Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles How good is a 7mm remington mag for a longer range rifle.

im wanting to have a longer range rifle and i really like the 7mm remington mag. i would proble be getting it in the tikka t3 with the bushnell elite 6500 2.5-16x42 and ill be handloading. what do you think of this combination. in your opinion would their be a better combo for around $1500.

ill be shootin proble up to around 500 yards.

You could do plenty with that, although it would not be my first choice if putting together a LR .284 rifle. The 162 AMAX is a good bullet in 7mm.

You can do awesome with that combo. I think the scope is +/- $700 so you have 800 for the rifle alone. What other rifles might you be considering?

i have taken game at 300- 350 range with 7 remmag .thats my comfort level bob in nh does 400 500 with no prob with pratice of course!

There's a HVA in 7 Mag for $319 sitting at the local fun store, wish I had the money.

The 7mm mag should fit the bill nicely for you. It is capable of sterling accuracy and has plenty of punch out to 500 yards for deer or elk. Mine shoots the 150 gr Ballistic tip half moa out to 500 yards and my load follows the Burris ballistic reticle almost precisely.
The 160 gr Accubond has a nice BC as does the Berger 168 gr VLD and the 162 gr Amax as previously mentioned. Those T3's really have a reputation as shooters. Buy it and have some fun!

One of my buds used to routinely thump deer out to 600 yards, with his 40XB in 7mm Rem. mag. That was his usual opening day rig and regimen: Spend morning watching mountain side with binocs, kill something that presented a shot. No longer recall what bullet he favored, though?

Looks like a good choice to me.

Should work as well as a 270.

This ought to get it rolling.....

270=7mm Mag......Riiiiiight


500 yds is a pretty good distance for your average hunting rifle, I think 400 yds would even be a good shot. Try shooting 2 liter bottles filled with water at 400yds....that will tell you if your rifle is dialed and you are up to it. I think that past 400 yds is really getting into territory where specialized rifles and gear will help increase your success by leaps and bounds.

I would go 300 win mag and not look back,as far as I am concerned it's clearly better than the 7mm rem mag.Shoot some 180 gr accubonds at 3100 fps, hard to beat, My tikka 300 win mag will drill 5 shots into a 1/2 inch

I'd save the money on that scope and run a Leupold. I have owned both and it seems everything gets a leupold these days. Won't throw the balance off quite as bad as that heavy 6500 will. Plus with the money you'll save you can spend some extra time at the range.

Would be hard to be a 7mm mag for long range work. Good bullets with high BC's. Never really warmed up to the cartridge myself but note sure why.

My LR rig is a 300 Win Mag currently throwing 200 grain Accubonds. Hard to beat that as well.

The 7 RM would be excellent as a long range bomber. The only limitation you would have would be your own.

I just bought a new Sendero for that purpose. I have a few mods in mind, but I'll post a pic when shes done.

Joseph

The 7mm RM is a fine cartridge, but perhaps I�m biased because it was my choice in 1982 and my only bolt gun for the next 20 years. It was � and still is � a boringly reliable elk killer.

The scope on my 7mm RM will soon be the Burris Fullfield II 4.5-14x with Ballistic Plex reticle that Santa brought me. You can pick them up new for about $250 on ebay at �Buy now� prices. This is my third such scope and I�ve lost track if you count my 3-9x�s. I like them.

Most any bullet will get you to 500 yards with good energy and velocity, although I prefer bonded core or monolithic or other selected premiums. These days I shoot the 140g and 160g North Fork SS and 140g Barnes TTSX and would have no qualms about elk at 500 yards with any of them. A higher BC bullet, like the 150g Scirocco II at .515 can deliver 1500fpe and 2100fps past the 650 yard line.

One of the great things about the 7mm RM is the recoil is on par with a .30-06 and bullets of the same sectional density. You can �step up� to a .300 magnum of some sort but you won�t gain much at 500 yards except more recoil.

In short, I think a 7mm RM is a pretty good choice for 500 yards and it can reach further when you want to.

This is common knowledge among the older guys on here,but the younger guys may not be aware of it....

The 7 Rem Mag was cobbled together as a wildcat on the 338 case by Les Bowman when the 338 was introduced in the late 50's.Bowman ran an elk hunting camp in Wyoming that featured above-timberline elk country that offered pretty long range shooting at elk;the area also held mule deer,sheep,black bear,moose, and grizzlies.

Bowman and his guides noted that many clients shot better,and wounded less game with 270's and 30/06's than they did with the 300 Weatherbys so popular at the time,due to excessive recoil.Bowman and his guides understood that BG animals at any distance are killed by putting good bullets in the right place;not by theoretical mumbo jumbo.Moderate recoil helps people do this.

