Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm or 300 win mag

My turn...

Well I'm not a gunwriter but I'll give my 2 cents anyway. I have hunted with a .300 Win Mag for many years and killed many animals with it. I like it very much and it is my go to gun because it doesn't seem to miss. It is more than I need for most things but I like it and it shoots well.

I have never hunted with a 7mm Rem Mag but have shot a few and have hunted and shot a number of animals with a .280 Rem. This is my #2 go to rifle and I actually like the feel of this and like packing it more than my .300 Win because it is lighter and shorter.

I have also hunted and killed sheep and guided a couple others to do the same and most people don't realize how small they really are and how easy they are to kill. they are not particularly large animals at all. They look bigger than they are because they are so muscular until you walk up to them. They don't take a lot of killing.

If I didn't already have a rifle and was building one just for sheep and wanted one of those two calibers, I would probably lean toward the 7mm for lighter recoil and lighter rifle and will shoot as flat as you will ever need and kill any sheep on earth, as well as other bigger critters. As many have said on here, I am not particularly recoil sensitive but I do realize I like ligher rifles with less recoil, especially the older and smarter I get (and I'm only 38 so I imagine I'll keep getting smarter for a while...)

All that said, you will get a million opinions like everything on here, they are all right and they are all wrong. Many will comment without any personal experience with one or either caliber or without any experience hunting sheep. Neither of these calibers is better than the other in my opinion for shooting a sheep but again, even if you are Superman and there was no downside, wouldn't you prefer a lighter rifle with less recoil?

As stated several times before, just my opinion. Have fun on your sheep hunt, I love hunting them myself.

mnimrod45

I own both, I would go with the 7mm shooting quality 140 grain bullets of your choice if recoil is an issue.

I own both but prefer the .300 Win Mag as a big game cartridge.

For a light sheep rifle, a .270 or .280 would be fine.

Between the two magnums, I would go 7mm. But is a magnum necessary? A 7-08 or 308 will work well out to at least 400 yards. I would choose the magnum only if I planned on taking shots past that range.

I also own both and like them. When and if I ever draw my sheep tag my old 7mm Rem Mag will get the nod just as it did for my first antelope, mule deer and mountain goat because it allways works. I used the 300 Win Mag on my first and second bull elk and it allways works too. Neither work if you fail to put the bullet where it belongs every time. Magnum Man

Lots of assumptions being made here. A 7mm Rem Mag isn't necessarily lighter than a 300 Win Mag. Sure you can build one lighter but there is nothing keeping you from building a 300 Mag. just as light. Looking at specs for factory rifles, a Win. Extreme Weather weighs the same for both cartridges.

Comparing recoil, it depends. If comparing bullets with the same B.C., the .308 bullet will need to weigh more, but something like a 155 grain Scenar flies pretty flat and won't kick any harder than a 160 gr. bullet out of a 7mm Mag in the same weight rifle.

I've noticed that not everyone uses the bullet with the highest B.C. In another thread, when comparing the .243 to the 25-06, the 105 gr. A-max is the bullet that makes the .243 superior (for some). However, not everyone uses the A-max and 80 gr. .243 bullets seem to be popular.

If I were to bang away at steel targets for most of a weekend, recoil would be more of a concern. But for one or two shots at a big game animal, not so much.

I agree for sheep hunting except......

I'd pick the 270 W over the 7-08 or 308.

Two reasons - I don't have a 7-08 or 308 and don't intend to. Also the 270 has flatter trajectories past 400.

My old 300 win mag was so good at 8.5 pounds I wondered if I could get one a pound lighter.So I built one on a M70 action with Brown stock and Krieger barrel that came in at 7.5 #'s scoped.

It was an unmitigated disaster. With 180 gr bullets loaded to 3050-3100 fps it kicked haymakers with every shot,and was just a chore to shoot.Dropping back bullet weight to 165's did not help as powder cgarges increased as well and it was still no big improvement.A guy could load it down, which negates the reason for it in the first place....obnoxious rifle. I barreled it to something more seemly,concluding that a civilized 300 Win Mag weighs 8.5 pounds.

At the same time a 7 mag of 7.5 pounds is manageable and does not require a gorilla grip to manage running a 160 gr at 3050-3100 fps.Easy to like.

The 300 WSM is about the lightest kicking of the various 300's but some work with a Kimber Montana and a wood stocked 8400 told me I did not want one of those things either; and a M70 EW is easily the nicest shooting 300 WSM I have messed with but weighs over 8 pounds the way I set it up.

You can play with calculations forever but in actual shooting the 7mm Rem Mag is going to boot you around less for the same ballistic performance than a 300 Win Mag.Absent, of course, some bullet weight.

I would choose neither. 1000ft/lbs is quite enough to knock down a sheep or goat. If its beyond 300yds you will have to range the shot for good placement, the magnums help in this regard with drop and windage, I'd use a 7mm-08 in this situation, lower recoil begets better shot placement, lighter package, packs ~1000 ft/lbs at 500yds, and that's a long shot in the field!

My Ti Alaskan in 300WM is sexy but you need to pay attention when shooting it! I can't imagine a 7MM being a whole lot easier based on previous rifles I owned. For sheep I would go 270 or 280 as said and if going tomorrow I would be taking my 30-06 Ti. I have never hunted big horns but chasing Barbary sheep isn't easy either.....

after readin' all this it just convinces me the 280 Remington is all I need and my 300RSAUM can stay in the safe...

Best answer IMO and if you put the bullet where it belongs it will kill the sheep just as dead as with the mighty 300WM.
And you'll probably be able to place the bullet in the vitals easier with the 270/280 due to less recoil. Most people shoot better with milder recoiling rifles..... excluding campfire members who are excellent shots with heavy recoiling magnums.

I agree, I'm not a gunwriter but I have shot both plenty off the bench and killed game with both. For something the size of sheep both are more than required, not a bad thing but gun weight is the big factor. Shoot both in a rifle you're willing to tote around the mountains after sheep, then decide neither will leave you wanting more cartridge.

Thinking down the road, my next 284 bore will be a 7mm-300 Winchester Magnum with no other changes. Just a neck down pass through the die.

STW: That will work.

Why the fuss?

I'm shooting 150 LRAB's at 3,300 and 175 LRAB's at 3,100...out of a 7mm WBY.

Too much of a pounding for me to like the .300. I figure at best I'll double tap a critter and after the hunt or when the season is over, I still like to shoot my rifles....without knocking my socks off.

Nothing I'll likely want done that a 7 in any form won't reliably do. I am yet to shoot the 168gr LRAB, but I think it will cover a lot of bases.

SU,

How have the bullets been working for you down range in the Bee?

Bob, that was well put and my experience too. I'm down to three big game rifles--a tuned Ruger in 375 (I'm having a hard time not having one "big" rifle) that scoped comes in at 8.5, a 7.75 lb 30/06 and a lightweight 6.25 lb 284 also scoped.

The latter two, and because of turrets and ballistic reticles, will do any thing I need done almost all of the time. This technology has made flat table-top trajectories unnecessary for, say 500 to 700 yards.

Why not go light and use a 243 for sheep. It would kill them just fine, would it not?