WOW..Will a 7 rem approach/equal 7mm weatherby performance?
Yes,IME with 26" barreled, long throat 7RM,VS my 24" 7wby, the RM will duplicate it.I have no idea what the pressures are tho.
Using Wby data in the RM? absolute horseshit. As BOBNH knows, some 7wby data will redline a Mashburn, think what thats going to do in your RM.
I load a lot for both, NEVER has the RM max been within 3 grains of what i've used in my WBY. My personal info is based on heavy bullets tho, maybe data on lighter bullets is closer, i dont know..But if you plan on using WBY data in your RM, you better be packing along a hammer to open the bolt.
I agree with you roscoe. I only own two 7mm RM's at this time, but I'd never dream of trying the Wby loads in either.
Your comment about packing along a hammer reminded me of a really nice older Rem 700 BDL that a guy brought into our shop back in the 70's. It was a 25-06 and he had the bolt handle in his pocket. Seems he'd started handloading and decided to try some rather... ahem... "stout" loads in it.
He'd locked it up so tight that he'd been using a claw hammer on the bolt handle and had broken the brazed joint between the handle and bolt body. Knowing the guy's reputation as an ignorant, hot-headed, know-it-all azzhole, my partner and I decided we weren't going to mess with it, but we offered to ship the rifle back to Remington. He went for it. It took some real banjo work for the guys at Remington to get that rifle apart, and it wasn't pretty. They had requested a few rounds of that batch of his handloads and we had sent them along (could do that back in those days).
The rifle was deemed unrepairable, but it was a testament to the strength of the 700 action. The fired cartridge's primer was totally gone, the extractor was mostly gone, there was noticeable setback on the bolt lugs, and the receiver ring and barrel breech were just measurably stretched/expanded, not much, but enough that it wasn't safe to repair the rifle.
Remington didn't charge a thing for the disassembly and checkout, and offered a good price on a new barreled action that could be dropped into his stock (which was amazingly still intact and not cracked, IIRC). He took their offer and got back a nice rifle. This was in latter half of the 70's and I think Remington was glad to get to examine that rifle closely to see how their product held up to sheer stupidity.
I wish I could remember the load that was in that guy's handloads, but I vaguely remember that it was around 50gr of maybe IMR-3031 under a 120gr Speer. "Well that load works great in my 30-06 with a 150gr bullet and I'm only shooting a 120gr bullet in my 25-06."........ Sheesh.....
This was the same guy that badly bent the op-rod on a really nice Garand several years later, I heard.
Edited to add that this was also the same guy that was experimenting with a release trigger at the Trap and Skeet club one Sunday afternoon. I was taking a turn as trap-boy in the trap house, loading the clay pigeons, and the THIRD time this Bozo shot the back of the trap house, I threw out the red flag and came outta there. I'd had enough. Nobody else would load the birds for him, so he got pissed off and hit the road. Same guy also blew up a Rem 1100, B-grade skeet gun one day at the club. I wasn't there, but saw some pics of it. Don't remember how he managed that one.
