Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7mm Remington Magnum with a 22 inch Barrel

Which isn't a bad thing until you have to pay for the 30% more powder used.

Personally, I'd cut and crown to 23" in a heart beat, from 26" to 23" you'll lose about 90 fps. Big deal, and it'll handle/balance a lot nicer (at least by my way of thinking).

And I'd think about a new handle for it if it has factory wood on it. Something that would be 28 oz or less would feel well to this kid.

Best of luck to ya!

Dober

When you build for balance/handling,the rest always falls nicely into place...............

I have cut 7 mm Rem Mags to less than 24" twice. The first was to 22.75" and the second to 22". There was a velocity loss of about 65 fps between 24 and 22. Both times the handling improved. Remember that Warren Page, the first promoter of the big 7's, had a 22" barrel on Old Betsy, his 7 Mashburn Super, which has been rediscovered by Dober and BobinNH (and Hagel before them).

At 22", it will at least equal the 25-26" 280 AI's. Darn Good!

Right now it wears a factory Synthetic Stock and weighs exactly 7 lbs for the bare rifle wearing a set of weaver scope bases.

This is exactly what set me to thinking about a 22 inch 7MM Magnum.

I'd rather have a 22" 7mm Remmie on a long poke,than a 26" 300Winny upon same....................

The Husky H-5000 in 7RM that I have came with a 21.5" barrel. It handles and balances like a dream, and I get a chronographed ~100fps less than most book loads (Specifically, the manuals that use a 24" barrel for their test data).

I totally concur

The .300 Winny was my default cartridge for a long time then I discovered the .280AI (especially when using the 120 Nosler BT and the 162 A-Max for long shooting) and the .300 Winny love just went away.


I have developed some shoulder joint and other neuro-muscular issues that make toting my 9.5 lb .280AI all real pain in azz.

The .280AI shoots so good I don't want to tear it apart and my dad really likes it so I traded it to the old man.


This 7 Mag project will hopefully replace the .280AI for hunting use when I am not slumming my Tikka T3 .243.

Since we are cussing and discussing this project in some detail which scope should I use?

4x Leupy in keeping with the spirit of "Old Betsy"

6x Leupy

2-7 Redfield or Leupy

I'm happy with a 6x42 to 1K and beyond...the others don't even begin to hang................

Well its your rifle do with it what you want. I personally would not go shorter than 24 inches. I like a little longer barrel, I always have. It will be loud, and the muzzle blast will get you attention at first and last light. And depending on who you talk to, you end up with a very loud more recoil and more muzzle jump and blast at a performance level of a 270 with a 22 inch barrel. You are going to just end up with a loud 280. I would be interested in how it works for you if you cut that barrel down.

Rin-back when I did my first Mashburn (15 or so ago already...zeesh where's it go) I went 23" after chatting with Hagel about it, if I directed the bullet in the proper manner things just happened to go to Croak City Wyo rather rapidly...imagine that

Dober

This will be good. You ever shot/chronographed one?

Didn't think so................

Just finally had to comment, I've been on for a while but usually choose not to comment on this type of discussion, ( have a tendancy to be a little sarcastic) I have shot a 30-338 with a 20" barrel since 1982, it is on it's second 20" barrel as I seem to like them that way. I can get over 3k with 180's in both barrels. Can anyone really tell me HOW much louder a 22" barrel is really going to be being 4 inches closer to ones ear? Can't imagine that it would be much. If we are afraid of the bang maybe we should play golf! And as to the velocity loss I never saw a deer or elk that could actually tell the difference in a few FPS. If you always want max speed you have to give up a little portability and balance. Cut you 7 to what ever you want, if you don't like it tubes are not really that expensive.
Good luck and I bet you like your new more portable rifle.
6MMWASP

...................TR!............Losing 200-250 fps from only a 4" barrel cutdown on a 7mm Mag? Man! You are just a little pesimistic there. LOL! IME, more like 20 to 30 fps per inch or 80 to 120 fps overall. Using the same loads over a chrony, my 300 WSM Ruger carbine with only a 16.5" barrel, retains on average 95.5% to 95.7% of the 24" barreled 300 WSM velocities. The comparison breakdown differences "per inch" were from 16.4 fps to 19.5 fps. Going from a 26" barrel down to 22" on a 7mm Mag, a 50 to a 62.5 fps velocity loss, is too much imo.

Maybe Hillybilly will also take that rifle into some deep timbers? Maybe into some thicker brush? Or maybe up and down and into some space constricting stands? So a 4" barrel cutdown will help in the handier and better manuverability depts. And just maybe while on the same hunt, he might need to perform a 400-500 shot in an open clearing?

If one can handle a little more muzzle blast and some noise (not all THAT much different between a 26" and a 22"), shorter barreled and handier rifle thinking, should not just be restricted to the lesser powerful non-magnum rounds.

By using powerful rounds in more compact rifles, one has the ease in using a handier and easier carrying rifle for the thicker stuff, and then jump immediately if needed to, into some serious long range hunting using the same rifle.

Havin some cake and eatin it too.

That is exactly the type of area I mostly hunt. The majority of shots are 200 yards or less but there are some spots where you may need to reach out beyond 400 yards.

sound like an excuse to buy another rifle!

22" 7 mag barrels are very LOUD!

....Looks like I kinda hit one nail on the head there uh? Many of my hunting situations are the same and as such, out comes my short `n handy powerhouse.

A 7mm Remy Mag`s tube length to a few, should be no less than 24"....Other than just a little velocity loss, why so? Will a 4" difference, make all "THAT" much of a difference in noise and blast? Imo, not really. Gonna lose bunches of velocity too?.......Nope!

During the same range session with a friend a few months back, I fired the same identical factory rounds from a friend`s 23" tubed 375 Ruger African and from my 20" barreled 375 Ruger Alaskan. And with my range muffs on, there was no discernable extra noise nor muzzle blast seen or felt. And with them off (I had my buddy fire my Alaskan once and then his African once), I couldn`t hear any differences in noise levels between the two in that respect either.