Yeah I think if your boy wants a new rifle a good ol 30-06 (along with several other cartridges) would be impossible to beat for an all-around rifle cartridge. Im not into if you hit an Elk/Moose in the right place with blah blah little bullet it will do the job, there are too many capable cartridges to go half ass...A Tikka T3x Superlite 30-06 would be mighty hard to beat for the money..Good luck....Hb