7mm Rem. mag.

[homelessdude]

Thanks, LynnJr. I went to Warners website and did a lot of reading. I was unawhere of them. They make some very impressive bullets. Have you messed with the .30 cals at all. Will they fit in an everyday 30:06 chamber without being seated to deep. They look awfully long. I need to get out in the garage and measure some of the bullets I have been using and do some comparisons. Do you know of anyone who makes a good copper hunting bullet for the 7mm and the 30.

[Fjold]

I have one and have taken antelope and deer with it. Honestly it's one of my least favorite cartridges. It has more blast and recoil than is necessary for deer sized game and not enough bore and case capacity to shoot the heavy bullets that make the magnum sized cartridges shine.

On medium game, I'll shoot my 26, 27 and 28 caliber non-magnum cartridges out past 400 yards without stressing and if I'm going to shoot a magnum I'll use my 300 or larger magnums and shoot 200 to 500 grain bullets.

[NapalmCheese]

I have several 30:06s so don't need any more. Probably the best all round cartridge ever made. I was just looking for a new one to play around with. I have been reading alot about the .243 and it or a 25:06 would also be interesting.

My wife shoots a .243 and I shoot a 25 WSSM (similar to 25-06). Both are fine hunting cartridges for deer and pronghorn IMO. Neither would be my preference for anything bigger.

For target shooting I'd take the .243 over the 7RM, and the 7RM over the 25 WSSM. For hunting I'd take either the .243 or the 25 over the 7RM unless things bigger than mule deer were on the menu.

For being interesting... Well quarter bores are like 16 gauge shotguns. Shooting a .257 caliber bullet makes you smarter, better looking, more charismatic, and a much better shot than your peers.

[LynnJr]

Homelessdude
I used the warner flatlines this year and took 2 bucks and a hog with 3 shots.
As you already noticed they are long bullets and in my gun that meant single feeding it.
From the solids i have used you have 2 options.
Option one is very long with outstanding BC and velocity which means flatter shooting and more downrange potential.

Option two you have no problems with overall length and feeding from a magazine but the BC is so bad you need a different cartridge or you limit your current range even further.

I own many 6mm rifles and the lead free hunting rule has made them all obsolete for how I hunt.
I have a few quarter bores but dont know of any lead free bullets that dont obsolete them as well
Most of the lead free bullets on the market today except Cutting Edge, Lehigh and Warner limit your rifles capability so much they make you either reduce your shot distance or obsolete the chambering.

Luckily the 3 manufacturers listed and a couple others actually increase your rifles capability within specific limitations. 6.5,7,30 and up you can actually extend the current range while staying within the rules.

Your 30-06 loaded with a 160 Warner performs as well as or better than a 300 win mag with a lead core bullet. Yes if you switch the 300 win mag to lead free it once again beats the 30-06 but your current chamberings with the more efficient bullet have really stepped up in performance.

I actually had BillyGoat Machine chamber me up a 338 Norma Ackley Improved last year just so i could feed it 256 flatlines and still feed them from a magazine for hunting. I unfortunately mis-calculated the freebore length on my reamer and the most accurate load is too long to reliably feed from a magazine making the gun a single shot repeater. Hopefully i can use the 4 inch magazines now available and have it ready for next season.

Unless your building a target only type rifle the cartridge in my opinion is just a pressure vessel that launches the bullet.
You pick the bullet you want to shoot then match it up to the pressure vessel that pushes it at the velocity you need.

In your example of the 7mm remington magnum it pushed the 151 flatline in excesd of 3100 fps and with the high BC number it is now a more efficientl chambering than it was previously when using these modern bullets.
If you use a different solid bullet it is actually much worse than it ever was with a jacketed bullet. The same thing holds true for the 30-06.
One solid bullet makes it perform like a 300 win mag and a different solid bullet makes it perform like a 30-30.

On paper a few of these bullets look like world beaters but require a much faster twist barrel in order to shoot well.
If you stick with hunting weight bullets you dont need a faster twist barrel.

