Favorite 7mm?

[LoonWulf]

75 yrs ago, I would have agreed with you. However, with our more precise, tighter tolerances with regards to lathes, reamers, and tool machining, it’s a moot issue.
Look at all the newer cartridges such as Creedmoor, PRC. ECT. They all have shorter necks, and deeper throats to accommodate longer seated, longer high B.C. Bullets.

Long necks are also supposed help with run-out during loading, and provide more consistent neck tension.
I cant honestly say if it makes a difference. As none of my gear is match grade and i dont have the equipment to check concentricity.

So effectively....That's just what I've read.....

What’s the big deal with short necks? My 7mm08 comes within 200-250fps of my 7mmRemMag with just over half as much powder. The 7-08 has only a 20”bbl vs 26” for the 7mag.
With H4350 or RL17, the ‘08 seated to magazine length (2.835”) has only the tapered back of the Speer 160btspt below the case neck and is only lightly compressing the powder. Darn near perfect if you ask me…

The big 7mm actually has a 1/2” air space with most powders, except for WC860 which fills to the neck @80.0gr….
Only a 175gr bullet base “intrudes” into the air space, but doesn’t reduce useable capacity.
The real advantage of the longer neck and Loooong free bore of the Weatherby is that it reduces bore erosion.

Retumbo will compress under a 162eld, and yield 3000-3100fps.... I prefer powders that run at 90%+

IMO tho that much capacity isnt optimal on 162 and lighter projectile but that's the limit for most factory 7s.
My Christensens 1-9 seem to be pretty happy with 180s but I haven't trued the BC on any of them yet.

The 7PRC can deliver those specs from a standard factory rifle. Which is why i would generally recommend someone not tied to factory ammo choose that one over the 7mag if just getting into the big 7s game.

If a person's comfortable doing whatever they need to with a 20 grain lighter bullet and a 2/300 feet per second slower, there's really no reason to put the extra effort into shooting a magnum....heck the 280AI can pretty comfortably drive a 162Eld at 3000 from a 26" and my 7-08 will launch a 140 at 2900 from a 22..... really thats enough for most things

 

[GooseGestapo]

I get 3,000fps from my 20” bbl M-7 with either 139gr PMC factory ammo, or either H4350, IMR4350, or RL17 under a 139-140gr bullet.
I had originally intended to rebarrel it to 6.5-284 or .284win, but made the mistake of shooting it first! and chronographing with some PMC factory 139’s that came with it.
It’s my favorite “hunting” rifle and the only one I’ve got that’s actually taken an elk. I loaned it to a friend in ‘06 who took it to Colorado. Shot a 1,000lb 7x7 bull at 250yds with it. It was so big, he had it mounted in a head twisted, licking its shoulder mount so it can be moved through a set of French doors…
Rifle has a short throat, and tight necks. The PMC brass has to be neck turned in order to chamber reloads. The factory bullets are Hornady 139gr flat base Interloks. Decently accurate,too.

 

[1948CJ2A]

75 yrs ago, I would have agreed with you. However, with our more precise, tighter tolerances with regards to lathes, reamers, and tool machining, it’s a moot issue.
Look at all the newer cartridges such as Creedmoor, PRC. ECT. They all have shorter necks, and deeper throats to accommodate longer seated, longer high B.C. Bullets.

Deeper throats is fine but you're still limited by the short action magazine box length, which is something you don't run into with the longer action cartridges like the 7x57 and up.

 

[1948CJ2A]

I get 3,000fps from my 20” bbl M-7 with either 139gr PMC factory ammo, or either H4350, IMR4350, or RL17 under a 139-140gr bullet.
I had originally intended to rebarrel it to 6.5-284 or .284win, but made the mistake of shooting it first! and chronographing with some PMC factory 139’s that came with it.
It’s my favorite “hunting” rifle and the only one I’ve got that’s actually taken an elk. I loaned it to a friend in ‘06 who took it to Colorado. Shot a 1,000lb 7x7 bull at 250yds with it. It was so big, he had it mounted in a head twisted, licking its shoulder mount so it can be moved through a set of French doors…
Rifle has a short throat, and tight necks. The PMC brass has to be neck turned in order to chamber reloads. The factory bullets are Hornady 139gr flat base Interloks. Decently accurate,too.

