .260, Rem 7mm-08, Win. 308 or the .257 Roberts for shot 300 yards and closer.

If your hunting in open spaces where longer shots are possible and you have practiced these long shots(over 300 yards) then the .25-06, .30-06, .270 and 7mm mag would be good choices. Again I'd choose a bolt action.

Good Luck!



Edited by - Borch on 01/08/2003 13:41:33