Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why Does One Need a Magnum???

In the 'old days' magnum meant you had more powder and 'bigger' bullet to go farther and still have the killing power on 'big' game;
todays technology and advancment in rounds (shell and bullet), have almost made the term magnum obsolete; cas in point:
I own a gun in 7 mm. rem. mag.; it will kill anything on the planet; newer rounds like 7mm-08, or .308 win. use a shorter case that is actually wider towards the bottom that produces ballistics equal to what we used to call 'magnum'; the 7mm rem. mag. case was based on the perverbial 30-06 case, but was widened towards the top to get more powder in; The term MAGNUM doesn't really apply anymore with newer ammo;

BUT, a 7 mm. rem. MAGNUM case is the same BASE as a 30-06, but wider up the shell length; In other words, a 30-06 case with the same base will fit into a 7 mm. rem. magnum breech, but a 7 mm. rem. mag. case will not go into a 30-06 breech;

Am I making sense here?

hey, cv550! you are absolutely correct;
this is the 'REAL' Mike Walker speaking here; my 22 yr old son was on the site, and came and got me; He's a marine, so what do they know but 'straight ahead', and damn the bullets;

You are right in all aspects of your answer; Actually, winchester first developed the first belted magnums in .264, .338, and .458, all based on your afore mentioned rounds; the remington 7mm actually caused the .264 win. to go out of production; the 7mm. came out in 1962, same year as the 700 rifle;

will have to go back and see what else he said to see what else I need to correct;

I only shoot muzzle loaders anymore; much more fun;

Mike Walker

I didn't mean to say that they developed the first 'belted' magnum; I was refering to when they ( FIRST WIN and THEN REM) decided to offer them as a commercially available load to the consumer in rounds other than those considered to be the 'ONLY MAGNUMS'

and that is exactly what happened; they figured out that they could market a 'belted' magnum round in smaller caliber than those 'lion and elephant' shooters of the old double barrel .264,.338,and.458 DOUBLE BARREL MAGNUMS;

HENCE, the single shot .264, the .338 came about;(winchester) (the 458 may exist as a single shot pariah,but did not catch on, due to its recoil that was evident as a single shot sporting gun);

Then, in 1962, REMINGTON came out with the 7mm. REMINGTON MAG.,
in conjunction with the new 700 bolt action rifle; The new 7mm. cartridge was an upgraded WIN .264; They did ballistics tests
that showed a .280 round was more accurate than the .264 mag.

HENCE,the 7mm. rem. mag. survives today, and the 264 win. mag does not;

Why Does One Need a Magnum???