Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles The "best" 7mm magnum

Since I have two 7mm Rem.Mag. rifles, that is my 'best' choice.
1989 700-AS I bought new in 1995...
Not sure of the production date for my Browning BAR MkII Safari w/B.O.S.S.

I kind of lucked into the Remington at a BIG 5 store and smile every time I pull the trigger on that one!
The BAR gives me a different kind of smile...softer and more confident with the adjustable accuracy for any load and the instant reloading of another cartridge to make me smile again.

The 7mm Rem.Mag. is sufficient for power, distance, and most any game in North America.
I don't know which one it ISN'T sufficient for...

Then there's the components for reloading.
I also lucked into buying some BARNES 195-gr. Original bullets for the 7mm. A few hundred! Still have most of 'em!
That's a nice, long, heavy bullet for caliber and I don't know where you'd find 'em today.
I also bought some SPEER TNT 110-gr. with the specific idea of loading them into Remington nickel-plated brass for the BAR.
All those little components, just waiting to be loaded!

I did have 20 of the 195's loaded into once-fired brass from the 700, and they were accurate, with a little extra push from the weight.

I just think the 7mm Rem.Mag. is a great cartridge overall.
Easy to find most anywhere.
Feels good to shoot.
Effective.

That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

I don't believe the rumors on 7 RM I have two and neither have pressure problems. If I wanted something different in 7mm it would either be 7 WSM, or 7 Weatherby or 7/08. I have had a 7 STW and thought the recoil was in the range of a 300 Win mag. and the one I had was only average accuracy.

Been pleased with me 7 LRM. Pretty efficient too... 70-71 grains of powder with the 175 & 180 gr bullets at or above 300 fps. Mine is not a heavy recoiler, and seems like it will be accurate. First group from the gun was .75"

I've only recently heard about the 7 LRM, does it need an action and magazine box longer than standard? What is the OAL of a loaded cartridge?

I've been shooting a 280AI lately and it's working for me, but it is not a 7RM. I have said and written that the 7RM is absolutely perfect for western hunting of elk and mule deer and such. It's recoil is manageable, it more than enough power for the biggest bull elk that ever walked at any reasonable range and angle. Moreover, the 160gr Nosler Partition is one great bullet. It's only shortcoming is most factory ammo sucks. For top performance it must be reloaded. I set my 7RM up with a long throat and a 26" 9 twist Hart barrel so I get some impressive velocities with 160gr bullets. About the only thing the big 7's give up to the big 30's is recoil.

I like 'em....got two here.

And don't you dare move the newest one without calling me.

Years ago, Speer's Nitrex line offered a 160 grain bullet clocking 2890 fps at the muzzle for the 280 Remington. I am pretty sure I am guoting those figures correctly, because I figured with that kind of power the 280 is all I would ever need... and I bought a M700 CDL in 280 and never looked back (more than a thousand times, usually when I run into threads like this one)... Of course, the Nitrex line was discontinued before I ever bought any of that ammo. Reload data for the 280 is the pits... always running below the potential of the cartridge. Hodgdon's website shows a max V of 2718 for the 280 with a 160, and 2833 fps for the 270! Laffin. What a 270 can do, a 280 can do... when my "hunt out west" ship comes in I will look for a good 7RM!!

Laffin! You mean that old thing?

Works on a standard lr (I believe magnum action).

Iirc, my 175 lrab load is at 3.335"

Thanks, that's good to know, I think it would work in my stainless M700 Rem mag action. Interesting.

Another vote for the 7 Roy!

I've hit 2 different gunshows since I last posted on this thread been looking for early to mid 60's Remington factory 7mm Rem Mag ammo. Really wanted some 175 gr Ptd Corelokts ,haven't found any yet but did score an almost full box of 64-65 vintage 150 gr Corelokts yesterday. These were advertised as having the factory velocity of 3260 fps at the muzzle in my 1963 Rem catalog. Now days the same load is 3110 fps. Now these shells are 48-49 years old but appear to have been stored correctly, no corrosion visible at all and the box is 95% condition. of course they are loaded with Rem 2 diameter bullets. Think I'll pull one check the powder weight and use the bullet to check the throats on my 700 ADL and Mark X Whitworth to see if they are throated the same, I doubt it but curiosity says too. Then some chrono graphing. Magnum Man

Were I to look for a 7Mag again it'd be a Belgium Medallion Browning with no sights, beautiful rifles and they shoot well too, the heavier barrels on these particuler rifles help to balance out the slightly clubby stocks.

Pre-Salt of course.

Gunner

I have a .280 AI and a 7mm rem, I won't try to say one is better than the other at the moment as I'm only just learning the 7mm rem.

The 7mm cartridge that I really like and pour research hours into is the 7mm Dakota, the velocities are a good step up over the 7mm rem and not far behind the 7mm ultra mag but for a heap less powder, the only thing stopping me getting one is there is no brass in Australia, midway will import some but it's dear as poison, and to buy all the forming dies to make my own is more trouble than I want. But for you blokes in the US with components available that's what I would go for.

If you want a barrel burning screamer look at the Lazaroni line of cartridges, a while back I did ask my gun smith to enquire about a reamer and the response was " NOT AVAILABLE " you have to buy our rifle.