I don't think I said that it HAS to be hot rodded, but on the other hand, I don't know why anybody would leave hundreds of ft lbs of energy and a couple feet of trajectory on the table in a hunting load. As long as chamber pressure is safe, I wouldn't consider it hodrodding anyway. Trying to get more out of a cartridge than it can safely produce would be hotrodding. I want this to be a 200 yd deer rifle, about the longest distance I might see a deer at, walking out of the woods and onto a clear cut. I have shot deer under such conditions and hope to do it again. The recoil doesn't bother me and is in my estimation, highly overrated - I expected much worse. It's just my preference and I respect everybody else's preferences. I'll probably work up some heavy cast loads too, but one thing at a time...
