Barrel life with .532 bolt face

[Mike_R]

I have a Remington 700 in 7mm Rem mag and I am hoping to rebarrel it within the next few months. I am considering different chamberings as I like the ballistics of the 7 Rem mag but I would like more barrel life than the big 7 gives if possible. What I have read about the 7 WSM and 7 RSAUM seems to indicate longer barrel life due to less powder. Im open to other calibers besides 7mm as well. I reload so ammo availability isn't much of an issue. I realize something like a .308 would last many thousands of rounds with comparatively compromised ballistics but unless I ream out the action and get a PTG bolt I don't see that as an option.
Any opinions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BobinNC]

Re: Barrel life with .532 bolt face

7mm SAUM Case Capacity 74 grains
7mm WSM CC 80 grains
7mm Rem Mag CC 84 grains

30 cal variants of the above will have similar CC's, but will have better expansion ratios ( & longer barrel life) due to their larger bores.

As a comparison:

7mm-08 CC 54 grains
7x57 CC 59 grains
284 Win CC 67 grains
280 Rem CC 68 grains
280 AI CC 73 grains

If you are looking for better barrel life on .532" bolt face, then a round based on Rem SAUM's are the way to go.

Bob

 

[flyboy]

Re: Barrel life with .532 bolt face

How many rounds are you realistically looking to get out of a barrel? I also have a 7RM and it went south bad at 900, now my good friend has a 7WSM that he just sent to get re-barreled after 3200 rounds and still being MOA accurate at 600 yards till the last time out. Just going by my experience, I'm rebarreling mine to 7WSM.

 

[RTH1800]

Re: Barrel life with .532 bolt face

All of my big 7's have gone bad rapidly after 900-1100 shots. Shoot great up to the end then drop off a cliff. JMO

 

[Mike_R]

Re: Barrel life with .532 bolt face

Thanks for all the input. I am leaning towards the RSAUM, although after reading some articles on 6mmbr it looks like others favor the WSM case being necked up from the 270 or down from the 300 claiming longer necks and less case capacity. I havent found numbers for that case capacity reduction, but it looks like the RSAUM is a better choice anyway.

In the 7mm I love both the 120 grain vmax and the 162 amax but Im sure I could find others that work well also.

I would like 3000 plus rounds of barrel life. At the rate I shoot that would be a barrel every 2 years or so.

Any other magnum bolt face cartridges worth considering?

 

[buffybuster]

Re: Barrel life with .532 bolt face

Might want to take a look at the 6.5mm Remington Magnum. Essentially duplicate 6.5-284 ballistics in a .532 boltface. You could neck down a WSM or RSAUM to 6.5mm but that might be a bit too overbore and really shorten barrel life.