Anyone have a "pet"7mm Rem mag load?

[demented]

 Though I've loaded a gazillion standard rifle rounds,  getting set to try my hand with loading for my 7mm mag to be honest has me a bit intimidated.  My loading manuals seem to be well under what I thought this cartridge capable of, stopping well under SAAMI max pressure for this cartridge. If I stick with book max, I may as well sell my rifle and buy a 270, 280 or 30-06.  So far I have accumulated a bunch or Winchester cases, several brands of magnum and standard LR primers and several hundred 150gr Cor-Lokts.  Now I need to find a powder that usually offers good accuracy potential as well as keeping pressure to a minimum while getting respectable MAGNUM speeds.  Nothing too radical but I would like to try for an accurate load that'll make about 3000fps.  Is this asking too much for a 150 from a 26" barrel provided its a safe load?  Thanks for any advice, comments......

[TXSPIKE]

My 7mag pet loads with 139gr-150gr bullets are 65.3grs of IMR-4350 and 69.5grs of Win. WXR or Reloader-22.Always start lower and work up.http://www.flickr.com/photos/40165144@N04/3691515103/  http://www.flickr.com/photos/40165144@N04/3692318492/

[burntmuch]

Im in the same boat as you, So Ill be watching this thread. My 7 mag loves factory Federal premium 160 grain Nosler partitions$$$ ,so Ive got a bunch of those & a bunch of 160 grain Accubonds. Gonna be loading for it this winter

[Carl l.]

All rifle's are different, so this is not set in stone. I have tried several loads, differend powders. My 7mm likes 160 gr bullets and 60 grs. of IMR-4350 powder. I can hold .375 groups at 100yds. The best is to try different things and see how it does. Carl L.

[300HH]

My 7mm rem mag love the 160 Accubonds 1/2 groups at 100yds powder H4831sc works O the rifle Rem700

[Tom W.]

Mine is 66 grains of IMR 7828, a 150 grain Ballistic Silvertip, and Federal GM251M Match primers.
I'm well pleased with this load.

[HL]

The only bullet that shoots well in my 7mag is the Nosler Partition 160gr. My load is 62.5grs of IMR 4831, which by the Nosler manual is .5gr. below max. It seems to shoot best near max loads.

But that's just my rifle. 

Good shooting.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  I no longer have my Rem. rebarreled it to a .300, but my favorite load was Re. 22 and a 140 Nosler BTBT, I used Alliants infor. and used a nearly max. load. With a 26 inch barrel it would kick a 140 along at 3400fps. Neve used 160's in that rifle. My shooting buddy uses 150's and 140's. You speed is easily achieveable with those bullets.... He's favorite is IMR4350, but it is also a very hot load, but accurate...Some depends on the rifle you have, Rem. 700's have a long magazine box, and the bullet can be seated out to touch nearly, the rifling. With other models, you are not so lucky.....I always had to watch my loads with this caliber... A Sako I had in the 70's would not shot even a moderate load with out poping primers....

[demented]

Mine is a Browning Stainless Stalker that also, as someone else mentioned, really does well with Federals Premium 160 grain Nosler Partition.  With current price being better than 50 bucks per 20, Its gotten hard to justify spending this much just to shoot deer that average under 200 pounds.  Hence my desire to work up a decent load that works well to 400 yards and won't empty my wallet.  One powder recommended quite a few times has been H4831sc, amounts have been from 60 to 67.5 grains, the latter sounding a bit suicidal but perhaps safe in the particular rifle its used in.

[preventec47]

take a look at the attached data.  This is Alliant's latest load
data for 7mm Rem Mag.  I personally have settled on 120 gr
bullets and this year am planning on trying the Barnes 110 gr
tipped TSX bullet.  I have been using the Nosler BT and
the Sierra Pro Hunter 120gr.   Mostly I needed recoil
relief due to torn rotator cuff that I refuse to get surgery
for but I found the bullets to be devastating on even large
deer.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/4210787430_11008da3b0_o.gif

 Hmm.  I dont see where I can attach an image file.? ? ?
I have consolidated all the Alliant Reloder data into one graphic
image for the 7mm Rem Mag

BTW, you have to remember that for some reason the SAMMI
max pressure data for the 7mm Rem Mag is 4000 psi less than
.308 or .270 or 25-06.  Therefore considering the belted cartridge
and extra capacity, I think the gun and the cartridge in modern
guns in good condition should be able to handle a lot more than
what is listed as max loads although I dont think I really need
the extra.   I believe the 7mm Rem Mag ought to shoot to
the same pressures as the 7mm Weatherby Magnum.... or
why call it a MAGNUM ?

[Siskiyou]

160-grain Speer Splizer pushed by H4831, AA8700, or H870.

