Browning X-Bolt 7mm Rem Mag -- Heaviest Bullet Weight?

About any decent 160 or 175 will handle elk with a 7 rem mag. I personally have had better luck with the 175 group, and both the 175 Fusion (if you can get ahold of them) and good ol' Speer HotCors (spitzer or the older MagTip) have come through nicely at ranges to 400 yds. Not exactly the best choices for getting out to ranges beyond 600 but as long as I do my part (good loading practices and marksmanship) they've proven to be consistent enough for reasonable elk ranges like the 400 I mentioned above. Not the highest BC you're going to find, but the terminal performance on elk makes up for some of that in my mind. No problem loading them for sub-MOA to 1 MOA out to 300, and elk do provide a fairly good size kill zone so I've never felt like I was taking a bad risk reaching out a bit further. Both the 168 and 175 Nosler Long Range Accubonds look like they'll stretch that out to extended hunting ranges, and as mentioned earlier the Bergers come into play here as well.

140's and 150's for deer and antelope all day long. There are lighter pills that will git 'er dun on game in this size class but my experience at the range suggests that you begin to give up the ability to buck a crosswind with the lighter choices, and that can become even more of a problem when you start chasing critters across up-and-down terrain.

If I was going to try to pick one bullet for both deer and elk-sized game in this caliber I would default to the heavier pills...but that said I have seen those who pick the 160 and have certainly been successful. Again, any decent quality bullet in that weight class should work, with one caveat - I don't think I'd use the 160 Sierras. Fine for deer but I've both seen and heard stories of bad luck on elk. If you like this weight class, consider something with a bonded core. I do like the Barnes offerings here but make sure you do your testing to be sure of your accuracy...my unfortunate experience was that the TSX seemed to like lower velocities for accuracy, partly defeating the purpose for long range work.
 
Forgot to mention - a friend reminded me that the Barnes TTSX performs better than the untipped TSX at higher speeds, so that may be worth consideration if that one-bullet-for-all scenario is desired. They do seem to offer better expansion on deer, but I'll stop here since I have not put 'em to the test in this caliber.
 
If you've got one of the Hell's Canyon Long Range models, you have a 1:8 twist, at least in the new ones. The 195 grain Bergers will be heavy enough and slow down enough to give you the best of both worlds. If you have the standard 1:9.5 twist, the 150-grain Scirocco will be accurate and deadly, albeit expensive. Doesn't open up explosively like Ballistic tips, but expands more than A-Frames. Barnes TTSX in the 7 Mag is a good choice, too.
 
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I have a Vanguard with 9:5 twist. The heaviest bullet it will stabilize is 155gr.
1:9.5 twist...the most common one. We know what you mean. Use 150 grain Scirocco seated a couple thousandths into the lands with whatever the max charge of H4831SC turns out to be in your rifle, and you'll be set for near and far, big and small!
 
7 mag is always long action
The xbolt rotary mag allows 3.6" no problem
Buy an mcarbo trigger spring to reduce the pull weight
Your bullet weight will depend on your altitude, bullet speed, bullet length, and twist rate--- punch your numbers into bergers twist rate calculator to get your answer.
My lr stalker with same twist as yours shoots 2 bullets lights out-- trigger time I use the 162 eld-m bullet -- under 3/4 moa everytime.---- hunting I use the 143 hammer hunter, it is stupid accurate, my best group was 1/4 moa, my worst was 3/4moa.

50mm scopes usually require high rings, check with ring/base manufacture fir best info

For 20moa based you can buy egwguns -
Talley, and browning sells one right on their website (Google is your friend)

I love my xbolt.

Do NOT ignore elevation changes! INSIST upon checking zero of your rifle when moving more than 1000 ft, if at all possible. This mistake cost me the buck of 10 lifetimes over! Everything perfect except trajectory of the bullet!
 
As to elevation I live at 7630'. Out at my 400 yd target I notice I get about a 2" flatter trajectory that what my loading manual drop table indicates.
 
Use 150 grain Scirocco seated a couple thousandths into the lands with whatever the max charge of H4831SC turns out to be in your rifle, and you'll be set for near and far, big and small!
Sciroccos have never shot well jammed for me. Went down that rabbit hole too many times. I personally have found the sweet spot .030"-.060" jump. Swift will recommend plenty of jump as well.
 
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Interesting. As I have said, the Tikka T3x SuperLite is still an option with its 9.5" twist and 22" barrel, but I have concerns about the short barrel. What would make the difference between the two both having 9.5" twists, besides barrel length and OAL allowed with magazine?
I like the Remington 700 with the 26" barrel , so I would probably go with the one that offers the longer barrel and if you can get it in a heavy barrel that's even better.
 
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