Has the 7mm Rem Mag fallen out of favor or is it just my imagination?

[mshootnit]

7mm Rem Mag is a very nice round. I do not own one because I get all of the 7mm performance in a lighter short action rifle featuring a modern beltless magnum cartridge: 270 WSM.

 

[mshootnit]

Everyone knows that the only viable cartridge in current production is the 6.5 Creedmore. Also, according to local gunshop tire kickers, Vortex is the only company that makes scopes. As for handgun cartridges, the anemic .40 is worse in every way than the 9mm and the .380 is so impotent, that it cant penetrate human skin. Welcome to marketing. The 7mm's are just as great now as they were when they were introduced. Same goes for the 30-30, which people continually scoff at, like its incapable of killing deer past 50 yards.

Best 30-30 shot I have seen was 235 yds with a scoped 94, and Hornady lever evolution ammo. Low shoulder hit, but put the deer down long enough for a follow up.

 

[Picher]

Minor quibble, but I believe making decent .270 brass from .30-06 is quite hard requiring a false shoulder + fire forming or hydro forming and still being short. .30-03 is a different story, but there's not much of that lying around.

Yeah, and if you do it, you're stuck with short .270 brass that has a 30-06 headstamp! DUH! Gotta be pretty darned hard-up to do that.

 

[LoonWulf]

Yeah, and if you do it, you're stuck with short .270 brass that has a 30-06 headstamp! DUH! Gotta be pretty darned hard-up to do that.

I made 7mm stw brass from .300wby (I did it because wby brass was 1/2 the cost of actual STW. Go figgure)
it ends up pretty much the same as .270 from 06.
still got a few floating around in my to be pulled bin.

I agree to do that again I'd have to really, REALLY, be having a hard time getting brass.

 

[Bushpilot]

I've used plenty of cases with the wrong head stamp for both hard to get cases and for wildcats... It's not a big deal and the ability to do so can come in very handy at times...

 

[someguy2800]

it's interesting how different the gun requirements are for eastern deer hunting vs. western elk. Eastern deer is a very unconstrained problem. The deer go down easy, the shots are short, often times hunting is from a stand or blind, and frankly just about any legal centerfire can be made to work reasonably well. Rifle choice is first and foremost a fashion statement.

Elk are the exact opposite - big animals that go down hard with potentially long shots and lots of hunting pressure, and in terrain where you'd like to be carrying a mountain weight rifle. Given a choice you'd like something with a .375+ bore, 0.3 or higher SD, close to 100% weight retention, a muzzle velocity of 3000ft/s and and a G1 BC of 0.5+ in a 7lb rifle. Problem is you can't have that - about the closest you could get would be a .378 Weatherby shoting 300gr Accubonds in a 7lb rifle, and if you did that you'd have a rifle with 4x the recoil of a .30-06. So everything is a set of carefully chosen compromises. The problem is very much over-constrained.

Of all the compromises available, 160-175gr premium bullets in a 7mag is one of the best - probably THE best off the shelf.

I disagree on what you think is suitable for eastern whitetail. That is a bad generalization. Hunting over a bean field is a different thing than hunting in the sloughs. The deer here have not gotten the memo that they are supposed to fall over dead when shot. The problem we have where I hunt is the deer make straight for the thickest cover available when shot which is typically 6 foot canary grass and red willow sloughs. You can’t find a deer laying in that unless you walk within 5 feet of it. They will run 150 yards when heart shot and the path to go find them you’ll cross 20+ game trails. If you don’t have a suitable blood trail your chance of finding the deer in that brush is near zero. Also our hunting pressure is extreamly high. By the time game matures here they have been very well educated. The reason our shots are short is because they’ve lived in and among humans their whole lives and have been taught not to wander in the open come fall.

This is my brother in law’s deer he shot last year. He shot it twice at about 150 yards. The deer went in about 300 yard circle and laid down between two down trees after being double lunged twice with a 150 grain from a 270. He went down within 100 yards of two very experienced hunters and neither ever saw or heard where he went due to the brush and snow.



My brother in law had watched him run 50 yards into the slough and had been looking for 2 hours when he asked me to come. I had fresh eyes and no predudices and luckily due to the snow was able to identify his hoof prints among the other deer’s prints and we tracked him by hoof print. There was not one drop of blood and where we found him you couldn’t see him from 20 feet away in any direction. If not for the snow he’d still be laying out there.

