I just don't see any real need to argue for bullets over 160 grains in a 270 or a 280AI. If you need more than that use your 30-06. I can't imagine many of us having only one rifle.
I can imagine having one rifle on a hunting trip and wanting it to serve two purposes, this is from another thread:
Originally Posted by smokepole
I bit the bullet and went guided in Alaska. Didn't hunt elk that year for the first time in many years. But it was well worth that tradeoff, you can hunt elk every year. Do it before you get too old, a sheep guide will wear you out.
Incidental to the 270/280 AI thread, we found ourselves looking at spending the night down on the river waiting for our pickup in an area fairly covered with bear tracks and sh**. With two bloody packs stuffed with sheep meat and a cape. I was carrying a .260 loaded with 123 grain bullets but found myself wishing I had my .280 AI instead, loaded with some of those 175 partitions that "no one shoots." It would have been perfect for that kind of hunt loaded with light, flat-shooting bullets for sheep and heavy bullets for anything else.
Luckily for us our ride got there before dark and we didn't have to camp there.
A 160 in a 280 will do everything a 175 will as it pertains to bears. If your really concerned with bears a 300 mag of some sort might be a better choice.
