I have always had a soft spot for the big 8. Growing up, it was the only rifle (700 BDL) my dad owned so I handled and played around with it often. Living in south central PA it was and still is certainly more rifle than needed for our whitetails. I am not really even sure the back story on how he happened to buy that rifle originally and why he didn't just get something else. He still has it but it only gets used a few days every few years. He much prefers a model 7 in 7mm-08 now as his go to rifle. I have carried the 8mm mag and have shot deer with it as well. He has mainly used factory 185s from it. I loaded some 200 grain partitions with RL-22 for him to try but we have never made it to the range with them yet. An accurate 200 grain partition should be all he will ever need if someday he can afford his Newfoundland moose dream hunt.
