I've had 742s, 7400s, a BAR, and many AR15s. The AR15 is hands down my preference. It's easy to build them light, dependability is well proven, accuracy is well proven, great triggers abound, and it's easy to customize it to exactly what you want or need. I actually feel like I shoot my ARs better in the field than my bolts when speaking of similar weight guns and odd field positions.
The 6.8SPCII will easily handle the game you speak of. I killed a 265lb and 238lb deer with the 6.8 and 120SSTs at the end of Dec. The larger deer ran maybe 50yds with a hit through the lungs and the other buck fell at impact. Very effective cartridge in an ultra dependable platform. The trajectory is dead nuts with my 308 bolt FWIW.
