Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm Big Game Cartridge Showdown

My last 7mm Rem Mag had a 26" factory "take-off" barrel. It took R26 to get 3100 with the 160 and R33 to get an even 3000fps with the 175. Long barrel, new, more efficient powders to get there...safely. I was put off by the weight/length of my first 7RM, a BAR. '73, just out of the Army. Texas. It had a good trigger but its iron sight was hard to acquire a running deer/hog. Of course, I was used to my Mod 94 Classic Carbine. ha After that one was traded off in '75, my next 7mm was a 280( loaded the 139 Hornady) from '77-80, then wife gave me a BDL 7 mag for Christmas, used it the next 10yrs on everything, but loaded the 150 NP. For "Still-Hunting", a bit heavy and long. I think alot depends on where/how you hunt as to what makes any magnum worth it. I tried the "Ultra Lightweight Route" I found out I have a limit I can even use them right, ha. So back to a happy medium. I suppose its called "Light Sporter" weight. I found out Its not the length that ever bothered me (used several mags with 26" plus a brake! Still as handy as a 28" 20ga for small game/birds!
I base alot of my "don't want that's" now as back in '91, I dropped down into a big canyon up on Nebo Loop (gorgeous country) with a 10# 1917 Sporter. The day turned off hot, I ran out of water/snacks, and it took me "awhile" to just walk out of that canyon on a Forestry trail, I was 38 yrs old! ha, So, I had to hunt different, for sure!.

I think the factory 8 twist barrel is the 7PRCs best feature.

It’s also 7mm Weatherby Magnum territory. Weatherby listed 3,070 fps for their 175 gr load. My 24” barrel Mark V chronographs that load at 3,009 fps average.

Well I was surprised to get almost 3150fps with the 175 Hammer Hunter from my standard 338/06! I hope I get there again with same or better accuracy after its reamed to the Ackley Improved. I was never able to get any 175 that fast from my 7mm RM! I shot the 150 Partition close to 3200 out of my old BDL 7mm RM for deer for 10yrs, didn't tear them up either. Really, I think it was Jack O'Conner who said it was doubtful any bullet over 3000fps would make any real difference on killing. "Yeah Uncle Jack...but I LIKE IT"! lol

Hornady Precision Hunter, 7PRC, 175 ELDX
Browning X-bolt long range, 24" w/ browning recoil hog brake

2,758
2,707
2,753
2,730
2,726
2,765
2,766
2,750
2,766
mean: 2,747
spread: 58
stdev: 21

Not my rifle or ammo; guy at the range let me set my LabRadar next to his nice new rifle.

Rifle was braked; I am not sure if that affects LabRadar.....I don't run brakes.

I think he was discourage in the velocity vs what it said on the box.

My 7rem mag handload for 175 Sierra GK is 62.5 of RL-22: prints a nice clover leaf @ 2,800fps from a well used 26" rem700. Book max according to Nosler and Lyman. Goes faster if you add more sauce, although accuracy opens up and you are blatantly over book values.

The load i have in stock now for it is a 160 gr Nosler partition and 49.5 grs of imr4831, but the elk were shot with a 150 gr corelokt and 48 gr of imr 4350 , I know , the powder is not temperature insensitive and the bullets are not trendy, but they just work.......[/quote]

Thanks WY26! I am so glad I had this 7x57's barrel made up to 25". I like more speed than most traditional 7x57 shooters use, and that's not "damming w/faint praise". I just "cut my teeth" on a .280, then went to the AI, but my barrel was 22". So far, with new bullets, stout 120's, I'm a stretched string out to 350yds! ha. I could "say" I'll never use this rifle on elk, but "who knows"? I've had almost all the 7 mags, etc, and that 280AI still killed just as well, just as flat with its 2800/Speer 160HC and 2950 150 NBT,(seemingly) in a slim/trim style of rifle. So...if I just can't stand it, I'll skip the 7x57 AI and go straight to 280 AI. But so far...no complaints!

Apparently in the last 30 years, at least, nothing has really improved for "standard" 7 mag performance. I've owned three 7 Rem mags and one 7 Wby. All, way in the past. My first was a 7 Rem in a BAR. It had a very bad fault, though it was a "special" deal (new) with fancy engraving and a 3-9 x 40 Leupold. The necks on fired brass didnt expand causing extreme pressure, and I was using book loads. At the same time an in-depth article appeared in RIFLE magazine explaining the same problem for 7 Rem Mag BARs and some bolt actions. The reamers being used by certain manufacturers allowed no clearance for neck expansion. That article (don't recall the author, but it was several pages long, and while Wolfe himself still owned RIFLE magazine and any others under his name.) explained the cause of my frustration. It was like the cases had already been sized, I couldn't force a bullet into the necks by hand after they were fired. So, the manager of the store took it back but had no idea when a replacement would be possible since the store was a franchise, and in Canada! So he gave me a new M70 .300 Win Mag with the best scope in stock at the time. My next 7 Rem Mag was an investment piece that allowed me to upgrade my collection in rifles. It was a Ruger No.1 with a 26" barrel that gave a true 3000 fps from the 175 Partition using RL-22. At the same time I picked up a Rem Classic in 7 Wby with a 24" tube that equaled the MV of the Ruger No.1 in 7 Rem Mag with its 26" barrel. Also using RL-22. Years later another investment piece came my way in a nearly new 7 RM in a BDL with a 24" barrel. Using Rl-22 under 175s gave 2935 fps avg . It was way too heavy for my liking.

Investment rifles for me during those years was getting a good to v. good deal and turning it into profit.

So, nothing has really changed in the 7mm sort for big game over the past three decades at least, unless you get into larger and exotic cases. (I've also owned a 7-08 in M70 that I handloaded for a year or so. It was an exceptional deal.)

Bob
www.bigbores.ca

I'm a sucker for "good deal", ha. My last one was alike new Kimber 8400 Classic in 300 WSM for $600, an older gent hunted with it one time, (I think the recoil bothered him!)