I have one of these, in 7x57. I absolutely love that little rifle. In my experience, muzzle blast isn't bad at all, though I haven't fired it at dusk or twilight. Recoil and muzzle jump is pretty tame, about on par with with a standard 308 bolt action. The rifle weighs 7lbs on the dot without rings or scope.

The barrel is 20" so you will lose a few fps, I haven't chrono'ed my rifle but with a decent scope doping the trajectory isn't a problem, though I don't consider a 400 yard game rifle. If I was looking for something in that category, I'd try a longer barreled No.1. The beauty of this rifle is as a stalking or still hunting rifle. It is very lively in the hands and well balanced.

Accuracy is comparable to my other No.1's with 3 shot groups a little less than 1" at 100 yards, and 5 shot groups hovering right at the 1" mark. That is with the factory trigger which really needs to be tuned or replaced. The RSI barrels are very light weight and thin, I take plenty of time at the bench when shooting. The barrel on my rifle is very warm after the 2nd shot.

My rifle shoots 139 and 140 grain bullets just as well as the 160 grain bullets. I have yet to try any 175 grain loads.

The trigger is the only complaint I have with this rifle and that can taken care of easily enough, but I just haven't done it. It's heavy, creepy, and very inconsistent. I'll likely just replace mine with an aftermarket trigger.