Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Why has the 7Rmag lost its popularity??

I was without one for a couple of decades, but bought another a few months ago. I have always liked the cartridge.
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Without sales figures this is all speculation.

The latest I saw recently was 2012 for RCBS die sales. It's in the Top Ten.

You bump into these "most popular" and "most ammo sales" numbers here and there all the time and the cartridge is consistently somewhere in the top ten,although it can sometimes be tough to find ammo manufacturers sales numbers.

In the realm of BG cartridges I have never seen the 7RM listed outside the top ten. It's not speculation. You can Google it.



I trolled around for awhile trying to find numbers but my search skills are limited. I did bump into this from another website. Where the numbers came from I have no idea but they are consistent in general for what I have seen for ammo and die sales.







Hows this for official Numbers?

2011 RCBS reloading die sales:
Rifle:
1. .308 Win
2. .223 Rem
3. 30-06 Spr
4. .243 Win
5. .270 Win
6 . .300 WinMag
7. 7mm RemMag
8. .22-250 Rem
9 7mm-08 Rem
10. .300 WSM

Handgun:
1. .45 ACP
2. 9mm Luger
3. .40 S&W
4. .38 Spl/.357 Mag
5. .44 SPl/.44 Mag
6. .45 Colt
7. .380 ACP



2011 Federal loaded rifle ammo sales.
1. 30-06 Spr
2. .223 Rem
3. 30-30 Win
4. 308 Win
5. 270 Win
6. 7mm RemMag
7. .243 Win
8. 22-250 Rem
9. 300 WinMag
10. 25-06

Thanks for the info. What I was referring to was to the title of the post. I guess I could have been clearer to avoid confusion. I figured it was a bold 'claim' to make without checking numbers. I can see it gaining popularity with more guys interested in long range shooting (at least around here).

Pieter.

Pieter: It's not going anywhere soon.

I know all the target guys are now shooting little 6.5's and 6mm's but the 7 Rem Mag was never in that niche anyway,although early on some used it for 1000 yard competition.

It was in the realm of BG hunting that it became popular.

I never caught magnumitis back in the days when a few new magnum cartridges were being brought out every year. Even when I lived in Kodiak I didn't feel like I needed a magnum when I Brown Bear hunted. I have no idea how popular any of the cartridges are as there's simply not much data out there to draw from. It does seem like when I look at store shelves there are fewer magnums in the racks than there would have been 10-15 years ago. Good bullets, well placed is what it's all about.

You obviously need two things:

1. A basic lesson in reloading.

2. Someone to re-educate you about believing everything you read on the internet.

It's still in the top sellers. Don't think it has fallen out of popolarity, just not much new to say about it. It's a boringly reliable killer for anything in North America.

For years a 7 RM was my go to deer rifle. I used others but killed an awful lot with it. Gave it to my son several years ago. Figured he needs a boring rifle that just kills schitt.

Its still very popular here in Utah, even among younger shooters. Myself? I prefer my 280...I don't shoot game beyond 350 or so.

7 Mag is perfect, just like everything else....

+1.

My 7mm RM leaves a tiny scratch in the brass near the shoulder every time I extract a case from the chamber. I've had up t0 18 such scratches before I tossed the brass. Although I check the inside of every case every time I reload - just as I do for beltless cases - I toss the cases at 12 reloads with no signs of incipient case head separation.

As to popularity, it was all I had for 20+ years, at least in bolt guns suitable for big game. These days the kids are gone, their college paid for and I have 'invested' in a variety of other 'big game' rifles from .257 Roberts to .338WM in bolts and .30-30 to .45-70 in levers. All get used. Last year I used a 7mm RM and .280 Rem, this year I'm taking my .300WM and .338WM.

My hunting partner uses a 7mm RM exclusively.

Why not use the 7mm RM more? Too many toys, too little time.

It seemed like everyone had them in the AL and TN woods in the 1990s especially. I still see a lot of them, but see a bigger variety today than 20 years ago. I was using an obsolete Marlin 35 Rem then. Guess it is even more obsolete now.

I had a Mark X action barreled with a Hart varmint contour barrel and set the case headspace on the shoulder by necking the brass up to .30 caliber, and then back down to 7mm, by adjusting the F.L. die down until the bolt just closes with a bit of resistance. The blasted thing is scary accurate, but like everything else, I moved on to other stuff and haven't fired it in a decade or more.

What I've noticed is that if a cartridge suffers a drop off in popularity, it's because most shooters are like women changing shoe styles every few years.

Because they play with rifles and cartridges more than they use them to actually kill bunches of animals,they are constantly running around looking for the newest and latest cartridge offering so many illusory advantages over their "old', "antiquated" 270, 30/06, or 7 Rem Mag.

This leads to safes stuffed with rifles chambered for cartridges that are out of fashion.

History has proven many of these new 90 day wonders fail to deliver any significant improvement. There is a very small handful of truly ubiquitous worldwide BG cartridges available. The 7 Rem Mag is one of them.

For elk these days I use a 300 Wby and leave the magic 7 at home. But in 1977 as a teenager I bought mine for the day I could use it hunting elk. The physician who shot at my uncles and who loved guns and hunting and could afford to shoot anything chose the 7 RM as his best tool for the job.

After 30 deer and 1/2 dozen elk it still can put 3 shots in a dime at 100 yards and it just kills stuff from 11 to 500 yards....... but I usually tell new hunters to buy a 30-06.

For deer hunting at longer ranges 300+ yards I don't think you can go wrong with the 7 and they carry it at the local hardware store or Walmart unlike a STW or Weatherby. You certainly don't need one for 140 lb. whitetail does at 85 yards.

But it isn't the hottest newest sexiest caliber like it was when I was a kid.

WORD/

Like you I often recommend a .30-06 - to the point that a .30-06 is what I buy for wedding presents for sons-in-law. For Daughter #1 I recommended a .308 Win.


The problem with "deer hunting at longer ranges 300+ yards" is that you never know at what range you will actually be shooting. On one occasion I anticipated a 300 yards shot if I was lucky, 600 if not. Instead I had an opportunity at 25 feet.

300 Weatherby solves all problems. Someday you'll come to the right answer.

This I have a rem and a bee