On the 400 yard point blank range that isnt the guns maximum distance its the distance at which you can hold dead on and not worry about the bullets drop affecting your shot placment.
The 7mm Remington Magnum with a 151 will take blacktail at ranges most here will never shoot at.

Edit: ignore the downrange energy numbers i set the bullet weight at 220 grains in error.

[theduracellbigd]

I have all the bolt actions I will ever need but for the last year I have had an urge to buy a 7mm magnum. I reload and have always thought this would be a good one to play around with. Any love left out there for this older work horse. I'm not a fan of the usually two inch longer barrel but it is on almost all of them. Might buy myself a X-mas present. What say the experts good and bad.

I have had your urge on numerous occasions because of the 7mm bullet BC and trajectories of said round. I always just stuck with my 30-06 because I too did not want a longer heavier gun. I went the other direction and got a Model 70 Featherweight in .308 to get an even shorter and lighter hunting rig. So now my 30-06 with a 40 mm scope 3.5x10 is used when Elk Hunting with possible longer shots, with 165 grainers. My .308 that is a few inches shorter and a pound or two lighter with a 36mm objective and 2x7 is used for whitetail, especially since I am in tight blinds and climbing tree stand often(in and out of truck often so handier rifle is preferred}. I am not accurate enough in field positions past 300 yards to justify the ballistics of a 7mm.

[homelessdude]

An awful lot of good information in this thread. I think I will hold off on the 7mm for now and buy a box of the Flatline 160 bullets and do some research with the 30:06. Lynn jr, What can you tell me about the powders you have tried?

[diverwcw]

I've shot a couple of Wyoming antelope with the 7mm. Dropped them where they stood. If you are going to turn it into a range toy, I recommend shooting reduced loads through it. I have used Trailboss powder. It is accurate and easy on the shoulder.

[LynnJr]

I was using Lapua brand brass a Fed 215 primer and a very healthy dose of IMR 4350.
I tried re22 but couldnt get enough of it into the case to build any pressure.

IMR 4895 is a very good powder as well.
Seat them right at touching then barely back them off of the lands a couple thousandths.
Start at 56.0 grains with either IMR powder and go up in half grain steps. The good thing about the lead free lathe turned bullets is a $10 6 inch caliper from Harbor Freight is all you need as there is no variation in bullet length like you see with jacketed bullets.

[plumbum]

I started out hunting with a hand-me-down 7mm magnum - way to much for most CA hunting, but a damn fine round!

[ar15barrels]

I went to Warners website and did a lot of reading.
I was unawhere of them. They make some very impressive bullets.
Will they fit in an everyday 30:06 chamber without being seated to deep.
They look awfully long.

Fitting in the magazine is not what you should be as concerned with as if your barrel's twist rate will stabilize them at the velocity you are launching them.
Look at the twist rate requirements on them and confirm your barrel's ACTUAL twist rate before you order too many of them that won't work in your barrel.
I say to test your actual barrel's twist rate because factory twist rates will routinely vary by up to 1" from the advertised twist rates.

[hambam105]

I am sure the7mm Magnum Cartridge is probably over 50 years old by now, and
should be obsolete in the not too distant future.

[LynnJr]

The 160 Flatlines list a twist rate of 11.5 so they should work in most 30-06 rifles.
The 198 flatlines require a much faster twist rate so avoid them in a 10 twist barrel.
I dont have any of the 160's here or i would set one up and let you know the cartridge over all length.

I think Shaun Brady who posts here was working with the heavy flatlines in a 30-338 Lapua Improved but i dont know if he used any of the 160's.
I will text him.
The 160 should put your 30-06 around 10 inches flatter at 1000 yards than a 300 win mag using 190 Sierra MatchKings.

[homelessdude]

Thanks to all for the info.

[Kevin11mee]

The 7mag is ballistically superior to the .30-06, but I doubt most animals will know the difference. I think a .30 cal bullet hits with more authority than a 7mag, but the 7mm sure buck the wind great.

[sigstroker]

Even so, there's probably little practical difference with hunting loads. 180's in a 7mm - are there heavier in common use in 30-06?

The biggest benefit of the 7mm mag is how flat it shoots. Mistakes in range estimation are more tolerable.