7mm Rem Mag OAL

W

wjarrell

New member
I'm getting ready to start load development for my Remington 700 ADL in 7mm Rem Mag with a 26" barrel. I'm waiting on Norma brass to ship. I will be loading with Norma brass, CCI-250, Retumbo, and 168 grain VLD's. My plan is to load all at the same bullet depth and start at 69 grains of Retumbo and work up to 71.5 in .5 grain increments and then go from there.

Now here is my dilemma, when I first got the gun I bought a box of HSM 168 vld's to use for barrel break in. They consistently shot just under 1 inch at 100 yards for 3 shots, 2 bullets touching and then the third thrown. I should have measured the OAL of the HSM ammo but I didn't. Does anyone have a guess what they measure out to? I would guess that they are over 3.290 or whatever saami minimum is.

What depth would be a good starting point for me? I'm not sure how to measure my chamber length but I can try and figure it out.
 
Won't help unless you know the HSM VLD's are the exact same bullet you are getting. If they are, just call HSM, and I expect they'll tell you. If they aren't, the ogive radii and length may not match, and that often changes which seating depth is best.

I suggest reading Berger's missive of making VLD's shoot. You may find you can do better than you were with the HSM's.
 
Max OAL in my BDL is 3.286 and my most accurate load I shoot is at 3.281. Yours will be different based on your rifle, just gotta play around with it. You could just buy another box of HSM also.
 
I have spent time shooting long range (4) 7mmRemMag rifles:
2005-2010 Ruger #1
2011 VZ24 I built with Lothar Walther barrel
2013 Rem 700 I built with Shilen barrel
2014 Browning 1885

And I spent time shooting at 100 yards (2) 7mmRemMag rifles:
2010 1908 Brazilian Mauser I built with Win70 barrel
2010 1908 Brazilian Mauser I build with Rem700 barrel.

I always assumed that the SAAMI registered max over all length would be 3.34" and loaded the ammo that way.
My 7mmRemMag reamers are SAAMI reamers.

Last year after 10 years of this, I noticed the actual SAAMI max oal".

I'm shocked, shocked to find that 3.290" is going on in here!
 
I went to Sportsmans Warehouse today and measured some HSM bullets with my digital caliper. They measured right around 3.335. I also noticed in this particular batch that they now use Federal brass instead of Norma, and a silver primer instead of a brass colored primer.
 
3.335" is needed to fit a lot of the pre-64 magazines. 3.350" would be a much better starting point, if your magazine will fit that length. It turned my Winchester into a single shot but 3.35 works in my Savage 110.

Also be aware there are two different part numbers for the 168 VLD by Berger...28501 and something else. I use 28501 which is why I have that number memorized.

Also, Bergers are very consistent at the ogive but the bullet length varies +/- 0.005" in my experience. Even with that variance they still shoot occasional 0.375" groups and consistent 0.5" groups in BOTH my 7mm RM rifles
 
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