I need some help in deciding which rifle to go with. Looking for a larger caliber long range rifle (shots 300-500yds). I know both of these rifles easily can reach these distances and beyond. Just wanting anyones input regarding the two since I have never seen either of these guns in a gun store. I do own a Sako Finnlight which I absolutely love and I have shot a Weatherby Accumark which I enjoyed as well. I am certain I want a Sako or Weatherby but other recommended calibers are also possibilities. Game will be typical North American big game. Thanks for your input.

I am pretty clueless on the Sako 's, but I will hopefully be picking my first one up from my FFL today! Lefty Sako AV 6.5x55!

On the Weatherby though, I have a good number of those, and I will vouch for their quality and accuracy. 300 Wby's are a dime a dozen and you should be picky and still find some great deals on used Mark V's if you like those. Vanguards are very nice top, but Weatherby stupidly does not make those in lefthanded, so I have no experience with them. The Mark V 300 Wby comes in all kinds of configurations, everything from a lightweight sporter to a heavyweight like the Accumark. Mine is a Deluxe with a magnum contour 26" barrel. They do/did make the 300 Wby with a sporter weight 24" barrel if you don't want the extra weight. Look around, Cabela's gun library online has tons of 300 Wby's.

As for 338 win vs 300 Wby, there are many pages of discussions online about this. Both will completely penetrate a moose or elk, so maybe the 300's flatter trajectory is better. Or if you like heavier bullets, the 338 goes all the way up to 300gr.

Or you could just get the best of both and go with the 340 Weatherby.

I will say this, the Accumark plus scope weight is going to be more than you'll want to carry in the field. It's not too heavy, just unnecessarily heavy for field conditions.

I have always put the Sako just a hair above the Weatherby in terms of over all quality. Both are EXCELLENT rifles though.

A far as calibers are concerned I would go with the 300 Weatherby over the 338 Win Mag unless your going to go after Moose. If that's the case I would go with the heavier bullet of the 338 even though the 300 is more than capable of taking out a Moose cleanly. Not sure how easy it will be to find a Sako in 300 Weatherby though. I wouldn't count out the 300 Win Mag either. Like someone else said.......the 340 Weatherby is a great choice as well. In fact the 340 Weatherby still holds the title as the most accurate caliber/rifle I have ever shot in my life.

Ill chime in with this, between myself, dad, and an uncle we have at least 40 Mk V's mainly accu's, UL's, and SVM's. this is what I've seen consistently. The freeborn is to much from the factory imo so wby mags have erratic accuracy not what you pay for. They are a tank and good looking but so are sako's. I'm not a big wby fan as far as Mk V's. you're in custom gun price range with consistent accuracy that savage can beat outta the box. The 300 wby is a great cartridge dropped a bull oryx at 687yds with one built off a remy. Now my grandpa was a sako fan and I haven't seen a sako that won't out shoot a wby. If you like the accumark look. They make a model called the Finnlite. It's very nice and the ones I've seen and shot have been tack drivers. Personally I'd go 300wm or wsm. For your ranges stated its more than enough I'd also consider 7mag. The 160 gr offerings in 7mm smoke the 30 cal for the most part. The bc is alot higher on a 160 gr 7mm vs 180-200 gr 30 cal. That means more range and most importantly less drift due to higher bc.