Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm RM - powder suggestion

Got some Nosler 140 AB & 160 AB and PT. Was wondering what powder would be good to start with?

RL22 for the 140's, RL25 for the 160's.

RL26 for both! If you can't find that, 22, 19, 23, 7828, 4350's, and similar will all work pretty well. Rl17 isn't horrible either.

72 grains MagPro gives me 3,000 fps at the muzzle with 160 AB and great accuracy.





P

Ditto on the RL22 rec. I always reach for it first.

R22, IMR7828, for 150-160gr bullets are two that work for me.

I'll join in with the RL-22 crowd here. Always worked well in my 7mm Rem mag.

Guy

Re 22 has been outstanding for 140 gr bullets!

I like R22 and R23, both have performed very well in all my 7s

Hey WyoCH. What cha puttin under those 140s for a charge?

H1000 is what I've settled on in my 7mm rem mag. RL22 is way too temperature sensitive and RL26 gave me great velocity but so-so accuracy.

My nephew uses Retumbo with 160gr, Accubonds with good results.

Beat me to it!

IMR 7977 is my "go to" powder in the 7mm Rem Mag. behind 140gr Barnes T-TSX. 3 shots into 0.6" @ 100yds at 3100 fps. Very good temperature stability.

Leftybolt

RL-19 and RL-17 have both worked in several rifles.

Do you have any load data?

My 8 twist Brux, 7RM does very well with RL-25 and 180 VLD's. It likes 168's too, the group edge goes to 180's.

LR, at least on paper it seems to be a wash, higher velocity vs. higher B.C.'s.

Would appreciate info, 180's vs. 168's, experience with RL-26.

DF

Would also like info on RL 26 with 180 gr please.

Not much data on RL-26. It should work well with heavier 7RM bullets.

In addition to the 180 VLD, I would like to try the 175 ABLR and 175 NPT. If I can run those somewhere around 3K fps, I think they would be very effective.

DF

I've used 64 grains of IMR 4350 for 30 plus years in a dozen 7 Rem mags.

Very accurate,but I have a can of Redoader 22 I'm gonna try soon.

I took 180s over 3000 fps and didn't have pressure signs with RL26 and topping out at 69 grains. Mine were seated at 3.49 oal and were .01 off the lands. Used cci mag primers. I ended up at 67.2 and around 2970 fps. 25" barrel.

Certainly works well enough with 139 GMXs in my #1-S too!

I'm having a hard time finding 140 Nosler ballistic tip bullets!!

OK tried RL 26 in my LH Ruger,7 MM Rem Mag, 24" MK 2 , 180 GR Hornady ELD seconds from Midway. Shot 1 round each for velocity, and 3 for inital group. RP case, CCI Mag primer,
seated to mag length.

Accurate and no signs of bullet instability at 50 foot elevation.

66 GR RL 26, 3 @ 1.7" 2888 FPS

66.5 GR RL 26 3 @ 1.3 2897 FPS

67 Gr RL 26 2 @ .20" 3 @ 1.2 pulled one shot 2938 FPS

1 shot of 67.5 GR RL 26 2946 FPS

1 shot of 68 GR RL 26 3005 FPS

RL 26 continues to impress me. No excess pressure signs.

IMR7828 SuperShortCut at 69grains with the 140 bullet works good for me

Does anyone know how close RL-25 and RL-26 are in burn rate, loads, etc.? I have good RL-25 data, don't see much on RL-26.

Thanks, KK for your work. If you've used RL-25, how much difference in loads, velocity, etc. between those two.

DF

Just checked Alliant data, RL-25 and RL-26.

There was only one common bullet in the 7RM data, the 160 gr. Speer BTSP.

70 gr. RL 25, 160 BTSP, 3,012 fps.

67 gr. RL-26, 160 BTSP, 3,014 fps.

If one goes by that sample of one bullet, looks like RL-26 may be a hair faster than RL-25, slightly less powder for the velocity, which seems pretty close.

RL-26 may be a higher energy powder, like Vv n-570, which is double base. Not sure about RL-26.

DF

Very consistent with what I saw at 68 grains. Sticking at 67.2 though and having good success out at longer ranges.

Never used RL 25 pretty much used H 870 on my heavy loads.

870 is pretty close to Vv n-570, which I've been using in my 26 Nosler. It's faster burning than my previous favorite, 869. Vv n-570 is a high energy power outperforming the slower powder; it may be an option for 180's. Powder Valley has it in stock.

I just checked my notes. One of the tightest groups I've shot with my 7RM 8 twist #2 Brux, is a quarter inch group with 67.5 gr. RL-25/168 gr. Hunting VLD's at around 3K fps. RL-25 did well with 180 HVLD's, this load shot the tightest group overall.

