7mm Rem Mag powder?

BretN

Handloader
Jan 22, 2015
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My brother just acquired a 7mmRM and I imagine I will be loading for him this year in preparation for next years' deer season. For 140-160 grain bullets, what powder would you recommend? I have plenty of '06 and 308 burn rate powders and some slightly slower powders, but no "magnum" powders. I would like to get by without having to get another powder if possible. I shoot a .280, so I have plenty of 7mm bullets. Will have to get some dies, mag primers and brass though. Thanks, BretN
 
BretN":2f586hu8 said:
My brother just acquired a 7mmRM and I imagine I will be loading for him this year in preparation for next years' deer season. For 140-160 grain bullets, what powder would you recommend? I have plenty of '06 and 308 burn rate powders and some slightly slower powders, but no "magnum" powders. I would like to get by without having to get another powder if possible. I shoot a .280, so I have plenty of 7mm bullets. Will have to get some dies, mag primers and brass though. Thanks, BretN

It's not a popular choice, but my goto is R19. Works like a charm.
 
Honestly, the 7mm Rem Mag will do well with 4350 and 4831 type powders. Most of the handloading I have done for the "7 Mag" has been with one of these two powders. An old friend of my Dad's got some H1000 he had me try at one point with 160 grain Accubonds. It shot very well though not better than any of the "standard" 4350 ammunition I had loaded for him up to that point.

I would go with whatever you have the most of on hand and work from there.

Good luck!

Dale
 
I used to use IMR 4350 with 140-160gr yrs ago. I have used R22, and IMR 7828 also. Just recently, I tried R26 with the 160 and R33 with the 175.....awesome results!
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I have 4350, 4831, and RL19, so that should be a good start.
 
wvbuckbuster":1bazftq7 said:
MAinAR":1bazftq7 said:
I have used IMR 4831 RL 22 and IMR 7828. IMR4831 gets the most use with 140-150 grain bullets.

Welcome aboard, Buckbuster. I note this is your initial post. Glad to see new people joining in the discussion. What bullets do you prefer in your 7RM? Is most of your hunting WT? Or do you use the rifle for bear as well?
 
DrMike":32g6umim said:
For me, H1000 has become a favourite powder in the 7RM.

Same here. Late comer to it but oh man is it consistent stuff.

Other than that, I'd lay into a bunch of RL 23 or 26 and know those would work too.
 
I have a browning x-bolt 7mm rem mag that is very picky about what shells it wants to shoot consistent grouping with. I could not find any factory loads that it wanted to shot well. The best results that I would find were with Federal Trophy Bonded rounds. This is the main reason why I started reloading in the first place. So far I have been getting great results from using IMR 4350 63Grns, Federal 210 primers, and Nosler 150 grain ballistic tip bullets (I have seen no difference in groupings with the silver-tip or the ballistic tip).

When I was experimenting with the recipes that worked best for my picky browning, one variable that created problems for me was the primers. When I tried federal mag primers, I did not like the grouping as much as I did with large rifle primers. I also noticed a huge difference when I tired CCI primers. With CCI primers I was all over the target when I took shots past 50yrds.


The picture is from last Friday. I put a new Leupold on my 7mm, the shots were at 200yrds. The first shot was the bottom left (freshly bore-sighted), I don't like to make more than one adjustment at a time so the second shot was straight above the first one, the next four shots were after my second adjustment. Using the recipe stated above I can regularly shot groups like this.
 

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Welcome aboard. That is a respectable group you picture. IMR4350 is an old standard that still works well in the 7RM. I've owned a couple of 7RM, and the one that got away still bothers me. It was a Browning Eurobolt that would put ten 162 grain Hornady SSTs into a group of ~3/4 inch. Another showed up on the used rack at the LGS, and while I debated buying it to convert it to a 358 Norma Magnum, someone else snatched it up. Browning makes a fine product, and the X-Bolt tends to shoot well. I'm a little surprised that you didn't find factory ammo your rifle enjoyed. I shot Federal 175 grain TBBCs in my current 7RM (a Featherweight) when I first purchased that rifle back in 1996. I still load 175 grain TBBCs in the rifle and they still give me 3/4 inch groups. Again, welcome aboard, and thanks for the picture of your work.
 
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