Bought a 7mm mag cheap, now what I am going to do with this?

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Balrog

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I found a NIB Ruger MKII in 7mm Rem Mag at an auction that was so cheap I had to buy it. It is the newer Hawkeye model with Stainless finish and Ruger camo synthetic stock for a bit under $400.

I decided to snag it even though I am not sure what I am going to do with it.

I hunt deer in the south east mainly with a 243 or 308, and I realize that the 7mm mag is overkill for that application. I guess I can download it or buy light loads for deer here, but what about hunting with this in the west?

Is 7mm mag a good choice for elk and moose? I have been considering a western hunt for elk, and if this rifle works out, it might be what I would bring. Is 7mm in better than a 30-06 for that purpose? I am figuring probably not.

Would love to hear opinions about this cartridge and rifle.
 
THats a great round . My friend has one in Remington ADL of the older version polymer black stock . He topped it with Leupold 3 x9 x 50 and he got him a big buck many years ago.
If i have to pick between the 300 WIn Mag and 7 mm Mag , it be 7 mm . Check with Aimsurplus as they have Priv Partizan 7 mm mag ammo for a great price per box.
 
7 mag is my favorite chambering for mule deer, and 2nd favorite for elk (338 win mag).

no such thing as overkill - use it if you want to.

yes, the 7 rem mag is a solid choice for elk - no moose experience, so no comment, there.

i think the 7 mag is superior to the 30-06, but others disagree w/ me.

load up some 162 grain hornady btsp's and go forth w/ confidence.
 
Well, if it was me... And you don't have much use for the rifle... I would trade it in on something you want or is more useful...
 
Yes, it's a great Elk round when stoked with a premium bonded bullet. It'd be a good long range deer rifle as well. I say if it shoots, keep it. If it doesn't, trade it off. :)
 
Yup, save it for that elk or moose hunt or sell/ trade it for something that you will get more use out of. Either way you win.
 
no such thing as overkill
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maybe not but there is such a thing as more velocity,energy,muzzle blast and recoil than is need to havest a particular species of game. Anything over that which is needed is wasted.
 
I have a 300 RUM that I have absolutely no use for--other than the love of having an extremely powerful and accurate rifle that is all kinds of fun to shoot. Nothing wrong with that!

Shoot it for a while, it may grow on you. If not, trade it for something you really want.
 
I recently moved to Colorado - lots of people use a 7mm to hunt elk (it's by no means the only option, but it seems to be prety popular). I have a Weatherby Vanguard in 7mm Rem Mag and I love it - it's my go-to hunting gun.

I've used it on little deer in Texas and I concur - there's no such thing as too dead. I prefer using a .30-30 or .30-06 on deer, but the 7mm gets it done.

Can't argue with what a couple of other people said - shoot it for a while, play with some loads, maybe you'll love it, maybe it'll make more sense to sell/trade it.

Congrats on the new toy!
 
Ran across the same deal on basically the same rifle a few months ago. Mine is in 35 Whelen and has the black synthetic stock. Still have not fired it and don't know what I'm going to do with it either, but NIB at around $400 was too good to pass up.

In your case the 7 mag can be a versatile round. Not my 1st choice, but we all worry too much about caliber instead of just hunting. I've used the round a little and consider it to be a very slight improvement over the 30-06 for long range work on animals up to elk.

If I were buying and could choose either caliber I'd pick the '06, but if a 7 mag fell into my lap like this I'd use it.
 
Good rifle/great caliber

Only guaranteed thing you'll need to do to that rifle is lighten up the trigger. They break a little cleaner than the old style, but still are heavy.

Good thing is with a little research on Ruger Triggers you can have it breaking nice around 3lbs. within a 1/2 hour from start (removing stock) to finish (back in stock). Very easy and worse case if you screw it up, replacements are readily available.

Or bring it to someone who knows what they're doing and it shouldn't cost more than 30 bucks.



My Hawkeye All Weather .204 is one of the most accurate rifles I own, with nothing done to it other than the trigger. 1/2" at 100 yards pretty easy with factory loads.
 
Is 7mm mag a good choice for elk and moose?
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Absolutely perfect for elk and moose IMO.
Whether or not it's better than an '06 is a matter of opinion. Inside of 250 yards, there's probably not a difference. The 7 mag will give you a little more range. The thing is, most people aren't capable of taking advantage of that extra range, me included. Not saying you aren't.
I agree with the others. Shoot it and if you don't like it, trade it for something you do like. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. Buying it for under $400, I'm sure you could turn a profit on it as well.
 
