Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The 7mm Rem Mag thoughts.

Never owned one. Have hunted with one and been along side it during hunts. I've been putting together a handful of classics and thought I'd add a 7 mag. From my perspective it's got some down range horsepower and the recoil isn't that bad. I'd probably never be the guy that would truly realize it's long range potential but the same could be said about my 300 WM.

I want to hear opinions about this classic. There are always faster magnums but at the expense of the 7 RM virtues.

The 7mag is a great caliber.I've used one for over 20yrs.Load data is a little on the mild side these days,but I have run 140gr bullets 3200fps,150gr bullets 3100fps and 160gr bullets 3000fps.I've shot many deer and hogs with the 7mag and I never felt over gunned or under gunned with it.It's about like the 30-06 of the 7mm's and you cannot go too wrong with that.My favorite bullets to shoot these days are the 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip or 160gr Nosler Accubond.

I'm probably odd man out here. I built a custom 7 mag quite a few years back to be my "do-it-all" gun. It made up into a nice rifle that I had great hopes for. What I found was that the 7 was louder than the .30/06, kicked harder, and used a fair amount more powder to get not that much greater velocity. I ended up selling the 7mm mag, and can't say that I have been handicapped for doing so. It is a good round, just not my cup of tea as much as I wanted it to be.

Depends on what you want to do but I feel that the 7mm-08 is more efficient for most purposes.

I tried the 7mm rem mag. Great cartridge for those long range shots. It really fits the bill in this department. The one I had was exceptionally accurate with damn near every bullet I tried in it. It doted on the 162gr. Hornady btsp, A-max and 160gr. Nosler partitions. Generally running from 3,000-3,050 fps. with those pills. It kicked no harder than my 30-06 rifles and was a pleasure to shoot. It was a stainless classic that I cut the barrel down to 24". The 26" always seemed cumbersome to me...

....The 7 Rem Mag is without any doubt a classic round, and it is a great round.

However, being 55 years since its intro, it is very (extremely) common. Makes for ho-hum conversation in the field or at the range.
Watcha shootin there? A 7mm Rem Mag. Oh ok, carry on...lol

For the most part, everyone who owns a 7 mag, has a 7 Rem Mag.

It is classic and great, while commonly boring at the same time.

7mm Rem Mag is an outstanding cartridge, I have owned more rifles than I can recall in this classic cartridge, in fact the only cartridge I like better is the .300 Win........Good luck and enjoy!........Hb

Hands down,the 2 most accurate "out of the box" rifles I've owned were 7 Rem mags. A M700 BDL,and a Tikka T3. Now bear in mind,they didn't do it with all bullet weights. One preferred 150 grain bullets,the other 160 grain. Both shot sub MOA across the board. Out of the box. No tinkering. Neither kicked bad at all. Easy to load for. Our elk camp has taken five bulls in two trips. All with the 7 Rem mag. Every man's belted magnum. Usually the first "magnum" hunters buy. Nuttin wrong with that. Hey I was born in the fall of 62. A lot of good things came out of that year.

My favorite rifle cartridge of all time. It is not even close

I've had a couple over the years. I can't detect any difference in recoil over 30-06 with similar bullet weights. On paper they look good, but in the real world I can hand load similar bullet weights for my 22" 30-06 at the same speeds that I could actually get from a 24" 7 mag. I found published data for 7 mag loads to be "optimistic".

In similar bullet weights 7mm bullets will have better BC's and that does translate to more energy and slightly less bullet drop even if started at the same speeds. But the advantages weren't great enough for me to justify keeping a 7 mag and a 30-06. And I had too much history with my 30-06's to part with them.

Yep, much like shooting an 06. The 06 is likely MORE boring than a 7 RM in conversations.


That's NOT to criticize or demean either. I have BOTH.

Jerry

If I was limited to only one big game rifle for NA, it would be at or near the top of the list. Can't go wrong.

7mm Rem Mag is no doubt a classic like the 30-06 everyone should own at least one. I like them both but I've never owned a 30-06 that could shove a .631 BC bullet at 2970 fps.

With modern bullets, like the Nosler Accubond LR, the 7 mag really comes into its own as a long range game getter, IMO. I handloaded some 150 grainers for my son's 7mm, and they get great sub-MOA accuracy and 3200 fps mv. It's the last handload combo this rifle will ever see!
It may be 'old', but still one of the best of the 7mms out there.

The 7/08 doesn't show very efficient;y when you want to move a 160-162Amax or Accubond at over 3000 fps. When I hear "efficiency" I usually also hear "less performance".

People find it's "similar" to the 30/06 because that's what it was designed to be, only flatter shooter and faster with optimum loads in each.

Loaded properly the 7 Rem Mag will leave the 30/06,270,280.280AI behind. It's among the top 5-10 worldwide BG cartridges,far ahead of most CF pets.

There may be better choices for "deer cartridges" but who cares about deer? The 7 Rem Mag was designed to be an all round big game cartridge,with deer being at the bottom of the list. It's capable of taking any game animal on the continent.

You can't hardly find anything better as a general purpose BG cartridge.

I only have 5 of them, guess I like the 7 mag a little bit. My favorite cartridge for sure.

All of which is the reason it is known as the 7mm Rem Magnificent, at least that's what I have called it since 1978.

I had one for 10 years or so, pretty good gun. I killed lots of stuff with it. It was a very picky rifle but 154 Hornadys at 2930fps shot well. I sold it and bought a 30-06 and haven't regretted it one bit.

Total agreement.

I own or have owned many different cals/cartridges over the years, even tried the wildcat route for a while, but when it boils down to it for a big game hunting cartridge, the 7RM remains my all time favorite and is commonly what others are judged against. It simply offers an outstanding balance of accuracy, recoil, ballistics, and lethality.

As mentioned, it's a boring cartridge. It's along the lines of the great 30-06 or 270win, just better than either