Wildcatting: Overnight Success

Another magnum calibre that I have over looked in my hunting career but one that many shooters have told me is a good flat shooting round and highly efficient for distant stags and superb on plains game too.

Who am I to argue, the only 7mm Rem mag I have shot up until two years ago was a David Lloyd stalking rifle back in 1981! Since then I have been shooting a Ruger No 1 in 7mm Rem mag and a long actioned Remington 700 and Sauer 202 all of which I have to say impressed me , and I don`t like magnums!

Developed in 1962 by Remington but fashioned from many a design based wildcat from the 375 H & H case. In fact it is a .264 Win Mag case necked up to 7mm. Cartridge Overall Length (COL) was 3.29” which allowed it to be used in standard length actions so .30-06 rifles in America were easily rebarreled with only a bolt face opened up to 0,532” to accept the magnum case head.

OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

It instantly caught on as the combination of the high ballistic coefficient 7mm bullets coupled to a case a capacity of 82-grains H2O allowed for a flat shooting rifle that would reach out across the prairies for Whitetails or Pronghorn. You also have a very good choice of bullet weights and types ranging from 100-grains all the way up to 180 with varying styles from hollow point, ballistic tip or VLD Match bullets are catered for. No wonder the 7MM Rem Mag is popular as one day you can be varmint hunting and the next on deer or long range 1000 yard targets!

Rifling twist rate is 1in 9 or 1 in 9.5 and will handle all these bullets so quite a diverse round. In England it is less popular, as a .308 or 30-06 is really all you needed but there were many people who have used the big 7mm for tricky longer range stags on the hill or fallow way out across those flat wheat fields in the south. It also has the benefit that despite being magnum recoil is manageable and there is a huge availability of reloading equipment and factory loads to choose from.

Typical factory loads will shoot a 140-grain bullet at 3175 fps/3133 ft/lbs, 160 at 2950 fps/ 3090 ft/lbs and 175-grainers bullets trot along at 2800 fps/3047 ft/lbs. Very handy velocity and energy figures too.

CASE SPEC

The 1 in 9 twist rate is good for all as stated but not necessary as bullets up to 160-grains will stabilise in a 1 in 10 or 11 twist but a 26” barrel is better than a 24! Primarily due to the fact that the 7MM Rem Mag likes slow burning powders that need a few more inches to perform, don`t we all… Powders like Alliant RL 19, 22 and 25 work well as do IMR 4831 and H 4350 or H 4831SC as well as Vit N165.

Magnum primers like Federal 215M worked well in the reloads and maintain a consistent ignition and powder burn from the big case which will handle 75-grains of powder with some of the bigger loads. Reloading dies are numerous, I used the Redding full die set as I was using a standard Tikka M65 rifle but if using a custom tight necked or long range rifle I would certainly go the full length or neck die route but with an S type bushing so you can match the neck tension and diameter to your chamber dimensions.

IN THE FIELD

I picked an old but excellent Tikka M65 7mm Rem Mag recently, I love these old Tikka`s, really well made, all metal, and superb free floating barrels of Bofors steel. The actions are smooth as silk, good triggers and the detachable mag on the M65 model is a double stack magnum specific item. You would think a 26” barrel would be fitted but the original runs to 24” and this model was the heavy varmint one. Despite being at least 30-years old the barrel was very good, worn in the leade as you would expect, you are stuffing a lot of hot gasses down a relatively small hole, but still plenty of meat left in the rifling. These old Tikka’s always shoot well and this M65 put in some stella groups!

I fitted a Vortex 2.5-10x32 Viper scope which proved a good match with fine adjustments and good clear optics to boot! The reticule was superb for fine shooting at small targets at range and proved precise. 100-yard groups with 120-grain Nosler Ballistic Tips ran at 1” dead for 3-shots with a load of 70-grains of RL 19 for 3548 fps/3355ft/lbs. Great fox load, flat and hard hitting! Zeroed at 200 yards it is 0.62 high at 100 yards and only -4” low at 300; lovely! The 100-grain Hornady were also good with 1.25” groups at a blistering 3541 fps/2784 ft/lbs with a payload of 67-grains of Vit N 150.

GETTING HEAVIER

The 140-grains would be the mid-ground bullet and loaded with an Accubond, Gameking, VLD hunter, or SSTs with more controlled expansion would be excellent for deer. The Accubonds shot very well 0.85”; 3-shot groups figures of 3177 fps/3138 ft/lbs with 69-grains of RL22 and a Federal 215 mag primer.

Going up the weights and more intended for bigger game i.e. big stags red or Sika and also excellent for plains game. There are 154-grain Interbonds but the Tikka did not like them spraying them at 2”! However the mid-ground is covered well; with the Sierra SPBT 175-grain chalking up 2865 fps/3188 ft/lbs, good deer load or a Berger 168-grain VLD Match for long range target or switch to the hunter bullet of the same weight for long range deer or plains game. Here I had 0.65” groups with the milder 65-grains of RL22 powder for 2907 fps velocity.

Favourite powder for the big seven would be Alliant RL 19 or RL22, good all-rounders with good accuracy, consistency and velocities! For a bit of long range silhouette clanging the Berger 180 VLD`s proved good and 2774 fps/3076 ft/ lbs was achieved with a load of 64.5-grains of Vit N 165.

PH FAVOURITE

When I was out in Namibia one of the PH`s, CJ`s Ruger was a 7mm Rem Mag and shooting 160-grain Barnes TSX bullets at 2925 fps accounted for many a cull Springbok. It shot flat and hard and allows a confident shot out to 400 yards and CJ was head shooting most of them to 300 yds! blimey.

I popped in a couple of reduced loads there because I like to use it sometimes for short range use just because I like the rifle.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite my usual reservations about magnums there are times when they really make sense, especially for a longer shot and larger than normal game. The 7mm bullet range is vast and these slim line pills have very good BC`s for retained energy downrange and when coupled to the horse power of the 7mm Rem Mag are a match made in heaven. Sure the 7mm WSM is more popular in 100 yard F class these days but for hunting abroad were you may need to buy ammo if it gets lost in transit, most gunshops stock the big 7mm.

I was going to rebarrel this Tikka M65 to 300 H & H but it’s too good to rip apart so I am going to take it stag shooting and see how it performs.

CONTACTS

Holts Auctioneers www.holtsauctioneers.co.uk s/h rifles
Norman Clark 01788 579651 Reload supplies
Henry Krank 01132 569 163 Sierra bullets, powder
JMS Arms 07771 962121 Quick Load and Quick Target www.quickload.co.uk
CSW Ltd www.CountrySportsWholesale.co.uk Vortex scope