7mm Rem Mag Bullet Recommendation for Weatherby Vanguard 26" 1-9 1/2 twist

[WVmike]

Thanks for the input from everyone. I will be picking up reloading equipment and bullets over the next couple of months. I would go ahead and start but primers are hard to find now so I'll wait and see when things start to slow down so that way I can reload fairly often.

 

[Bambistew]

I killed a bunch of animals with 160gr Sierra Game Kings, probably a dozen elk, and 2x as many deer. I swithced to Accubonds when they first came out (early 2000s ish), and have had just as good of luck with them. Not sure if performance is any better or worse, and they shoot almost identical, and everything I shoot with them dies. Recovered Accubonds are similar in weight retention as the Sierras.

I haven't played around with any of the newer powders for reloading in a long time in the 7mm, but had great luck with RL22 and IMR4831. It might not be the fastest out there today, but they shoot tinny little holes and stuff dies on the other end. Every. Time.

 

[6mm Remington]

160 gr. Accubond or Partition
140 gr. E-tip

 

[CB1]

@6mm Remington Why pick the 140 e-tip over the 150 for the 7mag? Especially with quite a few recommendations for 160g bullets. Is this due to personal preference or is there a performance difference?

 

[6mm Remington]

@6mm Remington Why pick the 140 e-tip over the 150 for the 7mag? Especially with quite a few recommendations for 160g bullets. Is this due to personal preference or is there a performance difference?

For me I would go with the 140 over the 150 in the E-tip just for the fact that you can push it faster. From my testing shooting them into water jugs from 25-500 yards and seeing what kind of penetration, weight retention, and expansion you get, and from listening to other folks, the mono's really need some speed to help assist in expansion. And with the mono they retain almost 100% of their weight so they "act bigger than they are". Case in point my son uses 90gr. E-tips in one of his 6mm Remington's. He shot his first elk which was a big old cow at 350 yards. One shot tight behind the right shoulder, the bullet angled slightly forward and "exited" the left shoulder right in the center. She staggered maybe 20 yards and dropped. Pretty impressive performance. They expand and penetrate nicely. What I saw in the water jugs showed that even out at the father distances they were expanding nicely, but speed does help especially on the farther shots. The 150 would work just as well. If you went with the E-tip I would choose the one my rifle shot the best wether it is the 140 or 150 gr. weight. Hope that helps.

If you notice I also like the 160 gr. in the 7mm. That's the only weight and bullet my father ever shot in his was a 160 gr. Partition. That and the 160 gr. Accubond would both be excellent bullets also. They loose a little weight and after all is said and done they might be about the same weight as the recovered 140 gr. E-tip.

 

[Jbotto]

Thanks for the input from everyone. I will be picking up reloading equipment and bullets over the next couple of months. I would go ahead and start but primers are hard to find now so I'll wait and see when things start to slow down so that way I can reload fairly often.

Gives you plenty of time to start working brass and prepping cases. Don’t need primers to clean, resize, or trim cases! You’ll be able to take your time in starting and not just rush to the fun and exciting stuff.

To answer original question, I don’t load for the 7mm Rem Mag but we got my brother and his .280AI set up and it shoots 150gr TTSX very well. When he started with this rifle he didn’t want to mess around with a bunch of different loads for different game. He was between the 140 and 150 TTSX and just tried the 150gr first. He’s been happy with the results in deer so far. No elk yet.

 

[Big Slick]

168 grain Berger’s

 

[338reddog]

I load 140gr Barnes TTSX, Retumbo powder, Federal magnum primer. In my (wifes) 7mag It shoots Tiny groups at 200 yards. Wife killed her first Muley last year at 642 yards(one shot) I did not tell her how far and figured she would miss by a mile. We had no wind and I dialed the scope. I asked her if she really wanted to shoot that far, “ how far is it?” Me “really far” bang.....flop

 

[GunTruck]

160gr Trophy Bonded Tipped for the largest game where you need really deep penetration, other wise

160ge Accubond. I,m using H1000, this week, Have had good results with Retumbo, MRP, and RL26.

 

[Brian in Montana]

9.5 isn't a super-tight twist in a 7mm cal. I'm not an expert, but I'd anticipate 160gn might be about as heavy as it would stabilize very well.

 

[GunTruck]

I have found the 160gr bullets to be the most accurate of the bunch, And that is all I shoot any more.

Years ago I shot some 175gr Nosler Partitions and they shot well. The bullets I have had trouble with were those Nosler LR bullets not

being accurate. In 2018 I killed a moose in Canada with a 160gr Trophy Bonded Tipped, Complete pass thru after double lunged .at

240 Yards. The other shooter had 160 gr partitions and they were recovered under the hide. I have had very good luck with 160gr

Accubonds on Elk, In fact that is my favorite bullet for elk. For deer and Antelope I would use 140gr Accubonds.

 

[Smokeybarrel]

So far I have found that my older Model70 that I had re-barreled with a 26 inch Lilja, shoots 160 accubonds and 150TTSX quite well.

This is music to my ears. I've got a older Model70 in a Hogue stock, standard 24" barrel and I'm ready to re-barrel and work some loads.

 

[std7mag]

9.5 isn't a super-tight twist in a 7mm cal. I'm not an expert, but I'd anticipate 160gn might be about as heavy as it would stabilize very well.

People are shooting the 184gr Bergers with the 1:9.5 twist.

In very general terms, most factory 7mms come in 1:10, or 1:9.5 twist.
But even the 1:10 twist will stabilize the 160gr lead core bullets.

I've been thinking hard about switching over to the 175gr ABLR in my Rem Mag, for the added BC.

One reason aside from the velocity increase to go lighter with mono bullets is the length for given weight.
A 150gr mono is quite a bit longer than a 150gr lead core bullet, and may have stability issues for the twist rate in your barrel.

 

[RiverRatt]

I was able to find Hornady 154 InterBond locally and bought what they had, 400. I was able to find a load running 3050fps out of my Tikka and shoots pretty good too 600 yards. Hoping to test them on elk next year.

 

[44hunter45]

I'd ponder these....

.284 Cal-140gr Absolute Hammer™ - Hammer Bullets

We tested this 140gr Absolute Hammer™ in my personal 280ai with a 22" barrel. My previous load was with the 143gr Hammer Hunter™ at a velocity of 3126 fps. The 140gr Absolute Hammer™ load settled in at 3387 fps. This is exceptional from a short barreled rifle. Absolute Hammer™s do not line...

hammerbullets.com

My M70 is a 9 1/2. Steve had me go with the 130 gr HH. Cloverleafs.

To the OP - My 9 1/2 twist 26" handles 150 grain Ok but shines with 175 grain bullets.

 

[Fireman13]

I will be diving into the world of reloading here in the next couple of months and I was looking into what bullets to start reloading my 7mm Rem Mag Weatherby Vanguard that has a 26 inch barrel with a 1-9 1/2 twist rate. I was looking into the Nosler Accubond 150 gr initially but I'm still looking for other choices as well. I know what one rifle may like the other may not but if anyone else has a 7 mag with a 1-9 1/2 twist, what does it seem to like or perform the best with?

I use Barnes in my 7mm-08s and love them. I have not yet found a load that will group better than .75MOA, but did get some good results. I finally found the 160 Sierra Game Kings with a moderate charge of 7828 that gave me .56MOA groups. This was out of a very similar Weatherby Vanguard as you have. I am now retired and starting to work up loads with the 160 Barnes TTSX, but powders are super diffecult to find and the temps here in MN are not conducive testing from my bench. I will post as soon as I get some good data.