[fabsroman]

I was going to suggest the .300 Win Mag instead of the 7mm. The first rifle I bought was a .300 Win Mag with the thought that I would be able to hunt almost anything in North America. Back then I even thought I could go grizzly hunting with it, but I now know better. Nothing less than a .375 for grizzlies for me.

Now, with that being said, the only thing I have shot at with the .300 Win Mag in the 14 years that I have owned it are whitetails, foxes, and groundhogs. The first whitetail I killed with it was a button buck at 20 yards. That deer was dead on impact.

The way I look at it, it is always better to be overgunned than undergunned. It would really suck to have a beautiful moose within your shooting capability buy outside of your gun's capability. So what if the gun is too much for the short range shot, it will still do the job. I have never heard anybody complain about having too much gun to do the job. If the bullet is placed correctly, there shouldn't be much meat damage from a super fast bullet.

So, how is the Tikka doing? I am debating between a Sako and a Ruger .25-06 for next summer. All my other rifles have been Rugers, but they say that a Sako is incredible. The only reason I would buy another Ruger is because they are an American company, the gun is made in the US, and they have done pretty well by me already. I'll have to handle a Sako to see if it is actually worth the extra money and the departure from Ruger. I am pretty brand loyal, so I doubt I'll be getting the Sako, but who knows.