Now, I don't think I could repeat it, but I know it shoots. Jump was .08", the sweet spot for that load.

I have a couple of pounds of RL-26, need to try new loads, with the 160 NAB, 175 NPT, 180 VLD, 168 VLD, and 162 A-Max. There should be some interesting combo's in there, somewhere. May even try n-570 with the 180's.

DF

H 870 is old and obsolete but it always works for me in the 7 RM and have about 7 #.

Here's a link to some good info, including BobinNH. Man, I really miss him. He always had good info from his vast experience with 7mm rounds.

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/5974526/1

DF

Nice....

I4831/H4831SC behind 140 TTSX or 150 Ballistic Tip

There's very little n-570 data available. So, I went on line, used VihtaVuori data where both n-570 and n-560 are used. I compared charges, same bullet with similar velocities, worked out a ratio.

If one divides n-560 powder charge by .86, it's pretty consistent with published n-570 data. Of course, drop back and work up.

In the 7RM, 70 gr. n-570 comes up to the case shoulder, not in the neck. It must be pretty dense. For sure, it's the worst powder thru the measure I've even seen. I unscrewed the Uniflow drop tube, drop each charge in a scale pan and weigh. With the drop tube in place, n-570 stacks, won't flow.

I'll load some, check velocity. It should be close to KK's 870 loads for heavy bullets, similar burn rate. I plan to try 69-70 gr. n-570 with 180 gr. VLD's. 175 gr. NPT's, etc.

DF

Certainly keep us posted....looking to get a 7 Mag.

Still have about 8lbs of it and lots of 175s loaded but experimented with R26 anyway. R26 burn rate varies by case size but never use R25 data with out working up, you are usually safe using R22 data but the same warning. It seems to split the difference between 22 and 25 which are really close to begin with but an entirely different powder. R26 could easily equal my 870 loads or slightly exceed them velocity wise and with a cleaner barrel too. In fact if I used the 870 loads and then fired a couple with R26 afterwards most of the carbon was gone and clean up was easier. The verdict is still out on accuracy. Rifles that shoot anything work fine with R26 but the finicky ones don't automatically get more accurate. Slight changes in charge weight don't seem to make much difference so I will tweak seating depth on the next go round.

7 RM 67 Gr RL 26 180 Gr Horn seconds RP Case CCI 250 3 @ .56" at 200 yards. Around 2940 FPS.

Back up.

Been doing any more with this RL26 / 180 ELD-M combo? I am planning the same for a new rifle, except with Hornady brass. 1 in 8" 26". 2900+ would be great. Anything and everything is appreciated.

Retembo for 160 and 175 grain bullets

Never done 140s in a 7RM before but for the 160s either Re-22 or 7828.

My load I use for Hunting in my 7MM Remington Mag is 73gr of Retumbo about 3050fps in my rifle with 160gr Accubonds. I use
Federal 215M primers and mostly Hornady cases. 3.300OAL. Having said that many other powders also work.

RL26 gives the highest speed, still looking for accuracy.
Norma MRP very accurate almost as fast as RL26.
MagPro very accurate
H1000 very accurate
RL22 accurate fast

Tag

Tag

Agree. I have shot Re 22 under Hornady 139s for years. I only load it to about 3100 and performs great on deer. The 140 ab performs pretty much the same. I like the Re 25 under 160 Partitions for elk. 69.6 (I think) grains gives me just over 3000 fps in my 26-inch Criterion barrel. I have not used the R 26 in my 7 mag, as I don't need to. I save it for the Creed and .260. I also like Re 33 real well in my 26-inch barrel, with the 160 Partition. 74.5 grains under the Partition is very accurate and it is over 3000 with no pressure signs at all.

7828 is another powder that is great with the 140-class of bullets. The 7 mag is great, in that it is easy to find a good powder. Most slower powders work pretty well, including IMR 4350.

Knocking on 3k fps. WLRM primers, Remington brass.

Only three shots, but still.





P

My last foray into the 7mm Mag was also with a 26" barrel. I got joy , 3100fps, with R26/160 Sierra SBT and 3000fps, R33/175 Sierra SBT. Of course, then I had to sell it...."if you like your doctor you can keep him"....yeah, right.

Have used 3 powder in my 7mm Mag all with 160gr Accubonds or 160gr Trophy Bonder Tipped. Used 71gr of H1000 Hornady cases and 215M primers used 3.280OAL
at 3050fps. Killed moose with it at 239 yards complete pass thru with Trophy bonded tipped.

67gr of Norma MRP 160gr Accubonds same case and primer and OAL. Very accurate.

73gr of Retumbo 160gr Accubond same case, primer,and OAL. Very accurate same velocity as other 2, Take your pick.

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