Thoughts on Remington 700 Long range 7mm mag

Acronin

New member
I just purchase a Remington 700 Long Range in 7mm magnum. I have a .300 Weatherby that I've sold to make room for this. I hope I made the right decision. The price was good at $525, I thought. It's brand new.

Does anybody have any experience with these rifles?

What scope in the $500 range do you suggest?

Bullet and powder suggestions?

Thanks
 
I had one for a short time. To be honest, it didn't impress me a whole lot but never really got around to serious load work before I traded it off. You got a way better price for yours than I did and like I said, I really didn't give mine a good chance. I think they are basically an SPS in a Bell&Carlson stock. I been looking at the same rifle in 25-06 but kinda holding back because of the experience I had with the 7 mag. They sure aren't Sendero's.
 
Buddy bought the same one in 7 mag, and was getting well under MOA 5 shot groups. No details on particulars though.
 
From what I'm told is that it all depends on the quality of barrel you get from the factory. Many have said you have between an 80-90% chance of getting a good one that will shoot. The other 10% will have trouble without barrel replacement. But the ones that shoot do it well. It kind of sounds like that's what you guys have experienced.
 
I just bedded one for my nephew.

65.5g OF imr 4350
Rem brass
Rem 9 1/2
140g Nosler Accubond: TOUCHING THE LANDS FOR BEST ACCURACY
3265 fps
Groups were less than 1/2" at 100, 1 1/2" at 300, 6.5x20x Leupold VariX-III with target knobs
Now to take it to 600

the above load shoots very well in MOST 7 mags from 65-66g of IMR 4350, about the same with H(if you can find any). Main issue is to seat the bullet to touch the lands. Noslers of various kinds shoot extremely well with this load, ballistic tip and partition, and tipped and non tipped trippple shock(seat the barnes .050 off the lands). This seems to be a generic load for 7 mags, but if you don't seat the bullets to touch the lands, you may be sorely disappointed. Savages and Brownings are the same.

The Remington LR in 7 Mag is one of the very best deals I have seen in a long time as they shoot like a custom rifle.

Make sure the magazine box floats between action and floor plate!!!!

I shoot the new and old 140g Ballistic tips in mine, never had any problems. I killed two bull elk with the 140g partition up in Flagstaff with the same load, they were bang flops while on a dead run. One of them kicked a hind leg three times, the other never even kicked.

I shoot the tipped triple shock in another load:

Win brass
Fed 215 Gold Metal Match
67g of R#17
Bullet seated .050 off the lands
3300 fps
Good killing load, but deer will often run, but with an easy blood trail to find.


If you want to shoot a load where the deer absolutely do NOT run:

160g Sierra BTSP
Rem brass
CCI 250
61g of IMR 4831
3000 fps

I bet my family has killed several hundred deer with this load. The only deer that I have ever seen run after being hit was shot at 270 yards, chasing a doe, Quartering to me on a logging road. The doe ran out into the logging road at full speed with her tongue haning out. I knew a buck was close behind her, got my rifle up, safety off. The doe ran down the road about 50 yards, then crossed the road. The buck ran up the road for a ways, then crossed the road, then stopped for a split second just before he went into the woods. I shot him straight on the shoulder, he went down on the front end, jumped back up, and ran into the woods with a front leg flopping. I knew he would not go far. I was shocked as this is the only deer that I have ever seen move with thi sload after being hit!

40 yards into the woods, he lay piled up, and I followed the blood and bone trail. It was 6* outside, Lineville, Alabama, very beginning of the rut, where there was only a gas station that had an old black lady, with a bad attitude, cooking the very best pork tender lion biscuits that I have ever had, about the size of a saucer. I pulled the tendon off my left elbow dragging that 200 lb 8 pointer that very cold morning.

This is one of the very best deer killing loads that I have ever shot, right speed on that 160g Sierra BTSP. If you hunt in a Jungle where you need to stop deer in their tracks, this is the load for you!
 
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Ackley man, thanks for the low down. I have heard a lot of people say 162gr Amaxs, and other say 140gr VLD's. Im thinking that deer need to be piled up when j shoot with it so I may find a box of those 160gr SGK's. We don't hunt in a jungle, but we have a small property and I just as soon not have anything jump the fence.
 
+1 on the 160 grain SBTSP and IMR 4350 or IMR 4831 for the 7MM mag.

As for the quality comment above, all 700 barreled actions are the same except for the finish. Any barreled action in a B&C or H-S Precision bedding block stock is a huge leap above the SPS in quality.

With any factory rifle, barrel quality is always a question.
 
I never though the barrels on the sendero's were anything different that any other Remington 700 varmint... I have a 25-06 Sendero that shoots lights out with my load, but last year I decided to work up a different load for it and I spent a good chunk of money and time not making any improvement...
 
xphunter's group is fantastic, and the 162g Hornady BTSP is an elk bullet, or very large hog bullet that will shot holes through both shoulders.

I had buttkus for luck with a 162g A max, but fantastic luck with the 162g SST which is a very, very tough bullet with the following load:

Rem brass
162g SST, seated to touch the lands
71g of Retumbo
215 fed primer
3100 fps
Shot groups like Xphunter's above
this is a safe working max load for my Remington, with your components and rifle, work up to this load, start at 69g and go up, touch the lands with the 162sst

Two friends went to Africa with this load, killed all 6 of the Plain's game including Kudu and Eland with the 162g sST. The PH was so impressed at how fast this load killed he wrote an article on it.

I have only killed paper with the 162 SST, But with the regularity of how well hit shoots on many outings to the range, I had to mention it. I have also shot the 168g Berger Classic hunting and the Berger VLD Hunting with this load that all shoots very tight groups in the Rem's.

Remington 700's in the 7 Magnum are just extremely accurate rifles, bedded with the barrels free floated, good trigger job, and good glass.
 
This load was used for antelope and deer.
Lightweight rifle.
Changed scopes for hunting though...Lightweight Kahles.


 
Each barrel is different.
Some are picky, while others are not.
Start with the bullet you want, and go from there.
This Proof Rifle shot the very first load I tried-Absolutely no load development.
Other than picking a load (Hornady brass/68.0 grains H-1000/162 A-Max/Fed Match Primer), and then seating the bullet out to where it would function in the magazine.
I wish it was always that easy
smile.gif

I did shoot that group with the bi-pod and field bag.
 
I have an older Rem BDL in 7mm mag that I dearly love. A friend had a Remington 40XB that we took to the range and found that there was a turkey shoot going on. A couple of guys were winning everything using an Anshutz 222. I used the XB and consistently beat them with it. Not common in those days to beat a 222 with a larger caliber. I used the Sierra 160 gr spitzer. Since the change of manufacturers for IMR powders the powder I used is no longer the same although it goes by the same name. IMR 4831.

With my BDL I've killed mountain goats, caribou and deer both in Alaska and the Lower 48. The 7mm Rem mag is a great cartridge.
 
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