My Dad has a beat up Browning .270 that he has killed a ton of deer with. It has been used hard and has the scars to prove it. You couldn't talk him out of that rifle or caliber for anything. He knows when he lines up the cross hairs with that rifle there is no guessing. If you feel the same way I would keep it and not think twice.
It took me a long time to find one, but I finally got a rifle I feel the same way about. It is an older Savage that is basically the same rifle you have. That one will be with me for a long time.
