7mm Rem Mag

[btheis13]

Very excited about shooting and going hunting with my new to me BDL in 7mm Rem Mag

View attachment 596867

Nice looking rifle. And a Leupold scope to help hit where you want it to.

I bought my first rifle late last year, a Tikka T3x with a Leupold scope. Since I had a rifle I decided that I had to book a hunt to use it on. Africa here I come!

 

[RLL]

7mm or 280ai?

7mm rem mag. 280AI I would think you could get 3000 or bit more pretty easy depending powder selection and barrel length

 

[colorado]

Nice looking rifle. And a Leupold scope to help hit where you want it to.

I bought my first rifle late last year, a Tikka T3x with a Leupold scope. Since I had a rifle I decided that I had to book a hunt to use it on. Africa here I come!

Nice! Haven't been, but we have plenty of elk here in Colorado. The 7mm Mag should be perfect.

 

[WyoBull]

When I first went to Africa on a plains game hunt I had heard from many sources including my outfitter to use a 180 gr bullet.
I was planning on using my Rem 700 in 7mm RUM. It has a 9.5 twist barrel.
Wanting to use Barnes bullets, I called Barnes and spoke to their technical people and was told that with the 175 gr TSX FB bullet, it would be marginal if I would be able to stabilize it, especially shooting it at near seal level in Africa.
Well, I tried it working up a load using H1000. Sure enough, they were key-holing at 100 yards.
So, I dropped to the 160 gr TSX FB bullet and worked up a load using H1000. My rifle shot that bullet at 1/2 MOA and I was very pleased with it.
I had read and the technical people at Barnes told me at the time that their bullets would perform like and lead coarse bullet weighing 30% more. So essentially, the 169 gr Barnes TSX would perform like a 178 gr lead core bullet.
Long story short, that rifle took 13 plains game animals from Kudu, Gemsbok, Sable, Blue Wildebeest and Zebra all the way down to Warthog. Every one of those animals dropped where they were hit and I only recovered 1 bullet and that was from the off shoulder of my Blue Wildebeest after taking him squarely through both front shoulders.
Since that first trip I will only hunt with Barnes bullets for big game and I would highly recommend to the OP to use the 160 gr bullet in his 7mm.

 

[colorado]

Awesome. Thanks for all of the detail. I'm pretty sure the 1 in 9.25 twist barrel of my BDL will stabilize 175g lead core bullets but completely understand them not doing well with a mono bullet. I plan to finish sighting mine in and then shoot for groups at 100 yards and 300 yards. Fingers crossed.

 

[btheis13]

Great information. Thank you for

When I first went to Africa on a plains game hunt I had heard from many sources including my outfitter to use a 180 gr bullet.
I was planning on using my Rem 700 in 7mm RUM. It has a 9.5 twist barrel.
Wanting to use Barnes bullets, I called Barnes and spoke to their technical people and was told that with the 175 gr TSX FB bullet, it would be marginal if I would be able to stabilize it, especially shooting it at near seal level in Africa.
Well, I tried it working up a load using H1000. Sure enough, they were key-holing at 100 yards.
So, I dropped to the 160 gr TSX FB bullet and worked up a load using H1000. My rifle shot that bullet at 1/2 MOA and I was very pleased with it.
I had read and the technical people at Barnes told me at the time that their bullets would perform like and lead coarse bullet weighing 30% more. So essentially, the 169 gr Barnes TSX would perform like a 178 gr lead core bullet.
Long story short, that rifle took 13 plains game animals from Kudu, Gemsbok, Sable, Blue Wildebeest and Zebra all the way down to Warthog. Every one of those animals dropped where they were hit and I only recovered 1 bullet and that was from the off shoulder of my Blue Wildebeest after taking him squarely through both front shoulders.
Since that first trip I will only hunt with Barnes bullets for big game and I would highly recommend to the OP to use the 160 gr bullet in his 7mm.

When I first went to Africa on a plains game hunt I had heard from many sources including my outfitter to use a 180 gr bullet.
I was planning on using my Rem 700 in 7mm RUM. It has a 9.5 twist barrel.
Wanting to use Barnes bullets, I called Barnes and spoke to their technical people and was told that with the 175 gr TSX FB bullet, it would be marginal if I would be able to stabilize it, especially shooting it at near seal level in Africa.
Well, I tried it working up a load using H1000. Sure enough, they were key-holing at 100 yards.
So, I dropped to the 160 gr TSX FB bullet and worked up a load using H1000. My rifle shot that bullet at 1/2 MOA and I was very pleased with it.
I had read and the technical people at Barnes told me at the time that their bullets would perform like and lead coarse bullet weighing 30% more. So essentially, the 169 gr Barnes TSX would perform like a 178 gr lead core bullet.
Long story short, that rifle took 13 plains game animals from Kudu, Gemsbok, Sable, Blue Wildebeest and Zebra all the way down to Warthog. Every one of those animals dropped where they were hit and I only recovered 1 bullet and that was from the off shoulder of my Blue Wildebeest after taking him squarely through both front shoulders.
Since that first trip I will only hunt with Barnes bullets for big game and I would highly recommend to the OP to use the 160 gr bullet in his 7mm.

This is great. Thank you for taking the time to post!

 

[Katy Darren]

For my upcoming first Africa safari I’m taking both a 7mm RM (a Tikka circa 2000) and a 375H&H. For my 7 mag I tested many bullets and loads and the best ended up being the Swift A frame 160 gr. Which of course became almost impossible to find except for some great AH’rs saving my bacon. So that’s what I’m taking. Topped with a Leupold CDS VX5 3-15 illuminated reticle.

 

[rnovi]

For my 2014 PG Safari I ran a 7mm Rem Mag with 150gr. E-tips at 3,000 fps. Blue & Black Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Zebra, Eland (2 shots)…. The 7RM works great.

Typical Safari ranges are typically well under 300 yards. Most of mine were around 200. I sighted in about 1.5” high at 100, zero at 200.

Use a good bullet and aim straight. Don’t overthink it Is my best advice.

Oh, last tidbit: you will be hunting with some of the best trackers in the world. Just put the bullet in the right place and you will be fine.