[JW/OK]

150 grain Core-lokt bullets and 62 grains of IMR 4350. If I was hunting elk I would probably go to a premium bullet. Out of my Ruger M77 MII I have shot 2" groups at 300 yards off a bench.

[Silvertp]

My standby 7mm mag load has been 65.0 grains of IMR 4831 under a 160 grain sierra bt or Nosler partitions w/cci 250 primers and ww brass.  Ive used this in 4 of my 7mags and introduced the load to two of my buddies who use the same load.  Ive shot a dozen bull elk, two moose and a pickup load of deer with it, all at "longish" kind of ranges.  One of my friends did have the sierra come apart on a close shot at a deer.

Most recently Ive switched over to Barnes XXX 160's over top the same powder charge.  They work excellent and are now my goto load for elk. 

I also need to tell you to work up to this load carefully if you decide to try it and don't continue if you see any signs of pressure.

Silvertp

[preventec47]

Look at the Barnes 110gr Tipped TSX at 3500 fps

Alliant Load Data
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/4210787430_11008da3b0_o.gif

Hogdon Load Data
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2785/4210812498_24111d4b59_o.gif

The recoil on this is significantly reduced !  ( I say this without having
shot the 110 gr bullets yet but the 120 gr I shot last year seemed
very mild in a medium weight gun in comparison to 160gr loads)

to the Wyoming Coyote Hunter above   the 140 gr bullets at 3400 -  WOW !
that is way over anything Alliant publishes in their manual

What kind of brass and primers were you using?  Did you seeing
any pressure signs?  

[Lazermule]

I like a 140 grain Barnes over a heaping helping of VV N160.  Shoots one ragged hole out of my Savage 110 for me.

LM

[Dand]

Preventec,  Its been a very long time since it was printed and since I read it, but Bob Hagel made the point emphatically that the 7MM Rem Mag is NOT in the league of the 7 MM Weatherby. Very close yes, but reloaders should stay within the safety confines of the cartridge at hand and not try to over load it or make it something it is not. The 7 Rem Mag is plenty good as is.

To the OP, if you have loaded lots of 270 etc, there is no reason to be intimidated going to the 7mm Mag. However when I look at various load sources it does seem like there is a lot of variation of loads recommended for the 7 MM Rem. I usually select a given bullet, look through numerous manuals and try to pick a middle of the road to light load that is recommended or deemed safe in several manuals and work up.  I have also had very good results in several cartridges working from Ken Water's Pet Loads.  However, he doesn't list a lot of the new powders. I should add I don't currently load for the 7 (yet) but do load for the 300 win mag.

[Dand]

strange, the first time I went to post it said try again. I did and now its was  a double.

[bolewine]

  My Pet load for my 7mm mag of which I have shot thousands of rounds. Each gun is different as to O.L. and charge, but the basic for me is Nosler Partition 150 gr. over Hodgon H-1000. In my Weatherby I'm loading 69grs-  max load according to nosler manual, three shots will touch from 200yds out. It has stopped elk,black bear,deer,and a 350lb hog dead in their tracks. start at a lower load and work your way up looking for signs of overpressure and accuracy. use a stony point overall length gauge to determine your O.L. make sure it will fit in your magazine before starting a batch. If not you'll have to comprise. play with charge and O.L. and you will come up with an outstanding, accurate and deadly load for your gun.don't worry so much about speed as accuracy. the partition will do the killing trust me on that one!

[rickt300]

64.0 grains of Reloder 22 under a 150-160 grain bullet gives close to 3000 fps and is very accurate in my M700 BDL.

[Jaydub in Wi]

The only time I shot 150s in a 7mm Rem mag, I used IMR 7828. I used 68.0 grains with the old style Barnes X. Start lower and work up. This load had excellent accuracy

[jager]

