Had a choice yesterday, on purchasing a wedding gift for a SIL -Ruger American .223, Ruger Hawkeye .280 Rem or Remington M700 .30-06, all NIB. My other SILs got .30-06 but this one already had a .300WSM and .308 Win. He also has two 6.5CM, one a Remington M700 heavy-barrel and one Ruger American Predator.
The .223 was attractive because he didn't have a bolt-action chambered smaller than the 6.5CM and I thought he could use a varmint/plinking rifle. He has an accurate AR and felt he would be fine using that. That left me leaning heavily toward the Ruger .280 Rem, a synthetic/matte blue Hawkeye. I have an All Weather model (synthetic/SS) that I really like, so I was a bit biased towards it.
Then I found a NIB Remington M700 in 7mm RM, synthetic/black like the other Remington rifles. SOLD!
My reasoning was the 7mm RM makes a better long range elk rifle than the 6.5CM, .280 Rem or .30-06. I've used mine for 38 years on everything from prairie dogs and coyotes (quite a few of both), to antelope, mulies and elk.
Looking forward to working up loads for it with him.
