7mm Rem Mag short Barrel Length question

[Sekaf]

So just retired, I live in a small community in southeast alaska on an island. When I was 16 bought my first real rifle Remington 700 BDL 7mm Rem Mag.
Now that I’m 64 and the gun has been shot quite, I was thinking of getting it Blue printed and rebarreled. Where we hunt is a lot of alder bottoms, muskegs, beaches.
a long shot would be 200 yards.
so I’ve loaded for the 7mm Mag and my gun LOVED the 175 grain Partition. The Sitka Blacktail are small and it doesn’t take much to kill them, my days of Mt Goat hunting are done, done a bunch of that. So I would like to build a smaller rifle like with a 20” carbon barrel. I understand the 24” is preferre, Will this be unwise in the 7mm Mag? Also dealing with my old action, is that not a smart idea? We no longer have smith in town, I have no idea to who to go to. Thought?
Also open to the idea of a 7mmPRC.
Blessings,
keith

 

[diggler1833]

Keith,

While the logistics of sending off an action are a little more difficult for you, it is done all the time. Too many great 'smiths across the country to list.

Either the 7RM or 7PRC is doable in 20", with a slight edge (probably, not personally experienced) to the PRC in efficiency, but a big bonus to the 7 RM in availability at this point in time.

 

[Im2bent]

You could do a remage barrel. For what you want to do no reason to blueprint. Put it together yourself. There's these guys don't have any experience with the brand. But this thread seems encouraging.

Any love for x-caliber barrels?

Just wondering if anyone has anything feedback on their barrels? I don't see much posted about them or any for sale on the buy-sell forum.

www.snipershide.com

Rem/Ages Carbon Fiber Prefit Barrel

Our popular Rem/Age Prefit Barrels, now available in carbon fiber! Muzzle Brake Not Included.

www.x-caliber.net

 

[Sekaf]

I’m not familiar with remage? I assume you buy barrel and screw it on yourself with a go, no go gauges?

 

[Im2bent]

I’m not familiar with remage? I assume you buy barrel and screw it on yourself with a go, no go gauges?

Exactly it uses a barrel nut you set the headspace tighten the nut done

 

[Garvey]

So just retired, I live in a small community in southeast alaska on an island. When I was 16 bought my first real rifle Remington 700 BDL 7mm Rem Mag.
Now that I’m 64 and the gun has been shot quite, I was thinking of getting it Blue printed and rebarreled. Where we hunt is a lot of alder bottoms, muskegs, beaches.
a long shot would be 200 yards.
so I’ve loaded for the 7mm Mag and my gun LOVED the 175 grain Partition. The Sitka Blacktail are small and it doesn’t take much to kill them, my days of Mt Goat hunting are done, done a bunch of that. So I would like to build a smaller rifle like with a 20” carbon barrel. I understand the 24” is preferre, Will this be unwise in the 7mm Mag? Also dealing with my old action, is that not a smart idea? We no longer have smith in town, I have no idea to who to go to. Thought?
Also open to the idea of a 7mmPRC.
Blessings,
keith

Ironically, I have an old Sako 7 Rem Mag in for load development. He told me he needed a mild load. And the rifle was shooting like shit. The forearm was touching everywhere it could. I started opening up the forearm and quickly realized the lack of a front pillar and no bedding was a major problem. Long story short. The rifle got two pillars, bedded, and the barrel cut down to 20", and a new/better brake installed.

Data from yesterday with a 162 gr .-005" from the lands. H-Retumbo. 2795 to 2900 fps MV.

Today, I had to play with seating depth, because I wasn't quite satisfied. The ending load is 2860 fps MV.

That'll probably kill anything big enough to die.

 

[FuhQ]

So just retired, I live in a small community in southeast alaska on an island. When I was 16 bought my first real rifle Remington 700 BDL 7mm Rem Mag.
Now that I’m 64 and the gun has been shot quite, I was thinking of getting it Blue printed and rebarreled. Where we hunt is a lot of alder bottoms, muskegs, beaches.
a long shot would be 200 yards.
so I’ve loaded for the 7mm Mag and my gun LOVED the 175 grain Partition. The Sitka Blacktail are small and it doesn’t take much to kill them, my days of Mt Goat hunting are done, done a bunch of that. So I would like to build a smaller rifle like with a 20” carbon barrel. I understand the 24” is preferre, Will this be unwise in the 7mm Mag? Also dealing with my old action, is that not a smart idea? We no longer have smith in town, I have no idea to who to go to. Thought?
Also open to the idea of a 7mmPRC.
Blessings,
keith

I think a 20" 1:8 twist 7mm RemMag would be fine. And a Proof Research CF barrel would be a great selection. The trick with a shorter magnum, you have to use specific powders to make up for the lack of barrel. For example, I had one of my 7mm RemMag's cut down from 26" to 22.5" and threaded for a suppressor. I was getting around 3,046 with a Berger 168 VLD with IMR 7828 SSC in the 26" barrel. Then after cutting it down, I reworked a load with IMR 7977, and 168 VLD's and changed nothing but the powder and charge weight, and ended up getting 2,931 after cutting the same barrel down to 22.5". So, chopping almost 4" off the barrel, and I only lost about 100 FPS. Was it worth cutting it down... Definitely. The added rigidity of the shorter barrel also improved groups from around 3/4" (26"), to 1/4"-1/3" (22.5").

Your old action is probably smoother and made to tighter tolerances than the new Remingtons are. I wouldn't even think twice about having it blueprinted and rebarreled.

You could always go 7mm PRC, and that's not a bad option. My next 7mm build will be a 7mm PRC to go along with my 7mm RemMags. Ballistically, the 7mm PRC is basically equal to the RemMag, if you load the 7mm RemMag to modern pressures and with modern components and brass.

As far as good smiths, Long Rifles Inc. is a good one.