Reloading 7mm mag-few questions.

[Piscatory_5]

Just shot a 7rm Browning hells canyon speed xbolt today with 160 and 162g Handloads using rl22. 26 inch barrel and 61-65g of powder for 3100fps with the top load of 65g. 16 rounds in 1.25" group. First time rifle was shot.

[birddogdad]

From your OP I think you are making a mistake that most have including me. Why set the goal of fps? Accuracy kills, not speed. Get you load accurate then tweek out fps. I use rl26 and avg 3100 but that is with a Travis tack driver. Also, thats shooting a 180 gr berger.

  and I'm right there with 168 bergers and h1000.... in my 7mag... find the guns sweet spot for accuracy not goal of speed~ recommend OP goes back to research on what they are doing here.....

[C-Money]

Though I have never used it...I load a 160 Accubond with if memory serves me right...61gr IMR 4831 @ 2800...Accurate load. I have never hunted with that particular load. Worked it up for a spare rifle. Killed a muley doe a long times ago with Federal classic ammo using that rifle.

[JeffRaines]

I'm not a velocity guy either, but my take is this - if I buy a magnum, I want magnum velocities. Its pointless to buy a rifle chambered in something thats capable of 3000-3100fps, and shoot it at 2800.

You can almost wring that out of a 7mm-08 while burning less powder.

You can get close to 3k out of a -06 with the right load/barrel. You can shoot 180s out of an 06 at 2750-2800. All with less powder.

I get that accuracy trumps, but at the end of the day I want what I paid for. If I buy a 7mag, I want 7mag velocities. If I wanted less, I'd buy a 280 or 7mm-08.

[h20hunter]

Very true.

[C-Money]

Very true Jeff. This is why I dont hunt with the 7mm rem mag. I CAN get very similar results with a .270 win, 7mm-08 with less recoil. Getting a 160gr bullet over 3000fps out of a 7mm rem mag is really maxing out the cartridge.  May need to bump up the the 7mm Rem Ultra mag to get those velocities consistently with more powder choices.

[BULLBLASTER]

Very true Jeff. This is why I dont hunt with the 7mm rem mag. I CAN get very similar results with a .270 win, 7mm-08 with less recoil. Getting a 160gr bullet over 3000fps out of a 7mm rem mag is really maxing out the cartridge.  May need to bump up the the 7mm Rem Ultra mag to get those velocities consistently with more powder choices.

It really isn’t that difficult to get 3000 with 160 class bullets. My factory win 70 is shooting 162 Eld x at 3070 with retumbo

[BigGoonTuna]

Very true Jeff. This is why I dont hunt with the 7mm rem mag. I CAN get very similar results with a .270 win, 7mm-08 with less recoil. Getting a 160gr bullet over 3000fps out of a 7mm rem mag is really maxing out the cartridge.  May need to bump up the the 7mm Rem Ultra mag to get those velocities consistently with more powder choices.

sounds a lot like my frustration with my old .264 mag.  mine was almost impossible to get any kind of respectable velocity out of...with a 24" barrel, it would barely do 6.5 creedmoor velocities(think 2700FPS with 140s) with book data.  it was pretty consistent though...always around 300fps less than what the load manuals called for.  i did load it hot enough to hit 2950 with 140s and 3100 with 120s, but going 4 or 5 grains over the max is a bit spooky.  i ended up trading it for a really nice .270, which will outrun that .264 without breaking a sweat, without the headache of reloading a belted cartridge.

wouldn't mind another someday...but with a 26 or 28" barrel.

[birddogdad]

Very true Jeff. This is why I dont hunt with the 7mm rem mag. I CAN get very similar results with a .270 win, 7mm-08 with less recoil. Getting a 160gr bullet over 3000fps out of a 7mm rem mag is really maxing out the cartridge.  May need to bump up the the 7mm Rem Ultra mag to get those velocities consistently with more powder choices.

love my 7mag, yea its a hot loader.. starting to look into a 28 nosler.... has my attention.... think I may even be able to re- barrel my existing gun to run that round...  7 mag performance now in a much heavier bullet... as far as recoil, just brake it and that goes away....

[hunter399]

To hit 3000 fps with h4831 my load will have to be 65-66 grains of powder ,i forgot I had a load calculator on my phone from other calibers I load .Now there's no way of knowing for sure without crono but it's based off of these numbers.
But as far on paper that's the load I need to hit.