Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 300 Win Mag or 7mm Rem Mag for LR deer

Which cal is best fro LR deer?
Recoil?
Bullets?
Powder usage?
etc

Thanks
Coach

7mag.

What He Said

7 mag will recoil less, and a 7mm bullet is plenty for deer, so....

I would use a 160-gn Accubond myself if I were doing that.

A 300 WM would work just dandy too, with a little more recoil.

If your question was about ELK it would be a little more debatable, but I can't see one reason to choose a 300 WM over over 7 mag for DEER.

7 mag with a premium bullet with high BC like the 150g Scirocco,Accubond 160g.
Go with a scope with the ranging reticle like the Leupold Boone&Crocket, zeiss Z600, Burris ballistic plex ect. so you don't have to worry about holdover or clicking up elevation for longer shots.

If you are going this far you may as well step up to an even flatter shooting caliber like the 7mm or .300 ultra, .300 weatherby mags. These calibers with the right loads and set ups can allow a 400 yard zero with no compensation needed at mid range (will keep all shots in vitals 0-400 yards with 400 yard zero) Just keep in mind you also need an accurate gun for long range, one capable of putting bullets into at least 2 inch groups or less at 200 yards.

I've been using the 7 rem mag(along with the 270 win and 300 mag) for deer hunting in the west and Canada since about 1979.In the 7 mag I've mostly used the 140 Partition at 3200-3300, and in the 300 win mag friends and I have used the 165 at about the same velocities.Both work very well, but the 7 mag can be bought(or built)somewhat lighter than the 300,kicks less,burns less powder,and kills about as well.

I am on my third"favorite" 7 rem mag,a M70 Classic action with Kreiger barrel and Brown Precision stock.With 2.5-8 Leup it weighs 7.5 lbs all up and carries nicely,shoots accurately,and does not knock you into next week.A 300 this light may be manageable by some, but not me.Recently I started working with a 7mm Dakota on a M76 action that weighs app the same and does the same thing as the 7 rem mag but with more velocity.Recoil is very manageable.

I'm of the opinion that if you can't get it done on deer sized game(or anything else the West has to offer,for that matter)with a 7 Rem Mag and good bullets,you're going to be hard pressed to do it with anything.

Slam dunk for me, one of the big 7's which in my case is the 7 Mashburn Super.

Dober

I'd forgo either cartridge and go with the .264 winny.

Man I didn't see that one coming...you must be a Hoosier...

Dober

A replant Hoosier

another vote for the 7 here

Brett

How much LR shooting have you done? If you are not holding over, what exactly are you doing with the Leupold Boone & Crocket, Zeiss Z600, Burris Ballistic Plex, etc? How long does it take to "click up" for a LR shot?




For the original question- 7mm pretty much has it all over 30cals. Higher BC bullets, more MV, less recoil, less powder.

For deer, especially, at LR the bonded bullets probably aren't optimum. Much better would be the 162gr AMAX, 168gr Berger, etc.

Agreed.

I was thinkin' AMAX myself.

BMT

But then you'd have to do the "Sierra Stalk" if you had the buck of a lifetime FIFTY yards away <g>!

I know the 7mm have great BCs and theoretically would seem better at long range. But most of the long range matches are won by .30 cal and 6.5mm, so that leaves me unsure!

Dude....


I know that the stands are filled with bucks while a local match is going on... they know what calibers to shy away from. Maybe you could suprise one with a 7mm... they'd never see it coming!


I'd heed this advice... I've seen Jamie in action with a 7mm Rem. Mag. and a 162 A-Max... I wouldn't want to be within a mile of this combo. I reckon at the end of the day either would suffice... but the Big 7's do it without all the ruckus of the big .30s. If elk were on the LR menu I'd step up to one of the big .30s... or BIG .338s.

Dober: TF!

High BC bullets in 7mm for me..... but high BC means 160 plus, I start at 168s and lean towards 180s or 200s even.

The comments on matches won... not that this is a match, but I did a LOT of communication with David Tubb and his peers for a few years trying to come up with the correct 1000 yard target round for highpower rifle matches.

The end reason of the 7s not being popular is due to documented fliers in 7 mags in matches. No one could ever say why, but that was a lot of the input I got.
That being said the 7wsm was holding the one mile record last I checked....
I'm not scared, I just had a 300 wtby rebarreled to 7/300 wtby.. 28 inch tube and I'm sure I'll be happy if I can ever get some JLK 168s to start with.

Jeff

Not so fast gents...

250 zero.

30 cal. 150 E-Tip .469 BC 3,400 mv, 500 yards -25.2

28 cal. 140 AB .485 BC 3,300 mv, 500 yards -26.3

28 cal. 150 Swift S2 515 BC 3,200 mv,500 yards-27.8

28 cal. 120 BT 417 BC 3,500 mv, 500 yards- 24.8

I don't see where one really outperforms the other except for recoil in using the 120's in the 7mm.

Whats twist rate Jeff?