For whatever set of reasons (and there are many), any number of 7mm Rem. Mag. rifles can vary greatly in terms of acceptable pressures, and because of that (amoung other factors), they can also vary widely in terms of realized velocities. This fact didn't get lost on any of the reloading/componenets companies, and that's why the listed loads for the 7mm Rem. Mag. have been greatly reduced over the last 20 years or so. If you look up early 1970s data in any of the loading manuals from that era and compare it to today's data, you'll quickly see the disparity for yourself.

This doesn't mean that the older data is uniformly unsafe in every rifle, but it does mean that it's by no means really and truly safe in every rifle with today's powders, etc. Pressure testing is a lot more precise today as well.

I started loading the 7mm Rem. Mag. over 30 years ago, and I've owned a great many 7-Mags. Some of them accepted some of the older listed loads (including some of Jack O'Connor's and Bob Hagel's hot loads) without any sings of high pressure, and those rifles also delivered high velocities, the kind that you'd expect out of this cartridge.

Other rifles were real headaches in terms of pressures, and would show sticking cases and ejector marks with loads that weren't even close to what other 7mm Rem. Mag. rifles would accept as maximum. That's the nature of this particular beast, I'm afraid.

John Wooters, who was and is an extremely experienced user of the 7mm Rem. Mag. voiced the need to be extra-cautious as you work up loads for this cartridge, and he was absolutely right on with everything he had to say, especially in that "careless handloading practices will catch up with you more quickly with this cartridge than with most others." Every word of that statement weighs a pound, at least...........

That's one of the reasons that I went with the 300 Win. Mag. in lieu of the 7mm Rem. Mag. many years ago. It's fuss-free, trouble-free, predictable, accurate, and it'll do all that the 7-Mag will do, and then some. You can also load 150 and 165 gr. loads if you don't want to deal with the recoil of 180 and 200 gr. loads and still shoot the works, especially with today's bullets.

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