Lenard Brownell 7 Rem Mag

Beautiful rifles are something special when you know the history. Hope you can add to it with some memories and stories of your own! CL
 
Damn, Scotty!
Ya done good and CONGRATULATIONS!!! I think those are probably the best fleurs I’ve ever seen on a custom rifle and the deep relief in the checking is something reminiscent of an Al Biesen rifle! That dog will hunt, and it’s in 7 mag to boot!
V/R,
Joe
 
Last edited:
extremely nice looking rifle Scotty and I'm willing to bet that it shoots as good as it looks. Looking forward to your range report.
 
Now that's the way I like to see a rifle made. Needless to say I'm green with envy.
Paul B.
 
EOD Diver said:
Ya done good and CONGRATULATIONS!!! I think those are probably the best fleurs I’ve ever seen on a custom rifle and the deep relief in the checking is something reminiscent of an Al Biesen rifle! That dog will hunt, and it’s in 7 mag to boot!
V/R,
Joe
Click to expand...
I did a little research on the old rifle and found this about Brownell.


He build this rifle in 1965.

I had something happen with it that I never had happen with the handful of 7 mags I have had over the years. I had a box of 160 Trophy Bonded Tipped and it made egg shaped holes. It honestly threw me for a loop. I shot 3 more and had the same egg shaped holes. Well, I had another box of Federal 155 TA's and thought to myself these will do the same darned thing, to my surprise, they neatly hammered into a 3/4-7/8"s group(nice round holes). The only difference between the two bullets on paper were the 155's were about .010" shorter but nearly 150FPS faster.. So the extra speed helped stabilize them. I loaded up 5 - 150 grain Nosler BT's with some N160 I had and I adjusted the old Leupold. Well the first shot stayed where it was then the next for must've taken adjustment and moved on point and all were in the same hole.

I have been busy lately, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's a 1-10 barrel on it, which makes sense, since in 1965 we didn't have the awesome bullets we have today and they were also much shorter than our poly tippled, boattail bullets we use today. It seemed pretty common back then to use just enough twist to stabilize the bullets to minimize the inconsistencies of the older bullets..

Not a big deal honestly, knowing the length of bullets and using Bergers Stability calculator has helped me pick some other bullets out and of course keeping speed somewhat up there will help to some extent.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of my egg shaped groups up.
 
SJB358 said:
I did a little research on the old rifle and found this about Brownell.


He build this rifle in 1965.

I had something happen with it that I never had happen with the handful of 7 mags I have had over the years. I had a box of 160 Trophy Bonded Tipped and it made egg shaped holes. It honestly threw me for a loop. I shot 3 more and had the same egg shaped holes. Well, I had another box of Federal 155 TA's and thought to myself these will do the same darned thing, to my surprise, they neatly hammered into a 3/4-7/8"s group(nice round holes). The only difference between the two bullets on paper were the 155's were about .010" shorter but nearly 150FPS faster.. So the extra speed helped stabilize them. I loaded up 5 - 150 grain Nosler BT's with some N160 I had and I adjusted the old Leupold. Well the first shot stayed where it was then the next for must've taken adjustment and moved on point and all were in the same hole.

I have been busy lately, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's a 1-10 barrel on it, which makes sense, since in 1965 we didn't have the awesome bullets we have today and they were also much shorter than our poly tippled, boattail bullets we use today. It seemed pretty common back then to use just enough twist to stabilize the bullets to minimize the inconsistencies of the older bullets..

Not a big deal honestly, knowing the length of bullets and using Bergers Stability calculator has helped me pick some other bullets out and of course keeping speed somewhat up there will help to some extent.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of my egg shaped groups up.
Click to expand...
Scotty,
That rifle might only be a Partition kind of rig.

JD338
 
SJB358 said:
I did a little research on the old rifle and found this about Brownell.


He build this rifle in 1965.

I had something happen with it that I never had happen with the handful of 7 mags I have had over the years. I had a box of 160 Trophy Bonded Tipped and it made egg shaped holes. It honestly threw me for a loop. I shot 3 more and had the same egg shaped holes. Well, I had another box of Federal 155 TA's and thought to myself these will do the same darned thing, to my surprise, they neatly hammered into a 3/4-7/8"s group(nice round holes). The only difference between the two bullets on paper were the 155's were about .010" shorter but nearly 150FPS faster.. So the extra speed helped stabilize them. I loaded up 5 - 150 grain Nosler BT's with some N160 I had and I adjusted the old Leupold. Well the first shot stayed where it was then the next for must've taken adjustment and moved on point and all were in the same hole.

