7mm Remington Magnum

[lwaters]

When I was in my last safari in Namibia we were going out to look for Eland. I had brought two rifles with me a 300 ruger compact mag and a 375 ruger. When the PH seen the 375 he questioned me why I didn't have the 300. I said I may need a little bigger rifle for eland. He said get your 300 you've killed everthing with it just fine and eland aren't that hard to kill. Will I got my chance and it was a pretty steep quartering shot. The 180 grain nosler partition went through the front part on the stomach through the lungs and into the far shoulder. He didn't take three steps. Now I have only seen one eland shot but I am sure my PH has seen quite a few.

 

[James Cook]

After making sure we weren't under gunned for the species, the most important point our PH emphasized was "bring what you shoot well". There is no replacement for, in his terms, "putting it in the crease."

 

[lwaters]

According to the current and latest Nosler manual number 8, the max 250 gr in the 358 Norma Mag is 2628 fps with 72 gr of IMR 4350 and the max 250 gr in the 35 Whelan is 2637 fps with 58 gr of W748. In the 225 gr category it does show the 358 Norma with a 73 fps advantage.
Arrive at your own conclusion as to what you personally prefer. Looks as thoug the Whelan has the nod to me. I have a custom 338 06 built in 1984 on a Sako action, a toss up between that and a 338 Win Mag, after considering the pros and cons, for me it was a simple solution, less powder and much less recoil and not having to deAl with reloading a magnum case. Gave up 200 plus fps, but it a good choice for me. One trip to Africa, and 6x7 elk in British Columbia proved it does what it was meant to do.

I have to agree there the hornady book show the 338 winchester with a whopping 100fps over the 30-338. Looks like more powder more recoil with very little gain with rifles in the same barrel length. You load these 30-06 based cartridges in 24 in barrels and they will give the magnums a run for the money.

 

[PaulT]

Huh, I will have to check that out. But go online and visit the Nosler website. Click on their " Load Data" section. Very good resource.

Yeh well if that's the quality of the info provided in the Nosler manual i'll choose to pass on the Kool-aid, thanks.

No dog in this fight at all as I don't use either cartridge but from all the info I can access the Norma mag has 88gns of water capacity as compared to 71gns for the Whelan.
If your Nosler manual is telling you that your Whelan is equal and you actually believe that then more's the power to you dude.

Truth be known if I personally was to choose between the two there would be no doubt that the Whelan would be my choice.
A good friend of mine has one and has a tremendous amount of field experience with it, enough to convince me of it's worth, but suggesting it will better/equal a cartridge with more than 10% more capacity is "blue-sky" at best.

Apologies to the for the off topic rant.

 

[lwaters]

I noticed in my hornady manual the 30-338 had a 23 and half in barrel and the 338 had a 24in. There was only 100fps difference in top loads. Now the 358 norma had a 25 and half in barrel and the 35 whelan had a 22 in barrel and there was 300fps on top loads. Put a 24 in barrel on the whelan and it will be closer. Personally alot of magnums came out to just sell more guns and burn more powder. After I got my chronograph it pretty much proven this to be true

 

[Areaonereal]

10 percent more case capacity will never equal 10 percent more velocity....law of diminishing returns sets in...a 300 WBY burns a lot powder and recoils noticeable, but compare it to a 300 Win Mag and not much to be gained. Large cases do not always equal efficiency in powder burn. 375 H H and 300 H H being prime examples of powder efficiency burn.

 

[Rick Cox]

Yeh well if that's the quality of the info provided in the Nosler manual i'll choose to pass on the Kool-aid, thanks.

No dog in this fight at all as I don't use either cartridge but from all the info I can access the Norma mag has 88gns of water capacity as compared to 71gns for the Whelan.
If your Nosler manual is telling you that your Whelan is equal and you actually believe that then more's the power to you dude.

Truth be known if I personally was to choose between the two there would be no doubt that the Whelan would be my choice.
A good friend of mine has one and has a tremendous amount of field experience with it, enough to convince me of it's worth, but suggesting it will better/equal a cartridge with more than 10% more capacity is "blue-sky" at best.

Apologies to the for the off topic rant.

Like I said: I had to check that out. I did. You are right on all counts. Too bad such a fine cartridge is not currently available. Not sure why Nosler loads it down so much, "dude"...

 

[8x68]

Would not a 7x57 work as well? Generally the PH is going to get you in as close as he/she can to a PG game animal without spooking it. So I would guess that 400yd shots are not normally undertaken. 7mm STW, 8x68, all good options. I've been paying with my 35 Whelen. Nice calibre also.

