I used to own a 700 BDL 7mm Mag, in 72, it had a SS barrel, killed a few bull elk with it ...though not a knock down caliber the 7 mm Mag did the job. It was heavily used in the ice, snow, & wet hunting conditions, but light to carry, even went into Canada with it . No sights streamlined 3X9 Leupold, and a well used sling. Never shot a factory round all hand loads, 160 to 175 gr hunting bullets, put 5 rds inside 1" at 100yds with those bullets. My 7 mag Powder was $1.88 per lb. IMR was $3.89 lb. Primers $8.90 per thousand, I had 2 complete boxes of 1000 but used most of one in some 308 loads..the 7 mag was fired many times, trigger adjustment to about 2 lbs was all that was ever done...went to the Ruger 338 Win mag, which was hard to get it to shoot well, but a better killer of big gsme. Then traded the 7 mag straight across for a slightly used 222 Rem, BDL that would shoot at least .3" to .4" 5 shot groups with most any powder and reasonable bullet combination. Still have the 222 in its original factory form...but it's time for a new barrel. They were $199 new is what I paid for a new 222 factory 700 BDL Varmint Special, a few yrs later.
My brother bought a new 700 Rem 30-06 ADL for $98 on sale when he returned from Vietnam, never did anything to it, but add a 3X9 Leupold, and killed every animal he hunted with it, 'till he died from Agent Orange tumor complications, and many surgeries. So that old 7 mag is all ya need to go hunting, just like it is or slightly modified to suit, it will kill any game animal in the lower 48...but many spend thousands on a custom or partial custom gun that does the same thing...kills game. And you can if ya want to...it all works and the game doesn't know the difference.