Nobody speaks of it much. Especially during "gack season".....

Not sure what could be said that hasn’t been said. Its versatile, doesn’t kick hard, widely available.

Mine is the all arounder in my collection. I would unhesitatingly hunt any animal in North America with it. I have used 140’s, 150’s and 160’s in it. Deer, coyote, hogs and black bear have been killed easily.
As much as I love my 25’s if limited to 1 rifle The 7 would be it.
GreggH

I like 'em. Not a fatty WSM/SAUM. Readily available components, load data and once upon a time, ammo if desired. Vast track record of success. About as BIG as I can see any need for - for my tastes... Have two. One, a build, is a bit heavy that is going on a diet to be more suppressor friendly. The other, a NIB sporter, just in case if it's needed.

More fun than slower 7's, more excitement than a creed.

BING ! BING ! BING !

The 7 RM is not my only rifle nor is it my only 'fav' rifle.

I really like the 6.5X55 using 120 NBT.
I really like the 270 Win.
I'm attached to the 06, patriotic and sentimental fav.

BUT if limited to one ---- 7 RM deserves its place.

Jerry

I've always felt like the 7mag is to the 7mm chamberings is what the 30-06 is to the 30 cal chamberings.Either one is quite versatile in bullet weights and game capabilities.I'm very comfortable with either one.

That “one rifle” scenario always makes me cringe. But, the point is well taken. The 7RM does fill in most boxes regarding function. Not much it won’t do and do pretty well.

DF

The 7mm Rem Mag is by far the best of the best when it comes to fast, flat and wind bucking performance. Even with 9.5 and 9 twist barrels it will shoot 170-180 grain class bullets of high BC and SD. It makes a great choice for pronghorn up to moose with a plethora of bullets and weight choices. It also happen to be about optimum for powder capacity showing less than moderate throat erosion and barrel wear compared to other overbore cartridges. While it’s expansion ratio is less favorable than most moderate 30 mags, it’s much better than the 257 Wby, all 6.5mm Mags and all other 7mm Mags of greater case capacity. It may be the best balance of bore size, powder capacity, barrel length, speed, felt recoil and lethal performance. Released Circa 1962

That said the 270 Win offers many of the same performance characteristics with less recoil and can achieve high velocity with a 22-inch barrel. Still believe a 270 Win built light makes one of the very best combo plains and mountain rifles. Released Circa 1925.

Nothing new here, but both cartridges will still keep up or outperform new ones in the hunting fields and mountains.

with loading manuals only showing 130 fps or so over my 280 rem. I am not sure why i keep a 7 mag around

The only reason I don’t like it (and that language is too strong) is that it requires a 24 inch barrel. I don’t have any barrels that long and don’t intend to start. 22” is the max for me these days and I prefer 21” or 20”. Not much use in a 7 mag when you’re dealing with those barrel lengths.

Same.

Last rifle I'd sell is my Rifles, Inc. built M-70.

A 7mm RM made a lot of sense for my first do everything rifle, but that was back in the day when I was still young enough to run up and own those mountains out west looking for an elk and the Midwest deer didn't run off from it either. It is still in the gun safe though it could really use another home because a 7mm-08 does everything that I'll use for bigger game these days.

You don't need to load it to the maximum to get it to the point you need.....wife been using one for decades she is a petite woman but likes her 7 mm Rem. Mag and she takes every animal with no tracking.....

Sure is a bunch of 'em on Gunbroker...

I love my 7mm mags
My Tikka has proven its self many times over, and my new Bergara 7mm mag is showing a lot of promise.

It's because "long-action" is taboo these days. That pesky additional 1/2" receiver length is detrimental to the flat billed carbon barrel crowd.

7mm Rem Mag was the long range hunting round of the day back when most of us started hunting.

Kind of like the Creedmoor is today. High BC and tolerable recoil (although some may disagree).

Speaking of this I have seen a ton of 300 WSM on gunbroker and in local stores. Is it just me or is this one falling out of favor also?

