Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters FINN AAGAARD & LES BOWMAN on the 7mm Rem Mag

wow, just read a very well written article from a 1986 issue of American RIfleman. THese 2 collaborated on the 7mm Rem and how it came to be and how they have used it and seen it used...

One thing I noticed is it is amazing how much American RIfleman has gone downhill!!

Interesting to say the least. Les wrote of many clients not handling the 300 win/weatherby recoil levels as well pertaining to accuracy as the 7mm which he helped develop originally calling it the "280 rem mag." Warren Page said this about the 7mm: We still have available no better all-around, multipurpose big game round then the 7mm rem mag. It is a superb cartridge.

The 7mm rem was around for years as a wildcat before remington launched it in 1962 in conjunction with the model 700... I bet roy weatherby was kicking himself for stubbornly keeping his 7mm ROY in the 1 in 12" tWist configuration

With bullet technology the way it is nowadays, it has lowered the caliber diameter and/or bullet weight needed compared to yesteryear... A 160 or 175 TSX is going to probably fully penetrate any elk alive or come damn close to it... I wonder what FInn would think of it with modern projectiles?

Dat same article is one of Finns books which is one of my most treasured reads around.

Aside from JB and one or two others they just don't make em like they used to!

Dober

eah, it's a collection of Finn's shooting pieces from both NRA mags. Mine is falling apart but stil in one piece. It needs to be reprinted by somebody.

That is a biiiiiiiig 10-4.

Mine has about had it also.

Ditto for mine!

Dober

Finn was one who walked the walk and is fun to read,, learned alot from his experience and his way with words,love Bob Hagel and his work also,, and who could not like Bob Milek

Les said Mike Walker and Wayne Leek were the people on the inside at Remington that made the cartridge come to life, without them it wouldnt have happened and he originally loaded it with HODGON "DATA" Powder AKA IMR 4831

Dakota-slam dunk Bob and Bob were some of my favs as well!

Dober

Mine is falling apart as well.

Bought Finn's "Hunting Rifles and Cartridges" on Amazon for an xmas present, paid 65 bucks for a used one,, Yes that book is worth every dime, I would like to add, much can be learned from the gunnies on here,,

Sadly, Remington will never see the likes of Walker & Leek again......

Sure you don't mean H4831 instead of IMR?

MM

That's okay ... because Remington is not the company it used to be. Regarding reprinting Finn's work ... yes PLEASE!
Cheers...
Con

When "Finn" passed away the NRA publications lost the best writer they ever had.

I still re-read Finns "7Mag" article at least once a year. I have all of Jack O'Conners Peterson's Hunting articles except the 30-06. Took a while to collect those. I loaned the 30-06 article in the magazine out and never got it back, my brother still denies it.

Doc

What's it gonna cost me to have one of you boys shoot me a photo copy of that article?

Absolutely love Finn's work, the guy just makes sense. But, I'm not the biggest fan of the 7mm Magnum. For anything I do, I've found the .270 will do it just as well as the 7mm Magnum with less recoil, lighter bullets, less powder and less pressure variation.

Now don't get me wrong...If I came across a very cool rifle that was chambered in 7mm Magnum, I wouldn't pass it up. It's a good round.

If you had by chance read the article, you'd find out that Finn did not own a 7mm Magnum. He borrowed a rifle for the article, and in the article he stated "I do not own a 7mm Rem. Mag, and probably never will." He goes on to explain that he did not take long, risky shots, so probably would stick to the .30-06 and rounds like that.

As a matter of fact I do not believe he ever did own or even hunt with a 7mm Remington Magnum. He did like the .280 Remington, partly because he'd used a 7x64 extensively in Africa, and the .280 and 7x64 are quite similar rounds. He was also quite fond of the .30-06.

As a matter of fact, after Finn moved to Texas from Kenya, he tried a lot of American cartridges, because he was a rifle loony and never had a chance to try many different rounds in Africa. (There were strict limits on the number of firearms you could own, and handloading was outlawed.) But he found that many cartridges Americans liked (or that some American hunters considered essential for some uses) were over-powered for his use. He tried various magnums, especially the .300 and .338 Winchester Magnums, but toward the end of his life was hunting a lot with the .257 Roberts (for deer, pronghorn, etc.), and for larger stuff using the .280, .308 or .30-06.

I always admired Finn a great deal. He seemed very practical. John's information in the above is probably a good indicator of why I feel as I do about Finn. I shoot an 06 and my son shoots a .280. I would vote for anything that Finn wrote being made available. On top of his knowledge and writing, he just seemed like a genuinely nice man. I wrote to him a couple of times and his replies were prompt and friendly. Wish I could have met him.

To all: Just a friendly reminder that there are two new Aagaard books out. One from Wolfe and one from Safari Press.


Finn Aagaard - Selected Works
Finn Aagaard
http://www.riflemagazine.com/catalog/detail.cfm?ProductID=874

AAGAARD'S AFRICAN ADVENTURES
Aagaard, Finn & Berit
https://www.safaripress.com/product.php?productid=678&cat=0&page=1

I miss Finn.........

-Bob F.

nyrifleman-pm me your addy and next week I'll get a copy off to you.

Dober

I just bought the Limited Deluxe Signed Edition of "Aagaard's Africa" and two audio CDs of Finn speaking about rifles and hunting directly from Berit. She's a wonderful lady. Thanks...Bill.