caliber decision

[littlebuf]

decided after shooting justins rifle this weekend that I need to build one off a tikka action in much the same manner. already have the tikka, 300 win mag now I just need to decide what caliber to go with. looking at the 7mm's but to be perfectly honest I don't have any experience with the 7mm's. its going to be a magnum and its going to be built for 1000 yrd hunting. what say you and why

 

[HellsCanyon]

Since your an archery elk Hunter you won't have much need for a big 30 or 338 caliber. it's hard to go wrong with a good 7mm caliber. High BC bullets and fast speeds. You'd be served extremely well with a 7WSM. Do you hand load?

Mike

 

[Shrek]

Littlebuff , if you don't handload now you need to start if you want to shoot to 1000 yards . I'm also a 7mm wsm fan.

 

[Sam Millard]

I switched from a 300Wthby to a 7WSM 2 years ago as a 0-800 yard gun. Very efficient round. In a light rifle, the recoil won't pound you, either!

The bolt face on the Tikka should be close or the same. You will definitely need to hand load for it.

 

[Shrek]

If you do decide to go with a 7mm wsm I would put in an order for brass now. Who knows how long it will take to get some. 7mm wsm is one of the harder to find cases right now. There is some excellent reading on the accurateshooter.com webpage about the 7mm family.

 

[littlebuf]

I've been reloading for years. Cant remember the last time I shot factory ammo, other than 22 maybe

 

[littlebuf]

How about a wildcat in 7mm. Any one have experience in that department?

 

[Shrek]

Not really needed and a bunch of extra work.

 

[Shrek]

Interesting in the wildcat dept is the 7mm / 300 wsm. Slightly less powder but a longer neck. Might not be a bad idea since you may end up fire forming norma 300 wsm brass anyway. Initial set up cost is higher with custom dies and custom reamer that your smith may have to buy if he can't find one to rent but better barrel life.

 

[Justin Crossley]

If you do decide to go with a 7mm wsm I would put in an order for brass now. Who knows how long it will take to get some. 7mm wsm is one of the harder to find cases right now. There is some excellent reading on the accurateshooter.com webpage about the 7mm family.

That's exactly right. I've had the 7mm wsm brass on order for five months now. I prefer the standard 7mm mag.

I'm about to set two of them (Tikka 7mm mags) up in the next couple weeks so we will be able to really play around and see what you think.

 

[Shrek]

Justin , if you are short on brass or want to upgrade yours you can fire form it from 300 wsm. I may go that way if I don't find some soon. I have 50 pieces unfired but I would feel better about 200 in my possession. A neck die , pistol powder , and cream of wheat and you don't have to waste bullets or burn up your barrel. Norma brass is pretty good brass.

 

[littlebuf]

any particular reason no ones mentioned the 7mm RUM

 

[Shrek]

Long , older design is less efficient. Belted and the issues related , run out of magazine with long bullets. The 7mm wsm lets you seat the long heavy vld bullets out of the case body in a long action giving less turbulence around the base at firing and optimizing case capacity for slow burning powders. No magazine mods needed for the 7mm wsm in a long action. The short fat case with relatively little taper gets more power from your powder. When you start crunching ballistics and buying custom built purpose driven rifles you soon loose interest in nostalgic old rounds. The 7mm rem mag is a great work horse of a hunting round but it's not leading edge long range material. Thats not to say it won't work .

 

[realunlucky]

I know someone with a rum they love it. It is a high end custom and if I ever drew a sheep tag id be trying borrow it. Plenty to read about 7 rum other than shooting this one rifle i have no experince sorry

 

[realunlucky]

No love for long actions any more

 

[littlebuf]

reading up on the 7wsm and its looking pretty good

 

[Justin Crossley]

any particular reason no ones mentioned the 7mm RUM

I don't think you can fit that in your action.
Speaking of that, what is the length inside your magazine right now? I think the Tikka mags are longer than most guns.

Shrek,
Thanks for the tip. I fire form brass for my 6.5-06 Ackley so I know how to do it. I just don't really feel like messing with it for a standard caliber.

 

[Justin Crossley]

Trevor,
Next week we can shoot the 7mm wsm and the 7mm mag side by side and you can really see what you like better.

 

[littlebuf]

I didn't know you had a 7wsm, that would be cool. the more I look into it the more I think ill go that direction. I was kicking around the idea of a 30-378 but when we were talking barrel length im thinking id like to keep it around 27" . think I would get more out of the 7 at that length than the 30

 

[Shrek]

Another thing to consider is bullet design and material limits. Somewhere around 3150 to 3200 you start to have bullet failure in bullets that will still open and perform on game at 1200 fps. To make the bullet tough enough to be launched at 3300 + fps it fails to open at an even shorter range than most "standard" vld bullets. The new long range accubonds are working towards this problem but I doubt they are all they are claiming. Their claimed bc's are already proving to be over promised and I suspect their reliable minimum opening velocity will be higher than claimed. To the point , it's pointless to get a bigger case to push the bullet faster than it will hold together. If you want more energy down range you need a bigger bullet . Thats the problem of the 7mm rum. More powder and velocity than the bullets can take. The 7mm wsm falls in the sweet spot of bullet performance and velocity. If the 7mm 195gr bullets come to market then maybe the 7mm rum will find its huckleberry.