I agree with Gooch.
It’s not new & flashy, not hyper-velocity, nor normally a fast twist over the counter rifle, has a belt, but still works well or would work well for the vast majority of hunters. As does a plethora of other cartridges, some older and some newer.

Well, they made a bunch of them, lots of them floating around out there.

I find myself, not too unlike JGRaider, shooting my 7-08 more these days. Even after a stellar Africa PG hunt with his 7RM and 160 NAB's, he's backing off to the smaller round for most hunts. I find my 7-08 kills stuff about as dead and I use it a lot more. Not that the 7RM is a big kicker, the 7-08 is a more pleasant round to use and my gun is lighter.

If I need the bigger round, I have it.

DF

I recall trying to sell one here. Could have gotten more for the bare action than full 7RM rifle! LOL

Stock Remington 700's, bedded, freefloated, muzzle break, will shoot very, very tiny groups, pick a bullet.

With a combo like a 162 ELDX-168g Berger hunting at 3100 with Retumbo, accuracy at 600 is simply amazing, to say the least.

Then you can try the 175g ELDX & 180g Berger Hunting VLD at 2850 with R#22 or 3050 with R#26, also producing amazing groups at 600.

My family has killed over 300 deer over the years with the 160g btsp with a lobber load of 61g of IMR 4831 at 2950 fps, this load rarely ever sees deer run of off...puts a lot of shock on the deer.

For hogs, the 154g hornady Sp shoots holes through both shoulders on large hogs with a simple load at 3100 with IMR 4350, and R#25 shoots tiny groups at 3250 with WLRM primers(key).

I have a 28" barrel with .110 freebore that shoots the 162g ELDX at 3200 into very small groups with Retumbo and Fed 215's.

Learn to think for yourself and don't follow the crowd...an 8.5T with 180g ELDM will just blow your mind at 3050 fps...you just have to see it to believe it. Buy 10 boxes of these 180g ELD-M's if/when you can. The light comes on when you start shooting a bullet with a .800 BC...almost as good as discovering girls.

DGAF what the latest greatest fad fan boys are using I know the 7mm Rem mag will allways deliver the goods for me Mb

That’s a fact.. a good 7 Mag is just a great killer.

Keith Laid it out real well. I run a Mashburn but it’s more of a 7 Rem Improved than any real big gain.

I have five of them, will have another when I run across an early L-61 Sako. Hits hard, little recoil, perfect caliber in my opinion.

I’ve been looking for a 280 Ackley myself. I’ve owned two 7mm but never did keep them for lomg.

After owning a pile of different chamberings my newest custom is plain vanilla 7RM....

I might have built another 280 or 280 Ackley but go find a LA Defince AnTi in a 308 BF. Nobody must be building standard LA rifles.....
Finally put one on order this week so I would have one if I get the urge....

A buddy for years has had one of those hideous SS 700s with the Enhanced (barf) engraving. Loaded with 160 NABs, it's a killer. One damned hunting rifle and it's one of those fuggly bastids!

They just don’t get talked about much. Still out there getting it done. A bit much for this area, but then again so are the ‘06, .270 and .308. Loaded down a bit, all of them kill well and are easier on meat, brass, barrels, and shouders.

I’ve seen more, bucks, bulls and bear unrecovered with a “7 mag” than all other calibers combined... not shiitin... ok now go!!

Why do you think that is?

Sounds like shooter issues, not cartridge issues.

7mm Mag was the first rifle I purchased.

My first few years of hunting I used a model 94 in 30-30 win. My dad had a cheap tasco scope mounted on it with the offset side mount. I was always a horrible shot with it. I think some of that was due to not being able to get a good cheek weld with that scope position. When I saved up enough money I wanted to get something as different as I could.

I ended up deciding on a Model 70 Classic Stainless with the BOSS and a silver Simmons AETEC. I shot my first buck with that rifle and it will probably be one of the last to go if I were to sell things.