So don’t tell me our deer are fragil little creatures that can be knocked flat with a 22 hornet. They have a will to live like none other and the shot is only the start of hunt. Even with a cartridge I’ve heard called overkill for whitetail, the 270. When we dressed him out both shots were an inch away from each other dead center of the lungs and he still went 300 yards and never bled a drop.

Add to that the problem of time and property lines. We’ve had deer tracking that we called off at 11PM to be resumed in the morning only to find the wolves work 24 hours. Other times we’ve had to give up chase because the trail went onto neighboring property that weren’t friendly to us being their. Luckily our unrecovered deer are few and far between as we’ve done a lot of tracking.

 

[someguy2800]

I've used plenty of cases with the wrong head stamp for both hard to get cases and for wildcats... It's not a big deal and the ability to do so can come in very handy at times...

I prefer matching headstamps if possible. I label my stuff but there are a few combinations that could be a potential booby trap for someone not paying attention. For example I have a 270, a 30-06, a 7.7 jap, and an 8mm Mauser. I could use my abundance of 30-06 and 270 brass to form brass for the 7.7 and 8mm, but both of those would be grenades if someone were to find them unlabeled and put them in the 270 or 30-06 based on the headstamp, and the people that could make that mistake are my friends and family so I spend a little extra to get brass with the right headstamp for those two.

 

[Bushpilot]

I prefer matching headstamps if possible.

I prefer it too but I'm not going stop shooting my guns just because I don't have matching headstamp brass...

Reloading, forming brass and shooting in general isn't a hobby for the careless or the reckless. I keep my brass sorted in boxes by cartridge and usually by gun as well. Other shooters do not have access to my reloads. I don't shoot cartridges that I am unsure of they're origins or components. When I form brass it's usually out of necessity, not cost. You know, some uncommon brass is only produced periodically....... Others are simply not available.. Did you ever try to buy 7mm IHMSA stamped brass for example? Forming it has always been the primary source for it's brass, even when it was somewhat popular....

 

[kwg020]

Minor quibble, but I believe making decent .270 brass from .30-06 is quite hard requiring a false shoulder + fire forming or hydro forming and still being short. .30-03 is a different story, but there's not much of that lying around.

I agree. I made some .243 out of 7.62x51 during the shortage. It wasn't perfect but it shot well. If I had to, I could do it again. I think the key was to make sure the brass was soft by annealing prior to trying to work it.

I know the 7mm magnum has a following and I don't want to sell them short but Is there brass that could be used to make the 7mm magnum should there ever be a shortage again ??
kwg

 

[someguy2800]

I prefer it too but I'm not going stop shooting my guns just because I don't have matching headstamp brass...

Reloading, forming brass and shooting in general isn't a hobby for the careless or the reckless. I keep my brass sorted in boxes by cartridge and usually by gun as well. Other shooters do not have access to my reloads. I don't shoot cartridges that I am unsure of they're origins or components. When I form brass it's usually out of necessity, not cost. You know, some uncommon brass is only produced periodically....... Others are simply not available.. Did you ever try to buy 7mm IHMSA stamped brass for example? Forming it has always been the primary source for it's brass, even when it was somewhat popular....

Oh believe me I get it, I've had a couple cartridges that are brass forming only proposition and a few others that are very hard to come by.

 

[tarosean]

The deer went in about 300 yard circle and laid down between two down trees after being double lunged twice with a 150 grain from a 270

now see... if you would have only used the 7mmRM... It would have walked back to you quartered and ready...

 

[LoonWulf]

I agree. I made some .243 out of 7.62x51 during the shortage. It wasn't perfect but it shot well. If I had to, I could do it again. I think the key was to make sure the brass was soft by annealing prior to trying to work it.

I know the 7mm magnum has a following and I don't want to sell them short but Is there brass that could be used to make the 7mm magnum should there ever be a shortage again ??
kwg

The 7mm and .338 are the shortest of the common belted mags. You can use any belted mag brass to make either depending on the work your willing to do.
As an experiment I made some 7mm from 300....it in a thread on here from about 8 years ago I think.

 

[Garandimal]

...This is my brother in law’s deer he shot last year. He shot it twice at about 150 yards. The deer went in about 300 yard circle and laid down between two down trees after being double lunged twice with a 150 grain from a 270. He went down within 100 yards of two very experienced hunters and neither ever saw or heard where he went due to the brush and snow.

Hmmm....

.270 WIN/150 gr. from 150 yards... Twice... and no exit wound?

Interested to know the brand of bullet he was shooting.

...and what the deer was doing while he shot him twice in the same place.