I have been busy lately, but I have a sneaking suspicion it's a 1-10 barrel on it, which makes sense, since in 1965 we didn't have the awesome bullets we have today and they were also much shorter than our poly tippled, boattail bullets we use today. It seemed pretty common back then to use just enough twist to stabilize the bullets to minimize the inconsistencies of the older bullets..

Not a big deal honestly, knowing the length of bullets and using Bergers Stability calculator has helped me pick some other bullets out and of course keeping speed somewhat up there will help to some extent.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of my egg shaped groups up.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you are making good progress. I look forward to further reports.
 
Here’s a few of the 160 Federal Trophy Bonded Tipped





Here are the Federal 155 TAs. Looking at them now they don’t all look so round and such but that could be the back board getting shot up some.





And here’s the target with the 150 BTs and V160. I adjusted the scope previous to this and the first shit is high and left while the others went down into a 4 shot cluster.



And a few pictures of the old babe in the cold…






The testing will continue!
 
DrMike said:
Fascinating. I appreciated the diagnosis. It was some excellent analysis.
Click to expand...
Did you ever run into that much when you were doing alot of loading Mike. I have seen it with 22 caliber and some 243s in the past when bullets got too long but it's a first with a 7mm.

Weatherby still used a 1-10 twist not too long ago in their 7mm Wby rifles. Now I don't wonder why they never loaded anything real long.
 
That is such a good looking rifle. Brings back memories of the days when "all" rifles were wood. I remember in those days I sanded and refinished a handfull of stocks to bring out the beauty of walnut and maple. Kinda makes me a little nostalgic of the times.
 
SJB358 said:
Weatherby still used a 1-10 twist not too long ago in their 7mm Wby rifles. Now I don't wonder why they never loaded anything real long.
Click to expand...
They still do, if memory serves me well. I have an acquaintance who just acquired a 7mm wby and loaded up to a 175gr ABLR in his 1:10. Though I suspect that he's marginally stable at that.
 
SJB358 said:
Did you ever run into that much when you were doing alot of loading Mike. I have seen it with 22 caliber and some 243s in the past when bullets got too long but it's a first with a 7mm.

Weatherby still used a 1-10 twist not too long ago in their 7mm Wby rifles. Now I don't wonder why they never loaded anything real long.
Click to expand...
Saw it so infrequently that it hardly registered. On the other hand, I was doing a lot of work with custom rifles that were designed with the ultimate bullet that would be used.
 
DrMike said:
Saw it so infrequently that it hardly registered. On the other hand, I was doing a lot of work with custom rifles that were designed with the ultimate bullet that would be used.
Click to expand...
That makes sense. Looking back to 1960's bullet tech is a decent leap for me to look and see what was available.
 
I'd say you're right with the bullets keyholing, it's the twist . go to old school bullets , running the velocity up is not the answer .
 
Scotty that is a gorgeous rifle. Be waiting to see which bullets you decide on that group the best. That 150 BT load is no slouch. Dan.
 
SJB358 said:
Yup, it wants the old shorties.. Which is A-Ok with me. Need to steal some of Guy's loads. Heard he might have a few good ones to try that should work in this old Patched Round Ball twisted rifle! :p
Click to expand...
The 160 gr PT would be a good one. Running it at 3050-3100 fps, it would shoot flat, hit hard and penetrate deep on deer, elk or moose.

JD338
 
JD338 said:
The 160 gr PT would be a good one. Running it at 3050-3100 fps, it would shoot flat, hit hard and penetrate deep on deer, elk or moose.

JD338
Click to expand...
I have a ton of those and 160 BBC's that I can load up soon. The 160 in a 7 Rem at 3000+ has always been my gold standard for hunting. I am really enjoying working with this old rifle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

N
Trigger springs for the Ruger LC6 trigger (and many Rem. firearms)
Replies
7
Views
110
RL338
RL338
B
Grandpa's Old Rifle
Replies
19
Views
534
PJGunner
P
6
Son's first year hunting since returning from Baylor with double Master's Degrees.
2
Replies
21
Views
489
cloverleaf
cloverleaf
N
The Family That Hunts Together - chapter 2024
Replies
15
Views
266
Cneelk
C
filmjunkie4ever
Before and After
2
Replies
30
Views
767
salmonchaser
S
AMMUNITIONAmmunition BULLETSBullets BRASSBrass FirearmsFirearms GearGear
Back
Top