Hey ya' ll I could use a little help. A friend of mine, from back home, said he would reload my 7mm mag for free. I was going to buy what I needed and then take him everything. I was wondering if someone could give me an idea of what I need to buy, around how much it will be, and the better brands for the money. Also I was wanting to know about the right type of bullet. i.e. partitions, etc. A little background of where I hunt. I' m from GA, and I usually hunt fields where my farthest shot would be 180yds and my average would be 50yds. Another property I hunt can have much shorter shots. I am also wondering about the right grain cartridge for these areas. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks

To me Georgia means deer..... I go from there.

The 7MM mag would use a 139 gr Hornady SST, IMR 4831 powder, a magnum rifle primer and a generous helping of luck afield.

Thanks for the help, and we can all use the luck. lol

I have used a 7 Mag. extensively for many years. While the 139-grain is a good weight for KILLING deer, I have gone to a heavier bullet at lower velocity in order to have a LESS DESTRUCTIVE load! If you can take a broadside shot every time, and put it through the ribcage behind the front shoulder EVERY TIME, then the 139-grain load is good. It will put them down on the spot. However, if it gets into some meat, it will not only kill the deer, but cost you a lot of edible meat too!

I use the 175-grain Nosler Partition these days, loaded to about 2900-3000 FPS or thereabouts, and find it to be very flat-shooting with less meat damage, should it hit a meaty part! In addition, it provides you with ONE load that you can use on deer, plus anything larger you might encounter in North America.

For powders for the 7mm Rem. Mag. these days, I recommend H4831 on the fast side, followed by Norma MRP, Alliant RE 22, IMR 7828 (this powder was created by DuPont especially for the 7Mag.), and RE 25. Ffaster powders, like IMR 4831 and the various 4350s, will work but I prefer to fill up as much of the cartridge case as popssible for better shot-to-shot consistency. I recommend WW cases, because they are usually made from tougher brass, and Federal 215 primers for magnum cases.

My favorite deer load uses a 154gr hornady flat base spitzer and H1000 with a mag primer. H4831 would work as well. you don' t need or want premium bullets for deer. the old school lead core bullets work very well on deer sized animals.

i have a question of my own. most of the reloading data i have read says to use normal primers not the magnums. so why do most of y' all use magnums? is it because of the name 7mm mag or do they really help?


by the way i load 162gr hornady spbt in ww nickle cases chased by 62.5 grains of re22 and cci primers (normals not mags).

I use federal 215' s in all of my magnums because they provide consistant ignition in all conditions.My favorite bullet for the 7mm ' s is the 140gr partition.It works well on all game including elk and moose.If you are only hunting deer sized game the 140gr ballistic tip is a great choice.

I don,t use the 7Mag anymore but when I did I used H1000 powder and the Hornady 162btsp. I just loaded it to about 2700 fps to keep the Meat damage down. I am a Meat hunter only. I shot the same bullet from a 280 but used H4831 for that rifle. About the same velocity though.

The 175 gr. Partition also sounds good to me. Good luck.

I' ve got my 7mm mag loaded for long ranges shots, by that I mean 300 to 400 yards. I hunt a powerline alot and those long shots are fairly common. I agree with what everyone says about the heavier partitions for the ranges your talking about, but, for my gun the best load I' ve found is H4831 at 68.5 grains (that' s a max load in my gun) 140 grain nosler ballistic tip (I' m not a ballistic tip fan but it' s great for accuracy) and federal large rifle primers. Again, I practice the 400 yard shots and have confidence in a no wind situation. I don' t even think about it if the wind is blowing.