BTW, Bobin, I do own a Sako 7MM Rem Mag. It is an excellent combo. The 7MM Rem Mag is legendary in large part due to .284 caliber bullets. They are capable of interstate travel and Sequoia tree penetration. The reality is a .280 Rem will do everything that a 7MM Rem Mag will do.
I don't own a .280 Rem, mostly because when I got in the gun buying business I was a lot smarter and knew everything necessary about cartridges. As I've grown older and less smart, I've come to wish that I had bought a 22" barreled .280 Rem. It would have been the only rifle I would have needed.
On my first deer hunt I was introduced to an old timer who had lived through the Great Depression. With little deviation, folks who've endured the Great Depression tend to be on the frugal side. They've experienced not knowing when their next meals would come. Anyway, this old timer had 2 surplus rifles: a 7MM Mauser that he used for mule deer, and an 8MM Mauser that he used for larger game. BTW, he wasted none of deer he killed and fish he caught. The Great Depression left great impressions on folks who survived it.
From the looks of things as they've now been fleshed out, an 8MM Mauser ain't got utility. Why, I'd bet that Germans and Scandinavians are no longer killing moose with it because it doesn't have a belt. Last I heard, our Northern European brethren have taken to paintin' belts on cartridges so moose they shoot with 'em will die thinking that a mega-mag did 'em in.
My poor, underexposed dad must of had a hard time killing a lot of big game back east & in eastern provinces with his Model 81 .35 Rem. Last thing he killed with it was a respectable CA mule deer. Why, he even killed Utah mule deer with it. I have no idea how all the big game he killed with it gave up their ghosts, but were I a wagerin' dude, I'd go with 200 grain bullets in necks. Apparently our eastern brethren got something figured out that us math-challenged west coast hunters can't calculate. Seems as though our eastern brethren have figured out that bullets in necks kill big game more so than powder volume.
