Sako 75 deluxe - 7mm STW

[Guest]

Hello all ...
I'm new to the page, great to meet you all ...
I have some questions regarding the rifle mentioned above, hope I can get some great info, suggestions ... etc ...
First of all, how bad is the recoil for the 7mm STW? I've heard it's great punishment, the recoil is quite bad even for the average hunter. Considering I'm smaller than the average @ 5'8" and 160lbs, should I look at a different caliber? I plan on hunting mostly whitetail, some elk, mountain goat, and possibly some larger game.
The Sako deluxe is a beautiful game, has anyone shot one ... if so, what do you all think? With the 7mm STW being such a high speed bullet, is there concern for barrel life? The sako is also a **** expensive gun, so I want it to last!
Thirdly, I want to mount a Nikon Monarch UCC 5.5X16.5 44 scope. Anyone have any experience w/ this scope, any ideas and/or suggestions would be greatly appreicated. How does Nikon compare to Leupold?

Thanks all!!

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I am 5'6" and 150lbs. I shoot my 7STW all the time. No muzzle break or anything else is necessary to reduce recoil.

It may depend more on how recoil tolerant you are than the actual amount of recoil produced by the 7STW. I have seen guys MUCH bigger than I am who shoot 300 mags with recoil shields on their shoulder and/or muzzle breaks to reduce recoil.

If this is your first centerfire rifle than it may take you awhile to get use to the recoil but if you have been shooting lesser cartridges (270,308,30-06 etc) than don't worry about it.

For the hunting that you described you may be better served with a 7mm Rem mag. Ammo is cheaper & much easier get, recoil is less and the difference in usable energy and trajectory isn't that big a deal.

Just my 2 cents

VH