Load up some Nosler 160 Partitions in that 7mm and go kill some moose, elk, mulies, bison or pronghorn.

Hunting in the SE, you could use it for some long-range "beanfield" shots with 140 B-tips.

The main advantage over the '06 is its flatter trajectory at long range
 
It doesn't cost any money to keep it. You already spent it. As far as being an investment it sure could be. The round is a good one and you can do alot of good work with it. Lots of bullet selection. I would not down load it just use it the way it is. I have a good friend that used one for over 10 years on Pennsylvania whitetails and killed 1 mule deer out in Montana. He always shots through his deer and was waiting for that "long shot" Oh he did kill one black bear with it. His bullet was the 175 Hornady spire point driven close to max. I think he was overgunned. He use to ridicule my 7x57. I have used the 308 on deer and the 6.5x55 so I tend to think its a lit bit more than you need. (I also am a 243 fan). After thinking about his experiences and mine maybe you should test the market maybe afterall you can pick up a good dollar. Taking it to the range may cause you to fall in love with it.
 
Hey Guys, I had a gun store Owner tell me that the 308 flies flatter than the 7 mm rem mag. I almost started laughing. But i restrained myself and did not say anything. Well, I said maybe he is right. I know many many people buy the 308 and it is used a lot in the military for sniper rifles. So i thought i would do a comparison with the Hornady ballistics calculator and here are the results. And just like i thought the 7 mm rem mag wins.
These are the lightest load with no windage and the closest weight bullets. It would seem obvious to me the 7 mag wins because it uses more gun powder. And has higher muzzle velocity. And both guns kick about the same so there is no winner there.

7mm rem mag on left , 308 on right. The 7mm drops 16.2 inches at 300 yards while the 308 drops 24.3 inches at 300 yards. Done.


308vs7mm-mag-stat.jpg


What do you guys think.
 
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Well that isn't quite right. Bump the muzzle velocity of the .308 up to 2700 fps, which is about normal for a 150 gr. .308(or to 2600fps as is the 7 mm) and let's see what the difference is?
ll
 
The 7mm Rem Mag is an excellent round for elk so long as you load it right. I prefer long, heavy for caliber projectiles of controlled expansion with high SDs. These rounds tend to penetrate well and can be depended on to reach the vitals, even through bone and on quartering angles. I load 160 gr Accubonds over 63 gr or RL22 for 2970ish fps over the chrony. For strictly elk and moose, I might opt even higher for a 175 gr Partition. There are .30-06 loads that can get a 180 gr Partition to 2800 fps. But few on the market that can get that weight out at 2900 fps safely like the 7mm Rem Mag, and even then, with a published SD of .310 and a BC of .519, the 175 gr .284 caliber Partition smokes the 180 gr or even the 200 gr .30 caliber Partition out of the 06 for penetration and downrange velocity and energy. That's another huge advantage to the heavier projectiles, esp in the 7mm Rem Mag. Some of the better ones have very good BCs, which makes them very effecient. The 7mm Rem Mag only has a slight advantage at the muzzle over the .30-06 with similar weight bullets. This is why the recoil is about the same. But the .284 caliber projectiles will typically have much better BCs than the similar weight .30 caliber projectiles, so even if the 7mm Rem Mag only starts out a 100 or so fps faster, it only widens the gap as it goes downrange because it is shedding velocity slower.

Look into the 160 gr Nosler Accubond and Partition, and the 175 gr Partition, the 162 gr Hornady SST, or the equivalent bullets from other manufactures, like the Swift Scirocco II.

O and for those charts to be accurate, the 7mm needs to be firing a 154 gr bullet at closer to 3100 fps, and the .308 out a bolt action with the same length barrel can probably do a solid 2700 fps pretty easily with a 155 gr Amax.
 
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Someone said that the 7mm mag kicks the same as a .308. That isn't even close in my experience. I think the 7mm mag kicks considerably more than the .308. That said, I think the advantage is worth the extra slug in the shoulder.
 
I think that 2600fps is way off for the 154 bullet unless its a reduced recoil. My 162 gr run 2975 and there not hot loads. I'd say that 154 is about 3100. The 7mm has better bc than the 30 cal bullets and it will shoot flatter. Go to biggameinfo.com and put in all the blocks for both rounds. Bc weight fps temp. The 7mm mag is a great round for whatever you want to hunt.
 
Great elk round, flat shooting and fast. You can us it for mule deer just fine also. It is a great gun adn a great caliber.
 
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