7mm Mag scope magnification

Happy Superbowl Sunday,

I recently stumbled on a killer buy of a 111 in 7mm rem mag, with dies, brass, bullets, and powder for $275. The previous owner had the stock (Bushnell?) package scope with loose mounts on it and cursed it because it wouldn't group under 5". So I took it off his hands, cleaned the copper out of the barrel, analyzed his reloads (120gr ballistic tips with 4064, for ELK) and took them apart.

The rifle has very little wear, and I went ahead and ordered Warne bases (2 piece extended) and Warne rings. My debate on glass begins here... for the areas I hunt elk (high cascades, shots 50-200 yards, and eastern Oregon 100-450 yards) what magnification of scope do I want? I'm pretty settled that it will be a Leupold VX2 of some sort, since Zeiss discontinued the Conquest for ~$400. Would 3-9x be enough for the possible long poke, or would a 4-12x make a better all around choice? What do you have on your 7mm mags? Any bullet weights/loads I should try? A magnum is a big step for me, the humble user of short action cartridges... but the price was right. :-)

--SRS

I spent the extra and went with the 4.5-14x50 Vari-X III on mine. I wanted that additional light gathering ability for those ridge top to ridge top early morning shots that I was always passing on with the 3-9x40 in the Heppner Unit. I don't pass on them any more. I also went with the B&C reticule while I was at it. If I were to do it again today, I'd go with the CDS.