Well, let's consider these questions: so this rifle will be used for north america from whitetails in the brush, elk, sheep in the mountains, to moose and the big bears. So what caliber and weight do we want to end up with? I'm thinking a 8 1/2# .300 Win. Mag. might do well with a barrel contour similar to the standard weight barrel (.600" at the muzzle). Any other votes for the .300 as caliber of choice?
Sure! I've had several 300 magnums (300 Weatherby, Winchester,and H&H) put together on pre 64 actions,mostly Brown Precision stocks. One of the earlier one's was on a H&H action from a rifle someone had butchered.Butch Searcy installed a SS Krieger chambered 300 Win Mag,and bedded it in a Brown for me. I used it all over the west and in Canada on quite a few hunts,killed a lot of game with it.
It weighed 8.25-8.5 pounds scoped. I would not really want it much lighter.
That particular rifle never killed a brown bear because I used a 375 H&H for that; but you could.It was a pretty deadly rifle with Nosler Partitions and Bitterroots.A bit potent for smaller stuff but it certainly kills them fine.
Doing the same thing today I would not change much; I'd use D'Arcy Echols Legend with a standard fill because that stock is so good at mitigating recoil.
