First rifle ....

[gmd]

so here is the rifle i am buying tomarow. Mauser98 7mm Rememington mag with a hogue over mold stock. With an ajustable bipod and a nikon buckmaster 6x18x40 bdc radical with side focus and a sun shade. im snaching it for 400. this will be my first rifle. im in alaska and will be hunting for the first time. i can not realy think of any thing else i would need in a rifel besieds maybe a muzzle buffer, fluted barrel, and a cumfy sling. o i will also be trading the stock triger for somthing difrent.. i dont like the feel of the actual stock triger. im in the military and have fired plenty of weapon systoms and i am done with fireing the stock rifle i want to enjoy it. is there any thing i should know abot a mauser? i plan on going sheep huntin gin aug i will use a 150 gran probly. and in sep oct i will be floting or moose. any tips would be welcome . thanks and you guys realy need a new to hunting/ new to form seciton.

[streetglideok]

Ive owned a 7mm mag for some 16 years now in a winchester model 70 classic, a near identical brother to the mauser(minor differences). Prolly the main thing you want to be sure, is that the rifle will feed your ammo reliably. If not, some minor tweaking may need to be done by a gunsmith. Majority are fine though. Have you shot it yet? I wouldn't worry with a brake yet, unless you are intolerant to the recoil. In my opinion, the rifle scope is too powerful, I would be thinking 4-14x, or 3-10x, or thereabouts. Sling is a good thing, bipod, if you can use it, go for it, otherwise its deadweight. I personally use 160gr as my all purpose weight, but thats for deer/elk. 150gr would probably be great for sheep, but I'd want 160 or the 175gr for moose. My preferred bullet is the Nosler Partition, but there are alot of good bullets made for the 7mm mags. Others will chime in with their thoughts, so you can have more points of view.

[sconnyhunter]

I too have a 7mm. Mine is a Ruger M77. I prefer the 165gr. lead myself, though the 175 would be a better size for moose.
You likely won't need a break for the muzzle. The bi pod is dead weight, as streetglide said.
I use a 3-9x40 scope on my Ruger, and that is a bit much for where I hunt.