I am looking at building a 7mm rifle and have narrowed it down to three possible chamberings. I am looking for reasonable barrel life and good case(Powder) effeciency. Most importantly I am looking for it to be a hammer. I am planning on pushing a 180 gr VLD at 2950 or so FPS. I have read most of the articles from 6mmbr.com but what do you think?

7mm Rem SAUM
7mm WSM
7mm Rem Mag

Thanks for the advice guys.

If you are worried about barrel life I would think about .280 or .280 AI.

7 Mag gets my vote. It holds more powder, and the brass selection is much better. 7WSM is a good choice as well, but you may have magazine length issues with the heavier/longer bullets. Magnum cases and long barrel life don't go hand in hand, but they shoot bigger bullets pretty fast.

7wsm Gets my vote, absolute laser with decent barrel life and moderate recoil.

.280 and 7mm-08 get my votes

A HDY Custom factory hunting load .280 139gr SST load departs at 3000fps, and will stay supersonic out to 1kyd and very respectably outshoots my best handloads in both my .280's an R77 and an R77V. I seriously doubt that anything more thoroughly terminal would be needed; but if so, your 180 VLD's would definitely fill the bill.

The 7-08 will do at least as well as the .308 out to 1Kyd. The 7mm Nosler 120gr Ballistic Tip is one helluva bullet for both game and paper, and the 175gr VLD's are absolute cruise missiles.

Please note that both of these bullets/chamberings are suitible for both paper and meat.

Greg

Sounds like you need a 284 shehane.

My shooting partner toasted his 7mm RSUM premium cut barrel after 570 Rds. He did not help extend the life by hot loads, over cleaning and it has been suggested his choice of powder. The barrel maker though it might have been a metal issue also and replaced the barrel. However after speaking to others and several barrel mfg concluded that if he got 1500 rds out of it that would be good. This rifle is for 1000 yd F class to give you an idea of accuracy requirements. At present he is shooting a two barrels test, one barrel as is and the other he is going to have MELONITE® nitrocarburizing applied and see if that extends the life.

He doesn't need a 284 Shehane. Noone does, you must have been at the long range hunting match this weekend and got whooped by the Shehane .... I did too

Another vote for the Shehane, my barrel should be delivered around Christmas time.

I am curious, what do you consider toasted? Did the barrel go from say 0.5 MOA to 1.5 MOA or worst?

Lands caterpillar heat checked, rounded and could not shoot a minute or a 1 1/2 at 100. At 1000 yds looked like someone had shot the target with a shotgun loaded with buck shot. He normally is shoots in the 190s with a good x count, 5 inch x ring F class target.

That ass whooopin" just made me realize how much more my 6mm drifts at 1000yds as compared to the 284. (58" vs. 80")

For the speeds you want a 7 WSM would be great. 7-300WSM as well

I get 2860 fps at sea level with my 280 Ackley and 180 VLds

I have a 7/08 Ackley that should be here in a couple weeks. I plan on running the 168 Vlds. I hope to get 2775 to 2800 with it.

Both should have great barrel life!!!

How far are you going to shoot?

Want to be able to have a rifle that will compete in 1000 yard matches. But if I wanted to stretch it out to say 1500 that might be the high end. So I would say about 800-1500 yards.

How much does that make a difference??

7mmRM gets my vote.

Some cartridge that make it to 1000 yards will not always make it to 1500 yards.
I am looking for something similar.
Here is something that may help:
http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380958

If you are getting the rifle built by a gunsmith and reload then my advice is:

Long action and 284 Win loaded long. Use Lapua 6.5X284 Norma brass.

You can get the Shehane version if you want to pay extra for the reloading dies. Easier route is to buy VV N560 and get the speed what you want with the 180 VLDs. No real need to tinker Shehane chambering + RL17. BTW you can always opem up the chamber and dies to Shehane if the bug keeps getting to you. The other way does not work.

If you want to be able to buy ammo from the store then consider 7 Rem mag. You can buy ammo for it anywhere.

General rant from the other 7mm cartridges:

7 WSM is a little bit more difficult to get everywhere than 7mm RM and you can get proper brass only from Win. a 7/300WSM would be wiser and you could use Nosler, Norma, Win etc. 300 WSM brass. 7 SAUM is again on the fringe. Brass from Remington but does anyone else make it ? Norma or maybe Hornayd, I do not know.