Its definitely more gun than I need in the woods here in eastern PA but the deer never seemed to mind.

Not sure why you have that loading manual around. Buy the Nosler manual and do some checking there is a bigger difference than 130 fps. Mb

When I first went West the guides around camp called them "Maggot Meat" the PH in South Africa didn't speak highly of them either. I myself wouldn't be without one and believe the problem lies in bullet selection for heavier game causing their issues.

KC

I love the 7mm Rem Mag. Very versatile from deer to elk and everything in between. I think it’s a perfect caliber for many different hunting situations and it’s not punishing to shoot.

Second that motion!!

Bought my first 7 mag in 1975. Killed many deer with it. Mostly bowhunt these days, but still have a 7 mag, custom R 700, Shilen 26”, McMillan stock. Always will have a 7 mag.

The first rifle I ever bought was a Ruger M77 in 7mm Rem Mag. The cartridge was great, the rifle itself sucked and would scatter bullets all over a 12" circle at 100yds. 7mm Rem Mag is an excellent do-all choice for the western hunter. The 7mm is an excellent caliber, in its many cartridge variations, as well.

I just don’t care for the 7 mag and the recoil compared To my 270 with 140 grains.
At normal ranges, there is not much difference for me to shoot “magnum”

I have owned a few 7mm Rem Mags and I have never been disappointed. For an all-around deer/elk rifle, I would say you would be hard pressed to find anything better.

My stainless Ruger 77 MK/II with its 24” light taper barrel and laminated stock shoots great using Barnes 140 TSX or Nosler 140 Accubonds!

I have one that I shoot occasionally, very accurate and not a heavy rifle at all. Where it shines is the heavier bullets. But the stickler is if I want heavier bullets my 300 Win Mag gets the nod so it hasn't been used much in years. It killed elk well enough but so do my 270, 30-06 and 280AI. To me a 300 Win Mag is a better place to start if you are going to shoot elk at the longer than average ranges. Anymore I hunt with a 7-08 or a 257 Roberts, even my 270's don't get out much.

As I kill more stuff and gain more experience, I learn to “trust” cartridges that are more mild mannered. Honestly, I preferred flat shooting cartridges so I wouldn’t have as much to think about. But, I found drop to be the most predictable variable and misses were rarely because of it.

From what I’ve read, it was affordable chronographs that hurt the sales of 7mm REM mag.

Problem is, there's pretty much only two factory options in 7mm. 7-08 and 7 rem mag. 280 is a sweet round, but hard to find....so you either go with the slow poke or the magnum.

7mm Rem Mag - 3340
280 AI - 3265

280 AI no belts commercially available, winner, winner chicken dinner!

My son and my other two best hunting buddies have used a 7mm Remington Mag with great success for years on deer and elk. I acquired a .30-06 18 years ago and “on paper” the 7 RM wasn’t enough of a leap in performance for me to buy one. Then, I started looking at the 7mm STW and found a 7mm Weatherby Mark V cheap enough to rechamber. After shooting the 7mm Weatherby Magnum and this rifle’s great accuracy, I figured the STW didn’t get me much over the 7 Wby so that project was scratched. I have two of them and certainly don’t want or need Rem Mag. Happy Trails

I looked at this from a slightly different angle and ended up with a standard 280. Whatever the 280 will give for velocity when loaded to similar pressures, the 7 mag will do the same with 10 grains more bullet weight. Roughly. For normal hunting bullets, 10 grains means nothing. My 280 with a 150 grain bullet at 2950 ft./s leaves nothing on the table to a 7 mag as far as hunting goes. 3000 ft./s is doable but it’s a 74-year-old M70 action so I baby the old girl a bit.

With modern super pointy heavy VLD type bullets, this changes a bit. If a person doesn’t mind recoil and can follow through as well with a magnum, why not.

A few years back, there was a guy on accurate shooter site, or one of them, his signature line read, "You don't have to be an Azzhole to have 7Rem mag, but every Azzhole has one." Grin.

