7mm. Questions for a friend

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I have a buddy who saw a 7mm Savage in the store with a scope and 15 boxes of ammo. It is going for $650 (now remember up here in the Northeast deep in liberal CT all gun prices are inflated. Especially at all of our area stores.)

This would be my buddies first rifle so I want to tell him that a 7mm rem mag is a bit much for a beginner that is only likely to go to the range with it. he really wants something that will hunt as well as kill paper. He has fired all my stuff from .22 to .308 and he likes the kick of the .308 Since i have no experience with the 7mm i am asking you people about: recoil, ammo cost, accuracy, and whether it is too much for a newbie. I seriously doubt he will get a .22 i tried to talk him into it. but his purchases will be few and far between so i want him to stick with his sudden interest in getting his own firearm.
 
A 7 is a big punch and a loud bark in comparison to a .308. Ammo is expensive.

.308 mil surplus is widely available and the prices are great.

Granted a 7 is a more versatile hunting weapon. Oh 8 is a more versatile weapon - cheaper to feed, easier on the shooter.

Your friend may wanna find an FFL in his area that will do a cheap transfer and go mail order for those prices.
 
If he shoots the .308 well, and wants a rifle to hunt with versus just punching paper, he should be o.k. with the 7mm. I don't find the 7mm to be much different recoil wise than a 30-06. $650 seems outlandish at first, but it may not be that bad if prices are high up in CT. It depends on the quality (price) of the scope and the 15 boxes of ammo. 15 boxes of premium ammo could run easily $300.00 alone.
 
Ive shot .308 for years, both semi-auto and bolt.

I recently bought a Sako 7mm Mag (Beautiful gun), and it kicks a whole lot more than my .308s ever did.

The ammo is expensive - $17 to $30 a box. There is no surplus 7mm that I've ever seen.

The 7mm is good for just about anything in North America with the probable exception of Grizzly.

It is not a beginner's rifle IMO.

Eventually he will not shoot it because It's expensive to shoot and It's painful to shoot for a long time.

I can shoot my .308 bolt all day - my 7mm Rem Mag tires me out after a box or two, which is good t $30 a box for the good stuff. Of course I don't "plink" with the 7mm - it takes me hours to go through a box.

A first gun should be all 'round fun. Plinking, hunting (if desired), useful for SHTF - in a bolt I'd say .308 would be max for a newbie.

Of course we've all been bitten by the "gotta have that gun" bug where reason goes out the window. :) :)

-LevelHead
 
He could get a .308 package deal from Savage (rifle and scope) along with a dozen boxes of milsurp ammo and handful of boxes of premium hunting cartridges for that same $650, more than likely. And IMO he'd be better off in the long run going that route.

Have him head to Wally World and see if they're offering any of those Savage packages.
 
I reread the original post. I missed the "kill paper". If he's going to do a large amount of target shooting, then yes get a .308. For strickly hunting, I'd stick with the 7mm Mag.
 
++Slightly off Topic++

When I was 23yrs old I bought a .460 Weatherby to plink and punch paper. The first time I shot it, the front sling swivel came back and ripped open the palm of my left hand, the bolt handle came back and ripped the skin off my right index finger knuckle and the trigger guard came back and crunched my trigger finger & the scope almost ringed my eye. Oh yes, my shoulder had a nice blood blister. I invested in a sorbathane recoil pad and learned that if I pulled forward on the forend while pulling the grip toward me, the recoil would not mess up my hands. At the bench a 25# bag of lead shot was placed between my shoulder and the butt of the rifle. After a while I learned to "take the recoil" and it didn't bother me..

I then bought a Winchester Ranger .300 WinMag and it had a very fast-slap-type of stinging recoil. The gun had a thin hard rubber pad and only weighed 7 pounds or so, but the recoil was somewhat brutal and let me know that the bullet was "doing it's job"..

The 7mm has 30% less recoil than a .300 WinMag.

Recoil is very subjective, some people hate it, while others actually enjoy it.

Personally, I can't take more than 20 shots of .300 Magnum before throwing in the towel.. a newbie with 7mm? Who know's..

He can always sell it if he doesn't like it..
 
7mm Mag is not a beginner's gun.

I wouldn't say anything over .308 is really a beginner's gun... .30-06 is even brutal to someone who isn't strong, experienced, or who doesn't have the wherewithall to control the rifle.

Added to that, 7mm Mag cartridges are expensive... so you get two strikes against him practicing with it a lot.

.308 is good for any NA game short of moose and grizzly. Elk can be taken with a good heart or head shot. It's cheap. It's easy to shoot. It's widely available. So, he'll be able to do a lot of whatever shooting he wants to do.

Definitely don't let him get himself into .300 Win Mag territory.
 
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