Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Anyone know if Bob Hagel got 3300?

Bob in NH was probably the heaviest influencer on 24hr for making me bite the bullet (so to speak) and have my one and only custom built rifle ever done in 7 mashburn! The rest of the 7mm Mashburn campfire rifle owners were influencers as well! You guys did me right though, I really like it and enjoy my Kevin Weaver built model 70 classic (donor was 7stw).

Just the other day commented to another fire member how I missed Bob’s posts… and he said “I do too”.

He got me pretty good as well Ozarks.. My first was a rechambered 70 and the next was a full on Weaver build as well.

Put me on that list too! It’s been an interesting and fun cartridge to shoot and hunt with.

I never messed with the Mashburn wildcats. I did though buy a Ruger #1 in 7mm STW when it became available.

It does 3200 fps mv with the 160 Sierra spbt, or the Hornady 162 btsp over H1000.

In the two 7mm STWs I tried, neither one was consistent with the 160, but I was able to dial the 140s right in, at blistering speed too! I would have loved it if the 160s got 3200! In that 7mm RUM I just went straight to the same Barnes 140. Had a family emergency sold it.

Bob had a real passion for the round, no doubt. He was also deep into Mashburn minutiae, and undoubtedly he influenced a lot of guys on the campfire. The person who got Bob going on the Mashburn was Mark Dobrenski (aka Dober to many here). Mark had a friendship going back decades with Hagel, and had even spent time with him at his home. Mark has been using the Mashburn going back to the 1980’s, and gave Bob his reamer for Bob’s first build, as well as brass and dies.

Dober doesn’t post here anymore for a lot of reasons, but as his friend I thought I’d give a bit more of the backstory of how the Mashburn became a “thing” on the Campfire.

He is definitely the man behind the curtains in regards to the Mashburn. Great fella though, has been way above kind to myself and my brother.

Good morning Scotty. Yes, Dober is a good and generous man. I always got a kick out of his devotion to the 7 Mashburn - it really is a lot of work these days given the availability of the 7 PRC. Aside from his correspondence and friendship with Hagel, I believe his primary reason for going the Mashburn route was he wanted to push 160's (and heavier) at 3,000 fps or more while "breathing easy." Something the 7mm RM just doesn't do. I'd have to ask him to refresh my memory, but I think Mark's burned out at least three Mashburn barrels. That's a LOT of shooting, and Mark's a fine rifleman. I've shot Marks 7, but I just don't like that kind of recoil, and certainly don't shoot enough anymore to stay proficient with that level of recoil. But I get the Big 7's, and with a short barrel and can they look even better to me. But anymore, a 308 or 270 is my "big gun."

Bob got me going on the Mashburn back in 2015, have had 4 of them since the start. First 2 had way too much throat length and just didn’t perform as expected. Last 2 were done with my own reamer and are excellent. IMO the7 PRC won’t match the MSM for speed as it’s mostly a Rem mag in a different case. The only commercial 7 that can equal it and then run past it is the 28 Nosler.

Now see John- there you guys go with that 28 Nosler business again, you're killing me! Nah, just teasing. While they do intrigue me, I just don't shoot out in the desert like I used too, and certainly have no where to hunt that I would take a 28, or benefit from one. Pure nostalgia for me, especially about the Mashburn. I "would" like to have to money back that I spent on all the 7 Mags I've had/shot/components, dies, etc. But I would also like to have all the money I spent on Heathen Living "B.C." (Before Christ-in my Life, lol) When you are just "glad to be here, walking around, enjoying Life....that's "Priceless", ha.

It was pretty contagious honestly. Bob got me on the Mashburn probably around 2014. I'd have to look at my pictures, but I think that was about right. I rechambered my old M70 XTR 7 Rem with another fella's reamer for a 100 bucks. It was like putting a new barrel on that rifle. I FF'ed a bunch of cases and loaded Bob's load of 75.5 of H1000 with 160 Accubonds. I was right at the 3200 mark and took an elk with it that fall. The same gun would do 3050-3100 with 175's pretty easily with H1000 and Retumbo as well. I passed that rifle to my old buddy, who as of last week is still loading and shooting the original 50 Hornady cases I FF'ed years ago.

I had Kevin Weaver make me up my current gun on a P64 magnum action with a 1-8 Bart turned to Krieger #2 contour in a Legend. I liked the rifle but with a Leupold 6x36 I was up against my weight limit and I didn't like the long throat he used. So, I sent it back, had the shank turned down to a Fwt like shank, and a bit more steel turned off. Swapped the Blackburn BM for P64 Featherweight metal and swapped the stock for a McM Hunters EDGE. Sits a bit over 8lbs ready to rip with a heavy Trijicon on top, but man, it shoots. I don't find the McM Hunter as bad as some, but doing it today, I'd do the Bansner Miller Classic, might still do that, who knows, the day is still young.

