7mm RM Recipe for Muley Hunt

[KaSH0508]

I run RL26 in both my 7mm Mags. 168 Berger classic hunters in one at 3050 FPS. 162 ELDx in the other at 3010 FPS. Hornady Brass/Federal 215s. Both under MOA out to 800. Haven't shot for groups past that. I have rang steel with both out to 1000 no problem. The 168 classic hunters have been instant death on both Mule deer and whitetail out to 612 yards. Longest shot I have taken deer with them.

 

[PartsJr.]

I have used IMR4831 for years but am planning to switch to a more temperature stable power. My chart show this powder has a 1.19 FPS velocity change per degree Fahrenheit.
If you sight in/practice at 50 F and happen to go hunting on a 0 degree day my math shows a velocity change (drop) of nearly 60 FPS.

 

[tooth doc]

I booked my first Wyoming hunt, which happened to be a Mule Deer Hunt in Northwest Wyoming. I have a Rem 700 in 7mm RM (9.25" twist) that has a lot of sentimental value to me, and has been my tool of choice for many successful whitetail and bear hunts. I would like to use this rifle on this hunt. My loads for this rifle have never been fully developed, and the most recent load I partially developed is not showing enough promise for me. It's a 168 grain Berger VLD going around 2750 FPS. Not particularly fast, not particularly accurate, not particularly good ESs. I'm currently loading in Winchester brass, and I'm prepared to buy better brass (ADG maybe) to improve things. Having never been on this type of hunt, I dont want to go there with any accuracy/distance limitations imposed by the rifle. Where would you start with redeveloping this load, from a component standpoint? I've got H4831, H4350, H1000, IMR7828, RL26, and I'm prepared to try others. For bullets, I like Berger, but not hung up on using them, if something else would work well. Thanks in advance for your help.

Absolutely nothing wrong with your present combo, unless u want to play with the loading, seating details for accuracy. Geez. Mulies arent any harder to kill than whitetail of similiar size. You never said how accurate it is, nor at what range. If you can put that combo in 10 inches at 500 yds, it will kill! New brass, powders, primers ets seem irrelevant if you can this already. Youvshould be able to push your load faster, and that my increase the accuracy. Have you checked bedding of rifle. Or all tge screws of your scope and mt combination? If you question this bullet, dont. I have used this same bullet in 7 wsm out to 1500 yds in comp. Have used it for hunting to 624 yds on mule deer for one shot, high double lung shot. Went about 10 ft. Have used one about 25 other game species. From impala to 1500 lb eland in africa out to almost 600 yds. ALL ONE SHOT KILLS. Kudu x 4,, bushpig, sable, gemsbok. Vaal reebock, common reedbuck, red hartabeast, blesbuck, waterbuck, mt reedbuck, warthog,zebra, roan, and more, at ranges of 200 to 500 plus yds. All oneshot. Half a dozen deer. Couple of black bear also to about 500yds. Put the berger in the right place, dead animal. I prefer barnes for bone smashing, penetration and use exclusively in my 300 wsm. After all is said, you can try other bullets, piwders, brass, primer, calibers, rifles. Barrels etc. But what you have will kill any mule deer alive if you put it in the right place. And at ranges beyond 500 yds.

 

[Deleted member 112174]

You don't need anything special for a Mulie, go to the store and buy a box of your Favorite brand of 160 gr 7MM and shoot it. Mulies are the Dumbest animals on the planet. you can almost walk up them and slit their throat. I shot plenty of them here in Montana with everything from my M1 carbine to 30-06 most were with my 30-30 and 243

Mature muleys are not dumb, nor weak. To say you can walk up and slit their throat is untrue.

 

[Deleted member 112174]

My recipe for a 42 year old Remington 700 BDL:
168 Nosler Accubond LR
Jump: 0.120 from lands
68 grains H-1000

2850 FPS, 9 ES, .6 MOA confirmed at 600 yards and great bullet performance.

That ought to do it!

 

[Tikka300man]

I booked my first Wyoming hunt, which happened to be a Mule Deer Hunt in Northwest Wyoming. I have a Rem 700 in 7mm RM (9.25" twist) that has a lot of sentimental value to me, and has been my tool of choice for many successful whitetail and bear hunts. I would like to use this rifle on this hunt. My loads for this rifle have never been fully developed, and the most recent load I partially developed is not showing enough promise for me. It's a 168 grain Berger VLD going around 2750 FPS. Not particularly fast, not particularly accurate, not particularly good ESs. I'm currently loading in Winchester brass, and I'm prepared to buy better brass (ADG maybe) to improve things. Having never been on this type of hunt, I dont want to go there with any accuracy/distance limitations imposed by the rifle. Where would you start with redeveloping this load, from a component standpoint? I've got H4831, H4350, H1000, IMR7828, RL26, and I'm prepared to try others. For bullets, I like Berger, but not hung up on using them, if something else would work well. Thanks in advance for your help.

