Thanks wildrose,
I am absolutely for hand loading in the future, I just know that I won't have the time at the moment, but I am interested in doing it. Yes I definitely want plenty of stopping power since this is going to be my new main hunting rifle, I don't like the idea of taking a shot that won't bring down whatever I'm shooting at quickly.
I will check out those rifles that you listed, thanks for the help!
Mudrunner,
I'm currently shooting a Savage Model III, nothing fancy but It works well since I love to hunt in the rain and it tends to get a little beat up from that.
I would prefer to get a whole new rifle and then just upgrade certain things over time.
Thanks for your input!
Feenix,
Thaks for the input! I'll check that link out, and yes I do plan on practicing a lot with this new rifle, I want to get really good with it and don't plan on shooting over say 600 yards for a while until I get myself dialed in more than the rifle.
Thanks again!
While it seems there is little difference in a 7mm and 7.62mm bullet at a glance there really are substantial differences.
Look for instance at the energy of a 7mm RM firing a 162gr projectile at average velocity and compare it to a 300wm firing a 190gr bullet of the same type. That energy makes a tremendous difference when it comes to penetration and to the hydrostatic shock.
Even at low end velocities not only is the energy substantially better with the 300 when your shot placement isn't perfect there's also a physical size difference that gives the advantage to the larger diameter bullet because it contacts substantially more of the body tissue physically as it is passing through.
Now I am not a guy that likes to see massive exit wounds, to me no matter what the caliber I really don't like seeing an exit much bigger than a golf ball and minimal wasted meat as a result.
We have a dear family friend that has killed truck loads of elk and semi loads of deer with a 7mm RM but he's also the best natural shooter I have ever known and rarely would you see him not get perfect or near perfect shot placement.
Sometimes we see waves of a terrible disease pass through here, called "Cannonitis". It makes folks believe they've got to have the latest, fastest, biggest case, and biggest bullet to kill an elk or a moose and it then comes time for a reality check.
The flipside of that however is the school of thought that says, "Bring just enough gun to get the job done". Well, if you follow that philosophy there will be times you just didn't bring enough gun to get the job done and end up losing a wounded animal or having to put several into the animal or just end up with a long and unpleasant tracking job.
My preference is for the 7mm STW in almost every case for deer and larger game but the .300wm is the SUV of rifle cartridges and like I say, "The .300wm is never the wrong answer".
You can in most cases get the job done with less but there's no benefit in not being prepared to show up with enough gun to always get the job done as long as you can make a decent shot.
For someone new to long range hunting you need to put in a lot of time practicing so I think it's a great idea to have two rifles of the same platform, one in something like the 300wm and another in .260 Rem or 6.5cm. The latter two ballistically as far as drop and wind effects on the bullet very similar to the .300wm but are considerably less expensive to shoot and don't beat on you so you end up enjoying your practice sessions more and as a result go more often and shoot more when you do.
Once you get your skills pretty well honed you'll find it's a blast shooting prairie dogs and predators with the 6.5's and it's well worth scheduling such a trip every year outside of deer/elk/moose seasons to get that kind of practice in if you can manage to do so.
Shooting is supposed to be fun, not something you dread but know you need to do it to develop the skills necessary for the big game hunting.
