Off-season project - 7mm Rem Mag

[perma]

You did not read your reloading manual!!
Otherwise you'd have seen that heavier bullets use less powder!

And 168gr are not "heavy".
The 195gr Berger and 197gr Sierra are heavy!! Lol

Then there is which 168gr Berger?
VLD?
Classic Hunter?

The Classic Hunter is very forgiving with jump.

The VLD is not. I found the VLD likes it right up on the lands with all my rifles.

Hold on there pilgrim, uncock the gun and let me explain myself.

I did read the book. I decided to start hotter purposely from 62.5g (starting charge) to 64g of H1000. Why, I couldn’t tell you. Probably cuz I was curious. I did not load the max charge of 69.5g because I felt like that wasn’t going to be the right charge. I stopped at 67g, and rightfully so.



Got me on a typo with heavy. So yes, while not heavy, it’s a heavier bullet than what I’ve been using for the 7 mag. I should have said heavier.

This particular box was VLDs. I haven’t found the lands on the 7 mag yet. I bought them because I couldn’t find Barnes unless I went to a store. When I did find them, I found the bergers as well. I’ve said in the past that I like heavier bullets and these seemed to fit the bill, so now at least I can load a lot of reliable Barnes and have a load to hunt with this spring while I play around with some Bergers.

 

[RevJim]

You can get Nosler 160 Ballistic Tips very reasonable over on Gunbroker pard. They are the Hunting type and have a heavier jacket/solid base. Years ago, I almost pulled what's left og my hair out with those VLDs! It was in a .280, and I gave up on them. I "hear" those Classics are good hunting bullets. One case "I know they are"; My SIL used the HSM factory load with the 168 Berger Classic in his 7mm Mag a few years ago. He shot a 5pt bull around 250yds with pass through heart/lung. quarter inch exit. Maybe buy a box and just "see" if they work in your rifle? Worse case, you end up with 20 new fired cases that fit your chamber!

 

[std7mag]

Ditch the Barnes!
Hunt with the Bergers!

If you insist on using monos, go with Hammers or Cutting Edge!!

 

[perma]

We’re taking a small break from the 7 mag and going back to Roy.

Went to the range today to see how the mag length loads did, and tried a load of Bergers. Nothing I did shot well. Which makes me think. I can get sub MOA on SAAMI specs and a compressed load. Any time that my load is NOT compressed, the shots are all over the place. Kind of an odd observation, and I’m not sure if I’m overthinking it. I may clean the gun and reload a few more mag length again.

 

[RevJim]

Many rounds seem to perform better with some compression. But I too have had rifles that just did not shoot well at peak pressure. I have also just traded or sold one that aggravated me one too many times, ha. Hope all the best for you young man!

 

[perma]

Well after some caveman math, I figured out how fast the 7 mag shoots. Not what I wanted out of the bullet but it’s comfortable to take out an elk at 400 yards. I was able to hit an 8” gong at 300 yards pretty consistently today after figuring out what was going wrong. Basically, I just need to lap the rings and bed the scope. The rifle and the loads are pretty much done. Any other load I make up at this point is for fun or to stretch to 500 yards. I’ll close out this thread with some showroom pictures once it’s finished.

 

[std7mag]

We’re taking a small break from the 7 mag and going back to Roy.

Went to the range today to see how the mag length loads did, and tried a load of Bergers. Nothing I did shot well. Which makes me think. I can get sub MOA on SAAMI specs and a compressed load. Any time that my load is NOT compressed, the shots are all over the place. Kind of an odd observation, and I’m not sure if I’m overthinking it. I may clean the gun and reload a few more mag length again.

Weatherby Magnum chambers have looooong throats!!
Loading to magazine length is giving you a long jump.
Berger VLDs typically don't like a long jump!
Berger VLDs typically like being at to 0.005 off the lands.
Hence why i haven't even tried them in my 7mm WBY, or 257 WBY.
If you can find their Classic Hunter or EOL bullets, you'd do ok.

 

[Whitetail_kid]

We’re taking a small break from the 7 mag and going back to Roy.

Went to the range today to see how the mag length loads did, and tried a load of Bergers. Nothing I did shot well. Which makes me think. I can get sub MOA on SAAMI specs and a compressed load. Any time that my load is NOT compressed, the shots are all over the place. Kind of an odd observation, and I’m not sure if I’m overthinking it. I may clean the gun and reload a few more mag length again.

I would work up to max book charge. The 7mm rem mag’s I’ve seen and loaded for have always shot well close to max powder charge, and with a jump of 10-20 thousandths off lands with the 168 VLD’s. Retumbo has been what I’ve had good luck with.

 

[perma]

All done.