He wanted a cartridge that shot as flat as a 300 Weatherby,out performed the 30/06 and 270,but kicked less and was more shootable than the 300's,but was flat shooting and accurate.

He necked down the 338 case to 7MM and Fred Huntington of RCBS helped him put a rifle together for the round.The 7 Rem Mag was then used by Bowman,by his clients,and by Remington representatives(Mike Walker and Wayne Leek?)while it was still a wildcat,on elk,grizzlies black bear,mule deer, etc.Early on they relied on 160 gr Sierra's,and the later 160 Partitions for this work at a velocity of about 3050 fps.

At the same time this was going on,Warren Page ,gun editor at Field and Stream was unning around the world killing all manner of big game with the 7 Mashburn, a wildcat similar to the 7RM.Page also hunted elk at Bowman's ranch with the Mashburn;Remington had the chronograph data on Page's wildcat Mashburn.The 7 Weatherby was around,but rifles for it were expensive,proprietary,and the twist for the 7mm Weatherby early on was a 1-12;it would not stabilize 160 gr bullets.

Remington brought the 7 RM out in 1962,and it was very popular.So,its' pedigree is as a long range cartridge at recoil levels that most people can manage nicely,tested and designed for long range use on elk sized game since the late 50's.It continues to do the same work now as it did then,except that with todays bullets and powders,it is likely better than it ever was.

History lesson over....test in the morning..... haha!

I agree with all the other posters. I will add that I have two and even have a custom reamer.

I used to shoot the 120 nosler ballistic tip. It sure shot fast and flat at approx 3550. I killed a coues wt at just over 700 yds with it. The wind drift was excessive but with some thought to the drift I managed a one shot kill.

As time went on I moved up to bullets that had higher BCs.
If I were to buy a factory barreled rifle I would look hard at the 160 accubond, 150 TTSX or the 150 E-tip as the all around bullet.

Now if you were to go custom and were to exclusively shoot deer sized animals you could have some fun with the 180 Berger VLD. It does require a slightly faster twist than the factory tubes. I did just that and built a 14 lb specialty rifle that could shoot 1000 yd matches or be used for long range glass and shoot coues wt type hunting. The amazing part of this is the performance. 68 gr of RL-25 in that 30" barrel launches the a non moly coated 180 VLD at 3050 @ 60 degrees. With a BC of .659 its drift and retained energy are amazing.

I recently worked up some loads for a 26" LSS Rem 700 in 7 RUM. The 180 Bergers were moly coated and the rifle maxed out at 3100 fps. The powder charge was 89 gr of RL-25. That 30" 7 mag is running right with it. Amazing what 4 extra inches of barrel can do.

Get that 7 mag and have some fun!

the 7mag will work great at the range you want to shoot. i also agree that most deer hunters can't make shot a 400-500 yds. there are lots of things that come into play at those ranges. you have to rock steady,know the wind drift,know your bullet drop.then you must get the animal in the right place ,standing still long enough to kill it. plus you can throw in a little excitment. i shoot my 7mag on paper out to 500yds .

Bob, as always, great info. And to the original poster--I am also in the process of setting up a newly aquired Tikka Lam/SS 7MM Rem. Mag for 400-500 yard shooting with 160 Accu-bombs. Your choices sound good to me.

BobinNH...

Enjoyed reading your post about the birth of the 7mm Rem. magnum. The names you named (Warren Page, Mike Walker, Fred Hunington of RCBS and Les Bowman) bring a LOT of nostalgia and gun-know-how with 'em. In fact, Fred Huntington made up a set of custom reloading dies for my .338 Win. Magnum 'way back in the early 1960s when he was getting RCBS on the map!

Yep... the ol' 7mm Rem. Magnum is a fine cartridge, not doubt about it. It's hard to beat an almost "perfect" hunting cartrige when it does everything well and doesn't kick your brains out.

Both of my sons (now in their late 40's) shoot 7mm Rem. Magnums as their deer & big game rifles... and their rifles get the job done.

And if you want a little "softer" recoil, the 7mm Rem. Magnum can easily be "loaded down" a bit by a handloader to make the recoil closer to the .270 Win. range. Although, frankly... I've shot my son's 7mm's... and the recoil isn't bad at all... not nearly as much as my .338 Win. Magnum in which I usually shoot a hot load of 210 grain Nosler Partitions.

It's hard to believe that just 70 more grains of bullet weight (.338 = 210 grains vs. 7mm = 140 grains) can make such a big difference in "sensed" recoil, but it does.

If I were going to buy and own just one big game rifle, it would be in 7mm Remington Magnum.


Strength & Honor...

Ron T.