I've got a model 7 chambered in 260 Rem ( essentially a 6.5-08, right ) also with a 20" barrel. What I found on that rifle is a couple of things... (1) it is very picky on what I feed it; took several tries before I got it shooting well enough to hunt with. (2) that short pencil barrel needs to cool after 2 or 3 shots or else your accuracy will suffer. Don't get me wrong, I love the light-weight design and its a pleasure to carry in the field, but there are some compromises there.

 

[GooseGestapo]

I've got a model 7 chambered in 260 Rem ( essentially a 6.5-08, right ) also with a 20" barrel. What I found on that rifle is a couple of things... (1) it is very picky on what I feed it; took several tries before I got it shooting well enough to hunt with. (2) that short pencil barrel needs to cool after 2 or 3 shots or else your accuracy will suffer. Don't get me wrong, I love the light-weight design and its a pleasure to carry in the field, but there are some compromises there.

I too have a Mod-7 in .260. A later Model CDL. Pretty gun…
It’s quite accurate but limited on bullet designs. With a 1/11” twist, by actual measurement, it doesn’t perform acceptably with plastic tipped boat tail bullets over 123gr. A 129gr Hornady SST will group 5-6” with tipped bullets. A 140gr SST won’t hit the 100yd berm. However the Speer 140gr HotCore PtSpt (flat based) over 45.0gr of RL22 will shoot near 1”. The Discontinued Sierra 160RN owner 43.0gr of RL322 is near MOA.
Best powders are RL17, H4350, IMR4350, and RL22. A PPU 120gr BTHP bullet over 42.0gr of IMR4350 gives me 0.5-0.75” 5-Shot groups.
The discontinued Speer 120gr HotCore PtSpt was/is my favorite deer bullet. As evidenced by this 2021 kill. I shot him at the “long” distance of 17yds! Bullet hit in the left chest and was lost in the middle abdomen. (Guts)

 

[Remington1911]

Interesting seeing the old cartridge doing so well.

I love my 1895's.

 

[Almor]

I like the 7mmRM, was my first gun, REM 700 BDL LH, I’m sorry for selling it…

I would like to have and test one 7-08 and 7x64 but in Spain 7-08 never had success , really I can’t understand it. I have 2 friends with this caliber and is very difficult find ammo here.

 

[DM~]

I like the 7mmRM, was my first gun, REM 700 BDL LH, I’m sorry for selling it…

I had the same rifle, I liked mine too.

I remember taking at least one Dall Sheep with mine,

but I don't remember what else...

DM

 

[BreechFace]

I had the same rifle, I liked mine too.

I remember taking at least one Dall Sheep with mine,

DM

The all to common chesthair making their entrance, I've been known to wear my shirt like this during hunting season. You looked like you broke a sweat on that one!

What an awesome memory captured by a photo you have there. Where was this taken?

 

[DM~]

The all to common chesthair making their entrance, I've been known to wear my shirt like this during hunting season. You looked like you broke a sweat on that one!

What an awesome memory captured by a photo you have there. Where was this taken?

Like pretty much all mountain hunting, it can be tough...

I was in the Brooks Range, Alaska.

DM

 

[1948CJ2A]

The 7mm Rem Mag is making a late push! I figured it would be between the 7mm RM and the 7-08. I'm really happy to see how well the old Mauser has done too. A lot of folks write it off as obsolete these days.

 

[1948CJ2A]

7mm_Rem_Mag_1_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7mm_Rem_Mag_2_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

These are a couple of pics of my 7mm Rem Mag. I purchased it new back in 2009-10 from whatever that sporting goods store was that replaced Oshmans... having a brain fart right now. That store is gone now and has been for a while. It's a Weatherby Vanguard Sporter with a 24" barrel.

 

[1948CJ2A]

7x57_AI_1_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_3_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_4_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

And these are pics of my recently acquired 7x57 Ackley Improved... haven't made it out to the range for this one yet but plan on it in the next few weeks. I'd like to do some hunting with it next season. It's a BRNO Mauser 98 action with what appears to be a 25" Shilen barrel.

 

[troy fairweather]

7x57_AI_1_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_3_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_4_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

And these are pics of my recently acquired 7x57 Ackley Improved... haven't made it out to the range for this one yet but plan on it in the next few weeks. I'd like to do some hunting with it next season. It's a BRNO Mauser 98 action with what appears to be a 25" Shilen barrel.

You get any ai dies for the rifle yet, almost looks like it was a Remington stock.

 

[1948CJ2A]

You get any ai dies for the rifle yet, almost looks like it was a Remington stock.

