Bob, thanks for sharing your project with us. I have never tried the Mashburn, but I had one of the first 7MM-3000WM in my neck of the woods-1975 or there about. I still use a 7RM some. However, recoil has begun to bother me some and I don't like muzzle brakes or heavy rifles. So my solution to the ideal elk, deer round is the .280AI. I can push the 160gr Nosler Partition at 2950fps without torturing my rifle or cases and recoil is not bad at all. The rifle is on a pre-64 Mod.70 with a #2 Krieger, it's stock is a well finished piece of English walnut with good color contrast and well done checkering. I'm going elk hunting in a couple of weeks so I did a final zero check yesterday and got a slightly less than 4" five shot group at 300yds.
