[Jeff Higgins]

Yeah, those $6,000 custom bolt action hunting rifles just aren't for me. I use mine to part brush in front of me, leave it out in coastal Alaskan rain for a week, backpack in the snow with it, and on and on. While I take very good care of my rifles, lavishing untold attention on them, I just don't want one I'll be shedding a tear over if it does get damaged. It's a tool, not a status symbol.

Hand loading makes calibers like this eminently affordable to shoot. The biggest issue is brass life, with that damn belt (if properly utilized to headspace the round in the chamber) causing all of its problems with short case life. Switch to head spacing on the shoulder, like beltless rounds, and brass life is very good owing to the lack of taper.

These things don't even need the belt, but there was a time when "magnums" all wore belts. The old .375 H&H, and its younger brother the .300 H&H, do require the belt, owing to their excessive taper and very shallow shoulder angles. Both meant to help them feed well in a bolt action (and they do), but really unnecessary in the end.

I actually shoot mine quite a lot. It's one of the most accurate rifles I have ever owned. As Townsend Whelen once said, "only accurate rifles are interesting". This one is very "interesting"... That, and having hunted my entire adult life with the .375 H&H (I have three rifles so chambered, each suited to slightly different kinds of hunting), the relatively "mild" recoil of the seven mag is a welcome relief.

Yes, it is "loud", compared to lower pressure rounds, but not as "loud" as, say, my .220 Swift or one of those damn short barreled AR's with their muzzle brakes (who needs a muzzle brake on a god damned gas operated .223 anyway?). There are plenty of rifles that show up at my range that are far, far louder. Things like the .338 Lapua, .300 RUM, etc. with a muzzle brake. So I won't feel bad about my relatively "mild" seven mag.