7mm Rem. Mag loads

[FALFire]

Okay guys, looking for a bit of advice here.

I've never had much of a desire to have a 7mm Remington Mag but decided this year I would screw the 7mm barrel back onto my Stevens 200 LA just to see how it would do at 600 plus yards. It's not a heavy barreled rifle, just the sporter barrel that came with the gun when I purchased it a few years ago.

It's a standard 9.5 twist and I have a ton of brass for the thing so now I want to start doing some load development..

What do you 7mm MAG guys suggest for POWDER..... BULLET combos for long range hunting?

 I've been thinking of the Berger 168gr and 180gr Hunting/VLD hybrid any advice??

[MHWASH]

Mornin Gary,

 I've just decided to get out of the 7mag game. Just too much of a wimp I guess. The only load I worked that looked to have real long range potential used Ramshot Magnum and the Nosler 160 AB. My chrony gave me repeat readings of 3065 FPS.

[FALFire]

Morning Matt,

How the heck ya been?

I'm not sure how long the 7mm barrel will be on the action but I figured I should give it a try before I get too old!! 

[MHWASH]

Been real busy but great. Spent the last two days chasing muzzy deer with my 6yo.

[Jamieb]

I havent used any bergers in my 7 mag so I cant coment on those. My hunting load is 160gr accubonds and IMR-7828.
My long range plinking load is 162gr A-max's over RE-22. Just a guess but I bet your twist is a little slow for the berger 180's

[huntnphool]

That 168 VLD is a nice round for long range with a 7mm.

[jamesjett]

I shot Nosler for many years out of my WIN M70 7MM.  I have found a new favorite.
Barnes 150gr TTSX with 60.5 grains of IMR4831.  Start at min load and work up.  I have
had good loads with RL22 also.  I was shooting .5 at 100 yards with RL22.  The Barnes
book showed their best accuracy loads with IMR4831.  I bought a lb of that and I have
shot .3 and .4 groups several times now.  The 4831 seems to burn a little cleaner also.

[6x6in6]

Both my 7 mags do really well with IMR 4350.  Neither are picky with any Nosler bullet either but I have always done 175 Partitions for my hunting loads.

[FALFire]

Thanks all for the info very much appreciated. So today, I scrounge around in my boolit stash and I find some Hornady 162 SST's, cleaned up some once fired Fed brass and dropped in 62 grains of RL22 with a Winchester primer. First three rounds after a base line on paper was inside one inch at 150 yards, so tomorrow I'll load up a few more and increase the charge by .5 grains to check for obvious pressure signs and go from there. I also found some Hornady 139 grain BTSP I want to try.

Keep coming with your favorite load data, I'm a newbeee to the 7 Mag.

Now I get to go to the dentist to have all my fillings replaced   

[huntnphool]

I didnt realize you were loading your own. You should be able to ladder test with someloads and get it dialed in.

[FALFire]

I didnt realize you were loading your own. You should be able to ladder test with someloads and get it dialed in.

Yeah.... When I get some free time I'll do the ladder test to see what works best. Right now I only have a few of each of the bullets to try and I'm down to enough RL22 to load up maybe 6 to 10 more rounds. Today I basically tried to get it on paper so I have somewhere to start.

[jamesjett]

I would also try to play with your seating depths.  I like to load up 4 rounds at say .020 off the lands,
then 4 at .030, .040, and .050.  This can make the difference in getting under .5 groups. 

[snowshoes22]

Hornady 162's and 61.1gr of IMR 4831 works for me. RL 22 works well also.

[JohnVH]

Barnes 140gr TTSX over Reloader 22, dont remember offhand how many grains (might be 70? Id have to check if your interested), but they are pushing 3400 fps

[TheHunt]

Nosler 150 grain Ballistic tip Boat tail and IMR 4831 powder.  I like the 4831 because it burns consistently at a wider temperature range then most powders.  Those Noslers really fly accurately from my 7MM Mag.  But I think each rifle likes different combo's so you will need to find what recipe works for your specific rifle.

Just my opinion and my experiences.

[FALFire]

Thanks guys, I'll look into the Ballistic Tips and IMR 4831 and give 'em a try.

[archery288]

I use 69gr. of Hodgdon H1000 in my 7mm WSM with a 160gr Nosler Accubond.  Thing shoots lights out!  My dad has a regular 7mm rem mag and uses the same powder and bullet and his shoots lights out too!  The H1000 powder is a slower burning powder which reduces pressure in the case and it provides higher velocity's on magnums.  With careful attention to detail and pressure of your exisiting loads, you can increase your powder charges and get even more speed if you want it.

I would HIGHLY recommend checking in to H1000 powder.  It's extremely accurate powder and consistent with it's burn and velocity variances.  Most powders including IMR4350 and IMR4831 have up too, and in excess of a 50 fps variance between loads and temperatures.  The H1000 powder is less than 20 fps variance therefore producing more consistent grouping and loads.  Just some food for thought there.

Oh, and as Phool mentioned, the Berger VLD 168gr bullets are great for long range shooting and have an excellent ballistic coefficient.  One thing with that bullet, it's extremely finicky and may take some playing around with seating depths to get it shoot good in your gun.  Most of the time with that bullet it needs to be touching, or almost touching the lands and grooves to shoot good groups.  However, if you're shooting a gun with a clip, I can almost guarantee that with the bullet depth longer it won't fit in your clip. Good luck!