If anyone can point me in a direction for picking a factory round that shoots well in this combo, that would be appreciated. It's not going to be a gun that gets shot enough for me to get dies & components to work up a hand load. Probably looking to shoot 150-160 gr bullets, willing to look at most any hunting bullet. Premium or mid grade, as long as it shoots I'll be happy.
__________________
Just a regular guy who likes to hunt
Location: S.W. Pa.-- Heart in North Central Pa. mountains-
Posts: 2,508
Quote:
Originally Posted by rybohunter
If anyone can point me in a direction for picking a factory round that shoots well in this combo, that would be appreciated. It's not going to be a gun that gets shot enough for me to get dies & components to work up a hand load. Probably looking to shoot 150-160 gr bullets, willing to look at most any hunting bullet. Premium or mid grade, as long as it shoots I'll be happy.
..........Wow. That's a lot more complicated than it seems up front. Basically what it comes down to is that your gun will be the one to tell you what it likes. Feeding it premium ammo may or may not give you what you're looking for. Some guns do best with the el-cheapo stuff, and distain the high-priced spread. Do you have any friends that are shooting the same cartridge as you? If so, see if they are shooting different FACTORY ammo than you have bought, and if you can try a couple or three. Don't worry about where they are hitting the paper, just how they group. A word of caution here... please don't try anyone else's reloads for their guns in yours. Not a safe practice for a bunch of reasons.
It may cost a bit to experiment with various brands/specs ammo to find the best performer in your particular gun, but that is generally how it has to be done....
after just recently starting to handload, im surprised you dont wanna hand load for it...
though i know you like to hunt with your bow and handguns and such and likely wont pick up the 7mag much...
dies, brass, a pound of powder, some brass, and a box of good bullets and your ready to go...you might not find a load that cuts serious holes with 1 powder and 1 bullet...but, you will most likely match factory ammo accuracy pretty easily...and likely exceed factory results if you tinker with charges a bit...
i just tested 7 different charges in my 35 whelen i just got...same powder..same bullet..out of that, i had 4 charges shot 1.5" or less and one was .75"...
and 7mag ammo aint cheap...not tryin to talk you into handloading..but if you already have the rest of the stuff, dies and components will last you forever and you'll save a ton...3 boxes of shells will run you over the cost of dies and components i bet...
factory ammo, my mauser really liked Hornady...and ive shot ALOT of different ammo through it..from cheap stuff to high end winchester, federal, hornady etc...
__________________
>>----Give 'em the shaft!--->
All the reloading components would cost me WELL over a box of shells, probably 2-3. Add on the time to mess around with it, to me it's just not worth it for a gun that in all honestly may never even get shot at a critter. I've seen numerous times where several guys have had one load shoot well out of a particular model. I guess this isn't one of them.
__________________
Just a regular guy who likes to hunt
I've ran all sorts of stuff through my 7 and friends' 7s. They all shoot fair...from Wolf to Winchester Supreme, though mine hasn't had a factory dose through it. I gun 120gr SPs through mine at modest speeds and deer don't like 'em, nor do they care for anything else from the 7. Pick one....
__________________
He who laughs last, laughs last.
Sarcasm is just one more FREE service I offer!
I have found that my 7mm RM shoots everything good (around 1 inch)...my go to rounds are Winchester's Supreme 150 grain BST (0.5 inches from my rifle) and Federal Supreme 160 grain Nosler Partitions (0.70 inches from my rifle).
In truth, I have shot... Winchester powerpoint, silvertip and BSTs, Remington Core-lokt, Managed Recoil, Federal Hi-shok, Nosler partition, Ballistic tips, etc...all reasonably well. Longest shot I took on a deer was 285 yards with Remington Core-lokt...1 shot: dead deer.
You need to try several types to find out what your gun likes and what you are comfortable with.
Remington model 700 & Factory ammo (7mm mag)
