Well, I talked to my buddy Mikie a while back. I respect Mikie's oppinion on all things shooting almost as much as I do my own. I asked him if I were to buy a 'one rifle', all around cartridge in a handi, what would be his recommendation? I was very surprised when he said without hesitation, .308! I asked him about it and his response was simply that it was enough, and being a military cartridge, it was available anywhere and always would be. So I went right out and bought a 7-08 Handi! (Sorry, it was a deal) It's a simple choice really. The common thought is to chose a .308 first, unless I were to primarily hunt elk and moose then the 30-06. For my own use, and for an elk or moose hunt, I will just chose appropriate bullets for my 7-08. You need to remember that with todays bullets, a 165 gr partition .30 cal, can do what was expected from a 200 gr 30-06 softnose in the past. So the difference is really neglible, it's all in choosing the best bullet for the job. With today's hi tech bullets and proper bullet placement, you can cleanly take big game with much smaller cartridges that what were considered appropriate in the past. I've read of many Elk hunters whose main cartridge was the .270 for many years. They just chose appropriate bullets for the job at hand. 44 Man