Precision rifle in 7mm Rem Mag?

B

Bartholomew Roberts

Moderator
I have an old KDF reworked by a gunsmith out of Seguin. It is good for about three shots before it starts to walk from barrel heat. It is also difficult to find parts for and recoils pops the detachable mag loose after every shot. The brake makes it easy to shoot but damn near intolerable for others. Very pretty though...

Short of dropping $5,000 on a Surgeon action or MRAD, I'd like to have a bolt-action rifle in 7mm Rem Mag that can match this one for accuracy, not be so heavy you can't hunt with it (9-15lbs range with suppressor), but be able to hold point of impact for more than three rounds.
 
Just about any commercially available bolt action rifle with a heavy tapered barrel meets the description you just presented. A Remington 700 Sendero would be the short and easy way to achieve what you are looking for. A Surgeon rifle? Nice! But dropping $6K on a rifle that shoots sub-MOA may not be necessary when you can buy what you want for 1/4 of that. Your weight parameters do not seem out of line, a Remington 700 Sendero is about 10 lbs, not counting a suppressor, so it can be done.
 
I just bought a Sako 85 Finn Bear in 7mmRM from Euro Optic and it is lights out with a load I developed for my Ruger No.1. Haven't even really played with a load tailored to it yet. They make the A7 Roughtech in a long range model as well.
 
+2 for Savage.
I have an older model 111 in 7mm Rem Mag. Bedded the stoch. Put an EGW solid base on. Vortex Viper rings and a Vortex Crossfire II 4-12X42 scope.
Green Blod bipod with 3" extensions.
 
"Eh...I just don't have much faith in Remington these days."

OK but Remington has been making 700's in 7mm RM for almost 50 years. Most haven't been shot all that much and the ones from the 70's to early 80's are usually very accurate. My 700 Classic is as accurate as most shooters can manage. You can probably find one of the older Sendero models. I think they had a 26" heavier contour barrel. Otherwise just re-barrel any of the 7mm or 300 magnum actions with the profile that suits you.
 
Im scrounging parts as we speak to build a nice long range 7mm rem mag, Im choosing 7mm rem mag over the new 7mm super blasters to save money for components, and I have several pieces of oncefired brass already.
I traded for a rem 700 7mm mag rifle in the factory synthetic stock configuration.
1. Blueprint action
2. New barrel with an 1:8.5 twist, 26to 28 inches long
3.Timney trigger
4. Manners EH5 stock
5. Firing pin bushed bolt
6. 20 moa rail
7. Havent decided on rings yet
8. Vortex Viper HS 6-24
By the time its finished there will be what I call too much money spent, but somewhere under 2500. And it will be used for 1000 yd target shooting.
Im thinking it will be too heavy to hunt with.
But I have a safe full of cool hunting rifles.
 
And Frankly you would be better off in one of the new but equal offerings.

7mm had a hell of a lot of kick for what you get.

Its a barrel burner.

Lucky to get the 3 good shots (but if that's all you are after the above will do)

You can build a heavier barrel on a Savage easily, under $800.

A lot of pre fit barrels for Savage from a lot of barrel makers in all sorts of profiles. Shilen would be my cfirst hoice, CBI maybe, lot of good reports but don't have one of those.
 
The 7mm Rem Mag is a hunting cartridge that isn't required for any game in North America. A target cartridge it ain't due to the excessive recoil. 21.7 ft-lbs. of recoil with a 175 grain bullet at 2870 FPS out of a 9 pound rifle.
"...starts to walk from barrel heat..." Stock doesn't fit right. Barrel channel is too close to the barrel.
"...15lbs range with suppressor..." A suppressor isn't going to work with supersonic ammo. And 15 pounds is really heavy for a hunting rifle. It'll feel like 50 by the end of a days hunt.
 
My understanding on the problem of walking on barrel heat is not the heat but a barrel that was not stress relieved. Seem's I also read that all barrle's havw been stress relieved for a lot of years nor. I had a rifle, 308, back in the late 1060's that walked bullet's after to first two or three all over. Checked with a gunsmith back then and he told me it was likely not stress relieved. What I would think today if a barrel started walking bullets when hot is a bedding problem. When I bed my rifle barrels I make sure there is plenty of room in the stock around the barrel. The old idea a slide a dollar bill up it without touching I gave up on years ago. Today I fold a dollar length wise three time's and use it.
 
The 7mmRM is probably one of the finest all around cartridges we have. If a shooter can't handle the recoil, that has little to do with the cartridge and more to do with the rifle and a persons sensitivity that any particular cartridge IMO.

People say the same thing about the 300 magnum and yet people continue to hunt with them with great success. As far as getting one of the "new" 7mm's instead of the classic, what do they offer that the 7mmRM doesn't already deliver?

There is a reason the "other" 7mm's are dying off. 7mm WSM? 7mm Weatherby? 280 AI? 7 SAUM? 7mm RUM? Did I miss some?

They all fall to the 7mmRM. The 280AI is the only one that is even a contender and that is very limited in ammo and gun availability and doesn't even match the 7mmRM.

Whether or not a 7mmRM is NEEDED is for the shooter to decide, but don't dismiss it simply because it's not the flavor of the week.

