Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Help with 7mm rem mag loads

Glad to hear you got your rifle and are working up loads,
My 26" tubed NH Winnie doted on 68gr of Rel.25 and 160NP's

Thanks for the response guys. Very much appreciated. Dingo, have you used that 154gr. interlock on any game animal yet? Thanks...

Actually the Interbond bullet builds the most pressure of all our bullets listed here.*
If you are not seeing pressure in your rifle it may have a longer throat. You can work up loads carefully and about 2 tenths of a grain at a time.

Hmmm, looks like it's a shooter, for sure....I've had better luck with RL25 and 160's, RL22 and 140's....But, it looks like you are on the right track. I'll have to chrono my loads for comparison - it'll be awhile since I finally gathered up enough parts to take it to the smith for the rebed, etc....

BSA,

I'll relate you my experiences with something similar. I've found Hornady's 7mm RM loads w/ RL-22... well, anemic. I tried to get RL-22 to work with the 154g Interbonds. At the max load (I have 63.4g as MAX, not 62.9g but whatever) I clocked at 2,766 fps with a 24" barrel! That's pathetic! When I asked Hornady about it they replied with:

*This was pre-GMX, so that may not necessarily hold true today

J.B.'s "Handloads that Work" article suggested 66g of RL-22 (or just enough to hit 3,000 fps) w/ a 160g bullet.

Other loads of interest (these are from my notes, please verify independently):


So you can see, other sources list higher max charges for heavier bullets (Lyman #49 shows 66.0g for a 168g Seirra HPBT). Granted, different bullets build pressures differently. So really, it's up to you if you want to exceed Hornady's max charge and see where it gets you. I never did finish working with the Interbond & RL-22. I got good accuracy with the Hornady max load of Ramshot Magnum (72.1g) and fair velocity (2,936 fps). Though even that load I never fully fleshed out. My gun and the 154g Interbonds couldn't seem to come to an agreement on accuracy.

Good luck!

I haven't checked lately, but Sierra was showing a max charge of 65 grains RL-22 with their 160 grain, 7mm Rem mag loads. I worked up to that in a couple of different rifles, with excellent accuracy results and easily surpassing 3,000 fps.

Guys experience is like mine.

It is a fact of life that you cannot baby a 7mm Rem Mag and get the vlocity from it that the cartridge is capable of delivering. This does not mean that you want to do anything foolish or dangerous...simply that the loads that are max will vary rifle to rifle due to a number of factors; and to get it to potential,you might need to tweak manual loads a bit, and velocity will not show until you get near top (but not dangerous)charges.The cartridge is not really unique in this regard....300 Win Mags are very much the same, and 264's are touchier than hell near max...

Frequently, magnum cartrdiges will not show their "stuff" until max loads are approached.....for that matter, neither will standard cartridges.

I watch the chronograph carefully when working up a 7RM load,and if I get to the point with a powder that is looking too over the top,but velocity is not yet "there", I switch powders, generally going slower which generally works.But going a bit quicker has worked, too.

For example, I had one 7RM on a M70 with Krieger 9 twist and a longish throat that gave 3080-3090 with the 160 NPT and BBC. It shot very well and was well behaved summer and winter with 70 gr H4831...cases had good life and accuracy excellent.

This load is close to max with the same bullet in the 7mm Weatherby magnum (see Nosler manual),yet was perfectly fine in that 7 Rem Mag rifle and barrel,giving vels within 20 fps of what the Nosler manual states for the Weatherby...this and other rifles is the reason I say the 7mm Weatherby is nothing more than a free-bored 7 RM.

RL22 is a fine powder for the 7RM; but today with 160 gr bullets my first stop would be RL25,which has proven excellent.Next up assuming R25 did not work, would be H1000 or 7828.