homers brother

The only rifle that matters is the one you're going to be shooting. I've listened in on conversations like this when I've been at the range. I've even gotten involved in a couple disasters-in-the-making at the gun counter with overzealous sales staff when it's come to kids or small-framed women. I only have two rules: 1) If you want to be critical of someone else's choice (rifle make, chambering, scope, whatever), you'd better be able to take what you dish out, and 2) It doesn't matter anyway.

That's a nice BLR, and those pictures look a lot like my elk ground. I'm sure a .450 Marlin would be great there. But on the other hand, and provided I have the choice (which I fortunately do), I'm not about to lob those big bullets at speedgoats 300 yards away when I have the .243, 6.5 CM, or even the .30-06 to pick from. While I respect the one-rifle hunter, I tend to view firearms as tools. Yeah, you can probably get by using a #2 Cross-tip screwdriver on 75% of the jobs around the house if that's all you had, but you're going to bung the ones up that call for a #1 or a #3 instead. Same goes for firearms. Having a few different choices is a good thing.