 

[Ray B]

Regardless of cartridge, the most important features are 1. bullet placement & 2. bullet construction. For large game (anything that goes 500+ pounds live weight) I prefer a bullet of at least .33". So for those hunts when I'm after large elk I generally take a 338 Win Mag. I prefer stiffly constructed bullets (Bitterroot Bonded Core) 200 grains. Recoil and ballistic performance is quite like the 300 Win Mag which is acceptable to most. Because of the larger frontal area the 338 has an advantage on terminal performance. If your shots are less than 200 yards you can opt for less muzzle velocity and go with a 338/06 or one of the metrics with similar performance, using 180-210 grain bullets, of stiff construction.

 

[Rick Cox]

Much as I love guns and discussions surrounding them, the single caliber with which I have killed the most game is the good ol' .303 British, with open sights. The list includes many moose, deer, black bear, a couple of grizzly bears, cougar, coyotes, etc.
So as Ray B. and others have stated, it's all about bullet placement.

 

[Pheroze]

Much as I love guns and discussions surrounding them, the single caliber with which I have killed the most game is the good ol' .303 British, with open sights. The list includes many moose, deer, black bear, a couple of grizzly bears, cougar, coyotes, etc.
So as Ray B. and others have stated, it's all about bullet placement.

.

 

[Jumbo]

I can only reiterate what has already been said...............I would hunt any of our African plains game with my 7mm Rem Mag. It is a great PG rifle with a decent bullet. (too many to choose........) So on that front dont hesitate to take it as PG rifle.

I must however concur that my 375 H&H with a lighter bullet really doesnt pound you notciably harder than the 7mm Rem Mag; and it is more versatile if you wanna hunt things that bite! But if its only PG i wouldnt hesitate with that 7mm Rem Mag!

Just get out and hunt!

 

[BigKnuckle]

Question, what gun makers even make rifles in .35 Whelen today?

Nosler, Remington, Ruger, CVA and I'm sure a couple more.

 

[Britt Beck]

Keep in mind you can always put a break on it.

 

[Dawidjvr]

I can only reiterate what has already been said...............I would hunt any of our African plains game with my 7mm Rem Mag. It is a great PG rifle with a decent bullet. (too many to choose........) So on that front dont hesitate to take it as PG rifle.

I must however concur that my 375 H&H with a lighter bullet really doesnt pound you notciably harder than the 7mm Rem Mag; and it is more versatile if you wanna hunt things that bite! But if its only PG i wouldnt hesitate with that 7mm Rem Mag!

Just get out and hunt!

Agree been hunting with it for the past 8 years in the Eastern Cape and up North in the Bush.
Fot the Bush I use a 180 gr Berger.
Luv the weapon

 

[BC.Pat]

Bear in mind any standard length action rifle can be converted to 35 Welend or 9.3x62 for a reasonable cost , I have done three CRF builds this way. As you have read from many of the "vets" here the 7mm is bit light for eland IMHO.
Will it work, sure. Is it ideal nope . Good question though
Regards
Pat

 

[ve7poi]

7mm ok will certainly do the job, but take your 30-06 180gr premium bullet it will do just as well for shots out to 300yds and you are use to it.

 

[MAdcox]

I agree with all the posts I scanned above. 7mag is going to be fine for PG if you put it where it needs to be.

In Limpopo this August a member of my group ( who has shot a 7mag for 30 years and is deadly accurate with it) took a 375H&H as his only gun in case he got a chance at a buff. He also shoots this gun well but made a poor shot on a Blesbok. Hitting it low in the chest, missing the heart and breaking the offside leg. It took 7 hours of amazing tracking and two more shots to finish this small animal.
I’ve been on an elk hunt with him and the 7 mag where he dropped a bull at 180 yards off hand.
Shoot what you shoot well (within reason), biggest caliber you can carry still has to hit the right spot.

 

[larry4831]

How bout a 9.3 x 62

 

[Dr Ray]

I am in the market for a new rifle and I'm looking for a larger caliber that I could use for bigger animals like elk and potentially take on safari for kudu, eland etc. I am man enough to admit that I am recoil sensitive so I am looking at the 7mm b/c it has recoil similar to the .30-06 which I can handle. I've done some reading and looked at ballistics charts, many say the 7mm is more then enough, others like Dr. Kevin Robertson in "The Perfect Shot" essentially says you're outgunned with anything less that a .375! Essentially, I need 'enough gun' for the large bodied animals that I can shoot well.

I just want to get some opinions before I drop money on a new rifle.

The 7 is a great cartridge. I would suggest that you use a 160 grain bullet. I had one years ago and it liked the heavy bullets.
It is very similar to the 300 win mag. Enjoy the power.