Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm Apollo Mach IV????????????

Mystery caliber, mystery rifle!

I may have just lucked into a really cool rifle. At least it's really interesting to me...I love mysteries.

It's marked "Apollo Customs Rifles, Long Beach, CA 90810" and the caliber is "7mm Apollo Mach IV". Does anyone know anything about this company or this caliber?

I've been digging, and this is what I've been able to find out: it is a Voere action and barrel, made in Germany. I'm not sure about the stock, it looks kind of like a Weatherby wannabe, with a sloped, high cheekpiece, contrasting forend tip and an inlaid white diamond shape on the grip cap.

I know the rifle has been in a closet for the last 25-30 years, so maybe Apollo was somewhat of a Weatherby competitor...didn't Roy get his start in southern CA, importing German actions to make his rifles?

Fortunately, I got lucky and was presented with 3 boxes of ammo for it...all loaded by "Apollo Custom Handloads". The box says that the cartridges are based on 300 Win Mag cases, necked down to 7mm. And even better, it lists the load!

A sticker on the box says that it uses 76.5 grains of H4831 to produce 3420 fps with a Sierra 140gr bullet...which I believe is roughly 100 fps faster than a 7mm Weatherby Mag.

Once I get the gun checked out by my gunsmith, I really want to start shooting it. I'm not sure I can trust the old custom loads, so I need to find dies and start reloading.

Does anyone know how I can get custom dies made? Who does that, and what do they need from me to create them?

Then once I have them, how do I determine load data? I'm not interested in ultra-high velocity shooting. I'm much more interested in creating 280 Rem-type loads with a much more gentle kick and adequate velocity for deer, antelope and possibly elk. Which basically means finding a powder that doesn't require 75+ grains to push a 150gr NBT or Partition to 2850-2900 fps from a 300 WM case.

An old Sierra Bullets manual lists 56.6gr of IMR-3031 for 2900 fps in the 300 Win Mag with a 150 gr spitzer. Can I use this as a starting point? What other powders are suitable?

I know that this is just a boatload of questions, but I'm kind of spinning my mental wheels here wondering how to make use of this strange old gun.

If anyone has knowledge of the company or the caliber, I'd sure appreciate some guidance for where to go from here.

Use 7mm Weatherby loads, to start. 7mm will hit the pressure wall faster than the 308 cases will. Loading down can cause as many problems as loading hot. Hornady will make you dies. CD4H (sp?) might have something. They need 3 cases I beleive. Lonny will fix you up. That case holds alot of powder, reducing the recoil is gonna be hard. It will come a down little bit by using a 120 like the TSX. I beleive the was a 7mm-300 variant called an Ultra Cat. Could be wrong on that. I know nothing about the rifle. You need to post some pics

You can send 3 fired cases to RCBS or Redding and they will make you a set of dies. With some actual ammo your project should be easier. PH

Rather fanciful name for a cartridge.... It sounds like a really nice rifle.

sounds like its a 7mm practical

Pics coming later today. Just saw a recipe for 7mm Weatherby Mag using 56 grains of Reloder 15 for 2940 fps with a 145 gr bullet. That may be my starting place, since I have some Re15 on hand.

A word of caution--Do not use data for any .30 caliber cartridge to load any 7 mm cartridge. What might be perfectly safe in a .30 caliber might be an extreme overload in a 7 mm.

Although the bullet weight might be the same for either cartridge, it is the dia. of the bullet that matters.

Also the bearing surface of the bullet.
Just remember you have a smaller volume in the 7mm barrel.
Cheers NC

Pics:

Note the entire trigger guard drops down, not just a floor plate, and then by pushing another button on top of the action, a detachable magazine falls out!

24 3/4 inch barrel, fluted 3-lug bolt, weight 9 lbs on my bathroom scale with Redfield Bear Cub 3-9 scope and sling.

Another question: if this is just a 300 WM necked down to 7mm, is there another commercially loaded cartridge that this can be rechambered to?

Boy, that is a rare beauty you have there Czech.

With dies still available from RCBS and a case capacity a bit larger than that of the 7mm Weatherby I'd recommend you leave it in it's present chambering.

I'd use 7mm Roy data as a starting point, along with the load info on the ammo in the pic and just enjoy a super cool rifle.

Link to the RCBS die set.
7mm-300WM die set

Wow, $143.95!!!!

Does anyone have used set for sale?

I'd wager that you could run 300WM brass into an inexpensive 7mm Rem Mag FL die and size the neck.

If you ever have to push the shoulder back a 300WM FL die with the expander removed would likely work to do that.

Might be difficult to find the correct dies used.

I'm not normally a fan of slanted forend tips or Monte Carlo buttstocks but that rifle you have is downright sweet.

If the magazine of your rifle is 3.600" long and if the action will accommodate the long cartridge you have a couple of options if you really want to rechamber.

The 7mm STW and the 7mm RUM come immediately to mind.

It's essentially just a short necked 7mm Remington Magnum, for all intents and purposes.

I wonder if a 7mm Weatherby Magnum reamer would clean up the chamber without having to set the barrel back a thread?

Brian.

I really don't think so since the shoulder of the parent 300WM case is some .150" ahead of the shoulder on the 7RM or 7Roy.

Looking fairly much like a 7 Mashburn Super to me

Dober

Very good point.

Brian.

I thought the same thing Mark but if the 7mm Apollo is really just a necked down .300WM then the shoulder is about .085" ahead of the shoulder on the Mashburn.