I'm currently loading some 162 gr Hornady A-Max bullets in my 7mm rem mag. I'm using Hornady casings, cci magnum primers, RL 17 and RL 22. My Remington 700 ADL has a 1 in 9.25" twist rate in a 26" barrel. What I was wondering is the A-Max bullets are rated for a barrel with a 1 in 8" barrel or faster. Would my 1 in 9.25" twist rate make the load less accurate?
Handloading for 7mm Rem Mag
- Thread starter AZHunter
- Start date
- Status
GooseGestapo
Member
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2003
- Messages
- 6,150
The 162gr A-max will be fine in your barrel. Even a 175gr Spitzer such as the Remington CorLokt will do fine in your rifle.
It's just the 75gr A-Max in .224" that requires a 1/8 or faster twist.
Not ALL A-max bullets.
I tried the .224" 75gr A-Max in a 1/9 twist barrel when they first came out 12yrs ago, or so and found that they wouldn't stabilize in it. Ditto the 80gr Berger's. However the 70gr Speer Semi Pointed soft points do well even in my 1/12" twist Remington .223.
The A-Max 162 shoots pretty decent from my Remington M7 7mm08 with it's 20" bbl. But, the rifle just isn't any better than 1.5moa so, it doesn't matter. It prefers the 160gr Sierra BTSpt, and it's a vastly superior game/hunting bullet anyhow.
It's just the 75gr A-Max in .224" that requires a 1/8 or faster twist.
Not ALL A-max bullets.
I tried the .224" 75gr A-Max in a 1/9 twist barrel when they first came out 12yrs ago, or so and found that they wouldn't stabilize in it. Ditto the 80gr Berger's. However the 70gr Speer Semi Pointed soft points do well even in my 1/12" twist Remington .223.
The A-Max 162 shoots pretty decent from my Remington M7 7mm08 with it's 20" bbl. But, the rifle just isn't any better than 1.5moa so, it doesn't matter. It prefers the 160gr Sierra BTSpt, and it's a vastly superior game/hunting bullet anyhow.
i use the 150gr nosler balistic tip in my 7mag over 63 gr of imr 4831. my savage cant get enough of them. its clover leaf city. and my savage is the older 110 with the 1:9'' and a 28" barrel. so i dont see why the 700 would be any different to the amax.
I was just making sure because I bought the A-Max and didn't notice it said 1:8" barrels. The only reason I bought the A-Max over the Sierra BTSP is because the ballistic coefficient (.625) is massive on the A-Max. Think I'll load up some 168 gr Berger VLD and the heavier gr VLD next as well. Plus pretty soon I'm going to put on a Timney or Jewell trigger (haven't made up my mind yet) and a Boyds wood stock, and god willing I'd like to pillar bed and glass bed that stock.
Last edited:
I have never been able to get good results with the Amax's in my 7mm mag. I'm not sure why, the Nosler 160 Accubond is the tightest grouping bullet I have tried so far and have shot a five shot group that went .703 @ 300 yards. The berger 168 VLD was next and will put 5 in an inch at 300 yards. Haven't had a place to test beyound that range and my rifle prefers IMR7828 and IMR4831 powders the best.
I don't load for 7 mag, but have used A-Maxs in other calibers. From what I've seen, the A-Maxs run long, as compared to other bullets from other manufacturers of similar weights. It's the length of a bullet that determines how fast it needs to spin to stabilize, not the weight.
I know that my 1:12 .308 shoots Sierra 175s very well, but puts the 178 A-Maxs into a least a 2" group. The 178s are labeled as requiring a 1:10 twsit. Still, in the end, you won't know if your rifle will shoot them until you try.
I know that my 1:12 .308 shoots Sierra 175s very well, but puts the 178 A-Maxs into a least a 2" group. The 178s are labeled as requiring a 1:10 twsit. Still, in the end, you won't know if your rifle will shoot them until you try.
I've shot them. The first outing I used the max oal given in the speer manual, forgot what it was, with 60.3gr, 60.8, 61.3, 61.8, 62.3 and 62.8 charges, four shots a piece, they shot alright, the higher grain loads had the better groupings, The second outing I used 2.667" oal from ogive, at the same charge scales, terrible groupings because i didn't have a finesse hand when using the oal gauge so now my max oal is 2.437" and they chamber a lot better. So now i know my gun won't blow up with the bullet jammed in the rifling oops. So this next outing i'll tell yall how i did with the new oal and new powder range with the same RL22. So i think the oal was what was causing the in accuracy the second time around
- Status