.280 or .280 AI will of course work too but you will end up buying Lapua brass anyway. This time only 30-06. I think .284 Win is a better cartridge when loaded long than .280 AI.

You guessed right: I am in the middle of getting a .284 Win Long action getting built. In Finland 6.5X284 Lapua brass is easier to get than 7 WSM. The cost is about the same.

By the term loaded long you mean what?

He means that you load the bullets in such a way to maximize powder capacity, and you don't care about the OAL other than for consistency.

For Example.

308 Win has a book listed max COL of 2.82" I believe. "Loaded long" you can put heavier bullets into it and load it to 2.95-3.00" and get the extra powder in there as well as get the bullet up to the lands as you want.

No need to get real fancy with it. The 7mm RM and WSM will get the job done without fire forming or have to resize the brass from different calibers.

+1 on the 7mm RM, When I wanted to step up from the .308 everything I looked at said the 7mm family of cartridges were GTG for the shooting I wanted to do. I ended up with a 7mag and have enjoyed it. Theres lots of bullet options and good brass is available for the 7mag.

is the long cse of the 7mm Rem Mag less effecient than some of the other "short and fat cases"???

That's a common claim, and so is the "less inherently accurate" claim. Personally, other than things like the 9.3x74R I tend to discount that idea.

The 308 vs. 30-06 debate flares on here all the time, yet when people like MontanaMarine show back to back group tests his 06 shoots the same as his 308 does. Both precision sticks.

I think a more appropriate line of thinking is to think this way.

What is the most GEOMETRICALLY efficient way to package powder capacity? It's a roughly 1:1 ratio of length to diameter. The shoulder angle and length/diameter ratio play heavily into proper ignition, hence the inherent accuracy of a 6BR or 6PPC case.

Neither the 308, 30-06, 7RM, 7-08, etc have the necessary dimensions to mimic those stubby little BR cases, and are therefore really just a shooting myth in my mind.

Precision Shooting did an article about this idea in September.

The 280AI is intereasting where can I get more info about this round? I have a long action wanting to be rebarreled and this may be the ticket.

I'd suggest searching for it on here and taking a look over at 6mmbr.com

Hodgdon has 280 data, the AI picks up about 100fps on every load, the lighter bullets come up with 150fps or a little more sometimes.

It's a smokin' load, akin to the types of velocities that come from a 7/300WSM almost. Not quite, but almost.

Brass is better for it though, since you can get excellent 30-06 brass from half a dozen sources.

Sorry for the delay.

Originally .284 Win was meant to be used in a short action and max length was the same as for 308 Win i.e. 2.795" max.

.284 Win is much better with heavier bullets when it is loaded long. Long means here anything where the bullet base clears the junction of the neck of the brass. With Berger 180 VLD it is around 3.15". Ammo this long does not fit into most short action mags and might be difficult to remove from the rifle wihtout shooting it first. This ammo does fit into any long action out there that can house 30-06. as the mag lenght for 30-06 is around 3.3".

This means that 95% of all official load recipes for .284 Win is for the short Cartridge Overall length version and therefore the max loads are pretty tame when C.O.L is lengthened 0.35". No problem for experienced reloaders. Not so easy for novices who should stick to official reloading tables.

I think the 7wsm in a custom long action is the ticket for shooting 180's!!!!!!

ok i will say it
Many consider the 7SAUM to be better than the 7wsm

Ck 6br.com for info

My brother has sucessfully shot his .284 Wihchester to 1,600 yards using Berger 180s (long-throated to seat at OAL of over 3.1"). I have done the same with my 7WSM using the Berger 180s. Depending on your location, the 7 SAUM may be the best choice of the 3 (read my comments on the .284 page at 6mmBR.com).

A .284 Shehane or equivilant (I have one to my specs), is virtually identcal in performance to the SAUM, but requires fire forming. Its a longer than the SAUM when you seat the Berger 180 with its Bearing surface junction with the boat tail at the neck, shoulder junction of the brass, with slightly less case capacity - using a 28-30 inch barrel.

Jeffvn

yeah its a tough decision. I have read through all the 6mmBR.com pages and find that is great information. Something keeps drawing me to the WSM. BUT, i definately want the best and most effecient all around cartride in 7mm so I shall keep looking.