Looking for a New 7mm to Shoot

[BLCT]

Hey all, First and formals I am not sure if this is in the right place or even forum, mods feel free to move it!

I am new to LR shooting! I've been shooting my 6.5 CM for the past two years and I finally am starting to burn out the barrel on my HOWA M1500 Chassis Rifle. I purchased a bore camera for my barrels and I see lots of fire/barrel cracking. I've shot about 2100~ish through the gun, and I've notice when I am going to confirm zero it's always off, I am double sometimes triple checking the wind, weather, and lastly the ammo and I am starting to notice that my groups are getting bigger and bigger at 200yrds. I thought I was doing something wrong, until someone suggested that maybe I have burnt out the barrel life. It is indeed burnt out.

I love my 6.5 CM, and I am not ready to give up on that caliber just yet. I happen to have a spare Tikka T3x in 270 Win. I am looking to get that gun rebarreled to a new 7MM cartridge w/ a 28, maybe 30" barrel. I recently got a good deal for a Savage 110 in 7mm Rem Mag so that will be replacing my 270Win for all my hunting needs, also I am very impressed with the 7mm bullets, lots of high BC 7mm bullets seem to be available. I am also planning to get into reloading, so I am okay with not having any/limited factory ammo support. Here are the cartridges I am currently looking at, these are mostly going to be used for ELR/LR shooting and possibly F-class? I mostly shoot in Canadian Crownlands at distances varying from 200-1200yards, mostly shooting at around 500~ish and up. I am looking to shoot more heavier stuff, (170-190gr Berger bullets). The powder that I can easily get are Hodgdon Varget, H4831SC, H335, H1000, IMR 4350, and 4064.

1) 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Mag (7 SAUM)
- Lots of F-Class shooters use them, great reputation
- Better suited in longer actions
- Cannot find a single brass source
- Dies seems to be fairly expensive and scare

2) 7mm Sherman Short (7 SS)
- Easy to buy brass & reamers (rentable from Sherman's website)
- Can buy dies from Sherman

3) 7mm-6.5 PRC
- Easy to find 6.5 PRC brass (I'm located in Canada, seems to be easy enough to resize using a resizing mandrel. Feel free to educate me on this)
- Very skeptical on the performance?
- Not a single clue how dies work on these

5) 7mm Sherman Max
- From what I see, it is pretty much a "better" version of a 7 SAUM (Less case trimming due to the angle of the shoulder)
- Plus everything on the 7 SS

4) 7mm PRC ?
- New hot 7mm, haven't found any information on it, thoughts? or specs? How does it compare to the legendary 7 SAUM?
- Hornady seems to be really pushing this from the factory, dies and brass seems that it will be more readily available in the future. However only time will tell

What other cartridges do you guys recommend? Feel free to berate my choices, I am still learning so I'm all ears!
- Cheers!

 

[JD Jones]

Any preference in action length? You listed a few more shorts but maybe that’s just coincidence.. 280AI is seeing some recent trends in F Class I read somewhere. I enjoy mine and but it’s also my hunting cartridge of choice. If I was just shooting at the range I’d look at what option burns the least powder and easiest on barrels as well as on the shoulder for the same advantage of high BC bullets. Not sure which one would come out on top.

 

[BLCT]

Any preference in action length? You listed a few more shorts but maybe that’s just coincidence.. 280AI is seeing some recent trends in F Class I read somewhere. I enjoy mine and but it’s also my hunting caliber of choice. If I was just shooting at the range I’d look at what option burns the least powder and easiest barrels as well as on the shoulder for the same advantage of high BC bullets. Not sure which one would come out on top.

I don't have a action length preference, I already have a 7mm Rem Mag, so I figured I'll skip out on the 280AI. They seem to both be within 100-200fps differences. But I can say 280AI was close to being on my list!

 

[JD Jones]

With that logic I’d probably leave the 7prc off the list for now. I do have zero doubt that Hornady has another winner with the 7.

The Sherman’s interest me the most on your list and the SAUM 12 months ago I would have said would be my choice. The brass is a non starter for me and I had 200 cases before I went another route.

And just real life experience: I get 7mag (within 50-75fps) performance on my 280ai without a belt but* less brass options for sure

 

[WeiserBucks]

Take a look at the 284 Winchester while you're at it.

 

[BLCT]

With that logic I’d probably leave the 7prc off the list for now. I do have zero doubt that Hornady has another winner with the 7.

The Sherman’s interest me the most on your list and the SAUM 12 months ago I would have said would be my choice. The brass is a non starter for me and I had 200 cases before I went another route.

And just real life experience: I get 7mag (within 50-75fps) performance on my 280ai without a belt but* less brass options for sure

I've thought about match loading a 7mag to see where it leads me. But from what I read, it seems to be that you can run into issues with longer bullets on the 7Mag with bullet seating, and pushing that bullet out more. So the bullet is more exposed (not sure what it is called)?

7PRC seems interesting, its a similar to the 7mag/280AI. But it has some match grade chamberings and stuff, which almost guarantees "half a minute" with the right builds.

I've also stumbled upon the 7mm-300 PRC/Win Mag. But they seem like a true barrel burner, reports up to 1000-1200~ rounds till firecracking yikes...

How difficult was it to find 7 SAUM brass? 200 brass seems long enough to last you the life of its barrel, assuming you can shoot each brass 10 times, so 2000 rounds.

 

[BLCT]

Take a look at the 284 Winchester while you're at it.

Thanks will do!

 

[JD Jones]

How difficult was it to find 7 SAUM brass? 200 brass seems long enough to last you the life of its barrel, assuming you can shoot each brass 10 times, so 2000 rounds.

