Does the 7mm Remington Magnum perform best with a 24" or 26" barrel?

I have owned and used ones with 22.5", 23", 24", & 25".
For a rifle that is carried I would not want more than 24". I would go 22.5-23".

Define "perform"..

Same when held right

24 is Plenty for me, I'd not shy from 23, or even a 280/AI in same if you like long actions.

24" barrel for the 7mm RM and 26" for the 7mm RUM.

If less than 24" you might as get a 280 or 7mm-08? I have a 26" barreled one and will use it for a stand hunting firearm.

What could I expect to gain over a 22" barreled 270 Winchester?

For one thing, it wouldn't be gay, like a .270�.

I suppose a 26" barrel would perform a bit better but for me a 24" length gives up little and makes for a better balanced rifle . But ultimately to each his own.

I chose 24" when I barreled this Mk V. It's a 24" Brux. 7RM set up for 168 VLD's in a McWoody Wby Express, wearing a VX-6 2-12 in Talley LW rings. I'm satisfied with 24" and would do the same again. Seems about right.

DF

Beautiful rifle DF. I have a 26" on my Winchester classic stainless and it seems a bit cumbersome. I'd probably love to chop 2" off of the bastid, but realize I'd lose about 80 fps by doing so. In the end, it would probably be worth going to a 24" tube.

My 6.5-284 M-70 with 26" Krieger is a bit awkward in a box blind. Gotta be real careful getting it into shooting position so not to be hitting the window or wall of the blind. 24" is much easier.

DF

Nothing wrong with a 26" if you're not schlepping it over hill and dale.

Schitt, I had a 30" Rock on my 6.5-284, and it was fine for what I built it for.

You can't just talk barrel length without taking into consideration of barrel contour, stock, scope, rings, mounts, bases, etc, your goal of overall weight, and how you're going to use it.....

Like asking "I want to buy a truck".....

Esox,

One of the oldest myths in ballistics is that a "magnum" with a barrel shorter than 24" only gets "standard" cartridge velocities. Instead, the bigger cartridge will always push bullets faster.

In one experiment I shortened the barrel on a .300 Winchester Magnum to 22". It still got 3000+ fps with 180-grain bullets using published data. That's more than any 22-inch barreled .30-06 or .308 will get.

Pull the barrel and slap a 338 win mag on it.

Shoukdnt be shooting animals with anything less.

I had the same gun it clocked 3150 with Federal 160 grain partitions on a 100Degree day in FL Factory ammo. The gun was a tad heavy not bad but definitely heavier then my Buddies Custom shop KS in 280. Add yet another one to the ignored list ^^^^^^^

Sorry I pissed you off somehow. Just stating how I felt about the 26" vs. 24" barrel on the 7mm rem mag..

BSA,oldelkhunter is ignoring "wrongway" not you.

Really and why is that?

Thats a dumb question

Answer the question or admit you don't have a clue about what you're talking about.

I'm beginning to wonder if Boxer's little brother has recently joined our forum.

I think I'll also be putting someone else on ignore.

Thank You for clarifying that. Zero chance I ever put BSA on ignore.

I hate over moderated forums but some morons need to be shown the door.

You Sir,are welcome.

All things being equal(they rarely are)a 26" barrel in 7 Rem Mag should deliver higher velocity than a 24". But velocity can vary as much between two different 24" barrels as it will between a 24 and a 26",depending on make of barrel, throat,etc etc.

Out of numerous 7 Rem Mags, all mine have had 24" barrels,except for a couple of M70 Classics,which had 26". They did not hang around long at that length.

Hard to generalize,and there are many variables that crop up, but these are the velocities I have seen with hand loads in 24" 7 Rem Mags:

175's- about 2900 fps.

160's- 3000-3100 fps

150's- 3150 fps

140's 3200-3300 fps.

I'm very tempted to chop 2" off of mine and throw it in the Brown Precision stock I have..

If you want the benefits of a longer barrel and the handiness of a short rifle, you can always cut two inches off the stock-

At it again huh? Remember to get to bed early, it's a school night.

