Is the 7mm Remington Magnum relevant?

With all these modern cartridges that have come out in the last few years, it leaves a lot of people wondering: Do I sell my 7mm Remington Magnum and get the new hot 7mm that’s out? To answer that question, no, keep that 7mm Remington Mag if you are a handloader, as you can get similar performance to the hot new cartridges.

Modern advances in cartridges have led to modern advances in bullets and propellants. The 7mm Remington Mag. is better than ever. Most rifles are barreled these days, which lets you shoot some of the longer, sleeker bullets like the Hornady 162gr ELD-X with a G1 Ballistic Coefficient of .630. Or even a few rifle manufacturers like Browning are offering a 1:8 Twist on their X-Bolt 2 Speed SPR, along with a few other models with the 1:8, which lets you even shoot longer heavier bullets like Berger 7mm 195 Gr Elite Hunter with a G1 B.C. of .755, this allows you to take advantage of the new propellant advances.

In my opinion, the most significant advance is powder with temp-stabilized spherical propellants like Ramshot Grand and Winchester Staball HD. This allows users to get good case fill and optimal load densities, with low ES (Extreme Spreads) and SD (Standard Deviations), and it is possible to achieve good velocity.

Of course, there is great powder like Vihtavuori’s N560, which is also especially suitable for bringing power to large and magnum calibers, such as 7mm Remington Magnum. This rifle powder is perfect for 7mm Remington Magnum loading heavy bullets. The N560 powder is a tubular type with a relatively large grain. The burn rate is slow side for rifle powders, between the N160 and N165. The N560 is similar to N160, but nitroglycerine has been added for better energy content. The 500 series high-energy powders are mainly used in rifle cartridges where extra energy is needed to achieve bigger loading densities and higher muzzle velocities within maximum pressure limits, making it possible to achieve good SD and ES. So, you get better velocity with the same pressure than with, for instance, the N165. The N560 is commonly used for big-game hunting and has been my primary choice for loading in magnums till now.

For the last six months, I have been testing a lot of Ramshot Grand powder in many different magnum cartridges, and to say the least, I have been blown away by how it has performed and its ability to duplicate test results.

For Winchester Staball I have been testing for about three months now in the same magnum cartages as Ramshot Grand. I have been impressed with its results as well; It tends to be about 200 FPS (Feet Per Second), Slower than the Grand powder, but its SD and ES are outstanding. Like with the Hammer HHT 132Gr bullet achieved SD of 1.5 and ES of 3 over a five-shot grouping .611-inch. Before this powder, I never got consistent results like that with spherical propellants.

For testing this powder and bullet combo, I used a Browning X Bolt Speed with a Leupold VX-3HD 4 Side Focus CDS-ZL Wind-Plex, Leupold BackCountry cross-slot base, and a set of Iota Triad ZL scope rings. The rifle weighs eight pounds four oz. Unloaded.

We have discussed the powder and rifle used. Now, let's discuss the rest of the components and tools used to load. Hornady brass was used and annealed after every firing for all the testing done, using Annealing Made Perfect Mark II DB annealer. This is a key step to having repeatability on consistent neck tension, along with making the life of your brass last longer.

The next step was to grab a set of Hornady dies and set up the Short Action Customs Nexus press. This is my go-to press right now; the press is smooth and sizes down to the shell plant consistently, along with having a free-floating die system, the shell plate floats as well, allowing sizing and seating processes to be as accurate as possible and eliminating runout between the brass and the bullet.

Next, check the brass to verify that it is under the SAAMI specifications for the chamber and whether it has grown under firing and needs to be trimmed. If that is the case, I used Hornady's new High-speed 3-in-1 power case trimmer that makes brass prep much more efficient by trimming, chamfering, and deburring the brass in one step. Along with fewer tools to take up valuable room on the loading bench. Now that all the hard work is done, we get to do all the fun stuff that comes with handloading.

First, we must grab the rifle, take the bolt out, and grab our Hornady Lock‑N‑Load O.A.L. Gauges and the proper modified case for the caliber. Then, pick the projectile we want to use. This step is done to see our maximum overall length or how far we will be jumping the projectile into lands. Also, this is a perfect time to use the Hornady Lock‑N‑Load Bullet Comparator & Inserts, as the tips of projectiles can have variations up to .25”. This method allows you to get a consistent, precise measurement to the ogive and eliminate the variances by measuring from the tip.

If there are no magazine restrictions, I figure out what my jam point into the lands will be, then set the projectile .002 thousandths off the lands and begin my testing from there.

 Now, I am onto the home stretch, setting primers with the Frankford Arsenal Perfect Seat Hand Primer. This is my preferred method because it allows me to change the seating depth in the pocket if I choose to.

The primers used were Federal 215M. Now, on to the satisfying part: pouring powder into the RCBS Match master scale. There is just something about the smell of powder. It brings back memories of spending time with my uncle nights before deer season, loading up some rounds for a mule deer. There are many options out there for bullet seating dies, but my primary choice is the Hornady seating die along with the Click‑Adjust Bullet Seating Micrometer. The last step is to ensure my cartridge is the length I want. I grab the Hornady Lock‑N‑Load Bullet Comparator & Inserts and double-check that I am where I want the die to be. If so, it's time to load the rest of the rounds, and you can set it and forget it.

For this testing, I tested some of my favorite projectile options that I thought might perform well with these powder choices. We will start with what shot best and then work down the list. In first place was the Hammer HHT 132Gr, with Ramshot Grand shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 0.55-inch group.

Second was Hammer HHT 132Gr, with Win StaBall HD shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 0.611-inch group.

Third was Berger Elite Hunter 175gr, with Ramshot Grand shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 0.671-inch group.

Fourth was Barnes TTSX 150gr, with Ramshot Grand shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 0.949-inch group. Fifth was Mcguire Ballistics Copper Rose 143GR, with N560 shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 1.01-inch group. The Sixth was with Hornady ELD-X 162gr, with N560 shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 1.04-inch group. The seventh was Mcguire Ballistics Copper Rose 143GR, with Win StaBall HD shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 1.05-inch group. The eighth was Hornady ELD-X 162gr, with Ramshot Grand shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 1.23-inch. The ninth was with Nosler Accubond 160gr, Ramshot Grand shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 1.56-inch. The Tenth was North Fork 160gr SS, with N560 shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 2.00-inch. The eleven was Nosler Accubond 160gr, with Win StaBall HD shooting a five-shot group at 100 yards 2.40-inch. The twelfth was North Fork 160gr SS, with Win StaBall HD shooting a five-shot group 2.54-inch.

As you can see, there is a bullet and powder combo that this rifle seems to like more than the other. But if you take all the groups and add them up together, you get an average of 1.30 groups. I feel that is what the 7mm Remington Magnum was meant for in the hunting world for a factory lighter-weight rifle with a sporter barrel. Could I have seen maybe some better results with match bullets? Maybe? Could I have shot smaller groups with three shots? Of course, but I feel this represents what the rifle could do anytime you head out in the woods to go after that monster mule deer or elk.