Whats wrong with the good ole 7mm?

[Rosebud]

Absolutely nothing wrong with the 7 RM. Accurate, hard hitting cartridge. But, the belt will eventually doom it. Rounds like the 7PRC , 7SS, etc. Will take its place because they are easier to load and case life is much better. They are easier to manufacture than the RM because of the belt. The 7 RM "will" separate at the belt far sooner the the 7 PRC will have any issues. Just the way of things, progression of ammunition leaves the older designs behind.

 

[Phil Rizzo]

I fully agree. And I carried a factory "accurized " 7RM for 20+ years.
Got the SS in 2017 and the PRC in 2023.
7 mega coming soon.

 

[orcldba]

Absolutely NOTHING WRONG or bad about the 7RM. Have had one for decades and it's accurate. I've gone back to more "classic" cartridges like the 06, 308, 280 Rem, 7x57, 257 Roberts, etc. Newer powders get higher velocities from the classics, rifles are lighter, and don't burn as much powder, but I break out the 7 RM & 30 WM mag when ranges hit 500+, which is rare for me anymore.

 

[VinceMule]

Coming economic hardships may put an end to many of the new cartridges.

 

[NotLongRange]

I have a 7mm Remington Magnum and it is one of my favorite cartridges. Extremely versatile and I have seen it drop bull elk easily with 160 grain bullets.

It wasn't designed to shoot bullets 175 grain bullets and heavier, but it doesn't really need to. I have a 7 PRC for 175 grain bullets and heavier..because that is what it was designed for.

I like them both and they're both great rifles and cartridges…

 

[VinceMule]

NotLongRange, the 175g Sierra btsp and 175 LRAB are incredible in my family's remington 700 in 7 Rem Mag, two powders:
R#22 at 2800-2850 fps and R#26 at 3030-3060 both with cci 250s. We do love the 160-168s with Retumbo and 215s at 3100. We run 26" barrels.

 

[NotLongRange]

Some 7mm Rem Mags will stabilize 175s and some won't. Before the heavy bullet for caliber craze, I figured I could shoot 180 grain bullets in a .30 cal magnum, so I never worried about shooting 175s in my 7mm Rem Mag.

 

[VinceMule]

175g Sierra shot well in every Remington I tried them in, but they have a lot of bearing surface....key. The 175g Noslers are exceptional in 9 Twists where they are seated barely touching or barely off the lands, and they are sorted by ogive length. I am at 500 ft sea level.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

I was thinking to myself today...with all of the off breeds of the 7mm Remington Magnum, do they really offer that much of an advantage? I am no shooting professional and will never claim to be! but I was looking through my reloading book and there is the 7mm Remington mag, 7wsm, 7stw, 7 ultra mag, 7mm-08, 7 short action ultra mag, and the list goes on. Lots and lots of options! actually kind of crazy how so many different rounds have been produced off of the 7mm. But I guess the 308 brass has brought many many new rounds to the world of shooters as well. Anyway, just some food for though. Gave me something to ponder on for a while today. I know that the 7 STW proved itself to be a really productive caliber, but is there really much that these new super ultra short hyper mags do that the boring little 7mm Remington cant? gun)

Have a good week everyone!

I am kinda right there with you.
I am sticking to my 7RM and 7STW.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

Well that makes sense!

As far as reloading goes for the 7mm, I had someone tell me that the belt on the regular 7mm sometimes makes it a little difficult for loading, is that why the 7wsm is popular? because it doesnt have the belt?

I have only had one problem with some browning brass that needed a Willis die.
Other than that I really like the belted magnums.

 

[Victor3Ranger1]

Great discussion!

I'm a bit partial since I just bought a 7 RM. So far I love it. Of course I'm building a list of things to buy for it, but could easily live with it as is, if that's the only choice I had.

One thing that surprised me was the lack of "brutal recoil" that I'd always heard about. Mine is just a factory Weatherby Vanguard with the (JUNK) plastic stock, so it's not heavy. Oh well, I guess some are just more recoil sensitive than others.

And believe it or not, that was the one thing that held me back from the 7 RM for so many years----tales of hard recoil. Hell.....I should have bought one a looooong time ago. I love it.

I have only shot a few that were pounders and those were the factory walnut stock rifles

 

[NotLongRange]

Reloading cartridges with a belt is no big deal…people have done it for decades. As far as popularity…it is probably one of the top 5 most popular big game cartridges in the Rocky Mountain West.

 

[southpa]

I don't understand the idea that a 7RM "was designed to shoot lighter bullets" you can build a 7RM to shoot any bullet you want. Berger adjusted their twist rate for 195s to 9T as well....
I have several 7RMs. It's my all time favorite round. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it, there is great bullets from 120 grains-197 grains. You can run screamer speeds with lighter bullets or you can throat it correctly to shoot heavies. IMO it's the perfect case capacity for the 7mm. Can push the heavies fast enough without being too overbore, there's oodles of info out there on loading for it, quality brass and flat out performance with the 180 class bullets, which is what I think the cartridge shines best with, especially if you throat it correctly.

 

[NotLongRange]

I don't understand the idea that a 7RM "was designed to shoot lighter bullets" you can build a 7RM to shoot any bullet you want. Berger adjusted their twist rate for 195s to 9T as well....
I have several 7RMs. It's my all time favorite round. Personally, I see nothing wrong with it, there is great bullets from 120 grains-197 grains. You can run screamer speeds with lighter bullets or you can throat it correctly to shoot heavies. IMO it's the perfect case capacity for the 7mm. Can push the heavies fast enough without being too overbore, there's oodles of info out there on loading for it, quality brass and flat out performance with the 180 class bullets, which is what I think the cartridge shines best with, especially if you throat it correctly.

Of course you can do that - the same can be said for just about any cartridge. They just weren't offered in that configuration in factory rifles. All things are possible with custom rifles…