I built a 28 Nosler for a customer and I am shooting it now. It's a slightly heavier barrel rifle. With the 180 grain VLD, it was stupid accurate. Like near same hole at 200 yards. At 3200-330 fps with a 180 VLD, that's smokin'. I'll be playing with the 195 Bergers also in it. I do like the new 28 Nosler so far in a custom build. But in a light weight hunting rifle, I have not tested one yet. I have played with the 26 Nosler in a light weight, and it was no fun at all. I built 4- Tikka T3 rifles in 26 Nosler that were flat out hammers with a #4 contour barrel. So, barrel weight/thickness is a huge plus in these big calibers.

/

a .308 will do that for you.... you not like that round ?

for 7mmm I'd vote for the 7 Mag

Chad, how heavy were those tikka 26 noslers that you shot and said were no fun? I'm thinking 8 ish lb bare rifle for this built with a solid scope.

The Tikka's we built were great. The factory Nosler M48 I tested sucked. It shot all over the place.

I built my 7 Rem Mag on a Rem 700 action
CDI bottom metal
Manners T-4
Rock Creek 1:8.5" "light palma" contour finished a 26"
JEC brake
Sprial flute by Kampfield customs made the barrel lose a pound
Scoped rifle tips the scales at 10-11 pounds

It will hammer things on the range for more than a 5 round mag will hold, and it is no big deal to tote on long walking hunts. I just carried it several miles last week. I was building a rifle with exact same purpose as you have stated. A rifle that will be fun to shoot things far away (have hit a mile with it) as well as not too heavy to carry for long walks.

180 gr. Berger VLD atop 71.2 gr of Retumbo makes 3030 fps MV. Chad tried the 195 Berger in it, and he reported that it stabilized just fine. But it did not make the velocity necessary to out perform the 180 gr. I crunched some numbers and for the 195 to out perform the 180, just looking at energy delivery, it will need to have an MV of 2850 fps or more. We don't think the 7 Rem Mag case can make that happen, so I will remain married to the 180's. It seems that is the highest performance bullet the 7 Rem Mag case can push. So if you wanted the 195's, you'll need more case capacity. The 28 Nosler should get it there, the 7-300 will definately get it there. I will never have any complaints about the 7 Rem Mag/ 180 VLD combo. It'll put em in one ragged hole at 100, and hold up to 800 yards in all weathers (far as I routinely shoot it).

As far as recoil, I also have no complaints. Of course on a bipod, loading into it, it is no big deal. Ladt week I shot it kneeling off a big rock at javelina, and balanced on my pack seated on the ground. You're not going to witness impact from those positions with it, but you're not going to complain about getting beat up by the rifle either. Recovery is very fast.

Beware on a Tikka long action you are more limited by O.A.L. due to the feed ramp location than you will with a Rem 700 action or its' variants. I'll always run a Tikka for a short action cartridge or even the .30-06 parent case of cartridges, but we've learned a lesson using the factory barreled action for the 300 Win Mag, you'll have lots of bullet jump.

If it were me, I'd get ahold of Chase Curtis, buy one of his actions, have Manners build you an MCS-EH1, that weighs a feathery 26 ounces, stick with the 26" fluted light palma contour, a quality brake, and chamber it in what ever tickles your fancy. 7 Rem Mag, 26 Nosler, or big boy 7-300. 180 VLD or a Nosler Accubond for the first two, 195 VLD for the 7-300. And let it eat!

Thanks fireman. Great info!

I highly recommend you go to the The safari club show in a few weeks and finger the different stocks and custom rifles. You can know what stock and barrel contour you like. 90% of the rifles can be had or built for way cheaper but the information you hold is crucial in my opinion.

I've handled , not shot jg's 7mag and it's surprisingly light and then I held a 28 nosler Chad had and it's even better feeling due to the light version of the manners stock ( eh2 I think it was). For the power of the rifles I like the weight to carry. If it were me I would brake it and get a threaded cap for range time vs hunting time. Nobody feels recoil hunting. I recently set my Yote getter up with a brake system like this. Some day I'll shoot it.

Why I have no love for long actions? Why are some guy chubby chasers, or like red heads or hate blonds......? it's my thing, remember I never said long actions are bad only I don't like them. Of course I will have to eat crow pie when I get a .338 lapua, as I don't think that as a short action variant.............

Be a pioneer, create the .338 WSSM

I have a 300 win with an eh1 stock. She still weighs a bit over 10 lbs but is manageable. I took her up to Colorado for elk hunting. A good sling will help more than going from 11-12 lbs to 10 imo

I thought people who did that type of hunting wanted their rifles to be as light as possible. (?)

If I'm counting lbs, I have 7lb scoped rifles to carry but that's maybe 10-15% of my hunts so a 10lb scoped can be used about anywhere else where I'm not pinching pounds.