Poll: Worth it?

[IRY]

sounds like you already have it figured out. Your going with the 7mm! I would and I have one. A custom Rem 700 I am shooting ELDx 162, Sierra Gamekings, and Berger 168VLD's for the long stuff.
I try to buy everything on sale or at gun shows and I usually end up saving a ton of money. Bi mart is good too.

 

[rossi]

7mm Rem Mag is a one of the finest game cartridges available. The 30-06 is every bit as good in it's own right. The big seven really shines at 400-600 yards on game up to 500 lbs with 154 SSTs and 150 AccuBonds. I have used SSTs on western mule deer and Nosler Partitions on elk with the 7mm Rem. Those shots were 325 yards on the muley and inside 200 yards on the elk. Took a real nice Wyoming pronghorn a few years back with 7mm Rem and 140 Nosler BST just under 400 yards, really flattened him. I use a lot of different cartridges when I hunt and enjoy all of them for the purpose they serve and understanding their potential and limitations as well as my limitations. Not real clear about your intentions on a game rifle used at 0-500 yards verses hunting at 500-1000 yards and target shooting at 1000-1500 yds. Honestly the latter is so specialized that no rifle used for hunting by typical set-up and rifle weight would really serve as a 1000 yard plus rifle. Killing large game (500 lbs -1500 lbs) at 700-1000 yds is a specialized art that some are plenty capable of, but most would move to a minimum cartridge capable of launching 200+ grain loads at 3,000+ fps, such as 300 Wby, 300 RUM and 30-378 Wby. Hitting targets with authority out at 1500 yds would require the really fast 30s with high BC projectiles, but a 338 Lapua, 338 RUM or 338-378 Wby with 275-300 gr projectiles would make it much easier if you can handle recoil and a 16-20 lbs rifle.