Why the 7mm Rem Mag?

[Siggy32]

Teri Anne said:
WOW!!! I am curious to know what 6.5 ammo can reach out and get 1500 ft lb of energy at 600 yards. The best I can find anywhere runs a little over 1000 ft lbs at 500 yards. I actually would like to buy or duplicate that ammo. Can you fill me in on what you are using? Thanks.


Have you seen the advertisements for the new 6.8 Western by Winchester? NOT 6.5 but the hype is interesting.

 

[reconrover]

The 7mm Magnum gave birth to the 6.5 Creedmoor....and then wrote it out of his will. No trust fund for you Creedmoor

 

[7070yshot]

WOW!!! I am curious to know what 6.5 ammo can reach out and get 1500 ft lb of energy at 600 yards. The best I can find anywhere runs a little over 1000 ft lbs at 500 yards. I actually would like to buy or duplicate that ammo. Can you fill me in on what you are using? Thanks.

IME 6.5CM factory ammo is best at 400y and below for killing deer unless you can make a neck shot. 6.5 is capable of killing swiftly at 500y but it's definitely a lower probability, again after guiding many hunts and taken over a dozen creatures between 300-500y
Hand loads are another story.

 

[7070yshot]

I love the .284 calibers. Perfect for most North American game. I'm no expert but it's pretty obvious. They offer some advantages over bigger calibers for sure. Killing power may not be one but the 7 offers plenty of that for most game at most ranges. I'd definitely skip the 30s for the longest ranges in bad conditions on big game. The 338 and up is the answer to those scenarios.

7 Mag is a great killer IMO/IME it's one of those cartridges that seems to kill beyond what the paper says. It's only short coming IMO is the chamber limiting the the bullet sizes. Primarily modern long heavy for caliber bullets.
A 28 Nos is a great modern 7mag and everything the 7Mag wanted to be.
My only advice is avoid the pencil barrels with these fast rounds. A waste of steel IMO, get a bigger contour barrel and you will be very happy for a long time. Hunting and some long range steel work.

 

[jdavistx]

If I could only have 2 rifles of different calibers they would be a 7mm RM and a 338 Lapua.

 

[NielsC]

I think the single major issue to me is recoil. A friend had a beautiful 7mm RUM for sale and I was looking for something with a little better ballistics at distance for late season elk. The 7 RUM was a REM 700 probably early 80's. No muzzle brake. This thing was flat nasty to shoot. I hade owned 458 Win Mags and H&H's that I remember as having less recoil. I thought it must be my advancing years so I gave up on the 7 RUM.
As it happened I was talking to a old shooting friend / gunsmith about my expierence. He said he had a perfect gun for me which was another Remington 700 but this in 300 RUM. I said too much gun for me as this one had a composite stock and was lighter. He said no, as it had a muzzle brake, just try it. He was right in the muzzle break made the recoil even less than my .270. I later talked to another old fart hunting friend that installed a muzzle break on his 7mm RUM, he found the same results. I am a big fan of muzzle breaks for us older guys. I gained 300 yards more of confidence on Elk and Ngali.

 

[Ben Keller]

Listen to Gunwerks most recent podcast from
Aaron Davidson. Pretty good listen if you have an open mind. He talks a lot about the actual need (hunt specific) of the hunter not the want. Also talks a lot about recoil and it's effect of himself. I share a pretty similar opinion but he is pretty high on the 7 RM as well as 7LRM because it's downrange capability coupled with the manageable felt recoil. In other words minimal bang with big results.

 

[Lee Goodwin]

At 75 yards plus a 270 launching a 150 grain projectile has more killing power than a 6.5 Hornady CM 140 grain, does at the muzzle...2700 fps or so

 

[Teri Anne]