I would try the new Hornady 162-grain ELD-X bullet (not the "M" match bullet though) My load uses Winchester magnum primers with Reloder 26 powder. Some rifles take up to 69.0 grains, but others top off at 68.5 gr RL 26 as the maximum. Start at 65.0 grains and work up. 68.5 grains gets me 3050 fps and is very accurate. 69.0 grains gets me to about 3100 fps but isn't as accurate

 

[dfrahm]

Where will you be hunting (sorry, I know you won't tell me exactly)? Mountains or farmland or badlands? The ability to get close is the key as in all big game hunting. I'd concentrate more on getting an accurate load early, shoot it every few weeks to get your head on straight, then find the buck. Some do it, but this isn't tree stand hunting territory....

 

[meatyrem]

I am

Well, that is a good question. I have spent so much time developing loads for target shooting, that when I went back to check my notes on how I got to the load I had, I didnt have any. So, I am definately going to go ahead and build up some rou ss in 1/2 grain increments and run them up to book max, and probably beyond to see where I start to see pressure, and back down from there. Given the current situation with some powders being unavailable, I might work up multiple pressure test loading to see what I get. I dont shoot the H4831 in any other rifle, so the powder I have would go a long ways in the 7rm, without cutting into my stash for other rifles.
There have been lots of good suggestions here, and I'm going to consider them all moving forward. I might be stuck with the brass I have for the moment as ADG looks to be out of 7mmRM right now. Thanks for the info so far. I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

I am also looking for loads for 7rm. I have found some are using N560 and it's performing very well. Just another one to try that is not mentioned here as I've seen

 

[Jakemaupin]

I'm running a 162g Eldx with 70g of H1000 with a CCI250 primer in nosler brass, it is out of a Remington 7rm with a 1-9 1/4. It shoots 1/2 groups at 100 yards at 3050 FPS. I have killed a pile of mule deer with it and some just shy of 600 yards, it does a great job and never requires more than one shot.

 

[Dirtdevil]

If you can get a heavy bullet to shoot that's awesome. Most remingtons will do it. But I have never seen one that would shoot a Nosler Accubond 140 with IMR 4350 in a tiny lil group. We killed 3 Muley bucks in Alberta this year with the 140s from 100 yds to 500 Nothing went more than 50 yds

 

[FlyGuy11]

I booked my first Wyoming hunt, which happened to be a Mule Deer Hunt in Northwest Wyoming. I have a Rem 700 in 7mm RM (9.25" twist) that has a lot of sentimental value to me, and has been my tool of choice for many successful whitetail and bear hunts. I would like to use this rifle on this hunt. My loads for this rifle have never been fully developed, and the most recent load I partially developed is not showing enough promise for me. It's a 168 grain Berger VLD going around 2750 FPS. Not particularly fast, not particularly accurate, not particularly good ESs. I'm currently loading in Winchester brass, and I'm prepared to buy better brass (ADG maybe) to improve things. Having never been on this type of hunt, I dont want to go there with any accuracy/distance limitations imposed by the rifle. Where would you start with redeveloping this load, from a component standpoint? I've got H4831, H4350, H1000, IMR7828, RL26, and I'm prepared to try others. For bullets, I like Berger, but not hung up on using them, if something else would work well. Thanks in advance for your help.

I have used the Berger 168 gr Hunting in my 280 Ackley Improved with high success. Here is my build-out from bottom to top: Winchester LR primer, Nosler Brass, Reloader 26, and Berger 168 gr Hunting. Based on your twist rate I would recommend a Berger 168 gr Classic (part# 28570) to ensure a stabilized bullet. For load development I would start with the minimum charge and do seating depth test first ( https://bergerbullets.com/vld-making-shoot/). Second I would find the desired charge weight for accuracy node. Yes this is a bit more work but I find one or two bullets I like and stick with them. I have found better accuracy with the seating depth test than just powder node testing for all bullets not just Berger.
Side note; dropped a Mule Deer at 398 yards in 2018 and dropped Cow Elk at 422 yards in 2017. Both 1 shot kills and both animals traveled Zero yards. This year was a Bull Elk at 383 yards with a 28 Nosler 175 gr Accubond LR (due to work had to use factory loads this year

 

[tr175]

RL26 and Barnes139 or 145gr LRX& never look back. PM me if you need specific details.

 

[Tiny Tim]

Near max load of H1000, 160 gr Accubond, Fed 215GMM. Even with Fed brass, 1.5" @ 300 yds. Never let me down.

 

[Allen Kitts]

I used a 7Mag for years here in Montana. I shot 140 grain Barnes TTSX. Never lost an animal. Switched over to a 7MM STW and shot the same bullet. Devastating. I never did kill anything over 500 yards with it but it struck like a lightning bolt. I used RL 22.