Range Report New 7 Rem Mag 180 VLD Range Report

[Garvey]

This was purpose built to be a hunting rifle, and I wanted it to shoot the 180 gr. Berger VLD Hunting. I tried to cut weight everywhere I could. I weighed it pretty crudely, but it shows to be a ten pound rifle, without ammo.

Rem 700
Rock Creek light palma, 1:8.5, finished at 26"
Kampfield spiral flutes
JEC brake
PTG tactical bolt knob
barreled action cerakoted in Flat Dark Earth
Manners T-4
Badger Ordinance bottom metal
EGW aluminum 20 MOA base
Talley Tactical aluminum rings
Vortex Viper PST 6-24X









I fouled it at home with 20 shots of 175 SMK and 64.0 gr. of Retumbo. I shot three sighters with the 175 SMKs then went to work on the load work-up. These were all shot at 500 yards with 180 Bergers, H-Retumbo, and Remington virgin brass.



70.8 gr, 71.2 gr, and 71.6 gr showed to be shooting in the node. So I went right in the middle and loaded five 71.2 gr. right then and there.



It chronoed at 2935 fps with an ES of 18. This group is pretty good, but not stellar. Maybe I'm spoiled to the grouping of a .260? I ran out of time this day, and had to head home. The next Saturday I went back to do some positional shooting with the .260 but had to try five shots of 71.6 gr of Retumbo in the 7. Every time I've shot this rifle at 500 yards I've had terrible mirage to deal with, and a drunken dancing point of aim.

I fired this string over about 15 minutes in 100F temp and varying left to right wind. Vertically it is awesome, horizontally it is horrible. This has me scratching my head as to which charge to run with.



The fifth shot was blown clean off the paper. This load chronoed at 2950 fps with an ES of 10. I shot 72.0 gr and it all went to shit, so it isn't even worth mentioning.

 

[dieselgeek]

Garvey that's a damn good looking rifle.

 

[dzlfarmboy]

Nice looking rig, I just got mine built and 20 rounds down the tube Sunday, and I'm looking to shoot the 180 or 168 Berger but my first shots seemed kinda slow with H1000 and retumbo. Gonna try a different chrono hopefully that one was off.

Stiller LA 7mm rem mag
Brux 1:9 Light Palma @24"
Manners Mcs T
Kampfeld brake
Timney trigger

Not sure what it weighs yet but I'm happy with the weight for an Elk back backing gun compared to my M40 contour .243

 

[brado16]

Garvey,

Nice looking rifle. What kind of COAL are loading to with the 180's?

 

[Capt Academy]

Garvey, nice looking rifle! I have my 7 RM, 27" Broughton barrel which was built by RBros shooting 180 VLD's at 3056 fps with 71 grains of Retumbo, Fed 215 m primers, and Win Brass. My elevation is 4900'. This rifle was also just built for hunting. In fact, I shot a Tahr at 500 yards with it this year in NZ. I have bigger caliber rifles, but this is becoming my favorite, perfect blend of weight and power out to 1k yds.

 

[Garvey]

Garvey,

Nice looking rifle. What kind of COAL are loading to with the 180's?

I don't know OAL. Bullets are jammed one thousandth and still fit in an A.I. mag. I can tell you it's not long, though. This barrel wasn't chambered with any freebore.

 

[mwroseberry]

Is your manners stock bedded? Usually horizontal deviation like that is a result of a poor mating surface between action and stock. If I was you I'd go with the lighter load of the two pictured. Your not giving up enough speed to worry about it. Thank you for running these tests as I'm going to be putting a Retumbo load together myself for this weekend. I have an H1000 load which shoots well but it's about 100fps slower than your retumbo load.

Good luck,
Merritt

 

[Garvey]

Yes it is bedded. The horizontal dispertion was most likely the 15 minutes I spent shooting that group. That's a badass bullet moving fast, but nothing is imune to variable 3-12 mph wind at 500 yards. I'm either going to go with the 71.2 gr that made 2935 fps or reshoot the 71.4 gr, but shoot the group a little faster. I better git to gitten though, hunting season is approaching and I need to bang some steel with one load that I decide to commit to.

You're welcome for the info. I had to start from scratch, there's no reason other folks should have to as well.

 

[Garvey]

I decided to go with the 71.2 gr. load. I made 50 rounds, and hit some steel this past weekend. It performed very, very well. 7.2 Mils at 1047 yards, 1261 ft/ lbs at that range. Ought to put the smack-down on anything I shoot it with. I filmed the shooting, and am trying to get the clips all edited together.

 

[jlfar0311]

Thanks for posting. I'm undertaking a 7mm RM project right now and will definitely come back to this to work up some loads.

 

[Garvey]

That's what it's here for.

Video of the 7 getting stretched out to 1047.

New 7mm Rem Mag, getting field dope to 1047 yards. - YouTube

 

[Capt Academy]

Thanks for sharing Garvey!

 

[Garvey]

You're welcome. I made a major screw up, but was man enough to leave it in the video. Ha! I've checked zero thousands of times, I guess I was like a kid with a new toy and let it get the better of me.

