I am enjoying everyone’s thoughts and opinions. Thanks for the input!

Interesting that the .243 has been brought up a couple of times. I have seen enough game killed with a .243 and tiny little 85 TSXs to be 100% confident it would be up to the task. My son alone has made a pretty good meat pile with his little youth 700 .243. Unfortunately he hit a growth spurt and our two .243s just don’t fit him well anymore.

I do have a nice stainless 6mm-06 that shoots a 95 LRX just fine but it has a 25” barrel and is frankly longer and heavier then I want to deal with on this outing.

Another late entry that I am kicking around is my stainless T/C 21” Carbine in 7-30 Waters that shoots a 140 Nosler Solid Base. I killed a nice color phase boar with it in Idaho this year and scoped with a 2-7x Leupold it is lightweight to the extreme. Not the best option in a close quarters clean-up operation but I do like hunting with single shots.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

If I had to choose tonight I would take the Whelen. It is certainly up to the task at the ranges we plan to shoot and is probably better up close beings it is a little shorter and easier to swing in the brush. Plus packing a .35 Whelen through AK bear country just seems like a good fit.

Truth be told when I put that rifle together I had AK on my brain so this seems like a culmination or possibly just an extension of the rifle project.

Thanks again for the input so far!