   One of my favorite Remington 7MAG load is: 66.0/IMR7828/Fed215/Win/175SBT (Duponts MAX load with 52,000CUP listed with Remington cases and bullets and I've used other brands of bullets and cases without a problem in MY RIFLE!). My second load is 40.0/IMR4064/WLR/Win/175SBT (this reduced load "clocks" 2220fps out of a 24" BBL and shoots POA @ 100yards and makes the 7Mag fun to shoot). My 160gr loads use IMR4831 and RL22 powders seems to be the "favorite" weight of most 7MM "shooter" and "hunters".
   My rifle is a Weatherby Vanguard Classic II with a "generous" chamber, but no "freebore". If the powder capacity of the Remington 7Mag case is compared to the 7Mag Wheatherby case, they are almost identical. What is NOT identical is that 7Mag Weatherby cases are loaded to 54,000CUP and most of the rifles for it are freebored, whereas very few of the Remington 7Mag rifles have been freebored and the pressures have been reduced to 30/06 pressures in the last "decade".  Loaded to the same pressure levels in a "strong bolt" gun, there is little, if any, difference of one over the other if the same barrel length is used. If you check Mr. Hagel's loads in his books, most of them are "over", or least on the "high side" for all or most of the calibers he's lists when checked with current reloading manuals. (While I hold Mr. Hagel in very high regard as a writer and hunter, I use his reloading data very cautiously, indeed!) He wrote extensively about the 7Mags and .340Weatherby and seemed to favor the Weatherby rifles for their strength.
   Of late, the Remington 7Mag has fallen "victim" to the "marketing spinners" (IMO) of the new "short magnum genre of calibers" to show the  new "smaller, "beltless", short magnum" cases to equal the longer cases while using more powder while producing less recoil in a lighter rifle . Whether the issue "that the Remington 7Mag has a case, pressure problem" is a "factoid" overcome by the new "beltless wonders" or not comes into "question" when one considers that this same Remington 7Mag case houses the .264WinMag and .338WinMag (the "creme de la creme" of the "gun editor's" caliber for "ilk").
   While I like the Remington 7Mag (obviously), I would not own one unless it was subperbly accurate in a rifle I really like. Why? Because it will not do anything that a "properly loaded" 30/06 will accomplish while producing less "noise", using less powder, and in a "handier" rifle with a shorter barrel. This, admittedly, "biased opinion" does not "negate" its usefulness or effectiveness in the least. I don't  normally load 140 and 150gr bullets for the 7Mag case very often for the same reason because I have a .270 in a much "handier", more efficient case using bullets of this same weight. However, loading a favorite 7Mag can make it suitable for any game you may want to hunt in the North America continent and "bridge" both of these calibers easily.  It is one "metric" caliber that was a "magic caliber" back in 1962 when "short" calibers like the .308 were not "special" and the 30/06 was "old hat".

[Black Eagle]

I have four 7mm RMs and they all shoot Nosler Partitions or Swift A-Frames sub MOA -- two of them shoot either Partitions or A-Frames at less than .5 MOA. [I generally use premium grade bullets in the 7mm RM so I don't have much experience with many others.] I don't shoot any 150 grain bullets. All of my rifles get either 140 or 160 grain bullets and the 140 Partitions are plenty good on everything including elk. My two favorite powders are H 4831 and IMR 4350 but my rifles all seem to favor H 4831sc by just a tiny bit. I have had very good results with RL 22 BUT IT IS TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE. Work up a good load with RL 22 on a nice 70 degree summer day and then take it up into the mountains in the late fall elk hunting when the temperature is 20 degrees and the performance will be nothing like what you had when you worked up the load.

Two of my rifles have 24" barrels, one has a 23" barrel [I cut it down to make it easier to maneuver when I'm on horseback and it's one of the rifles that gives me less than .5 MOA] and one has a 26" barrel. I get over 3000 fps with 140 grain bullets out of all four of my rifles. But, I live at 6600 feet above sea level and that may make some difference in velocity and pressures. None of my loads reach max pressure and I am very careful about that. I've checked them on Pressure Trace(R) and I also watch for any detectable case head expansion to one ten thousandth of an inch.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

 ;)Blackeagle, One of my pals 24 " 7mm shoots very fast for a shorter barrel. It is interesting how these rifles perform...

[Dand]

Jaeger, you make many good points and yes quite a few of Hagel's loads look quite hot by today's standards. Might be the powders have changed some, our safety consciousness is elevated, and we have better knowledge of what safe levels are. I too am very cautious with his loads as he clearly pushed the limits.

The 7 Rmag is very popular here in Alaska and does well on moose and caribou. Both of my hunting partners carry 7's and have taken several moose easily. Another friend of mine has taken large moose, a couple brown bears and other smaller stuff, deer with his 7 mag. It does seem to be basically the same as the 30-06 for the heavier bullets. I think it tends to shoot a little flatter with the 160-175 and lots flatter with the 150 or smaller stuff.