Just post up a Justin Bieber Youtube video. Tweens love that stuff. He'll be entertained for hours.

Look at it this way, if you like.

A 7 Rem mag will do with a 160 gr bullet about what a 270 will do with a 130 gr.

And it will do with a 175 gr, about what a 270 Win will do with a 150 gr.

We could talk about lighter bullets and higher velocities in the 7 Rem Mag as well, but to me the key advantage of a 7 Rem Mag(or any magnum capacity 7mm) is the ability to push heavy 7mm bullets at the same or higher velocity than can be obtained from the smaller 7mm's with lighter bullets.

Amen from the back row!

Always learning something from you Muledeer!

That's great velocity for a shortened 300 win mag. Do you notice anymore muzzle blast than with a longer barrel?

No, didn't notice more muzzle blast, partly because all .300 magnums are LOUD!

Intuitively, the 7 magnum should kill better than the 270. It would seem to make sense that especially on elk, a 160 grain 7 mm bullet would likely give better penetration and/or a wider wound channel than a 270 bullet. I have shot quite a few animals with a 270, and a very few with the 7 magnum, and with the few animals I shot with the 7 magnum, I could never tell any difference in effectiveness. Admittedly, I am probably one of the least qualified here to make that judgement. Would like to hear some opinions from those more experiences.

Royce

I'm pretty sure that's incorrect. Perhaps you missed a few select posts expounding on the magic virtues of certain newer powders (But I think I'd prefer to hunt with you. )

I've had several 7mm rem mags with both 24" and 26" barrels. I'm having another built right now and it'll be 24". I've settled on anything that gets used hunting having no more than a 24" barrel. 26" is fine on something that gets used off a bench, but the tiny bit of extra velocity the extra 2" will get you isn't worth wrestling with the extra length in the field.

With the 26" barrel over the 24" there is about 50 fps differance in mine. But the results on all deer with that 139 gr. bullet have all been bang flops. I don't think the deer had a clue which was which.

To me, that seems like such a small difference in velocity that it would be worth going to 24". Thanks...

there's a few of you I really enjoy reading your discussion on firearms and ballistics.


I screwed up, but I should have bought a lh Rem 700 in .375, but I hesitated cause it had a 26 inch Douglas tube on it.


someone smarter than me didn't hesitate

he who hesitates loses out on the firearms

Thanks. I had not thought of it that way.

Agree with comments about 24" or so being just fine (and even somewhat shorter as well) in the 7mm Rem Mag. Will only add that a 26" barrel is the berries in a Ruger #1S.

The balance and "feel" of this rifle is superb, and it doesn't feel as heavy as it is (the weight is the down side, as it tips the beam at a bit more than 9# w/ scope).

Klik,

Dang! I forgot the magic .308 and .30-06 powders.

Do you know where I could buy some?

If you remove the last 2" of a 26" barrel, just be sure you cut where the rifling is pointing downward.

If you don't, it will fling your bullet almost vertically straight up as it exits the barrel and can come down on your head.

BTDT.

I have my first big game rifle, a Model 70 XTR in a B&C Medalist. It has the 24" barrel and man, it is a really handy rifle. Plus, I don't have any issues getting all the numbers Bob mentioned.

Been working with Norma MRP and Swift Scirocco's lately and they have been impressive in speeds and how well the bullet holds up.

lmao


those gotta be words to live by right there!

VAhuntr -

For a bolt-gun carry rifle 24" is max for me. That's what my Ruger 7mm RM has and it has worked fine since 1982 when I bought it.

Any gain over a 22" .270 depends on how you load them. Whether any such gain is results in a usable advantage also depends on what you are hunting and at what ranges.

My 700 / 7mm Rem.Mag. came with a 24" bbl.
My BAR MkII Safari w/B.O.S.S. came with a 22" bbl., plus the B.O.S.S.
Both are accurate rifles for hunting.

My 700 / .375 ULTRA MAG came with a 26" bbl.
I've not tested it for accuracy yet, but it'll let you know you pulled the trigger!

