I am buying my father a new rifle for his birthday. We share all our rifles so im looking for a caliber in between the 270 and 300 win mag that I already have. He wants to be able to hunt deer and maybe elk with it.

Thanks for all the help!

the 06 is never a wrong choice

+1 Hard to argue that !

However, I prefer the 7MM RM - "shoots as flat as a .270 and hits as hard as a .30-06."


http://elkhunter2.tripod.com/

I enjoyed read this.

7mmRM..."shoots flatter than the 270 and hits harder than the 30-06"

7mm will do all that you ask.

I,m 66 shoot a 7mm for years, shoulders started to go after Iraq so I changed
to a 270 Winchester. How old is your father? Actually I still shoot the 7MM,
but I can shoot the 270 more.

Can't go wrong with 270 win, 7mm mag, 30-06 or a 300 win mag. If I was to choose a standard cartridge it would be the 270 win. If I was to choose the magnum I would choose the 300 win mag. But all four are well capable with the right loads to go from 0-500 yards without an issue of trajectory or ft lbs of energy. There's not much of a debate on which is best. If your going to shoot a lot of stuff around the 500 yard mark would be hard to deny the magnums holding the better ballistics. But beware of buying a magnum in cheap light weight guns they will punish you in recoil.

What he said.

I think most of the 500+ yard shots are more of a TV advertizing stunt than actual hunting.

Just about every extreme range shot that I see on TV, they will then pan the camera back to the shooter's location and I'll think "Why didn't they sneak up to that next ridge, cut the distance in half, and make an easy, almost sure shot?"

Ditto. Love mine.

I agree with Blackelk.