7mmRem and .30-06

Status
Not open for further replies.
ExAgoradzo

ExAgoradzo

Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2011
Messages
1,531
Location
SW Idaho
I have a inside scoop on a Rem Mag and am now doubting myself as to 'needing' it. On a former thread someone said to the effect how boring the world would be if the answer to every application were .30-06... I agree with that.

And yet it is awfully tempting to say that in this case he's right. Except for longer shots (and I have conceded that at this point in my life 250 yards is a long shot for me...) there just isn't enough difference for me to 'pull the trigger' so to speak and buy the Rem mag even though it would be a cool gun...

I'm not going south again for a while, so help me think this through...good, bad, ugly...

Thanks,
Greg
 
OK.

Who cares? I mean. Who cares if you 'need it?' I probably have 10 guns I can kill white tailed deer with at 250 yards and they would never know the difference. By next year I will probably have 11. If I was concerned with 'need' I would probably only own 2 or 3 guns. I don't let that be a consideration.

If your worried about overlap and you already own a 30-06 your going to have a hard time convincing yourself to by a 7mag. If you are anything like me and buy guns for the beauty and general coolness of them overlap aint gonna make a damn bit of difference.

Buy it. Enjoy it. Dont worry about the fact that you have another one that can do the same thing.
 
I have a 300 Wby Sako L691. I still use 30-06, 270, and 30-30 for most hunting applications. The Sako doesn't get out much anymore. But it's cool to have, shoot, and hunt with on occasion.
 
For 250 yard shots or closer? I agree with you, the 7 Rem Mag is way more than you need and its probably going to be heavier to carry than an 06 due to its magnum weight barrel. I would go in the other direction and pick a more economical and easier caliber to shoot and carry such as a .260 Rem, 7-08 , .308 Win, a .270 Win. or a .280 Rem.,etc.
 
Comparing the -06 to a 7mm Rem with the same weight bullets, there is no real advantage to the 7mm until you get out to about 400 yds., and that's just because the 7mm bullets have a higher BC.

I see no practical reason to get a 7mm Rem Mag if you already have an -06. Unless you just want another rifle, of course :)

Laphroaig
 
There's not much difference between the two. They'll both take any game up to elk and moose out to over 500y - farther than you can ethically shoot. 7mm mag reaches farther - it'll throw a 175 partition out over 700y at my elevation before dropping below minimum velocity for that bullet. But the day I take a 700y shot at game is never.

With the bullets I use for big game (partitions), the point blank range +- 2.5in is exactly the same - 260 yards.

Both are long action. The guns should weigh the same for the same action. Recoil is the same. Buy whichever seems like more fun. Personally I've got a 7mm mag and see no need for a .30-06. But the other way around would be no different.
 
Last edited:
You guys aren't helping ;) me stay within a budget... I was expecting more ballistic talk...but of course you're right: I could buy the gun and just get ammo when I can...like I do with all my guns :).
Greg
 
I've realized recently that I care more about the rifle than the cartridge... If the rifle interests me and is chambered for something in between .308 and .375 H&H, I'm content...

I hunt coyotes to black bear, also from 0 to a self-imposed limit of 250 yards... Do I need a .338 Win Mag like I'll be using this season? Pft, of course not. But I like the gun, and I'm going to use it. If the same gun were a .308, I'd use it just as happily. At the same time, the same rifle is offered in .308, and it didn't appeal to me the same way. I'm human, what can I say?

If you like the 7mm, grab it. Life's too short to hunt with a boring rifle.
 
get it

If you have an 06, you really don't NEED the 7mm mag, but if it will bring you joy, by all means get it. Don't worry, we won't tell your wife. A buddy of mine has one, a browning A-bolt gold medallion w/ BOSS system, a truly beautiful rifle. No, he doesn't need it, he has several other rifles that fulfill his hunting needs, but the browning makes him smile. life is too short not to enjoy yourself when you can.
 
Having hunted quite a bit with both I pretty much agree that at 250 yards or less there is no practical difference. But there is something to be said for carrying a gun that will allow you to make that mythical long shot. If you enjoy shooting the rifle and cartridge you will not lose anything buy owning it. Pride of ownership is a big part of having guns.
 
More of a personal choice.