I keep thinking that an 84L Montana in 280 Rem might be the slick feeding answer without the blast and recoil that comes with the 280AI ;-)

Interestingly most guides say the same thing about customers showing up with a 300 Win Mag.

Other than an extra round in the mag, what advantage does the 280AI have over the 7 mag? Both are on long actions, and the 7 mag does offer more velocity.

The 7 mag is operating at reduced pressure due to anomalies related to the neck / shoulder geometry.
Better velocity numbers with 160s and 175s . Even better with the Mashburn or STW

The AI doesn’t have a belt and operates at higher pressure than the Rem mag.
A Longer neck and steeper shoulder angle.
So burning less powder, Gives presumably better throat erosion characteristics

The 7 SAUM has about the same capacity as the AI, but slightly constrained for OAL in a 2.8” mag SA

I’d like to see what the 7 LRM , or something similar does in a broader hunting sense.
Shortened 375 Ruger case with 30-35 degree shoulder, and enough neck length to protect the throat at pressure.
Longer than the 6.5 PRC, and shorter than the 300 PRC.

Not asking much am I ? 🤪

I never had it.

After 59 years almost everything gets boring - even if that thing is wonderful and has dutifully fulfilled every need asked if it. Ignore the silence and happily carry on with the phenomenal 7mm RemMag.

My Granddaughter is 11 and has killed three Rosevelt cows and a Blacktail buck with four shots 238 yds,368 yds,436 yds and 455 yds with a 7mm It’s not the cartridge.

Big fan of the 7mm rem. Probably going to see one get used on a good bull this fall shooting 180 scenars again.

I see a fair amount of used 7RMs for sale in my area, mostly 700s and Savage 110s. Growing up in PENN I remember all of my friends wanting a 7 MAG for deer hunting, only a couple of them still hunt them.

I've never owned a 7 mag. But it strikes me as one of those cartridges that, if I had one, I would defend. But since I don't, it's hard to imagine buying one to do something a 280 won't already do a few hundred FPS slower. Or put another way, it's hard to imagine something requiring the step up from 280 to 7 mag that wouldn't just be better served by a significantly larger round. In my case, if a .284 won't put it down, the projectile on deck would be a .366.

Pretty easy to get 2950 fps with the 180 scenar and the on game performance of that bullet out to 800 yards has been very good. A guy could do the same I am sure with a good 280ai or 280 Rem, or any number of other cartridges. No magic to the case, just good at moving heavy bullets at reasonable speeds with relatively good barrel life. If I was hunting whitetails in the midwest, I'd probably opt for something else.

Couldn’t we say the same thing about the 280 and 7-08?

Ha, we could go on and on I’d bet.

30338 nailed my thoughts. 160-180’s at useful speed. That’s the beauty of it. Plus they don’t seem to kick too bad to me in an 8lb gun.

The funny part is 10 years ago, people's response to the 280AI was "if you need more than a 280 then just get a 7 mag."

Fast forward and people are poo-pooing the 7 mag and saying to just get a 280AI. 😳

It appears that magnums in general are seeing less interest these days. Maybe all the boomers are seeing the light on std cartridges.

My one and only magnum now is a 300H&H and it's only here for nostalgic reasons. I could sell that and do quite well by using the 280 instead.

I have a 280AI but honestly I just use the 7mm-08 for everything.

I've always thought the 280 is superior to both the 30'06 and 270.

This belief is proof positive you are the product of intelligent, caring parents intent on teaching their child useful things in this world.

PH in South Africa was very impressed with the 7RM Sendero my bud was shooting, 160 NAB’s over RL-26 at 3K fps. Lots of DRT’s or DROT’s (dead right over there). One hunter borrowed it for a 300 yd. impala shot, boom, plop.

I felt pretty good about all that; they were shooting my reloads. And, of course a lot depends on the trigger man. The gun can’t do that much by itself.

