Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting 30-06 vs. 7mm Mag, real world difference out to 700 yds?

OK, agreed to an extent but Joe Cool is running like 20-lb rifles in things like 338 Edge. I'm not approaching this from that angle.

I intend to hunt the high desert of Oregon and Hell's Canyon in the next couple years. If I can get set up with a light, portable rifle that does significantly better than the light, portable rifles I have now, then I might do that.

A big heavy rig is a whole other can of beans. A different question, and I agree, 7 WSM is not the answer to that question.

then the 7 is your huckleberry

It only makes a difference if the platform is readily easy to shoot accurately at distance and a light wieght platform is more times than not harder to hit consistantly at distance from field positions

That'd be my experience too. But again, for what I'm talking about here, a heavy 7mm isn't an option. If it was, I'd be exporing a 7 STW or 7 RUM or talking to you and JC about big .33's.

Come on, Jeff. A Montana in 7WSM firing 162gr A-Max's at 3100fps would be a SWEET rig. Just ask Larry

I know a montana would be the way I would go were I looking for a setup like Jeff. Which was exactly what I was looking for when I bought my 300wm and it exceeded my expectations.

Joe knows a lot about the long range game and what you learn can be transcended to your on arsenal.

I would agree with that, too. He stopped by to pick up some steel plates a couple months ago. Great guy!

It seems to me, call me crazy here, but it seems to me that if long range high-percentage hits are the game, then driving a high-BC bullet as fast as practical is the thing to do. And that's a whole can of worms, and it's pretty easy to start down the slippery slope and end up with a big, huge, flamethrower. I don't want that, I want the BEST light hunting rifle package I can set up and of course, I realize that's different than the BEST heavy package that one could set up!

I was pretty impressed with Heavywalker's kill on that elk... certainly not dissing 300 WM and mine driving 200-NAB's works great for me. My Sendero is going to remain my "main" LR rig but I ain't carrying that beast all around the places I'm planning on hunting!

That guy knows his stuff, and if he wasn't trying to piss everyone off all the time he'd be great to have around, eh?

Learning a rifle means shooting it a lot. Flame throwers as you call them are much harder on barrel and have a lot of muzzle blast. There are no short cuts to excelling at what one does. Shoot a lot and often and learn. Just throwing bullets down range doesn't help there must be good practice habits that translate into down range accuracy

Thanks, agreed 100%. I'm workin' on it.

Why do you need a sighter shot, before hitting your target?

Jeff the only way you will resolve 8 pages of blah blah blah is to buy the 7mm and shoot it along side your 30/06....

...we all know both are gonna work to 700 yards,and you're spinning anyway,so what's a few more clicks?And I sorta doubt there will be much differecce in how they kill(there never really has been).

OTOH if you get the 7mm and shoot it, you might discover(not real hard to figure out)that the 7 will shoot flatter from 300 yards out,which is where you're most likely to kill something.No mysteries here as this has been true about 7mm's and 30/06's for decades...no new discoveries.

I've shot them both a lot,but only to 600 because that's what's available to me.They both drop a long way at that distance.

Me?I'd grab the 7mm.

Because I'm not skilled enough, equipped enough, or both...

Thanks Bob.

Is it safe to say, you see a real-world, significant advantage to the 7mm mag over 30-06?

Or given equal skill, are they the same damn thing?

There is your answer, work on this area until first round hits are common place

Fer crying out freekin loud!!
Jeff! He just told you, there IS real world difference, told you it's from 300 yards on out. This is coming from one of the most astute game shots on the Campfire. What more do you want?

Fred

When I started out the experienced long range hunters recomended a 308 win to learn with. Get consistent long range hits with a 308 and you will have gained a great skill in wind reading, etc. Try to short cut the learning curve with faster rounds is not going to make you the best that you can be. Anyone that can read can look at a ballistic table and see the differrence in an 06 and a 7 mag. I have a friend that has killed a truck load of deer on crop deprivation tags with a 308 win out a tad over 700 yards very consistently

You will learn a lot with Joe Cool and you shoot your rifles

Jeff I grew to shootng and hunting open country in a day and age when there were no turrets,and no range finders;and the reticles were of limited use for distance. We were still faced with the prospects of a very occaisional opportunity at distances to 500 yards;on those times when 600 or so,I passed.

To deal with these issues,you simply shot a lot at targets and varmints and became pretty good at judging distance but it was still not as precise as today.We manipulated trajectory to get max PBR.....you know the drill,3" high at 100, etc.

Using this system,I learned pretty quick that,with the same sight setting at 100 yards,with top loads in both cartridges, the 7mmMags and 300 mags both showed less drop at 400-500 yards than the 30/06.This makes sense...the mags are faster;a 165 in the 30/06 is good for 2900;in the 300 Win Mag you get 3200;ditto the 140 in the 7 mag.They are simply faster and flatter than what you can do with the 30/06,and you could manipulate trajectory so that at 500 yards, you dealt with no more tha 24-25 inches of drop. This is manageable.

The 7 mag with this sighting has a significantly flatter trajectory for purposes if hitting vital zones.

Again, I am not trying to convince anyone this is a better system than dots or turrets;just a reflection of the field reality we had to deal with because we did not have the technology available today.

If you are spinning turrets to 700 yards, you are going to have to spin for both of them.

To further answer, yes, the skill sets are required for either one.Turrets and dots narrowthe gap quite a bit between the two cartridges....you will just spin more with the 30/06.

Again I still want the 7mm

I agree with Bob as I too grew up when there were no range finders & etc...for me long range is 400 yards...I can not see at the distances folks shoot at today...I have only shot 2 animals and this distance...both Coues Deer...David Miller use to recommend the 300 Weatherby and 165/150 I believe for long range Coues Deer hunting in Arizona and Mexico...my long range rifle has been the 264 Win Mag loaded with 140 NP at 3250..26 inch pre-64 bbl...