What the hell, I thought you said the 308 would shoot with horse manure stuffed in the case. ...How much more magical can you get that that!!!

I was wondering when you were going to say something.

Guys that are hiking around have very different needs than a guy that only walks 200 yards from his truck and climbs a tree over looking a bean field or hunting a power line. The guy that walks very little and hunts from a fixed platform could have a 28" barrel with no ill effects.

Usable advantage?

Still laughing, but a better answer would be to cut 2" off the forend. Same LOP ,same barrel length no loss of performance. Manufactures put 24-26" barrels on Magnums for a reason that is add'n velocity so you don't have to run uber powder charges to get it. Can't handle a 24" or 26" stay home and handle honey do's. I am on my second 7 mag barrel at 24" and there is a ss 26" waitng in the wings for next time. Short barrels and mag cartridges suck as do any other over bore capacity cartridge in a short barrel. Longer barrels provide cheap velocity gains period. You don't want the extra velocity go buy a std cartridge . OP solicited opinions ,I just gave him mine, you don't like it, too bad. Magnum Man

My only 7mm mag was a Winchester model 70 and it had a 24" barrel. My nephew has it now. I was a shooter and balanced well but it was too heavy. I never hunted it for that reason. I liked it at the range well enough.

I'm thinking you probably have some on your shelves. It's up to you to learn how to hand load "correctly" now.

Get the 26" barrel and try it out. Easy to cut some off but hard to add later. My current 7RM has a 23" barrel and it usually doesn't get to published velocities with out a strain. I suspect it is the fabled slow barrel rather than the length. Or lack of magic powder and secret loading knowledge. When I re-barrel I will probably go 25". I have lighter 280AI and 270 WSM so lots of overlap.

270 vs 7RM sounds like a whats a .223AI? type post.

For deer size game probably not a lot of difference. For Elk and similar the 7RM gives me more confidence.

I've got an HCR 7mag w/26' bbl, and a Tikka 695 w/24" bbl. They are both very, very accurate. The HCR shoots so well I don't dare screw with chopping off and inch or two. 140's= 3200, 150's = 3100, 160's = 3000.

I debated the same thing. Went 24". Sako action,Mcgowen barrel. Still breaking in but It'll do 3200's no problem with 140's. But I might have to settle for 3175.

Those 140 AB's are nasty, nasty stuff! My buddy dumped a big 185 class muley buck at a distance of a whopping 30 yards out of his 7STW. It retained 65% of it's weight, penetrated over 3 feet! Perfect performance.

Hopefully this fall we will see:). My son put a 130 AB from a 270 WSM between the shoulder and brisket on a 300# muley.Found it in the off hind quarter under the skin. DRT at 250 yds.

I mainly use 160 AB's in mine and 7WSM. 140's work well too.

My 7mm Rem with 26" barrel pushes the 175gn Woodleigh Weldcore at 2940fps.
That is a little more whallop than than the .270 will push the 150 grainer with top end loads.
The fly in the ointment of course, is that there is no animal one is not suited for and the other, is.
I do however, prefer that margin in my favor.
John

I spend a lot of time reading competition shooters' pages, and looking at the speeds and pressures they are shooting with standard cartridges, I think this barrel length thing is open to more debate than "You want a 24, or a 26?" If in a packing rifle, I've noticed that bbls around 22" seem to balance better in the hands, but I don't notice when packing or shooting a 24". Never hunted with a 26", but I wish I had. The point for me in getting a 7 mag would be to increase my velocity over say a 280. What extra recoil, blast, etc. I'd deal with had better get me the most speed for my bang, so I'd opt for a 26". I don't get the 'fast handling 7 mag' concept.

