Well, I don't want to derail this thread, but let's summarize: I vaguely contemplate the idea of selling all my rifles to buy only one that will do everything at some point (not going to Africa in this lifetime). Not there yet, still having fun with diversity, so I learn as much as I can on suitable options.
Target (200 yards range, I like to shoot between fifty and a hundred rounds per visit), deer, moose, in that order. I have a prejudice against .308 Win. for moose, possibly unfounded, fed by horror stories I heard as a boy, but still present. The .280 is intriguing, no one I know shoots one.
I long thought the .30-06 and .22 LR combination was my only possible answer to too many questions, but I recently fell deeply in love with a .223 after she was bedded in a new stock, she got her trigger worked on, and I finally offered her some ammo she likes; she treats me well now when we go to the range together, but she was difficult at first. I have almost not played with my other rifles since this new attitude she has showed.
So much less recoil! But, at the same time, so much less appropriate for hunting (and also illegal for deer and above over here), which makes ours a forbidden union that will have to be limited to a range affair, with maybe a weekend or two spotting for coyotes together, even if she has grown a tad heavy for long walks in her Boyds apparel.
I wonder if a good recoil pad on a heavier rifle or putting it in a chassis (for hunting? Seems weird, but I'm open minded) could make the 280 Rem or 280 AI a candidate to be the one and only, but I fear full power hunting loads would still punch a little too much for prolonged target work. I have not ruled out reloading reduced loads to spend more time with my -06, so we could get reacquainted and start a new relatioship based on a variation in thrust and weight, but I also lurk at a younger, modern option in the 6.5 Creedmore.
If only rifles were as simple as are women!
