Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Rebarreling a 7mm mag

Okay Ive accepted the fact that my Remmy 700 hates 168 VLD's. Seeing as how thats what I bought it for it appears my only option is rebarreling around this bullet. Any suggestions as to who I should go with for this job? Also what are the odds of going through all of this and still having my rifle not shoot these bullets well?

Thanks

What will you be using it for and why the 168 VLD need?

Bottom line, and you didn't ask for this but I'll give it to you anyway. I'd grab some 150 NBT's add 7828,R22 and or R25. It'll perk with one of those 3 and there isn't one thing you couldn't do with that combo that you couldn't with the 168.

Least that's my experience..

Dober

my suggestion would be to first try to find a bullet your remmy likes.
what you like for it isnt working so try listening to remmy.
a dead deer really wont care what it was killed with vld or otherwise.
$500 from now you might find a new barrel will tell you the same thing.

Many different good bullets out there, even for long range.

I'd try another bullet before I tried another barrel.

I'd shoot another bullet.

Yeah for real.

try the 162 Amax first...

Yeah, I have been thinking of that 162 Amax, its got a great BC as well. How will that bullet perform on elk? I am open to suggestions on other bullets but I am looking for great BC #'s as well. That 168 VLD looks hard to beat in the 7 mag and it retains enough punch to get it done waay out there.

never shot an elk with one so i can't know? the swift SII's would be worth looking at IMHO.. more of a game bullet but a nice BC too...

The 160 Accubond aint the worst either...

Well I would be willing to rebarrel to be able to shoot the VLDs.

A few of suggestion before you go that route.

1. Try the 180gr VLD as I have seen factory Rems that would handle the 180 significantly better than the 168gr.

2. The bullet will most likely need to be kissing the lands to shoot to potential. This is especially true in SAAMI type throats.


The AMAX will begin to open on impact and is, in my opinion, not as good a game bullet as the VLD. I have never shot an elk with the AMAX and suspect it would be fine but it will expand quicker than the VLD due to the plastic tip. I have shot deer with the AMAX and am basing my opinion on that and other actual testing.

If you decide to go the custom barrel route just pick a gunsmith with VLD experience and I would want to have him describe the throat he will be using and also guarantee VLDs will shoot well in the barrel.

With UPS shipping and such there is no reason not to pick a gunsmith that can deliver a rebarrel job that will pile VLDs one on top of another.

Hint, the 1000yd benchresters might have a good formula.

Thats what I use in my 7mm, and I have had excellent results.
The Accubonds are right there too. They worked flawlessly for me minus one exception...

I wouldnt hunt elk with a AMAX personally, YMMV.

The 168 VLD's shoot great in 4 different 7mag Remington BDL's I load for, what loads were you using and what was your OAL ?
Retumbo and H1000 shine in my Remingtons. Maybe you just need to tweak your loads abit, good luck.

Hell you have a good excuse for a new barrel send it to PacNor and get their SS Match Barrel with 1&9 twist and then hope for the best .

You could always get a rem take off barrel and have it put on for pretty cheap. Some rem barrels will shoot bullets that an identical looking barrel won't.

Bb

650.00 for the last re barrel I had done from Hart. That included blue printing the receiver, threading, chambering, and crown in the contour I wanted.

Darn good advise!

Suggestion, look at the BC of the Hornady 162 SST. Two friends went to Africa with these loaded to 3150 out of a 7 STW. They have killed 12 plains game each on two different trips including 4 eland and 4 Kudu, all animals took one shot each DRT on every animal shot...these obviously are tough bullets and the BC is nothing to sneeze at! The PH has been very impressed.

By the way, those 168 VLD's love being jammed in the lands with Retumbo in my Rem SS 26" barrel, Rem brass with Fed 215's.

My friends and I have tried to shoot VLDs in many factory barreled rifles with mixed results. You just never know which rifle will shoot them. It is hard to quit trying with the bullet of choice but sometimes you just have to move on.

If you do want to shoot Berger VLDs the throat angle SEEMS to be a large factor in helping this happen. While we still have had a few rifles that wouldn't shoot them many more would with the recommended throat angle Dave Kiff recommends which is 1 degree 30 min. There is no way to conduct a good control regarding this though. The barrels using a PTG reamer were aftermarket barrels like kreiger, Lilja and Broughton.

It would appear that to some extent the interior configuration, number of lands and grooves, twist etc also have their influence. Perhaps the best research you can do would be to read everything you can on who shoots the 168 VLDs with success in F class shooting and a variety of shooting forums.

It certainly is frustrating to give up an a particular bullet. You didn't say how much you tried to get them to shoot. Seating depth changes? Powders? At some point you just have to move on......

Thanks guys. Keith I believe the Amax is a great bullet and its one of the few with a BC comparable to the VLD. I am going to play with it at home on targets and whitetails but Im a little hesitant to go with it as my full blown elk load. Those NBT's are great bullets in their own right but their BC's are quite a bit lower and shed off energy alot faster than the Berger's. I am wanting to rig out a long range elk rifle and the VLD is my honey for this!

For those that asked I have tried the following from a medium starting load up to my rifles max with bullets just kissing the lands and .010 off;
Retumbo
Re-22
Viht-N560


I am going to try a some 7828 as soon as I can get some as well as the Amax's and the 180 VLD's. I may also retry the previous loads at .010 jammed.

Thanks for all your input guys.

Whens your hunt, where you going, and how far out are you practicing to be ready to shoot to?

I totally love elk hunting and have used my 7 Mashburn Super a fair bit on the critters. Mines set up with a Jewell trigger, Brown, Schneider tube cut to 25", 700 (that's on it's 8th barrel) and a 4-14 Leo with Premier dotz to 700.

Here's the last bull I took with the outfit.



Thx
Dober