My first custom build is going to have a 25" bbl. My long range rig plan is for 27 or 28.

i just put together a 7mag , fluted barrel 26 in long, #2 contour, light cdl stock, 4.5x14 leupold weighs 8lbs all up, shoots 160 accubond 3130fps with 7828ssc, just came in from shooting it, 800 yards .7 moa for 2 5shot groups, little muzzle heavy, i dont like a light muzzle, feel, little weight forward holds better in field positions,,

i have a 7saum 28in barrel #4 contour, shoots 168 berger 3000 fps holds .5 moa at 800 easy,,,weighs 9 lbs, been in my scabbard on my mule and in my backpack for 4 years, lots of game killed, my son thinks he needs it,, thats why i put together another rifle

HuntnShoot: The concept of fast handling 7 mags probably goes back to the days when guys like JOC and Warren Page set the parameters of what was then known as a "mountain rifle".As it turns out these mountain rifles proved to be pretty good all-round BG rifles.

Those guys back then tended to specialize a bit less,but traveled a great deal to hunt,here and abroad. The rifle might not only see real mountain duty but also use in Africa, for deer (almost anywhere with the myriad conditions where they are found)and elk back here, as well as black bear,moose, grizzly,African plains game, etc. It should be able to reach 400-500 yards on elk if called upon, but should be maneuverable in the confines of a leopard blind, or take a 70 yard kudu,whitetail or elk in confined quarters of brush country where fast handling is at a premium.

They might be transported by truck, plane, mule or horseback.

Reason is simple...you can't travel with a lot of rifles to suit the many circumstances you might bump into,and people who have to travel from home to hunt frequently don't know what they will encounter.

The rifle has to be more of a grand compromise than a highly specialized piece of gear,and those 22"-24" 7 mags (270's, 280's, 30/06's etc.)weighing 7-8 pounds do a better job of handling a lot of hunting than a heavier rifle with long barrel.....which may be just the ticket for some open country stuff, but a PITA at 10,000 feet on a mountain,and ridiculous in a blind or heavy cover trying to hunt animals that actually move and don't want to be shot.


I've hunted with 26" barreled rifles (300H&H and 264 WM)and it was no great burden but in building a 7 mag for myself,give me the lighter 23-24" #2 contour,and bring it in at 7.5-8 pounds. I know it's gonna work at a bunch of chores,including those fast shots we sometimes have to make.

No real need to worry as a 24" 7 RM will handily outrun any 280 in barrels of the same length. I would be surprised to see the 280 come close.

What Bob said!!!

Little update here: Wound up going with a Remington 700 ADL 7mm RM with a 24" barrel. Topped it off with a VX3, 3.5-10x40. Very happy with how well it shoots.

Ballistically, the 7MM Rem Mag has a decided edge on the .270 Win. But I doubt if it'll kill any deader than a .270 Win. It's all about where a bullet goes.

You can't ask for more than that.

I would like my next big 7mm to have a 28" barrel, I can always cut off 2".

I like your gun / barrel length / and scope COMBO.

Can't imagine ANY combination working any better. I might add a 300 WM would be in the SAME category for myself. I have some 7 RMs , an 8 RM , and 300 WM , all very similar.

I personally only shoot 120's and the heavies (160's & 175's) in mine and skip all the bs in between. In my old Savage, it was easy to get 3500fps with 120's using a full case of RL22 or Magpro. Same powders along with H870 gave 3000fps +/- with 160's and H870/US869 was all I ever used with the 175's @ about 2900fps. Eventually I settled on just two bullets, the 120 Barnes X (all versions) for deer and like game, and 160 Accubonds for anything bigger that I still have yet to get a chance to hunt.

Awesome answer, Bob. You schooled me. It makes sense now. It is easy to forget how much the firearms industry has changed in 50 years, because the same discussions have been going on the whole time, with the same problems solved and re-solved. What is old is certainly new again.

I have seen horrible velocity loss in guns with shorter bbls. One exception was a 22" M70 270 that I worked up a load for that shot 3150 with 130 SSTs. Most powders I tried gave around 2900 though, so I understand that it may be a matter of finding the 'right' powder.

7 mags still seem like long-shooting rigs to me, rather than do-it-alls. Maybe it is because I've seen several lost animals from close-range shots and 7RM.

Bad placement or wrong bullets(assuming the reason for the loss was insufficient bullet penetration).

A 7 mag works fine at closer ranges if you use a bullet that will penetrate at high impact velocity.

