Back when i had magnum-idus i hunted with the 7 Rem. Mag. (along with many other magnums) and it worked well for me... At some point i got sick of all the "magnums" muzzle blast/recoil and pretty much gave up on magnums.

I just don't need a magnum to kill a deer or anything else for that matter... I've hunted and taken huge amounts of big game withmy 30-06, 8x57 and a few other non magnum cartridges. And that's frommoose on down, not just whitetails. They were just as dead as any magnum would have made them.

Having said that... Of all the magnums i've hunted with, i liked the 7 Rem. Mag, best. Loaded with 175NP's it's easily enough gun for the biggest brown bears, and there isn't anything bigger to hunt innorth americathat i know of, and all with less recoil than the 300 Win. Mag... Yes it needs a 24" bbl., and yes it's biggest advantage is with heavy bullets, and yes it uses more powder ect... But once you get past all of that, it does work well on big game, even if it's a lot more than you need to kill a deer...

BTW, even the 30-06 loaded with 200 NP's is "enough" gun for the big bears of Alaska. Been there done that...

DM