DF

I see a lot of that in many comments too. I think it’s a lot of hair splitting myself. The 7mm Express Remington never sold because the 7mm Rem Mag for decades made it an afterthought. In addition Remington felt the name was confusing and sounded much like the 7mm Rem Mag. Brain children at Remington then went with 280 Remington. All is good now, except most had a 270 Win in that class type cartridges and saw no real upgrade in a 280 Remington. The 280 Rem in my opinion is a fine 7mm and worthy of praise.

I see the 280 AI as another fine cartridge and a real rifleman’s cartridge. After all nothing says Hunter/Rifleman more than an Ackley monicker.

Bottom line and in accordance with a majority load manuals and SAAMI load data at upper ends with 150 grain projectiles the 280 Rem is just shy of 3,000 fps, the 280 AI is running at 3,100 fps and the 7mm Rem Mag approaches 3,250 fps. Now those numbers may vary for someone willing to push the envelope, but those are the typical numbers from load data.

The 7mm Rem Mag outperforms both in velocity that’s the bottom line. However none of this is going to cause me to lose much sleep.

Haha, thanks! 😃

To me the 7mm rem mag is like goldilocks. Just enough bullet weight and velocity without too much recoil. But I primarily shot a 270 for 20 years before changing to the 7mm about 4 years ago and have yet to notice an animal react differently between the two

Stumble on a couple cases of ammo for pre-Biden prices and there’d be lots of love.

That sounds like either a classic bullet issue or maybe even cockpit error, and not a head stamp issue. Sheesh......

Bingo!

That's pretty much why I don't have a 7 mag. I've been a .280 fan as long as I've been a fan of shooting, reading about shooting, and I like it because it's "different." But it's damn effective.

You read too much Jim Shockey. lol

A 700 based 7mm Rem Mag,will simply make 2800fps with a .838 BC,from a 24" spouted Smooch and such thangs RULE the roost. Hint.

That magnitude is lost upon Window Lickers. Hint.

LAUGHING!....................

LarryO!!! How bout .823 @ 2950 , 24” snout,you bacon necked dumbfuuck??

Haha 😂😂

Crying Karen,

Despite your reading my EVERY word and gawking EVERY Splendid Pixel,you HILARIOUSLY remain THE Weakest Link...you "lucky" kchunt. Hint. Congratulations?!?

Fortunately for you,Imagination and Pretend are free,so you can "afford" to "contribute". Hint. LAUGHING!



Bless your poor poor(literally) heart,for doing your best.

Hint.

LAUGHING!......................

LarryO!! Aka, bacon neck, we’re talking 7 mags in the “hunting rifles “ forum.😘😍

IMHO , they got it right in 1953 ~ 7x61 S&H.

Unfortunately I didn't see the light, wasting
precious time with 7x57, .270 and Roy...

Count me as a more recent admirer of the Rem mag. Tried the 280 and 280imp years ago and was never impressed. Went back to the 270 and 300mag. After owning a Rem mag and a Mashburn the past 4-5 years I think either does it all just fine and could easily replace my 270 and 300. Warren Page had it right 60yrs ago. If I had to keep just one it’d be the Rem mag. Less hassle than the Mashburn and nearly identical performance.

If I didn't have a fine 7RM with Brux barrel, I'd be looking for a 280 AI. I like that round.

It's pretty close to 7RM performance and you won't have to admit to your Loony buds that you actually have a belted magnum...



DF

I’ve become a big fan of the 7RM over time. Having a wonderfully accurate T3x Lite SS that shoots both 160 Accubonds and 175 Partitions into tiny little groups will do that. It may be a little more than is needed in much of the east, but there aren’t many things in NA that can be hunted that couldn’t be handled well with that setup. I know that same can be said of a number of other cartridges, but the 7RM strikes a nice balance of ballistics, recoil, and available components (up until recently). Mine would be one of the last rifles to leave my safe.

Its a great do it all round. Anything on North America, and most of the world

I agree!