I've had a Browning chambered in 7mm-08 since I was a kid. I've never strayed or ever had the desire to get a new hunting rifle.

My fiance has a 300 WIN MAG she shares with her dad, but she's expressed some interest in getting her own dedicated hunting rifle.

She hunts whitetail yearly and we have aspirations to head west for Elk, Mule, etc.

I did some research in calibers and offerings from some companies, but I'm pretty rusty with new production hunting rifles and whats good or not good. What I was told as a kid probably doesn't hold true anymore.

Any suggestions from your experience? I was thinking of staying with 300 Win Mag since that's what she has now, but I'm open to ideas.

My budget doesn't have a set number. I was thinking around 1k bare rifle would be a good place to be, unless it can be justified to go lower/higher than that number.

Thanks for your time.

If 300 win mag works for her, no need to look for something else it’s a solid capable round. Congrats on the great significant other!

When she first told me that's what she hunted with, I was a little impressed. She's quite petite

She shoots all my surplus rifles with me now so I'm not surprised anymore. She likes shooting the M1917 30-06 the most.

Anyways..

Tikka or Sako
They are made in the same factory.
300WM is a very solid choice.
The general rule for where Grizzly Bears live is nothing smaller than 30-06. For most game the 7mm08 works but it’s not enough gun for the large bears or Moose and Moose can be aggressive.

From 300WM the next step up is 375H&H.  Also worth mention 45-70 is a preferred Bear gun Marlin SBL  is the ideal brush woods gun if shots are inside 150 yds

Awesome info. I like the 300WM for the ability to shoot some distance with relative ease compared to other cartridges.

Why Tikka or Sako? Those are the brands that are foreign to me. I was considering a Browning

I always thought a man should own at least one 45-70. If I can justify it, it'll be my next hunting rifle to buy.

A Weatherby Vanguard is a good choice for rifle.

Also, if you have any inclination of moving down a little bit in caliber/recoil, take a look at the 7mm Rem Mag. A heck of a lot of elk have been killed with 7mm.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will look into the 7mm Rem Mag. I was interested in 7mm PRC as well.

Browning X-Bolts are great rifles.  Love my 2.  The first one I bought and the one I upgraded to.

Seems I'm down to Weatherby, Tikka, or Browning.

I hunt a fair bit out here in the intermountain west.

It’s all dependent on where you hunt. If you are hunting in the big timber then you dot. Need a long range rifle.

If you are hunting more open spaces then you need to be able to reach out a bit.

From all of the choices you have listed 300 WM is the way to go for her since she already shoots it and knows the ballistics. A lot of guides prefer you don’t bring a 7 Mag. It’s not a bad round it’s
That the hunters don’t bring the right bullets for elk.

My choice would be the Tikka hands down.

I have hunted a lot of cow elk over the years when I don’t get a bull tag. I have used 7x57, 308 , 30-06, 9.3x62, 375 H&H, 416 Taylor and my 470 NE. If I don’t draw for a bill this year I’ll get an OTC for a cow and use my 338-06 Ackley Improved.

When it comes to trophy hunting I have always used a 8mm mag. My 06 is in my rig as a back up rifle. Why the 8mag? Because I bought it first and then realized I don’t really need a 300. If I didn’t have the 8 already I would be running a 300 WM.

If I get a Bull tag this year and I have time to get a load worked up I may try my new to me 358 Shooting Times Alaskan. It gives me a 225 Barnes TSX running about 3100-3140 fps. Where I hunt is black bear country so not super worries about bears  




A Tikka in 300 WM shooting a 180 gr premium bullets is just about perfect for bear.

Personal opinion:  One of the best rifles currently available is the Tikka T3X.  When you look at performance for the dollar spent, its absolutely stellar...

I've been through dozens of rifles.  I've tried nearly all of them.  Remington, Browning, Weatherby, Savage, etc etc etc.  On the current market no rifle performs as consistently well as the Tikka.  Heck, I've got a Cooper Excaliber that costs roughly 5 times what I paid for a basic Tikka, and the T3X operates just as smoothly, equally reliably, and every bit as accurately....

Caliber is up to you.  Normally, I wouldn't recommend a 300 Win.  However, you say she shoots one regularly and does well with it.  Fair enough.  Pay attention to rifle weight though.  If she's shooting a rifle and scope combo that runs 8.5 lbs in 300 win, and then you buy a Superlite and its a 7.25 lb rig, scope included, the recoil will seem significantly sharper.  This is one area when a little heft could be good.

Im in the East.  Our ranges and hunting differ.  300 Win wouldn't be my choice, but then again, my uses are different.  If you're in the East, the obvious choices are 6.5 Creed, 308, and 30-06...  One of the best whitetail rounds available, across the board, is the 7mm-08.  Its just about freaking perfect.  I'm a huge fan of some slightly less popular cartridges, especially 260 Rem and 280 Ackley, but if I'm completely honest, there is absolutely nothing the 260 and 280 will do that a regular 6.5CM, 308 or 30-06 won't do...    If you reload, then less popular cartridges are fun.  However, if you buy your ammo, there are very valid supply reasons for owning a basic, common, no frills cartridge.

As someone else posted earlier, teh issue with cartridges today isn't caliber, but rather bullet selection.  This is spot on.  we aren't stuck with a simple choice of 150, 165 or 180, Corelokt or Powerpoint in our 308 anymore.  We can completely change the viability and terminal effect of a cartridge chambering by altering bullet selection.  A Nosler Ballistic Tip perfoms so radically different than a Barnes TTSX, it might as well be a whole different caliber.  

Im a huge fan of good optics.  No need for $1200 scopes, but a cheap scope is alway a mistake.  A basic Leupold VX3i is a decent starting point...

Can I offer one suggestion?:  Odds are extremely high you'll hunt Eastern whitetails a WHOLE lot more than you'll ever hunt Western Elk, Mulie etc.  Dont make the mistake of buying the ideal Western Elk rifle if its going to be used 98% of the time on Eastern Whitetail....  Buy a really ideal Eastern Deer rifle that can do for the once in a decade western hunt...

While its a "vanilla" combination, A regular T3X in .308 Win mounting a VX3i in 2.5-8x is a nearly ideal whitetail rifle, and while its no 800 yard cross canyon elk rifle, its perfectly viable for that once in a while western hunt....  

There is a whole lot of good advice here.

This sums up all my thoughts. If you eventually get out on that elk trip, take the Win Mag then. But if it’s mostly deer or other local fauna, 7mm-08, .243, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 are much more pleasant. You could even share ammo across yours and her rifles. It’s taken me a while to get the mindset that my one rifle doesn’t have to do it all, but just do one thing really well.

The Tikka Roughtech and Wideland Veil are both sexy and affordable entries. Bergara has a few in the Wilderness lineup you could get her behind for a good price, too.

I went through this same thing though not for my wife. I wanted a rifle for an elk hunting trip in Wyoming and one I could hunt with back here. I settled on a Barrett fieldcraft in 308 with a VX-5HD on it. Couldn’t be happier. I shoot Hornady precision hunter and am confident I can take an elk or anything else out to 400 yards. Farther than that I don’t have any desire to shoot at something. I had a 300WM once, doubt I buy another one in my lifetime.

Just about any caliber 6.5mm up+ at a decent velocity and bullet construction will work.  Ensure the rifle fits her and she has confidence in it and her albitites.  WM Bell killed over 1100 elephants with the 7x57mm using 173 gr FMJs.