Outdoor Skills - Hunting Q&A

For my anniversary my wife asked me what I wanted for a gift, and of course I replied a new deer rifle. Now I have to choose one. I'm stuck between a Weatherby Ultra Lightweight in .270 Weatherby Magnum or a Lazzeroni in 7.82 Patriot. Is there any advice you could give that would help my decision? --R.

"I sincerely hope it's your wife's anniversary, too, and that you're planning to buy her a generous gift as well. I would lean strongly toward the Weatherby combination. (Actually I'd lean strongly toward a .270 Winchester, but that doesn't answer your particular question.) Not only is the Weatherby Ultra Lightweight rifle a very nice size for most deer hunting, particularly in open country, but you'll always be able to buy .270 Weatherby ammunition. Maybe not in every country store, but somewhere. Ammunition for the Lazzeroni 7.82 Patriot, however, is already difficult to find and will probably become even scarcer, mostly because it's another ""short magnum"" .30 caliber. Now that both Winchester and Remington are making short .30s, the Lazzeroni will probably fade into obscurity. Even if you handload, you'll run into problems. A few months ago a customer at the local sporting-goods store asked in vain for a shell-holder for his priming tool for the 7.82 Patriot. He had brass and dies, but without primers, cartridges don't go bang. "