Have shot a lot of 150 gr. .270 WIN into a lot of deer inside of 200 yards, mostly inexpensive Speer Hot-Cor handloads when I was young and poor, and then Nosler Partitions, both handload and factory, of late.

I'd show you the bullets, but I've never found one... on account of the messy exit wounds.

I've had to track one a little ways in the woods on occasion... not a problem.

On snow...?




GR

 

[someguy2800]

Hmmm....

.270 WIN/150 gr. from 150 yards... Twice... and no exit wound?

Interested to know the brand of bullet he was shooting.

Have shot a lot of 150 gr. .270 WIN into a lot of deer inside of 200 yards, mostly inexpensive Speer Hot-Cor handloads when I was young and poor, and then Nosler Partitions, both handload and factory, of late.

I'd show you the bullets, but I've never found one... on account of the messy exit wounds.

I've had to track one a little ways in the woods on occasion... not a problem.

On snow...?




GR

Both exited. They were federal 150 RN SP at 2800 muzzle velocity. 3 of our hunting group have been shooting the same bullet for 20 years with typically excellent results. They asked me if we could reload with the same bullet so I found 1000 of them as pulled bullets and started handloading them for them. We’ve harvested about a hundred fifty (seriously) deer with this bullet and it typically produces a quarter sized entrance and tennis ball size exit through the chest and good blood trail from both sides. This one both lungs were turned to slush but the exits were tiny and all the bleeding was internal. We are still baffled. There was not one drop until where he laid.

I tried shooting Barnes bullets for a few years in 25-06 and took about 10 deer with them. They were the same way, pencil in, pencil out, and never any blood trail. Tracking was a nightmare. I know they were expanding because I recovered two on quartering shots and they looked just like the advertisements. They are the only two bullets I’ve ever recovered.

 

[Garandimal]

Both exited. They were federal 150 RN SP at 2800 muzzle velocity. 3 of our hunting group have been shooting the same bullet for 20 years with typically excellent results. They asked me if we could reload with the same bullet so I found 1000 of them as pulled bullets and started handloading them for them. We’ve harvested about a hundred fifty (seriously) deer with this bullet and it typically produces a quarter sized entrance and tennis ball size exit through the chest and good blood trail from both sides. This one both lungs were turned to slush but the exits were tiny and all the bleeding was internal. We are still baffled. There was not one drop until where he laid.

I tried shooting Barnes bullets for a few years in 25-06 and took about 10 deer with them. They were the same way, pencil in, pencil out, and never any blood trail. Tracking was a nightmare. I know they were expanding because I recovered two on quartering shots and they looked just like the advertisements. They are the only two bullets I’ve ever recovered.

That has been my experience as well.

Hope he bought a lottery ticket that day.






GR

 

[Llama Bob]

I agree. I made some .243 out of 7.62x51 during the shortage. It wasn't perfect but it shot well. If I had to, I could do it again. I think the key was to make sure the brass was soft by annealing prior to trying to work it.

I know the 7mm magnum has a following and I don't want to sell them short but Is there brass that could be used to make the 7mm magnum should there ever be a shortage again ??
kwg

The parents are .264 WM (which I happen to have, but it's not common) and then its parent is .375 H&H.

For hunting cartridges I don't put much concern on brass availability. If a gun has rare brass like my .50-110, I just buy 200 when I buy the gun. The .50-110 is actually more trouble since you're not supposed to fire a 2nd hot hunting load in a recycled case. I can't imagine running out of 7mag or .264 brass.

 

[kwg020]

Hello Llama Bob
For those of us who prepare for Armageddon 200 pieces of brass just aren't enough but the .375 H&H has been around for a long time so there is some history with the brass. Although, I have never seen it sold at Wal-Mart should you need a quick re-supply.

kwg

 

[someguy2800]

Then I guess you need another gun to go with your 375 H&H

 

[LoonWulf]

Hello Llama Bob
For those of us who prepare for Armageddon 200 pieces of brass just aren't enough but the .375 H&H has been around for a long time so there is some history with the brass. Although, I have never seen it sold at Wal-Mart should you need a quick re-supply.

kwg

Barring Armageddon...and really I doubt brass would be my primary concern....
I think we'll have plenty of 7mm brass.
heck I have more once fireds, than I've ever shot......

My .375 Ruger tho, I only have a hundred for that but I'll he stocking up.

 

[Llama Bob]

Barring Armageddon...and really I doubt brass would be my primary concern....

Can you just chill with this "judgement day" business for a bit? I've got 500 rounds of .257-338 Norma I've gotta reload first

 

[Art Eatman]

Sorta wandered off from 7mmMag popularity...