Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

[B Man]

Some of you may have seen in the Bolt action forum I'm having a custom rifle built now and I was b/t the 7mm rem mag./7mm wsm. I have pretty much went for the Rem mag but as a main concern which has the better brass life and ease of loading?

Thanks,
Brandon

 

[RobG]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

My 7mmRM has been very easy to load for. I get about 7-8 loadings before the primer pockets loosen up.

 

[Jeffvn]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

My Winchester 7WSM brass goes roughly 7-8 firings before they get tossed into the recycle bin from loosened primer pockets.

JeffVN

 

[sandwarrior]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

With the slightly more taper in a 7 Rem mag., the WSM 'should' last longer. If you are loading both up to their potential. That is of course if you neck size the 7mm Rem mag and headspace off the shoulder and not the belt. If you full length the 7mm Rem mag., and headspace off the belt, I wouldn't go more than 4-5 loadings with it. Yes, I did load for it and yes, I got incipient case head separation...just above the belt. That was the 6th load.

However, use a slower powder and back them both off just a bit and they will give very long service life. Don't forget to anneal.

 

[Bacarrat]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

My last WSM barrel I went 16 reloadings on Winchester brass and only lost 4 cases out of the whole lot of 200 either due to split necks or I jacked it up resizing the cases.

Mostly neck sized, full length resize every 4th or 5th firing and annealed too. I finally retired those cases after getting a new barrel put on.

 

[Gruff]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

Just to throw this out there, I've got 6 loadings on 50 pieces of 7mm SAUM (Remington) brass and they still look new. I know there is more expensive brass available, but the Remington brass serves my purposes well. Primer pockets are still tight, no ejector marks on the heads. I get the same (or better) performance as the RM and WSM using less powder. What's not to like?

 

[former naval person]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

Probably a wash overall...if you got a few less loadings with the Rem Mag, the brass cost is less than the WSM or SAUM. If you hunt with it and lose a few pieces in the fever of the moment, a few reloading cycles won't matter. Plus...if you DO hunt with it, you can get 7mmRem mag loaded ammo most anywhere in hunting country. Try to find SAUM or WSM in a general store in Cameron, MT. JMHO

 

[B Man]

Re: Brass life 7mm Mag. vs. 7mm WSM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: former naval person</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Probably a wash overall...if you got a few less loadings with the Rem Mag, the brass cost is less than the WSM or SAUM. If you hunt with it and lose a few pieces in the fever of the moment, a few reloading cycles won't matter. Plus...if you DO hunt with it, you can get 7mmRem mag loaded ammo most anywhere in hunting country. Try to find SAUM or WSM in a general store in Cameron, MT. JMHO </div></div>


That is a pro for the R M in my decisions is I can get my hands on the brass easier that 7 wsm. I searched and searched for an answer to this question with no luck. This helped seems to be a wash on brass life.