As far as being a barrel burner, you'll never know it in a hunting rifle. If you plan to shoot long strings of fire and get the barrel smoking hot then sure, you'll burn it up eventually but so will many other calibers too.

Sorry if that's ranty, I've shot the 7mmRM since I was 11 years old and never even knew it had a lot of recoil till somebody told me.
 
The 7mm Rem Mag is a hunting cartridge that isn't required for any game in North America. A target cartridge it ain't due to the excessive recoil. 21.7 ft-lbs. of recoil with a 175 grain bullet at 2870 FPS out of a 9 pound rifle.
Click to expand...

I don't have any trouble with 7mm RM recoil or accuracy from it and I like the caliber.

"...15lbs range with suppressor..." A suppressor isn't going to work with supersonic ammo. And 15 pounds is really heavy for a hunting rifle. It'll feel like 50 by the end of a days hunt.
Click to expand...

I have two centerfire rifle suppressors (.223 and .300 Win Mag). I bought the first rifle suppressor twelve years ago and have used them both a bit. Although a suppressor cannot have any effect on the supersonic wave that accompanies the bullet, it does still suppress the noise from the expanding muzzle gases and can bring many rifles below the 130db threshhold. In addition, you get most of the benefits of a muzzle brake without the giant blast.

Besides being accustomed to carrying a 12lb rifle already, I already have the KDF if weight is going to be an issue in use.
 
These days I like to target shoot, a days shooting and recoil is an issue, even in 308 (0r can be, I have good butt pads)

I shot the 7mm before I sold it, wow, I had forgotten how powerful it was.

Hunting not an issue, but I sure would not want to target shoot without a lot of padding.

7mm was fine, I would have done as well and at leas tin one case better with a 30-06 (that had to do with me, the distance shot and over compensating)

My brother has his for 30 some years. One day it just quit shooting. Between the practice and the hunting, yep, it took the barrel out.

So if you practice a lot, it can and will do that.
 
Besides being accustomed to carrying a 12lb rifle already, I already have the KDF if weight is going to be an issue in use.
Click to expand...

Then getting a bull barrel on a Savage would be a great choice!
 
I've never come across anyone more consistently wrong.

due to the excessive recoil. 21.7 ft-lbs. of recoil with a 175 grain bullet at 2870 FPS out of a 9 pound rifle.
Click to expand...

21.7 ft lbs is excessive!!! My 308's have that much recoil, of course they are in the 5-6 lb range, but recoil is recoil. I chose to carry a lighter rifle and don't find recoil in the 20 ft lb range to be excessive at all.

A 7 mag shoots the same bullet weights to the same speeds as 30-06 and with almost identical recoil. But in the same bullet weights 7mm bullets have much better BC's. While they start at the same speeds, the 7mm bullets are moving considerably faster beyond 100 yards.

The primary advantage of 7 mags is that you get similar trajectories to the 300 magnums, but with 30-06 recoil. Almost anyone can handle recoil in the low 20's. Once you get to the 300 and 338 magnums recoil is in the 30-40 ft lb range, then you find people who have problems dealing with it.

The 7mm Rem Mag is a hunting cartridge that isn't required for any game in North America.
Click to expand...

The 7mag is appropriate for any game 30-06 or 270 is appropriate for. It certainly isn't excessive for deer size game with 120-140 gr bullets and will work on the largest North American game with 160-175 gr bullets. For the guy wanting to reach out past 500 yards for game larger than deer in a hunting rifle with the least recoil it is a great choice.

That said, it wouldn't be MY PERSONAL choice. I don't have the skills to shoot that far and I prefer to stay with more mundane cartridges like 308 and 6.5 Creedmoor. But that doesn't change the fact that 7 mag is a useful cartridge.
 
I have a"Calving season overwatch" coyote rifle in 7mm Rem Mag.
Its a Win M-70 Classic Laredo.It wears a 30mm tube Leupold 4.5-14 Long Range
Its a similar pkg to a Sendero,but a M-70. It came with an aluminum bedding block H-S precision stock.

I was planning on building asimilar rifle,these went on closeout deal in Shotgun News or Gunlist for IIRC $599 or maybe $699. So I bought one.
Getting real on the accuracy,its not a bughole barrel.Its a production barrel.
With handloads it shoots around 5/8 to 3/4 MOA.
Its not a benchrest competition gun.
But it shoots better than I can hold in the field.
I have never hunted big game with it. For myself,its a long range fun and varmint rifle.
Given the rifles weight,I have never found the recoil punishing. Its mild.I'll agree,in a light hunting rifle,a 7mm Rem is snappy. Tolerable to sight in on a bench,but fatigue sets in
I think I've seen more "Scope eyes" off a 7mm Rem Mag over the years than anything else.Itsa popular cartridge .

While there may be better combinations,H-1000 and RE-22 were my best powders with a 162gr Hornady SST. Pretty good BC

For a while,Win sold another version called a"Sharpshooter" McMillan stock,I think,and a Schneider bbl. Those were more like $1500..if you could find one
 
Last edited:
I'd like to have a bolt-action rifle in 7mm Rem Mag that can match this one for accuracy,
Click to expand...

You'll need to quantify this for any sort of meaningful recommendation.
One minute plus could (but no guarantee) be a factory rifle recommendation.
One-quarter minute definitely would not be.

Everyone has their own definition of what "accurate enough for me", is...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top