Hallo ,
I don't own a 7 mm rem mag myself , but my " stalking friend " uses one for about 20 years . Our Belgian situation is very diffrent from what I see on DVD's from stalking in Scotland .
- As we were not allowed to own military and ex military calibres ( this recently changed in Belgium , but still is the case in France ) we could not buy 6.5x55 , 7x57 , .308 , .30-06 , 8x57 JS , etc .....
So if we wanted a step up from the .270 or 7x64 we had to use 7 RM or 300 WM .
- On my DVD's I have from Scotland you see a deer running 50 / 100 meters before it collapses and still staying in full view . In Belgium most deer/boar "shooting " happens from high seats on clear cuts , with plantations of young fir-trees just next to it . At last light the game annimals leave those plantations and are shot at fairly close distance from these plantations . If this happens in warmer weather and the annimal can run back 50/60 meters in such a plantation , it usealy means that you only find back the annimal in the morning and frequently the meat is ruined due to the warm weather .
So we want a calibre that truely polaxes the annimal in it's tracks .
Just like you switch out the light .
Our shooting ranges frequently are short 50/100 meters.
For this reason I asked the forum members opinion on the .308 for the Scottish hill , as I have no experience with it .
For " our " circumstances the 7 mm rem mag and the 300 win mag truly outshine the 270and the 7x64 .
The 7 RM has the advantage that he's slightly more comfortable than the 300 WM . It 's a tremendous killer wich realy can polaxe game like mentioned by Heym SR20 .
By no means it's a light recoiling rifle , but with a good scope and a bipod attached, the total rifle weight should be sufficient to make it comfortable .
Don't make the mistake of using light bullets in it . He has all the power you need to push a decent bullet flat enough for any shooting circumstances.
For all calibres there is one rule : high velocity , light , fragile bullets means excessive meat dammage and sometimes a lost annimal .
He just needs a strong , hard 160/175 grain bullet to do his job .
I used a 180 grain TUG in my 300 WM and my friend a 177 grain TIG bullet in his 7 mm RM and both had excellent results .
He now uses Norma 170 grain vulcan ammo.
Exit wounds from 2 or 3 times calibre size are normal .
For me a 2 inch exit wound is excessive .
I have seen roe deer with fist size exit wounds from traditional soft points in 243 and 270 . We never had that with our bullets evenafter hitting shoulder bone .
I would try to make a good load with a 160 grain Nosler partition / Swift A frame or even the 177 grain TIG or Nosler bullet .
Maybe the remington Ultra core lokt is good , but no experience .
For bullets like the Barnes TSX a lighter bullet might be suitable .
If you ever need to shoot truly heavy boar there is plenty of excellent factory ammo available with premium bullets.
With a premium bullet you normally have no bullet faillure and no wasted carcasses.
When shooting in herds the penetration might cause a problem . Wounding annimals standing behind your target could be possible .
A canadian friend shot lenghtwise through a huge bull elk ( wapiti ) with the first generation Barnes X ( 7 mm RM / 160 grain )
About rifles : The price diffrence between a Tikka and a Sauer is huge .
Don't forget the Remington 700 . They have a lefthanded version .
There must be a reason that most custom sniper rifle builders in the US use remington actions .
My friend has an old BDL and it shoots like a dream . Accuracy is very good . Both RWS ammo with the Brenneke TIG as the Norma shoot 3 bullets in 1 inch , what could you wish more for hunting ?
It will be a bit heavier than the Tikka if you like that .
A Tikka T3 lite , a Meopta 3-12x50 ( 0, 650 kg ) and a Harris Bipod might make a heavy enough combination to make the recoil acceptable . This is something you should be able to try out .