Wasn’t easy and it cost. I ended up going down the 280ai road. I don’t know if I’d get 10x firings either. I don’t aneal my brass so maybe 10x could be possible but not sure. When pockets start getting loose or after 5 firings I’ll toss brass

 

[Jimbee]

I'm building a .284win for funsies.
Brass is still available.

Lapua Brass 284 Winchester Box of 100

Lapua World-class brass begins with high-quality raw materials and superior smelting and metallurgical competence. Throughout the production process,...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[BLCT]

I'm building a .284win for funsies.
Brass is still available.

Lapua Brass 284 Winchester Box of 100

Lapua World-class brass begins with high-quality raw materials and superior smelting and metallurgical competence. Throughout the production process,...

www.midwayusa.com

What's the performance expectations for at 28" barrel?

Wasn’t easy and it cost. I ended up going down the 280ai road. I don’t know if I’d get 10x firings either. I don’t aneal my brass so maybe 10x could be possible but not sure. When pockets start getting loose or after 5 firings I’ll toss brass

What are your thoughts on a 28 nosler? It seems to be easy to find nosler brass up here in Canada.

 

[JD Jones]

What are your thoughts on a 28 nosler? It seems to be easy to find nosler brass up here in Canada.

Badass/Fun/capable long range hunting round….but not interested in one for plinking. The barrel gets toasted fast. Feeding it is costly. I have a friend with 2 28nos.

 

[Jimbee]

What's the performance expectations for at 28" barrel?

What are your thoughts on a 28 nosler? It seems to be easy to find nosler brass up here in Canada.

I'm going with an 18" supresssed tikka. I have some hornady 180 eldms. I imagine they will be capable of killing stuff way beyond my shooting abilities.

 

[Jimbee]

I've rebarreled a few tikkas with prefits. My first step is buying brass.

 

[BLCT]

I've rebarreled a few tikkas with prefits. My first step is buying brass.

I agree, 7 SAUM brass right now is unobtainium sadly. Those Shermans are also a good option but I am looking at $220 USD (100 brass) before shipping, and importation fees.... Will probably spend closer to $400usd for all of those combined with the reamer rental. I might just be stuck with 7mm-6.5 PRC, the brass is pretty readily available up here in Canada.

I've really wanted that 7 SAUM but as what JD jones said, its pretty rare sadly.

Wasn’t easy and it cost. I ended up going down the 280ai road. I don’t know if I’d get 10x firings either. I don’t aneal my brass so maybe 10x could be possible but not sure. When pockets start getting loose or after 5 firings I’ll toss brass

I might just wait for the 7mm PRC or compare the differences with the two and just settle on the cheaper option, which I think is the 7mm-6.5 PRC atm.

I'm building a .284win for funsies.
Brass is still available.

Lapua Brass 284 Winchester Box of 100

Lapua World-class brass begins with high-quality raw materials and superior smelting and metallurgical competence. Throughout the production process,...

www.midwayusa.com

Will do research on the .284win, thanks for the recommendation!

 

[100percent]

No offense but, reading between the lines, you don’t know what you don’t know! Pick what you think you like and start from there. Reloading is a life’s work! Nuances abound and everyone has their personal tastes and preferences. You will find that there is no magic caliber and limitations are generally determined by the operator! Have fun along the way but, more importantly, BE SAFE!

 

[Rob5589]

.284 Win, chambered correctly for 180's. H4831sc will get you in the 2750+ range with a 28" tube. The Tikka action isn't really suited for LA cartridges and long bullets.

 

[Mag_7s]

A lot of good cartridges mentioned so I won't weigh in but if I read your post correctly you want to re chamber your. 270 win? If that's the case you'll need to stick to standard cartridge bolt face (.480). 7Saum, 28 Nosler, 7 PRC will require a bolt swap to magnum (.550).

7Mag with bullet seating, and pushing that bullet out more. So the bullet is more exposed (not sure what it is called)?

Longer throated?

 

[BLCT]

A lot of good cartridges mentioned so I won't weigh in but if I read your post correctly you want to re chamber your. 270 win? If that's the case you'll need to stick to standard cartridge bolt face (.480). 7Saum, 28 Nosler, 7 PRC will require a bolt swap to magnum (.550).

I've done some research, good thing about Tikka T3x's are that Tikka them selves want to limit the amount of SKUs that they have. Their bolt faces are all compatible with different calibers, you just have to "shim" them into the desired spec.

Something goes for the action, It is all the same action (long action, short action). There is just a bolt stop that needs to be trimmed. Trim that to the desired spec/action and you can change from short to long action, get a new bolt stop to get back to a SA from a LA.

Longer throated?

Thats what it is called! Thanks!

 

[BLCT]

.284 Win, chambered correctly for 180's. H4831sc will get you in the 2750+ range with a 28" tube. The Tikka action isn't really suited for LA cartridges and long bullets.

Sounds kinda nice and spicy. Lets see if I can source some .284 Win brass in Canada! Gotta do some more research on it. Right now seems to be hat 7mm-6.5 PRC and the Sherman wildcats are my top choices.

 

[BLCT]

No offense but, reading between the lines, you don’t know what you don’t know! Pick what you think you like and start from there. Reloading is a life’s work! Nuances abound and everyone has their personal tastes and preferences. You will find that there is no magic caliber and limitations are generally determined by the operator! Have fun along the way but, more importantly, BE SAFE!

I 100% agree with you, maybe I am looking too much into it. Analysis paralysis maybe? But I am having a blast looking and researching brass and bullet selections! I already ordered the press and scales, so I am just deciding on my final caliber! I've even purchased a reloading manual, I be sure to follow it closely for safe loadings.