You don't want to take a ten pound heavy rifle sheep hunting, and you don't want to stop a bear with a six pound .280 either.

If I could have only one rifle it would be 7mm Rem Mag. period because mine has killed bears, moose, goats, sheep and a bunch of deer.

Within reason the choice of a premium bullet is more important that debating whether to take the 30.06,300 Win Mag, .338, 7mm Rem Mag. Etc. If a man had a good 30.06 and a case of premium ammo he would not be bad shape.

Happiness is being able to shoot the rifle you have really well. When you can call your shots off hand at 100 yards and sitting out to 200 yards then you are ready to go hunting. Ask a guide if he would rather you show up with an old beat up 30.06 or a brand new .338? One old sheep guide used to say he didn't trust a man with new boots and new rifle.

MAFM: I absolutely agree with you and do not (and will not) agrue with anything you said. I think some of it, or a lot of it, is personal choice, and habit. I like 7mm Rem Mag. as a caliber and have owned a couple over the years and have shot deer and elk with this caliber very effectively. One of my brothers this past Sept knock an excellent bull caribou into next Tuesday shooting 170 grain (+/-) NP using a 7mm Rem Mag while we were hunting on the upper Noatak. And I have taken my .378 on a sheep hunt and it was horrible. However, I do not subscribe to the theory that Weatherby's longer barrels interfear with normal hunting conditions...an additonal 4" of barrel length has never bothered me in thick bush. I have carried my .378 with confedence in many places of Alaska and some places it has been a hendrance but in most places it works as well or better than any other rifle I have hunted with (Afognak Is. (horrible), Admiralty Is., Illiamna, Noatak River, and the Alaska Range (Delta CUA) for sheep (again, horrible)) and I have used this same rifle in South Africa on large and small animals. The only change I would make, based on these experiences, is that I would carry a smaller (.308 caliber) and lighter rifle when hunting sheep. I probably shoot my .378 as well as any rifle I have and I think that is true because I like that rifle..I like the way it looks and feels and I like to shoot it.

But, everything you said is true and I agree with it.