7mm rum purchase

C

Ccctennis

New member
While I am on vacation I stopped into my Inlaws local gun store. I found a used remington 700 Rocky Mountain foundation 7mm ultra mag with scope.

The used rifle has a price tag of $799.00. Wanted to get any opinions on this model gun. Who uses this caliber and who reloads for it? I'm a sucker for a decent deal. Especially on any guns that will be hard to find later. Thanks.
 
What brand and model is the scope? Is the rifle a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation rifle? A brief internet search suggests that price may be OK.
 
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Rifle

I haven't purchased yet. I do believe it is the elk foundation rifle. Scope is basic bushnell 3-9x40. I looked at gun broker and there were only 2 comparable. Price seems decent. Just wasn't sure about recoil, cost to reload, barrel burnout. Ect.
 
Recoil and the cost of powder to reload will exceed that of a .300 Win Mag simply because of the larger case capacity.
 
I own and reload for a couple of magnum rifles, 300&340WBY. I can say that reloading will make this chambering more affordable to shoot.

This is a hunting rifle, not a target rifle. As a hunting tool it will last you a lifetime. As a target rifle it likely will be eroded significantly after 1000 rds.

It being as overbore a cartridge as you are likely to find commercially, it is going to recoil vigorously. It is also going to be as flat shooting a rifle as you can buy and should have a point blank range of nearly 400 yrds.

The only outright drawback I have have is less than satisfactory experience with Remington brand bag brass, that I tried on a 300WBY and found it inferior to WBY(Norma)brass. If you don't go overboard the brass will last longer, but if you try to load it hotter than the WBY, which you can do once, your brass may not last for one or two reloads.

Aboslutely sufficient for ELK, or Moose or anything you will find to shoot on this continent.
 
If you're not a good enough shot to utilize the extra range, you're wasting money. Expensive, limited availability factory ammo plus higher cost of even reloads puts this cartridge in the niche market. This might be why it's priced slightly off the market. Probably a better choice to buy a 7mm Rem mag. At least you can find ammo most anywhere you land.
 
The 7mm RUM is a complete and total waste of money, time, and your shoulder for hunting anything I can think of. I know alot of people use it for elk, but people also make clean kills on elk with a .243 at 500+ yards with a well placed shot. For elk hunting, a .270 is plenty. Not sure what you're planning on doing with the rifle but I can about guarantee you don't need a 7mm RUM. Now on the other hand if you just WANT one, go for it.

Ok now that my 7 RUM rant is out of the way, another thing I would be wary of is why the original owner of the rifle sold it. What's the round count, was it properly cleaned? These are two big questions to consider when buying a rifle that is chambered for such an over-bore cartridge. And if you think you can tell if the throat is eroded out just by shining a light down the barrel, think again. Most of the time a bore scope is the only way to really tell. As the old saying goes, you could be buying a "pig in a poke"
 
A friend of mine traded into a 7mm. RUM. He had a terrible time reloading for it. He spoke to one of the major bullet makers and was told that they had a lot of problems with pressure spikes when trying to develop loads for it. The barrel life is around 500-600 rounds before throat erosion becomes an issue. That is not just a guess. It was checked by a gunsmith with a bore scope. I personally would avoid that caliber.
 
The 7mm RUM is a great cartridge, if your shooting across a large open field, or into the next county. If your like me and hunting in the woods, or smaller fields there isn't much use for it. Friends of mine have them, and love them. More capacity than the 7mm Rem Mag, so you will use more powder. Preferably a slow burning powder like Reloader 22, 25, or H1000.

As for shooting an Elk at 500+ yards with a .243. Yeah it's been done. Do I condone going after Elk with a .243. No...
Like hunting dangerous game with a .22. It can be done, but doing so isn't the smart choice.

"There is only one degree of dead, there are infinite degrees of wounded"
 
Diameter no... Weight, and kinetic energy, yessss...

And in hunting there isn't always the "perfect shot placement opportunity"...


CCCtenis,

Not to jack your thread... Bottom line, if you like the rifle, and have the funds for it, by all means, pull the trigger and buy it!!! ;)
 
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The 2.5" Magnums(264, 7mm, 300) are over bore, so it's worse with the Jeffrey case. Lots of powder for a little velocity. If you're not loading for another rifle, this is not the one to start with.
 
Thanks

I appreciate everyone's advice. I decided to pass on it for a few of the reasons listed. I do love to shoot a lot and I want to develop loads and target shoot hundreds if not thousands of rounds in all of my rifles. I do want to stretch out this summer and shoot 500-800 yards. I'm pretty tough and strong but after shooting my 30-06 100 times in a weekend I am a bit sore. I love to reload but 7mm rum wouldn't be very cost effective. Perhaps a 308 would be more suited to my needs. I will do a bison hunt next year but I can use my 30-06 for that.
 
Heh...having shot the 7mm RUM on a couple of occasions, my 30-06 carbine feels like nothing in comparison. :)

The RUM recoil is punishing.
 
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