Ive got an old 8mag bdl and i know its a big overkill on whitetail but it was my brother in laws gun and he died in a car wreck so it has some sentimental feelings with me. So i take it out at least once a year to kill something. I took it out last night doing crop damage shooting and got 3 does with it. One at 320 yards, one at 210 and one a 150. Let me tell you a 200 nos partition at 3000fps puts one hell of a hole in a 100 lb doe! The longer range one had a 50 cent piece exit hole but the two closer ones you could put your fist through the exit hole! Sure like that gun. Its flat shooting and very hard hitting. I never cared for the bdl stock so this year i had my stock maker buddy fit it with a factory cdl stock. It not only took about a lb off the weight but sure made it better looking.

A friend of mine had an 8mm Rem Mag. It was built on a Sako TRG action - because that action is long enough to allow bullets to be seated out, my friend preferred 220 grs bullets.

He shot that rifle really well (I personally thought it had a tad much recoil) and was absolutely deadly with it - long or short range.

If you can shoot an 8mm Rem Mag, I doubt there are many rounds that are really better for heavy (plains) game. The 8x68S comes close to replicating 8mm Rem Mag ballistics, albeit at higher pressure out of a smaller case. The big .338 calibers are also pretty impressive in this respect, although trajectory is not quite as good with the smaller cases and the larger cases (.340 Wby or .338 RUM) sure mete out a healthy dose of recoil.

- mike

You are a good man to honor your brother in laws memory by hunting with his rifle. Very outstanding!

I wonder why the 8mm mag didnt become more popular? my friend takes his to Idaho to hunt elk with it every year