OCW and / or ladder testing the AV 7MM Rem. Mag.

[gowyo]

Howdy all,

I drew a sheep tag this year and decided to dust off my AV 7mmRM.

My brother in law is sold on the Berger 168 hunting VLD bullets, so I thought I'd try some. I found a charge of 64.5 grs of VV N165 looked promising, max is 65.3 and 65.5 opened way up. I loaded up various depths and went out today, it was hot and a good breeze picked up by 6pm. After shooing some antelope away, I finished up my three shot groups..can you help me pick the best load... This was .035 off the lands. Started out touching. 93 deg F. 100yds.

 

[gowyo]

Here's some pix from the OCW testing a week ago. I picked the second group charge weight. Darn goats. I think they are drawn to bullet seared cardboard...I'm not seeing pressure signs yet, and as I have room in the case, I think I'll try for the next node. And break out the chrony.

 

[Tomball]

Here's some pix from the OCW testing a week ago. I picked the second group charge weight. Darn goats. I think they are drawn to bullet seared cardboard...I'm not seeing pressure signs yet, and as I have room in the case, I think I'll try for the next node. And break out the chrony.

I have several 7 mags and all like H4831SC with Barnes 150 gr TSX. Final loads vary from 65 to 66 grains depending on rifle. Sierra game king 150 gr likes the same. These are L61Rs, model 75s ,85s and a couple other manufacturers. All shoot tight groups.

Good luck

 

[stonecreek]

The left-most group shows vertical stringing and is about 2", but the next two groups are just an inch, or a tad over, which is excellent for most any game hunting rifle. The "benchrest" group on the right, is, of course, outstanding and in addition to likely being a great load is probably one of those in which your "wibbles" compensated for your "wabbles" and resulted in a one-holer. Shoot a couple of more groups with that load to make sure it's not a fluke and you've got a winner.

For some reason (most likely just happenstance) I've never had much luck getting good accuracy from a 7mm RM. I've owned a couple of them in nice-looking Sakos, but no load I tried would do what I'm used to from a Sako. I've had the same problem with rifles chambered for .300 Win Mag. But I've had great accuracy from Sakos in .264, .300 H&H, and .338, and .375, so it's not a belted magnum problem. It's just that I've happened to have poor luck with those two calibers.

 

[cwmech]

The speed goats seem to favor wandering there at the Stuckenhoff range, ever since it opened.

 

[gowyo]

Stone, that bottom left shot was #1 out of a very clean bore. Then it was one shot per target left to rt..

 

[gowyo]

I bumped this load up 2 full grains and am getting 2950 fps and a 1/2" group. Good enough! I used the Berger ballistics calculator to determine my come ups out to 700 yds. The rifle and Leupold 4.5x14 performed perfectly. This is 3 shots in mildly gusty conditions at 700. )I brought down 6 clicks.) I also had a hopper hunter sharing the range. Do coyotes have two litters a year? This guy was tiny!

 

[bigcountry4me]

Typically coyotes breed once per year in February or March. Litter size it’s believed depends on the overall population in a given area. If the population is low litter numbers can be higher, or vice versa.

I love my 4.5-14 Leupold too. Nice shooting!

 

[GreyFox]

Gowyo, and Stone,
Similar experiences, for my 7 mag it's 150 Noslers pushed by a max load of IMR 4350, BUT I get no where near published velocity. I've never had or known a 7 mag to actually hit what they say it does, It's a little faster than a 270 pushing same weight bullets - that said, I LOVE my 7 mag. I've gt a room full of mounts that'll tell you it does the job,

Stone: 300 Win, I've had excellent results with 165s and 180s again using IMR 4350, And in this case I do hit published velocities.