7mm RM Ruger at 300 yards

[Guy Miner]

Recently put a lightly used 3.5-10x Leupold on Brandy, the 20 year old Ruger 1-S Medium Sporter I purchased last winter. Also had some 160 grain handloads to try at the range.

Dog and I put the rifle in the Jeep and headed to the gun club for some shooting! Sighted the rifle in at 25 yards, then switched to the 300 yard gong. At 300 yards the first shot was low, so I dialed in a fair bit of elevation. Second shot looked decent for elevation, but was left, so I did some twisting on the windage knob. Then three shots into 1.5" at 300 yards from the bench.

:grin:

I was pleased. The 160 Sierra Gamekings are doing 3025 fps with the 65 grain charge, and shooting very nicely. I may still swap to 160 grain Nosler Partitions, but honestly I'm quite satisfied with the load. I've used this load, or loads very similar to it a lot in the past with other 7mm Rem Mag rifles. This rifle is likely to see use in Washington and Wyoming for mule deer, pronghorn and hopefully black bear.

I think Brandy is ready to hunt.

Guy

 

[FOTIS]

That bullet and load will do everything in NA sans the big bears...

 

[DrMike]

Excellent load and some fine riflery. Fotis is correct--that load will work for about anything you'd care to hunt.

 

[TackDriver284]

Nice shooting Guy. That load will do. Don't forget to try the 160 Accubonds. :mrgreen:

 

[1100 Remington Man]

Dam that is a shooter.. I think your 25-06 and 30-06 are going to get lonely.

 

[Guy Miner]

Dam that is a shooter.. I think your 25-06 and 30-06 are going to get lonely.

Thanks! The 7mm mag, Ruger Number One is indeed a shooter. Years ago I had a #1-B "standard" in 7mm Rem Mag. At 300 yards it grouped 3" - 4" as I recall. Adequate, but... I wanted better. It did have a gorgeous buttstock, but surely wasn't the shooter that this one is. This one is much newer, only 20 years old or so, AFTER Ruger started making their own barrels.

Those two, the 25-06 & 30-06, along with my 25 year old former SWAT rifle 308 Win... Those three Remington 700's have been the main centerfire rifles I shoot and hunt with. They're not going anywhere. :grin:

But ya - I really want to make this a "single shot season" using my Ruger Number One rifles. Not sure the 375 will get any real use, though if I go poking around for bear I'll carry it. It's become known as "Dad's Bear Rifle" after three black bear.

Hopefully this 7mm Rem Mag will find at least one mule deer and one pronghorn willing to fill my freezer. I'd like that.

Guy

 

[gerry]

Looks really good Guy. Back in the late 1990's we had a similar load for my young friend, 66 gr RL 22 with the 162 gr Hornady BTSP for about the same speed from a 24" barrel. It will be neat to see what you and that rifle end up with this fall.

 

[Guy Miner]

Looks really good Guy. Back in the late 1990's we had a similar load for my young friend, 66 gr RL 22 with the 162 gr Hornady BTSP for about the same speed from a 24" barrel. It will be neat to see what you and that rifle end up with this fall.

Thanks Gerry - it's always up in the air about tagging a mule deer buck here in Washington, but my odds in Wyoming are much better. I hope to do well with the 7mm Number One.

:grin:

 

[Guy Miner]

Dang, just ran the JBM ballistics calculator.

It claims that with a 308 yard zero, I've got a 363 yard maximum point blank range.

Nice. :grin:

 

[gerry]

That will do nicely. How high are you at the highest before 300? Must be somewhere around 200 or a bit beyond that I would guess.

 

[cloverleaf]

And the man has tags for Wyoming....don't get much better or luckier than that. Great shooting and rifle! CL

 

[Alderman]

Wow. That was some good shooting and quick to get it hitting where you want. Ready for some one shot kills now.

I’ve never shot at steel at a club and I’ve only been to the local gun club once. Just curious what the ethics around the steel is. Is the shooter supposed to repaint after he shoots or does he just paint it before he shoots?


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[Guy Miner]

Oh, that's my own AR500 steel target. I hang it, and remove it. We do have some steel at the club. Some of it is convenient to be painted, but some is difficult to reach, and would require shutting down at least one of our rifle ranges for probably 20 minutes or so just to get to the steel, paint it, and get back to the firing line... So, it doesn't get painted. That one is at about 450 yards from the firing line, and is a nice challenge for folks who may be contemplating hunting antelope, mule deer or whatever. I forget the size of it, but it's pretty danged challenging with a normal hunting rifle. It's not bad with a heavy match rifle and a good scope.

We use a lot of steel for our pistol matches, the cowboy action matches, and the PRS rifle matches. The club actually has a LOT of steel targets available, but most aren't left out permanently, just placed before the match, and removed.

Also we have a few rules about steel - no steel rifle targets at under 300 yards. No fmj or armor piercing rifle ammo at steel targets. The fmj ammo bounces weird from the steel targets sometimes - and the bullets can then ricochet off club property. That doesn't happen with normal hollow point or soft point bullets, they tend to just break up when they hit the steel.

A fellow used some of that green-tip 5.56 ammo on one of my AR500 targets once, and though it didn't go through, it pock-marked the heck out of it. I didn't know he was shooting that stuff, it really messed up that target. I don't use that one at modest range for pistol work anymore because it's got enough divots and edges that I think it could catch a pistol bullet and bounce the bullet in some odd, possibly dangerous direction.

There's a craft to hanging steel. I like to make sure it's angled forward at the top - so that bullets impacting tend to break up and all the fragments hit the ground right in front of and to the sides of the target.

Also like a steel target that is hanging so that it moves when hit, rather than just being an immovable hard flat surface. Helps the shooter/spotter see the impact and also tends to ricochet less. We've learned a lot about steel at the gun club over the years.

Guy

 

[Guy Miner]

That will do nicely. How high are you at the highest before 300? Must be somewhere around 200 or a bit beyond that I would guess.

Should be about 4.5" high at 200ish yards. I'll load up some more ammo and check on that. Didn't shoot at 100 or 200 when I was at the range the other day, just 25 yards and 300 yards. Didn't have a lot of ammo on hand, so I didn't do as much shooting as I normally do.

I'll crank out a few boxes of 7mm ammo now and do more shooting with it.

I've only got one other hunting rifle zeroed at 300 yards, my 25-06, and I have to keep in mind that yes, it's going to be a bit high at those middle ranges... Haven't missed because of that, but I have made some spine & high shoulder shots when I would have preferred to hit a little lower in the heart/lung area.

The 30-06 remains zeroed at 200 yards and that just seems awfully nice and simple to use.

Guy

 

[Songdog]

Should be about 4.5" high at 200ish yards.

I've only got one other hunting rifle zeroed at 300 yards, my 25-06, and I have to keep in mind that yes, it's going to be a bit high at those middle ranges... Haven't missed because of that, but I have made some spine & high shoulder shots when I would have preferred to hit a little lower in the heart/area.

That’s always been my issue with 300 yard zeros. In my experience, almost regardless of “zero”.... the vast majority of misses, are missed high.

I dig that rifle Guy.... it’s got that classic cool look, and some horsepower.... like a ‘65 Nova II....

 

[SJB358]

Very nice shooting Guy! Looks darned good and that rifle is shooting really darned well!

 

[HAWKEYESATX]

Gotta love those groups Guy!
Keep up the good load work, and shooting.


Hawk

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[6mm Remington]

I think you will like that rifle and scope Guy. I have the B&C reticle on my 280 AI and sure like that scope a lot. Those #1's are wonderful rifles. I know I sure like the two that I have.