[Kaliv]

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I knew the Pelican trust had a bunch of gun lovers, but I wasn't expecting that many replies from a car forum.

Anyway, here's the deal. I got my hunter's permit about 8 years ago...and I still don't own a gun and haven't gone hunting. I am military, so I've had a decent amount of range time albeit with the dreaded "assault rifle" we've heard so much about over the past couple months. However, I shoot open sights or with the M68 optic...no practice at all with decent magnification.

I've always wanted to go on a bear hunt (been told .308 minimum). So the plan is to spent money on a weapon platform this year and then spend money on a guide in upstate New York next year to tag me a bear. But while I have it, I can see myself probably picking up some deer or coyotes. I hear quite often that people take big game around 100 to 200 yards, so I'm making the assumption that I'll see something between 75 to 300 yards. May be a bad assumption, I don't know.

Here's the dilemma. I don't know if I'll ever buy another rifle so I want this one to do everything...perfectly. But reality is that I just need a gun suitable for my near-term plans that does it good enough that I enjoy myself. The other fact is that unless I practice, I probably won't take any game so the gun will mostly be used for range practice...and I need to enjoy that too.

I've narrowed down that I want a Weatherby Vanguard S2 Varmint Special (although I'm having a hard time locating one for purchase). I've tried a few guns for fit and the stock on the Weatherby seems to feel the best for me at my price point. I leaning towards the Varmint Special because I want to reduce recoil and Newton's law works. For the optic, the manufacturer is going to be Leupold because they're a decent optic company and I can get a sweet deal. I'm spying their Mark AR Mod 1 riflescope which comes in 1.5-4x, 3-9x, and 4-12x. Although their 1.5-4x doesn't come in mil-dot, which is why I was spying the Mark AR in the first place. No particular reason why I want the mil-dot other than it would give me something to do on the range.

Further comments or criticism?