Crawling thru that is a young man’s sport. I now sit in a stand and have them come to me thru the brush onto cut firing lanes.
If you would be successful in taking game in that mess , the drag out of there work be challenging to say the least.
That rubber spacer is a pain on my MS Sporter. I’ve noticed over the years that it is sliding more on recoil , thinking it is hardening.
At least your “friend” escaped any injury.
I like the idea of the 24” rebarrel. My opinion is to take advantage of heavy for caliber bullets you need to load a slower powder. The extra barrel length will allow a better burn.
My 25 Creed also has a 14” barrel. Awhile back I did a little powder comparison with 115 gr BTs. 3000 fps I believe would be doable with a rifle , not sure on 120s.
https://forum.nosler.com/threads/powder-comparison.45931/