Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 30-06 vs. 7mm Mag, real world difference out to 700 yds?

Short answer....YES.

I've 3 dead animals this year from the 162amax. I pulled the trigger on one,and the kids on the rest. Like all light skinned bullets, don't hit bone, or you have one hell of a mess on your hands. I hunt with 100% confidence with the amax.

Recoil with the 200-NAB at 2740 fps was no big deal.

But then again, I enjoy shooting my .325 Montana running 200's at 2900 fps from all manner of field positions, so maybe I'm a bad example here <g>.

By the way, 2740 fps was max max max! 2700 fps was a more reasonable load.

What was left of a 162 'max. Johnny likes to shoot shoulders..

You da man, Kodiak! Thanks!! (I think, lol)

And those were close-ish range shots too I believe weren't they Calvin?

Seem to recall that yours was 250 or so, and Johnny's was a bit closer than that no?

I personally carry both with the 7, 120 tsx's for point blank to 400-500, and amax's for 400 through to the edge of my comfort range....Figure it gives me the best of both worlds. Although, if I'd of had time to react on that muley last week I'd of amax'd him just for R&D.

I know......grin

I'm sure its a little premature at this point, but hey, there's the water cooler Jeff, go on, you know you want to take a drink......We won't tell anyone. Honest.

They ranged from 50 to 260 yards.. I'm taking a guy cruising tomorrow in the boat that needs to fill a freezer. 7saum and 162's will be in tow, and all dinks will be fair game.. Should be a good show, and I have a feeling that he'll fill the freezer and I'll get more 162 data.

Thought that was the case....

I'll be surprised if you don't have some data to share all right.....From the sound of things stuff must be happening HARD around there right now with the bucks....

Have a good day tomorrow, take pics.

I guess for what I'm envisioning this rifle for a really soft bullet might be ok. That'd be new territory for me.

As long as I had a couple 160-NAB's in my pocket for sneaking around in the timber <grin>.

Fixed it for you.

Just refuse to drink the Kool Aid don't you Jeff.....It won't kill you....And you might even like them.

I just got to Utah and will be hunting cow elk tomorrow. I brought a 30-06 as my main gun and a 260 for a backup. I left the ultramags home because I used one down here last year and wanted to try something different. It's open country and shots can be long but I'm ok with just having the 06 and 260.

My 30-06 is a #3 broughton on a 700 action and it's loaded with 180 AB's at 2775 fps. It's zeroed at 200 and 15 moa puts me on at 700. I'll be limiting shots to 700 with this combo because that's about were the bullet drops below 1800 fps. If I was using a 7 mag with a 162 amax I'd feel more comfy going past 700, say maybe 1000 if I was practiced up to it.

Last year I pulled a running straight away THS on this hunt at 503 with a 300 ultra and a 200g AB. I wouldn't have tried it with a lessor combo but it worked out. I had a knee injury at the time and knew I'd be lucky to get any kind of shot so I came prepared for a less than ideal angle.

Hopefully I'll see how the 06 does tomorrow.

Bb

Lol... at this point it's just entertaining to argue a side (of the TSX Wars). I'm sure they are great bullets. Buuuuuut..... <BSEG>

No real world difference at any range.

I don't see how either one wont git-r-done at 700 yards or less, just saying. IMHO if you miss on the first round with either, it ain't the chambering.

If you realy want smething that reaches out really far and bucks the wind, then get a 338 Edge or Laupa and send a 300 grain SMK or Berger down range. Now that is an improvement worth having IMHO & E

Here ya go, Jeff:

How about the 180 AB at 2850?

...............Jeff,,,,,,,,,,,,,As a suggestion, go over to the Hornady site and link up to their "external ballistics" table. Choose your preferred bullets and bullet weights in 7mm and 30 cal. Type in the BCs, your est MVs, your scope`s zero in yardage, temps etc, and then compare all the downrange #s for trajectories, retained velocities, and retained energys. It`s all there for you. Grab a notepad and jot everything down.

The 7mm Mag is the flatter long range shooter, and "if" I were pursuing flatter trajectories, the 7 mag would be my choice over the `06 at say beyond 600-700 yards for open country hunting.

If we can believe the hardware has the same potential, for the sake of arguement both rifles are 1moa or better, let just look at the exterior ballistics.

Using Jordans chart we can break it down as the 162 drifting at 2.8" per 1mph or crosswind, the 165 drifting at 4.5" per 1mph of crosswind. Now look at a possible wind reading error of 3mph, since the wind can swirl all over the place realize the error could be to the left or the right. The total possible error with the 7mm is 16.8" (8.4" to left or right) and the .30 has a error range of 27" (13.5" to left or right). Now superimpose a 8"x16.8" and a 8"x27" rectangle over a 10" target and tell me which one you wanna shoot with. Also to be fair you will still need to add one moa on to the width of the rectangle to reflect the original possible impact zone with no wind at all. Either way it illustrates how a little wind can cause a lot of problems but the 7mm has the best potential to save you if a wind read is missed. In the little illlustration I attached the black is a 10" target, blue is the .30 and red/brown is the 7mm.