Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 7 Remington Mag Magic

I have a friend; he refers to the 7-mag as "the ladies magnum".

I have just one, I'm making plans to use it next year.

Excellent point there....

It works but I'd hate to do this to a leg. That's the entrance side, not the exit!

In my experience the 7mmRM is an ideal platform for monolithic. Several here mention too much meat damage. That’s a function of bullet choice, not cartridge.

When I began loading and using the cartridge, I was running various 140 grain cup and cores, including the early NBT’s. It was easy to wreck a shoulder or make lung soup. I tried the then new original Barnes X bullets. Accuracy wasn’t the best, but I could run one straight through any deer at any angle necessary to reach the vitals without a lot of unnecessary collateral damage, whether up close or out at a distance.

That's how you lower the boom!

Friend of mine growing up bought a S&W 1500 in 7RM. He shot it very well and took a lot of deer with it, always told me the recoil wasnt bad, because it was a heavy rifle to begin with. He did mostly stand hunting anyway

120gr Barnes TTSX @ 3450 does a helluva job on Whitetails, boom flops everytime so far.

my deer load for the 7Mag is that same 120TTSX at 3200fps. Basically just a hot loaded 280, but it hammers deer, and recoil is tame.

Shot several mule deer with quick kills, had one shot on a large pig that didnt drop it. Jacka$$ hunting guide started the 7mm RM doesn't kill anything. Turns out the shot the expert "guide" told me the shot was 300 yards turns out it was 425 and I had just got the bottom of it's belly.

My Grandfather had a magical Savage 99, 250-3000 that struck down deer with the hammer of Thor when flinging 87 grain soft points. And I’ve been told that real magic happens when you shoot them in the top of the head with a 22 short. Drops them instantly and no one even hears it. I had an uncle sell a 7 mm Rem Mag because it didn’t drop deer like his 270 did. Point being the magic is in how it performs for you. Whatever you do don’t change your setup or you will be sorely disappointed. Apparently you found the sweet spot for it.

Bought one years ago to rebarrel to 257 Wby and made the mistake of shooting the donor. Needless to say I ended up hunting that rifle. It became sure death on deer, bear, hogs and coyotes. Currently loading the 160 Accubond with no complaints. If I were to give up my 25’s I would gladly grab that old school BDL and be content to hunt any thing in NA. THE 7 is definitely special.

GreggH

The sole specimen I shot with a 7RM borrowed from my brother most decidedly didn’t fall over and die. He kicked once, then ambled along another 20 yards or so and stopped. I was just about to give him another when he tipped over. Had a hole out the far side you couldn’t plug with a Titleist 3. Just one of those things….

I discovered Ruger's, 7Mags, and 160 partitions back in 1980. Hunted it exclusively for aoudad, muleys, and whitetails up until 1998 when I discovered the Tikkas......a M695. It loved those 160 partitions as well, and discovered that the 160 and 140AB's were hell on wheels for those animals, wild pigs, and the couple of elk I managed to kill. It loves the 150 BT as well (thanks Dober) but the mule deer bucks hated it. Lot's to love about the 7mag. I've lost count of the number of sheep, deer, hogs, antelope, etc that died because of it.

My first BG rifle was a M70 XTR in 7RM. My first load for it was a hatful of H870 and 140 Partitions. That rifle accounted for a lot of my first hunting. For deer I didn’t think it got any better. Just zapped them. Maybe not magic and nothing others didn’t or couldn’t but it is a great cartridge that is only getting better with better barrel twist, powder and bullets.

H870... Every time I find my "favorite powder" for the 7mm Rem Mag - it seems to vanish!

Used H870 with 175gr Nosler Partitions. Good load! Then H870 supplies dried up.

Switched to Reloader 22 and was happy for quite a few years. Particularly good with 160ish grain bullets. Then couldn't find it reliably.

Tried that new-fangled IMR 8133 and was very impressed. Hodgdon quit importing/carrying it.

Sigh... I know there are other powders for it, I gotta stay flexible!

Did not get to hunt with this new-to-me Model 70 in 7mm Rem Mag, but I've got ammo loaded for it with 140 gr Barnes TTSX bullets & IMR 8133. Good velocity and accuracy.


Guy

With those lighter weight bullets in the 7mag,the 4350 powders work quite well.

Yup! You got some great accuracy and velocity.

This has always kind of been my take but I have never owned one. I think an exception would be long shots at deer but we don't get shots beyond about 100 yards where I hunt. If I was shooting deer beyond 300 yards, the 7mm would probably be perfect.

That load using 65gn of H4350 with the 150gn Nosler BT is a terrific combination. I have been using it for some time though I have never tried the AA version. Good to see it working though, says something about that burning rate for compatability with that bullet.

I was reviewing my loads for this cartridge recently and noted the 3 most accurate bullets over a number of rifles and decades was the 160gn Accubond, 150gn Ballistic tip and 175gn Partition which coincidently, covers the majority of ground you need for a 7mm Magnum.