Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 7 mm mag

What is your take in using a 7mm rem mag for long range hunting.

Regards.

Nothing wrong with that cartridge just use the heavier bullets that it is designed for if you are going for long range stuff.

my dad, brother and i all use the 7mm rem mag for hunting, I've killed stuff from 15' away to several hundreds of yards away.
personally I prefer the 160 grain accubond. its all I shoot out of it, hunting or target. gets spendier, but use what you practice with

I think it's a great choice! I used a 300WM for a long time, but have been using a 7RM for the last several years. 160gr Accubonds and 168gr Bergers are both really good bullets for the long range stuff. The higher BC 7mm bullets are pretty impressive at retaining velocity/energy and bucking the wind. Out beyond 600 yards, they stack up very well against the .30's.

Kevin

A hardy +1 to using 160 grain Accubonds. They work on everything, are incredibly concentric and consistent, therefore accurate. They have excellent BC and expand reliably. I've used them on probably between 15 and 20 deer (overkill) and am taking them on a New Mexico bull elk hunt on October 15. I guided my best friend on a deer hunt where he used his 7mm Mag. with the same load. He hit his trophy at 460 yards and the projectile performed flawlessly.

My rifle likes the combination of the 160 gr. Accubond and Reloader 19. I haven't got to try using it out to real long ranges yet as it is a factory BDL with a 20yr old 3-9 VX-III on it but As soon as I get the chance I'm going to rebuild the action into a custom long range rig but I'm not switching calibers.

Luis,

7mm mags are a perfect choice for LR hunting. Use 160 gr projectiles and bring home the venison!

CLB

I have a 7 mag and a 7mm ultra mag. They are the first rifles I grab when its time to start killin'. 7 ultra mag is a long range, flat shooting mother (.52 inch groups at 300). I have a 300wsm and the ballistics are very close to the 7 ultra mag. But as you know, if you reload, you can do lots of things to make any rifle a distance shooter. At least with in reason.

The ballistics of the 300wsm are very close to the 7RUM?
I dont even have to look the data up for that one to know your wrong.

+++++++1

The 162g SST with Retumbo or R#25 with Win mag primers are very special components in the 7 Mag.

Luis,
I have been using 7 RM since 1977, it is an excellent choice. I just had the old rifle re barreled to the same caliber.
Most of my kills have been inside 250 yards with a few beyond 400. I don't know how far long range is to you, but like others have said the 160 grainers don't blow around as much in the wind. At long range wind is your worst enemy, drop can be compensated for more accurately.

HeavyWalker,

You are very true. Can't argue with that. That was a bad statement. Nice work!!

I guess I never did say anything about the 7 mag.
my all around deer/bear/elk rifle is a rem 700 bdl 7 rem. mag.
Shooting 160gr. accubonds at 3000 fps.
it's the bottom rifle in the picture.

Recently inherited my father's 7 Rem. mag. I'm curious if any here have experience with the 168 gr. Bergers used on elk in this caliber. Good, bad?

I was also wondering about the berger bullets. If the ballistic coefficient really is .6 then that load shoot shoot pancake flat...

I just noticed that hornady has a 162 grain bullet on their website. It has a .62 ballistic coefficient. I think that it is called an a- max

I'm shooting the 162gr. A-max's in this rifle.

The Berger 168 VLDs are great out of a 7mmRM. I don't know that they necessarily shoot pancake flat but they are consistent, accurate, and hold velocity and energy very well. I've been using them for the past couple of years and have shot a variety of big game animals with them but only 1 elk last year at 550 yds. It was the worst performance I've had from a Berger, it looked to me like it failed to expand and penciled through. The bull only went about 40 yards and then laid down and died but all of my other hits with Bergers from 325 to 800 have all shown massive damage. The other bullets did come apart but not so quickly that they didn't blow giant exit holes out the other side.

I'm impressed with the amount of downrange velocity and energy that the 7mm 168 Berger VLDs deliver so I'm going to stick with them for a while longer. I wasn't happy with that one bullet failure but defecation occurs and most of us have experienced sub-par performance from single bullets at one time or another. I've read stories about bad Swift Sciroccos and I've killed all sorts of critters with those without a single poor performance. I'm hoping that the penciling through of that one bullet was a fluke and won't happen to me again this year.

Nothing wrong with the 7 rem mag for long distance. Bullet choice is important. Even though Best of the West promotes using a 168 Berger VLD on elk at long distances I just cannot bring myself to try them on elk at any distance.

��I have two 7mm mags. One is a rem 700 24" in a Ti stock. It is going to be used as my primary elk rifle this Dec. It will shoot moly'd 150 E-tips at 3275. RL-17 sure made this package come alive. Most of our shots are 40-150 yds. I wanted a light fast handling rifle and a bullet that would penetrate with little meat damage. This 7 mag COULD� shoot longer distances if needed and I have confidence the bullet would penetrate well at any angle. Based on past experience with the TSX I know this style of bullet will not ruin much meat which is very important to me.

The other 7 rem mag is just about finished and will be used for long distance. It is a 30" 1 in 7 twist three groove lilja SS shooting 180 Berger VLDs. RL-25 has them moving at 3100 very accurately. I was lucky to find an old walnut stock to use for break-in and load development. The Joel Russo stock will be completed sometime next week. I am looking forward to getting this rifle out for some practice. This rifle will be used on this fall's coues wt hunt. The 8.5-25 x 50 LR turreted Leupold is a great match for this 14 lb package. We sit and glass exclusively. The 180's .643 G1 BC is awesome with minimal wind drift and retained energy.


The 7 rem mag and the 7 WSM might be the largest practical case size for a long range rifle. While the 7 STW and 7 RUM are faster performers they are not that much faster with shorter barrel life and more recoil. A friend built a twin to my long barreled 7 rem mag in 7 STW. He uses 11 more grains of powder for a velocity gain of approx 100-125 fps. Wind drift is the big issue with longer shots. The STW IS a tad better. Here is an example:

4000 ft 65 degrees, 30% humidity, 500 yds, 10 mph 90 degree crosswind, 300 yd zero, 3100 fps vs 3225 fps:

3100 fps� drop 20.8" drift 8.2" energy at 500 2659ft/lb

�� 3225 fps� drop 19"�� drift 7.7"� energy " " 2901 ft/lb

While energy is higher with the STW doubt a deer would know the difference.�

Drop can be compensated for easily. With only a 1/2" difffence in drift I'll take the 7 rem mag's milder recoil and longer barrel life.

AZ: Good post;interesting info there.