I completely agree with VLD. Up until a few years ago I had a few 30-06 as well as .308 rifles. They were all Winchester Model 70's which I shot competitively in the Army using the 300 H&H for 1000 yard shooting. The commercial versions out of the box were a disappointment and all of them had to be accurized before they would shoot under 1 MOA. Minor changes so to speak, glass bedding and floating the barrels but they all ended up being able to shoot 1 MOA or less. A few years ago after hearing all of the hype about out of the box 1 MOA accuracy based on my previous experience of out of the box rifles I decided to try a few out. I came across a Tikka T3X in 30-06 that was little used at a good price. It was traded in by a guy that said, "It doesn't shoot very well." Actually those were not his exact words, his language was more explicit. I bought it from the dealer he traded it in to for a very good price. I put a Leupold 20 moa rail on it, topped by a Vortex Diamondback Tactical 6 x 24 x 50 in Vortex rings. Got some Sig Sauer 165 gr factory ammo and headed out to the range. To make a long story short, after sighting in the scope I fired a 5 shot group benching at 100 yards that measured a bit under 0.650. Needless to say there was nothing wrong with the rifle. I had forgotten how much fun it was playing around with different loads and trying to squeeze the best accuracy out of the rifle and that ended up creating a bit of a monster. Since the 30-06 was not out of the box new and the .270 had always intrigued me especially after reading Jack O'Conners tales so I bought another Tikka T3X this time in .270 Win. Same drill, with an identical scope setup to the 30-06 and another box of Sig Sauer ammo, this time 140 gr. This time the first two shots were way high and a little over 3/4 of an inch right. Adjusted the scope accordingly and brought the group down close to the center, did some fine tuning and fired the group shown on the picture of he target. Note that I was shooting with a gusty cross wind, about 10 gusting to 15 and trying to shoot between gusts, missed one gust which is the flyer out to the left 1 inch, validating Tikka's claim to 1 MOA or less out of the box. So now what is next. Some of you may remember my stories of .300 Win Mag past and present. New challenge is a Browning AB3. It's already shooting at 1 MOA + - but more fine tuning to come.

 

[Vegas777]

To me, 7mm mag simply kicks softer than say 308 3006. I realize physics says this isnt true, but truly my personal fit. To me, the "boom" had a deeper sound as well (seems better to me ears). Just seems like a smooth fire, hard to explain. I have 308, 3006, 300wn, 338, 338 lapua etc, can shoot all fine but 7mm has been my go to. 2 cents (or maybe 1 cent) lol

 

[Teri Anne]

My go to for more years than I care to remember was the .308, which in my Model 70's tagged a lot of Wisconsin Whitetails. Being retired, now with a lot of time on my hands I decided as posted elsewhere to start playing with Accurate Rifles, or should I say making them so. At this moment I do not have any specific go to out of the .270, .308, 30-06 and 300 WM. If I was to have to make a choice at this moment it would be the Tikka T3x in 30-06. Once done with the 300 WM a friend has a 7MM Rem Mag that I can play with. LOL...buying new rifles to try out is expensive, but too much fun not to continue.

 

[HunterMann]

Many talk about recoil and when young I shot very powerful rifles.458 win mag,460 Rem Mag,416 Taylor just to name a few,but the 460 Rigby was about the toughest but recoil did not stop me from a challenge.
Now I consider recoil in my older years.Stock design is a big factor on recoil.I owned 7mm mag that crossed my eyes with 1 shot so I sold it to a friend that put a different stock on it and that rifle was a joy to shoot.
I don't own any 7mm rifles anymore,nothing against them I stay with 30 cal so I don't have to stock as many different size bullets anymore but if I still had other 7mm rifles I would not hesitate in buying another 7mm mag.
Need a 9/16th wrench?Want a snapon or a SK Wayne.Both do the same thing
Just my opinion

I never thought the 416 Rigby was too bad; I just preferred the 375 H&H. Bullet weight, powder charge, barrel length, velocity, stock design and fit all affect perceived recoil. All those factors (and others) can be adjusted. I now have Ruger Hawkeye in 375 Ruger and with the factory stock it was a bit zippy. I changed the stock out and added a good recoil pad which improved the shooting experience. I once had a 270 Winchester that shot tight clover leaf groups with factory ammo, but I never liked it much. Wish I had kept it, because now I could have made more to my liking. I have learned there is no reason to endure too much recoil. Use enough gun, but only shoot ones that you enjoy.

 

[epoletna]

Second day of antelope season in NV this year we glassed a buck at 550 yards. I had not prepared myself for a 500+ yard shot with my Creedmoor, so I used the guide's 7 mm Rem Mag with Sig Sauer 162 gr bullets. Long story short, that did the trick. Now I have to go sight my Creedmoor for 500+ yard shots.

BTW, I have my own 7 mm Rem Mag built on a Santa Barbara action. Nice rifle, and I've taken a fair amount of African plains game with it, but in recent years when I get it out I just don't enjoy the recoil, so I had left it home. That was a mistake. Fortunately my guide had a loaner with a muzzle brake, and the recoil was not an issue.

 

[wallhangergun]

Hahaha....Exactly.

The more you shoot, the more recoil sensitive you get. I had an old friend who killed a bull elk and a big whitetail buck every year and his two guns were a .303 Savage 99 and a .270 Win. Mod 70. He'd ask me to check his zero for him, because he felt doing so himself might spoil his shooting. He told me, "People who don't know how to hunt have to know how to shoot."