 

[Garvey]

Today it ran like a champ. To simulate a potential hunting shot I didn't check 100 yard zero. Cold bore was on a 10" plate at 300 yards. Good solid hit. Next shot was 500 yards on a 2/3 IPSC, hit, third shot was a 2/3 IPSC at 710 yards, splashed down wind .2 Mil DAMNIT! Follow up shot was center punch. I think the rifle will pile up an Elk and Mulie if I get the opportunity to see a shooter within range.

 

[Capt Academy]

I have seen that happen to some really great shooters! I'm not a great shooter, but have done that also a few times, despite shooting all my life. It happens to all of us sooner or later.

Garvey, on another note, how are your primer pockets holding up with that 71.2 grns of Retumbo? The primer pockets in my Win Brass do not seem to do well with my load of 71 grns of Retumbo, although accuracy is great. Someone mentioned that Win had some weak brass out last year, not sure though.

 

[Garvey]

When I was hunting down brass, last year I ended up with Remington brass, couldn't find any Winchester. I've had no issues with the Rem brass, including the primer pockets. But the rifle has only 100 rounds on it now, and that was all virgin brass. The 50 that I sized and reprimed still had tight primer pockets.

 

[Capt Academy]

I'll give the Rem brass a try. It's done very well in my 260, almost as good as the Lapua.

 

[Garvey]

Remington brass is all I could get my hands on for my .260 as well. It's been very consistent, and all sub 1/2 MOA. FL size, trim, flash hole debur, shoot em, bump the shoulders .003" and anneal after every third loading and it's worked as good as I could've hoped for.

 

[Powermac]

The best available brass for the 7 RM is Norma no doubt.
Although it's not cheap it's relatively easy to come by, very consistent compared to Rem or Win, and never had issues with primer pockets.
Sold my old 7RM, and waiting for a new build to complete, for big game hunting at extended range it's certainly hard to beat.
Recoil is very manageable and have plenty of knockdown power.
Will be using 175 grs Accubond LR's in it though, i have no love for match bullets for hunting, witch the Bergers essentially are.
For paper the 175 grs SMK's is my choice, since i don't have to chase the lands the same way, and they're less sensitive to throat erosion, they seem to give me longer useful barrel life, witch certainly don't hurt in a 7 RM.

 

[Capt Academy]

Are the LRAB for 7mm out yet?

 

[Garvey]

The Bergers in this report are labeled "hunting". They also happen to have the same BC as their target bullet, they just have a thicker jacket.

 

[Jumpalot]

The Bergers in this report are labeled "hunting". They also happen to have the same BC as their target bullet, they just have a thicker jacket.

I may be reading what you're saying wrong. But I want to clarify. The target bullets have the thicker jackets to stand up to longer shooting strings. The hunting version have the thinner jacket.

 

[Garvey]

Other way round, is my understanding. Thicker jacket to hold up when hitting tissue. Long strings of shooting make hot barrels, but that won't degrade the next bullet down the barrel.

 

[Jumpalot]

Other way round, is my understanding. Thicker jacket to hold up when hitting tissue. Long strings of shooting make hot barrels, but that won't degrade the next bullet down the barrel.

Nope. People get this wrong all the time. From the Berger website on the FAQ Page:

What is the difference between your bullet types? (Target/Tactical/Varmint/Hunting)

Our Target and Tactical bullets are designed with thicker jackets that withstand more stress before bullet degradation occurs. A target or tactical shooter generally fires multiple rounds in a row, causing the barrel to heat up and more stress on bullet. To keep performance high, we give these bullets thicker jackets.

Our Varmint and Hunting bullets have slightly thinner jackets. This means that the bullet will expand more effectively, creating a large wound cavity that devastates the animal using hydrostatic shock. Hunters generally shoot 1-3 bullets at a time, so bullet degradation is not as much of a concern as expansion.

Read more here: http://www.bergerbullets.com/information/line-and-designs/

 

[Graham]

It's all marketing. Either one takes game just fine. Shot placement is key.


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[Jumpalot]

Never said that they both wouldn't take game. I use the 215 grain Hybrids in my 300 Win. Mag and they work great. Just wanted to clarify that the Hunting VLD's have a thinner jacket then the Target VLD's.

It's all marketing. Either one takes game just fine. Shot placement is key.


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[Garvey]

Well since you quoted Berger, that makes me wrong. Now I know. Thank you.

 

[B Man]

Beautiful rig!

I'm wrestling with a custom built 7mag built solely for hunting also. I can't seem to get the thing below 3/4 moa with multiple loads, three hover 3/4 moa. I had 9 of my 162 amax loads for it I needed to shoot up to get all my brass loaded together again. I was finishing up a 168 gr berger load for my stock savage 112bvss and shot the A Max loads just for a beginning practice. The stock Savage shot a .4" 4shot group and a .5" 5 shot group at 100yds. Needless to say I quit on the berger load and shoot the accidental Amax load now. Still working on the custom built rifle.

Good luck with that pretty piece this up coming season.

 

[teamvit]

I have a complete &mm RM at home ready to go. I just need to get home and work up a load for it. I ordered a bunch of 168 VLDs and Some H1000