Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Great Quote from Mule Deer

"...conversations often consisted of guys bragging on their 'Big Seven', sometimes as obnoxiously as some 6.5 Creedmoor fans (and detractors) today."

I would offer that I believe that there is very little venom directed toward the round itself, but rather toward the fans. I liken it to heated rivalries in college football where worshipers of one team really don't hate the other team itself, but rather are sick of the damned fans of the other team.

Keep up the good work, John!

Thanks!

Nope, nothing against the 7mm Remington Magnum. Have owned several, including the Mauser M18 used for that article, and it's a fine round.

Have owned and loved many 7mags in my career. Peculiar thing is I’ve never seen a round take as many kicks to the groin as the 7mag when I’m out west elk hunting. Every place I’ve been they have had a 7mag story or three about what a worthless round it is for elk. About like the 270 folks on here at times.

Of course it’s a fine round for elk....put a good bullet to work, bust that oil pump and it’s all over.

Sorry I missed the article, but I believe wholeheartedly in your point about folks having bad feelings about a given cartridge, due to obnoxious fans. I believe in Americans. I love them, I am one, but humility is often a trait that we lack. Especially when we are pulling for our favorite team, cartridge, vehicle, etc.

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with a 7mag as a cartridge.

That said it has been my experience that those fans of the 7mm mags were talked into that magic round by their Uncle Charlie and they rely heavily on that magic attributed to it, rather than on real rifle practice and trigger time with the round.

I can honestly say in 45 years of hunting " out west" and living here, I hav NEVER, emphasize NEVER seen anyone who shot their 7mag well...

So again, its not the arrow, its the indian.

I have 5 seven mags, like them very much, but don’t try to cram them down anybody’s throat. I like 30-06’s just as much. Everyone has their favorite caliber and they shout out it’s virtues as loud as they can.

I hope when I grow up that a 7 mag will follow me home one day.

A cartridge is fantastic to someone when that person pulls off a great shot or 2, paper or animal.

A cartridge sucks when someone screws up a shot or 2, paper or animal.

It doesn't matter if luck or fault came into play. And that's the way it is with a lot of people.

Did I ever mention the guy who told me the .308 Winchester sucked for whitetail deer, because he once shot a buck right in the heart with a .308, and the deer ran off, never to be found?

Sounds like some bullet failure reports I've read.

Sounds like he may have shot a rare Odocoileus cordearmum, or "heart in the hind leg" deer as they're known colloquially. They have a reputation of being very hard to kill..

Had a fellow, a member of our gun club, tell me that the reason the 7mm RM was responsible for so many wounded deer was that it was going so fast the bullet passed through the body before it had time to open. He wasn't joking but totally believed that.

Did he consider it ideal for elephant?

Don't know, we never discussed that, seeing as how the elephant were all shot out around here by .30-30 hunters during the Depression.

Backing away from facetiousness, I did hear a guy tell me how an M1 Garand was so powerful it would "kill an elephant, easy". Strictly speaking, given a good bullet and good placement he had a point, but I think the reality was that the recoil of the only one he shot one time left a greater impression on him than whatever ballistic or anatomical references he may have (never) perused.

The 7mm Rem simply a glorified 30-06.
Which is no faint praise.

Was at the range Saturday and helped a proud millennial sight in his new Browning 7 Mag with a ported barrel. Damn that was nasty.

But Uncle Charlie told him it was a bonafide 700 yard gun. The real deal.

700 yards??? AMAZING!

My first rifle was a 7 Rem Mag, wanted a 270, but did not find one and the 7 did the job. Loud, kicked, etc. Since then, some folks might laugh, but I killed many deer using 7mm BR and 6mm BR rifles, 243s, and a good sprinkling of modest 6.5s and 7/08. Yes, hammered a few with a 338/06 and they died just as quick.

SO, when uneducated folks 'Think' a 6.5 Creedmoor is lacking...or their owners..........well step aside if I have a 6mm BR, and I will make some non-believers understand a few things about bullet choice and shot placement. JS.

Most rounds today work, just depends how far you want to shoot, and recoil and blast you want to tolerate, but the 'lower rung' rounds often reach and kill far better than many give them credit. In Real Estate, they say location location location. Killing game is similar....location of your shot placement. Usually fault lies with the driver, not the vehicle.

Yes, JB is always spot on.

............. Me too; It's one of those "always wanted one, but never owned one" type things.

Musta been with one of them Nosler Partitions, and it penciled on through without opening up.


Happens all the time....

Was the suicide rate higher back then?