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nfmMike,
It looks like MikeG has you pretty well squared away on the details on the cartridges I mentioned. The 7mm STE is indeed a .307 Winchester necked down with a sharper shoulder angle and case taper reduced in order to maximize case capacity. It is the rimmed version of the 7mm SGLC (Simpson's Good Little Cartridge) which is based on the 7mm-08 casing. I feel your pain in relation to the 8Mag. Every once in awhile I'll screw the muzzle brake off my .340 just to remind myself I'm not made of steel.

It's a shame that the 8Mag went away, as it was a good cartridge. The lack of bullets that would stand up to the velocity afforded by this cartridge, and the fact that it needed a magnum length action are most likely what did it in. Not to mention the fact that it was bracketed by several very capable 308 and 338 caliber magnums. I used to want one of these in the worst way and "settled" for a .340 Weatherby. The .340 is a .338 by the way, same bullets, different name. You can get all the power of the 8Mag, and then some, with the new crops of magnums. Having shot a lot of rifles, I think most people, myself included, are probably better served with cartridges based on the 30-06 casing than the magnums. There are too many of these to list, but the 338-06 would be an excellent choice for heavier game. The 280 (.284 or 7mm) Remington, one of my favorites, is everything the .270 (.277) is and a little more versatile. If you want a laser beam, the 7mm STW is it. Just make sure to keep the barrel cool or it won't last too long.

I had an 8mm Mag for awhile when Remington was offering it as a factory rifle. The recoil didn't seem any greater than my 338, and the cartridge seemed to duplicate the results of the 338. There were two problems with rifle and chambering as far as I could see. One the BDL and custom shop issued stocks were very slim in the wrist and the round punished them very bad. The custom shop stock had reinforcing bolts, but the stock's wrist was way to slim to have those bolts place that far rearward. I split 3 custom shop stocks shooting factory loaded 220 grain Core-Lokts. I always checked to see if the screws were tight, bore was clean and unobstructed, but I never made entirely through that one box of loads.

Second was that during Remington's factory run of chambering, there were no premium bullets being made for it. It was often repeated that "the 8 Mag would never be a popular cartridge until Nosler introduced a Partition for it and Nosler would not offer a Partition for it until it was a popular cartridge."

Yes, it is a fine round. Will it do anything the 338 won't? Not in the field of any noticeable difference. The 338 has its niche in the medium bore lineup and the 8 Mag duplicates it's performance. The 700 stock design is pretty poor for rifles with that kind of recoil and Remington refused to do anything about it. Thus, my long standing feud with Remington. I ended up with a rifle from their custom shop that I couldn't shoot because their stock wouldn't stay together. After about 2 years of fighting with them about it, I traded for a No.1 in 338 and am perfectly content with the trade. Remington's 8 Mag was a great round, but that was a sorry rifle.

Quiet, effective rifle, cheap and legal

I think the average shooter today isn't satisfied with a new gun unless he's blinded by muzzle blast, his eyes and shoulder hurt and his ears ring. They read too many gun rags. I've long had enough of that.

My most used rifles are a 24" Marlin Cowboy Limited .357 and a ca. 1870 single-shot break-open "rook" rifle which I rechambered from .360 No. 5 to accept .38 Special ammo. Factory .38 Special 148-gr. midrange wadcutters it gets about 870 f.p.s., shoots 2" with iron sights at 50 yards and makes no more noise than firing Mk. 23 "hushpuppy" loads in an MP5SD, or shooting Eley Tenex in a long barreled .22 match rifle. The difference is that it has a useful amount of energy, not like a .22. I also get very good accuracy with factory 158-gr. LRN .38 Special loads which give about 950 f.p.s. and shoot about 3" at 100 yards all day long and hit a 6" Colt Speed plate often enough at 200 yards with a little Tennessee elevation to make plinking interesting.

The quietest thing you can get today noise-wise is one of the 24" barreled Marlin Cowboy Limited, firing low velocity .38 Specials in it. The 24" barrel really isn't long enough to get it "cat sneeze" quiet with factory loads, but it's no louder than a .22 with high velocity. For really quiet shooting which doesn't disturb the neighbors you need to handload a soft lead 158-gr. bullet , with 2.7 grs. of Bullseye for about 850 f.p.s. in the 24" barrel. VERY quiet, and still quite effective on small game, wild turkey, groundhogs, and so I am told my a friend in Maine who uses the same outfit, the occasional deer in the garden, if you pick your shots and keep them within 50 yards. These days I want an effective rifle that's cheap and fun to shoot and "doesn't sound like a gun" and attract attention.

I would really like to see a very light H&R break-open single-shot with 28" thin tapered barrel, on the older style small receiver like the used to use for the .410 more and 28-ga. guns prior to WWII. The current versions are clubby because they use the same receiver whether the gun is a .410 or a 10-ga.! It should weigh no more than 6 pounds, be fitted with a white inlay XS products post sight and ghost ring peep having a threaded aperture, so that you can put a target disk in for load testing, and a hunting aperture for the woods. Chamber it in .357 Magnum so you have the option of full power hunting loads for deer, but use .38 Special in it most of the time for quiet suburban popping.

Keep the price affordable so everybody can get it at Walmart. If they made similar versions in .25-20, .32-20 and .32 H&R Magnum they'd also make very nice small game rifles, but the .38 Special / .357 Mag. combo with an extra 26" modified choke 3" magnum 20-ga. barrel is perfect for the gentleman farmer's, rancher or bush pilot's utility and woods walker and is the only one they need to make.