I eventually thought it was a cursed caliber. The lost game when on through my early hunting days, and I was surprised every time. I was shooting weak rounds in comparison and having 0 problems. It is an old and likely irrelevant set of experiences but I still carry the dregs of the memories. Short-range rodeos that become lost animals are the worst, because it is a done deal, supposedly, when the shooting starts.

I know you're a big fan of big 7's, Bob. I want to get into that club someday.

HnS: They work pretty well (even at close range)for me but I have always used bullets that penetrate well.Last bull elk was with a 160 NPT through both shoulders at about 180 yards(I guess that's pretty close today). It exited and elk was DRT.

I used a 7 Rem Mag in Africa for the first time last week (rented a rifle from my PH).

I shot a Nyala and a Warthog with a 160 gr TSX. Both were 1-shot kills. The Nyala was inside of 100 yards and the Warthog was a little further off. The Nyala was a pass-through with good expansion on the exit. We recovered the bullet from the Warthog (diagonal quartering shot). The shaft was slightly bent and it lost a petal, but otherwise expanded beautifully.

The PH was a big fan of the 7mm, TSX combo.

Eric

I have a relative who has lost two good black bears on less than 50 yard shots with his 7 Rem. mag. and 150 Ballistic tips. Neither bear was lost for good. They both just ended up staying on their feet long enough to end up on somebody elses wall. I just got a Ruger 7 mag myself and bought some 175 Federals. If I don't start loading for it before Fall I figure these will do the job well at close range or farther out.

The problem was not the 7 mag, but the poor bullet choice. A Ballistic Tip is a poor choice for close shots at high velocity. It is not a durable bullet. Your 175-grainers will work fine, but it still depends on which bullet is in the load.

For a do-it-all load in a 7 mag, it is hard to improve on a 160 or 175-grain Nolser Partition or Accubond. Deer and antelope aren't too big of a deal and many bullets will work, but for bears, elk etc., my money will always be with a premium bullet.
I have killed lots of deer both close and far with 139 Hornady Interlocks, but tough stuff is another game.

I have 100 Core Lokts of the 150 grain variety. The rifle shoots these very well. What kind of results can I expect on deer with these? The shots could be inside 50 yards but generally 75 to 400 yards.

VAhunter,

I can't remember if I've ever killed anything with a 7MM Rem Mag Core-Lokt. I do have five boxes of very old 150 grain Core-Lokt. I've chrono'd a few rounds out of my 24" barreled 7MM Rem Mag @ slightly better than 3200 FPS. From what I understand, newer Core-Lokts might be a little more tame, not that any animal would be able to figure out.

If I were going to use factory loads, I'd use Core-Lokts.

Eric: Nice! Thanks for posting the picture.

The rifle came with the Core Lokt's and 160 grain Winchester Fail Safes. The rifle shoots them both very well. All this ammo was purchased in 1999 to 2000. I have $300 in the rifle, scope bases/rings and ammo....wound up getting the Leupold from the classifieds here....don't think it had ever been mounted...the rifle has seen very little use as well. I'm happy with the setup!

Exactly +1. 26" is awkward handling and is the kind of experience a guy only needs once. 24" is about right, you'll get a fire ball at dusk or dawn but the blast is not too bad.

A 22" 7 mag is too loud as it's like a small bomb blst at the muzzzle.

Have many 26 " barrels, some 27 and one 28.5.. The last is a bit
long.. Never had a problem with any of them.. But I only hunt deer out of a blind when I hunt Texas.

VAHunter,

That's a beautiful rifle. And you got a deal that doesn't come around often. I'd of jumped all over it, especially a 7MM Rem Mag.

I'm not sure when or if Remington began slowing their 7MM Rem Mag Cork-Lokt velocities. I do know that it used to publish better than 3200 FPS with 150 grain and better than 3000 FPS with 175 grain Core-Lokts. But the reality is a 100 FPS won't matter.

I wish you many successful seasons with it.

My HCR 7mag wears a 26" bbl. Love it.