Welcome to the Fire Jonathon. Get yourself a Winchester or a Ruger in 338 Win. Mag, learn to shoot it well, and you'll be set for anything in the lower 48. I've been hunting for 40 years with walnut and blued rifles and have never had a problem with them given proper care. Some will say you don't need that much horsepower, but if you're going to hunt anything and everything down here I'd say it's better to error on the heavy side.