It has turned into my new elk rifle. Once you have the dies and stuff it really isn't much of a big deal to make cases up and like I have told a few folks, I bought a 100 RWS cases back in 17 when I had the new gun made up and still have 40 new cases still in the boxes (probably 50-55 remaining of the original FF'ed, lost a couple hear and there), have lost two to a split neck, but the rest are still humming along after what I'd conservatively guess as 15X loads through them. I do anneal, but man those were a good investment. I don't shoot it a ton since I have a great load that works for me, but it is always ready. Not sure I have even taken the tape off the barrel from this past fall yet.

I'd have to ask Dober, but I thought he was along the lines of 5-7 barrels on his, but I could be remembering wrong, but either way, that's a pile of shooting!

I would never try to talk a new person or a person who merely replaces powder and seats a bullet on a Mashburn, that's where the Rem Mag and PRC shine, but if a fella just wants a little extra and easy to source cases, the Mashburn isn't all that hard, at least it hasn't been for me, and my knuckles will drag with my arm out a low cars window

The even funnier part is I hadn't ever trimmed a piece of brass for it in about 6 years. I finally just trimmed them a bit this past fall to square them up a little. Maybe just lazy but they just never grew enough to mess with.

I even thought about getting Bob's Simillion Mashburn when it was for sale and decided to leave good enough alone and keep using mine, cause other than John55, who needs 2 Mashburns











Even shoots the old Bitterroots real well..

2014 when I brought the old XTR 7 Rem home after getting punched out to the 7 MSM..



Pretty standard set up of the day. Leupold 6x42 M1 dial, Duplex Reticle



My first set of work up loads after fireforming.





All the while I am on the range feeding Bob my numbers and sending pictures to him.. He says Scotty, try 75.5 of H1000 and see what you get..



I rechecked it again, just to make sure I wasn't crazy..



Needless to say, that is what I used that fall.

I enjoyed reaching back and remembering that first gun. Old clubby B&C stock on it, plain old Leupold with Weaver rings I think, and that rifle just shot.

Ended up tipping a cow over post haste at 250 with it that Fall and it's been downhill ever since

Sorry for the late response Scotty. Thanks for your thoughtful post. I’ve always liked your Mashburn and its Fwt contour! Yeah, you might be right about the amount of Mashburn barrels Dober has burned up. Truth is, like me, anymore his “big gun” is a 270, and most of his game falls to a 22-250, though he did take an elk this year with a suppressed 7mm WSM / M70. 150 Scenar at 400 yards. More later - I can’t stand typing on an iPad (grin).

No worries Brad. I enjoyed walking the dog on my Mashburn experience to date.

I remember getting some target pics from Dober when he was shooting his WSM and the Scenars and I don’t know if it was even 2 days later he said he took an elk. Now that’s express load work.

Great thread, Scotty, Brad, et al. Thanks for posting that narrative and pics about your journey with the 7MSM, Scotty. Great read especially txting Bob target pics from the range and him suggesting 1/2 a grain in between a couple of your loads and you then start drilling bug holes! Classic. Cool story and memories. I miss Bob and Dober and never knew them - just from you guys talking about them.

Bob published several books, but am guessing the one you mention is Game Loads and Practical Ballistics for the American Hunter, which was first published in 1978. It influenced me considerably as well--to the point where my first copy fell apart, so I bought a copy of the Wolfe Publishing 1992 reprint. Just went through it, and cannot find where he claimed 3300 with 160's. The fastest velocity mentioned is 3240, but does not mention barrel length.

You are right, I made that correction in this thread and the other threads I started on it. I don't know where I got that 3300, maybe back when I was playing with the 7 STW and the 7mm RUM. Anyhow, my apologies, and to Mr Hagel. Yes, my copy is falling apart, ha.

I just received from Wolfe Publishing a copy of Rifle 103 published in 1986. Hagel had an article in that issue with some 7mm Mashburn load data for two different rifles.

His data showed 3148 fps with 175 grain Partitions and 28" barrel and 3055 with 24" barrel using IMR 7828.

With 160 grain Partitions, his data showed 3292 in the 28" barrel and 3238 in the 24" barrel using IMR 7828.

My first Mashburn was a Weaver built gun on a Kimber action that I bought used here with the original factory stock and a remodeled Bansner Win model 70 stock. Fireformed some brass using Dober's load and found I didn't like that rifle so I sold it with some of the fireformed brass to another member here.

Then I had one built on a Model 70 action by Jim Kobe with a new 26" Brux barrel using the stock from the Kimber which had been remodeled to fit from a Win 70 Bansner stock using Dober's reamer and throated for 195 grain Berger bullets. Still have not shot it but will this spring.