Plus, the first time that "7 mag" gets in your face....you may think differently! J s/n.
 
I used to hunt with my neighbor. I used a .30-06 he used a 7mm mag. He liked to brag about the superiority of his rifle. We shot each others rifles & yep the 7mm mag is better at longer distances. I did not witness it but he said he had made a 400 yard shot on a deer with it. I don't know. The places we hunted when he & I hunted together there wasn't really any chance of a long shot. His rifle damaged more meat than mine. If you want it & can afford it get it.
 
My opinion and only my opinion is that both cartridges will take any game on the North American continent and do it effectively. So what will a 7mm Remington Magnum do that a 30-06 Springfield won't? About all I got is added range and the 7mm Remington Magnum shoots a flatter trajectory. I have a 7mm Remington Magnum, left handed bolt Ruger. I honestly cannot think of any game I have taken with the rifle that one of my 30-06 rifles would have taken just as easily. Simply put, the 7mm Remington Magnum, for my intended use and applications, will not do anything my 30-06 won't do.

Matter of fact if anyone in Ohio would like a Ruger Model 77 MK II 7mm Rem Mag in wood with 400 plus rounds of factory Remington ammunition let me know. :) I am getting too old to beat my shoulder up anymore. :)

Ron
 
"What will the 7mm do that the '06 won't?" is one way to look at it.

But since we seem to be talking about deer, I'd look at it more like "what will the '06 do that a .243 won't?" Not the comparison, I realize, but hear me out... I've seen the .243 take some monsters, and from playing with a ballistics software, the trajectory of an 80gr .243 TSX is essentially identical to that of a 150gr 7mm TSX, both zeroed at 250, OP's limit (+2.8"/-3.4" to 300 for the 7mm, +2.5"/3.0" to 300 for the .243, both nearly perfect MBPR's).

'Course, the 7mm has nearly double the .243 energy at 250, but show me a whitetail that will know the difference between the two, everything else being equal... especially when it's a TSX or other premium bullet whacking 'em.

So my point with the '06/.243 comparison is that, realistically, you're already over-gunned.... moving up to a 7mm isn't some giant leap into ridiculousness. Once you get past a certain point, it's just for fun. You're already past that point with the '06, might as well have more fun.
 
Thanks for the encouragement guys.

I'll let you know if I get it in a month or so when I go back down south...

Greg
 
Just got back from a pronghorn and mule deer hunt in Wy. Took one antelope at 300 yd - and one at 348 (lasered) with my 7mm Rem. Could have done it with my 30-06? Probably... but the 7 mm worked swell...
 
Before anyone goes any further.... the word "NEED" has no business in discussions about guns. Just delete it from your vocabulary.

Then do what you want. "Want" is a much better word.

:)
 
I have the pleasure of several .30 caliber rifles and two 7mm rifles. The former: .308 Win, .30-06 Sprg, .300 WSM, while the latter include 7x57 (.275 Rigby) and 7mm Rem Mag. I'm actually thinking of re-barreling one of my .308 Wins in 7mm-08 for metallic silhouettes, another into .260 Rem for LR precision and a .270 Win into a .280 Rem for no particular reason other than s**ts and giggles.

Ballistic coefficients for .284 bullets are very high and all the 7mm options are easy to hand-load.

The more important question is: what does need have to do with it?

Harry, not needy but wanty
 
@ posters 20 & 21. yessir.

Chose 7 remmag over oughtsix back in nineteen seventy something, and still have never had a real hunting situation where one would have done anything the other wouldn't have.
 
ExAgoradzo said:
I have a inside scoop on a Rem Mag and am now doubting myself as to 'needing' it.
Greg
Click to expand...

What is this word "need"? This is America. This is a free country...not some centrally planned, third world, despot run, commie backwater. We don't merely get what we "need" in this country. We work hard, we play hard, and we get what we WANT.

do it! do IT! DO IT!
 
I have had both deer hunted with both my take is both shoot good but every deer with the 7 ran and even lost 1 with the 06 all have been DRT
 
I haven't owned a .30-06 but have owned a 7mm RM and still own a .300 H&H Mag. I hated the RM, kicked like a mule. The .30 cal has more bullets and is more versatile in my opinion.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top