Definitely a good caliber for a very wide range of uses. Knew one AZ coyote and elk hunter that used a Ruger #1 in this cal for all his work.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

   47, Sorry I missed your question about the 7mm Mag. and Re 22.That load was tops in the Reload booklet that I had at that time..It was a powerful load, but accurate, and cases lasted a long time, primer pockets did not expand, and no signs of pressure until I went another grain and a half as I remember...It was a wonderful load...It took me lots of looking to find it...I am not sure what Alliant publishes now...Some days it went just over 3400fps, and some days just under...I used Fed 215 and WW brass...That rifle had a 26 in. barrel and a 700 action.. So I was not restricted by magazine length...The bullets were seated just shy of the rifling...It was a Douglas #4. With a 1-10 twist..Maybe that had something to do with the wonderful speed..Most are 1-9..I don't know, but it was a great load in that rifle....The first animal I clearly remember shooting with it was a huge bodied 3 X 3 mulie...It was a long way up the mountian with a bunch of small 4 x4's...When the 7 cracked he just collapsed in a heap and rolled down the mt...I usually shot a .300 for open country mulies, but that rifle was a killer for sure...I used that load on antelope, elk, caribou,mule deer, whitetails, axis deer, and varmits...My wife took it over because it was soo easy to shoot, it had a custom stock with a rollover cheek piece...Recoil was soaked up by the design...She killed bunch of game with it including a large moose, it was taken with one shot as was most of the other stuff..The last antelope she shot with it I measured at well over 300 yards...She had had a knee operation, and shot the little buck with the aid of her walker for a rest....It was quite a shot and quite a thrill for her...I tried IMR 4350 my pals favorite, I   &  H 4831 7828 and maybe some others...Nothing compared to this load of Re 22...I have largely gotten rid of most of my 7's...Since my wife passed away, I put a .300 H & H barrel on that rifle...It maybe was a mistake, but as a 7 it held to many memories...For the 7mm mag. class of rifle my preference is the little Wea. on a 700 action and with a 26" barrel..I have one and it is a really shooter, but an condsidering selling it to a pal...As I seldom shoot it these days...Hope this answers your questions...I like playing with stuff, the STW didn't measure up to the Wea., but someday I may fool with it again if I live long enough....

[preventec47]

Because of bad rotator cuff needing shoulder surgery, last year I downloaded
(bullets only )  in the 7mm REm Mag to 120 gr pro hunter bullets at max
powder load of 73 grains of Reloder 22.
I shot a 175 pound deer right through the shoulder
and I still got an exit through the opposite side ribs and I kicked
myself for not switching to lighter bullets years earlier.
The reduction if recoil is very noticable.

This year I am going even further in lightening the bulle tby
using the Tipped TSX Barnes bullet  of 110 grains.

WOW is all I can say.  Compared to recoil of old days with
150 aand 160 gr bullets it feels like I am shooting a .223
and that Barnes bullet is so tough I would wager that it will
out penetrate most of the other 150 and 160 premium bullets

For me for ever more the 110 gr super tough Barnes bullet
for the 7mm Rem Mag is my pet load definitely !
The charge weight used with the 110 gr Barnes is the max
specified by Alliant of 75 grains RL-22 and there are no pressure
signs whatsoever.   The muzzle fps is right at 3500
( I am using once fired Privi Partizan brass ) and 24 inch barrel

I think that all you guys that have been heavy bullet proponents
like myself all my life ought to try out a light bullet program.  
It will make you giggle after you shoot it first time.

If anyone tries this, send me a note and let me know how you like it.
or if anyone wants to try , I have way more bullets than I need.
I dont plink with the expensive Barnes stuff.. I only fire at
animals with em.

[Wyo. Coyote Hunter]

  47,some of the time, my wife shot my coyote load in the 7mm for antelope.. It was 120 grain Horn. HP's...Violent!!!!When I looked back though some of my old books on loading, when the 7mm first came on the market, there were numerous loads with a 140 at or near 3400 fps...However the lawyer driven society we have today has eliminated those...Plus I think that some of the foreign 7's had tigher bores or chambers than the American guns...

[preventec47]

I forgot to add to my post regarding the Barnes 110 grain
bullet load that Alliant is showing the RL-17 to be slightly faster
then their RL-22  with 7 grains less powder at max listed
charge.

That is pretty amazing in my mind.

Also Hogdon is trying to compete with their recent Hybred 100V
new technology powder as is Winchester in the heavier
bullets ( 140 - 175 gr ) with their Supreme 780

We should have expected that some new powders would
be appearing when Hornady was making their top secret
recipe for their Light Magnum rounds that are now replaced
by something even better.

[bigchast1]

hey guys! I to am looking for an "Extremelly" accurate load. I might be out of place saying this, but is
 1/2" @ 300 yds to much?
 i have a 22-250 that shoots lower than that, but I spent ALOT of money and Alot of range time to get that way. Just an ol' Rem 700 adl w/tapered barrel.
 So I guess(?) with time maybe possible??
I'm jus sayin

[demented]

 I've rarely even heard of 2000$ custom rifles capable of 1/2" at 300 yards,  I have seen a few do under two inches with a bunch of work done getting there, that's about the best I've seen from anything remotely useful as a hunting rifle. I'm not saying a half inch 300 yarder is impossible but they'd have to as rare as hens teeth around here at least.