Yes sir; they came with the rifle.

7x57_AI_dies_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

 

[troy fairweather]

Yes sir; they came with the rifle.

7x57_AI_dies_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

Ok good they can be hard to find sometimes, some guys will just neck size but you need to push the shoulder and size the body eventually. Think the Lee seating 7x57 die is the only one that will fit the Ackley case of guys don't have ai dies. What safety does it have.

 

[1948CJ2A]

Ok good they can be hard to find sometimes, some guys will just neck size but you need to push the shoulder and size the body eventually. Think the Lee seating 7x57 die is the only one that will fit the Ackley case of guys don't have ai dies. What safety does it have.

7x57_AI_safety_2_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_safety_1_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

It's a military style shroud with a model 70-style safety. I really like it!

 

[troy fairweather]

7x57_AI_safety_2_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

7x57_AI_safety_1_20231220.jpg

• 1948CJ2A
• Dec 20, 2023

It's a military style shroud with a model 70-style safety. I really like it!

Looks like a wisner

 

[Armored farmer]

My 7mm-08 Handi-Rifle

 

[mshootnit]

Have you seen the new Vanguard compact, stainless 7mm-08? Those are very cool. Hunter orange accents in the camo. Black bolt.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

So I voted for 7mm Rem Mag as my fav 7mm cartridge. It's a classic for a reason.

 

[Hookeye]

I do kinda miss my 700 BDL in 7 mag.
If I sell my .30-06 maybe look at another big 7 of some sort.

 

[Litetrigger]

It was interesting to note that the 7-308 Rem has, so far, has the highest favorite count in the 7mm survey. And I'm not surprised because it seems to be increasing poplar in recent years. But that has always been the case because it got off to a slow start and was mainly ignored. The reason was because Remington promoted it for and entirely different purpose. That was because a senior Remington executive retired and moved to Arizona, where he got involved in Silhoutte shooting, which was a quite popular shooting game at that time. The dominate rifle caliber in silhoutte competition at that time was .308 Win, usually loaded with 168 gr. Sierra Match Kings. (I know because like most other competitors I loaded them by the hundreds.) Success in the offhand game requred dozens of rounds of practice for every round fired in actual matches, meaning shooters were withstanding and absorbing tons or recoil. The Rem exec rightly deduced that a caliber with less recoil would be instantly successful among shihouette shooters who had grown weary of having shoulders brused by the .308, so he lobbyed his pals back at Remington to introduce as somewhat lighter caliber with less recoil but still enugh punch to topple the heavy rams at 600m. He had already been shooting a wildcat caliber with the .308 case necked to 7mm, passed on his recommendations to Remington and the 7-308 was born. Since development of the new round had been focused almost entirely on silhoutte shooting the first rifles were M-700's with Varmint Weight barrels.
So I had to buy one but soon was to dscover that handloads with the bullet of choice: Sierra's 150 gr MK, didn't reduice recoil enough to make it an instant favorite, and worse, Remington's initial hunting ammo was dismally inaccurate. Thus the 7-08 got off to a slow start and was dismissed as a another Remington clinker until hunters began to notice it was easy to shoot and deadly caliber to deer size game, and was ressurected to today's popularity.
Attached is the early M-700 BDL 7-08 with Varmint barrel, which so few were made and sold it may be a Remington collector's item, It had very little use.

 

[PRD1]

The .276 Pedersen, for which I once owned a Vickers-Pedersen SLR, and for which I still have a custom sporting rifle in that caliber, as well as a full case (1680 rounds) of FA29 ball ammunition - though I don't shoot the old surplus, instead reforming 6.5x54MS brass. Not a well known or very powerful 7mm, but a nice, balanced and accurate one.

PRD1 - mhb - MIke

 

[luv2safari]

Haven’t changed my vote (7mm-08) but should note I also had a 7 SAUM for a while. Decided I liked the .280 Ackley better.

Now a 7x57 Ackley would be cool …

It IS cool! I love mine. It's a Husky 1640 small ring Mauser they made, not on an FN or surplus action. It was re-chambered locally by a semi-custom rifle maker who had their own version, the 7X57 ICL Tortilla. It's a tack driver and is my antelope rifle. It's their Dlx version with a very good adjustable trigger, as imported by Tradwinds back in the day. 130gr Speer HotCores want to crawl through the same hole. Someone did a sand it all and varnish refinish on it before I found it. It's the top rifle of these: