Is a 7 Rem Mag overkill for Whitetail Hunting?

No

I like using the lighter 140 grain bullets though

No, you need at least a .340 Weatherby for the really big ones.



It's unnecessary unless you're planning on shooting regularly at ranges over 300 yards, but, like the .30-06, it's a nice option for an all around rifle suitable for larger game like elk.

No, as long as you shoot it well.

Is it more than you need? Absolutely

Is it too much? No

I have a 300 wby and while I have shot white tails with it, it is not my go to white tail gun and I wouldn't buy it for that purpose, but that's just me.

Does it damage the meat more than a .30-06?

Meat damage is largely dependent on what part of the animal you shoot and what bullet design/style you use. A cup and core bullet like a corelock or power point or sierra gameking etc. will tear up a lot more meat than say a barnes x, hornady gmx, or similar. If you shoot them in the shoulder I would count on loosing a good portion of the shoulder, through the ribs you will loose some rib/flank which most don't use any way. Head/neck shot nothing lost but many do not like the shot.

Nope - I have a 7MM REM Ultra Mag that I carry sometimes (it's heavy) but it'll reach out at distance. But 7MM mag too much, not at all.

This. Everything else being equal it will, but it all depends on bullet and placement. A .223 SP can damage a whole lot more meat than a 7mm Mag monometal.

Nope. I still shoot deer with the one I bought when I was 18 (42 years ago). The 7mag is one of the best rounds for all North American game.

No, if one can shoot it well without developing the flinches. Most can't.

I've used a 7mag for years hunting whitetail. Works perfect as long as you can shoot it well.

What do you mean shoot it well?

I have a 7 mag that I used a couple of times with a 150 or 165 grain bullet (cannot remember which grain bullet was a long time ago).
Shot 2 deer with it and switched back to my 270 with a 130 grain. It did to much damage to the meat for me.

Shoot with which ever gun your comfortable with

It actually probably damages meat less than some of the less powerful guns because it punches through really quickly.

I inadvertently loaded mine with some rounds I had bought for Nilgai hunting a couple of years ago. At just shy of 200 yards, I shot a doe and the exit wound was slightly bigger than a pencil eraser. Went right through her.

Don't get me wrong, she was just as dead as any other deer I've killed, but there wasn't much blood. Fortunately, she only went like 10 yards.

I mean shoot it accurately and cleanly kill what you're shooting at. There's a feller down in Charlotte, TX who has arguably the best line of "blood dogs" for wounded deer. He and his son catch about 75%-80% of all deer they go after. He told me many years ago that the number one caliber for deer they trailed was a 7mm Rem. Mag. and by a large margin.

I've lost one deer in 49 years of deer hunting. I was shooting a 7mag, at the time. I shoot a 7mm-08 for whitetails, these days.

Take that for what it's worth.

I believe it, but it's not the fault of the caliber. People think they need one, then they get recoil shy and don't shoot it well. They also run loads that aren't appropriate for whitetails. And some people are just lousy shots to begin with and think they can compensate for poor shot placement by using a larger caliber, which BTW doesn't work. I love my 7 mag and shoot it well, but it's certainly not for everyone.

Do what?

Basically, if you can hit your target consistently at your usual hunting distance. The normal distance from my stand is 100-200 yards max, so that's what I practice.

I prefer the 7mag because it's all I've hunting with for about 10 years and I'm used to shooting it.

Furthest distance I've ever tracked a deer is about 30 yards. Most of the time they are dead right there when hit properly.

Precisely! There is NOTHING wrong with the caliber.

That experience is likely a function of the bullet design used and had nothing to do with how fast it went through the deer. When similar bullet designs are compared more velocity = more expansion = more blood guts and hole. Using a fail save x bullet or similar etc. will do exactly what you describe.

I would say it doesn't work as well as people might want it too, and a bigger gun wont make you hit the deer if you have trouble missing, but I would have much more hope in finding a gut shot deer shot with a 270 30-06 7mag 300 wm than a gut shot deer with a 223 22-250 or 243.

I guess that makes sense. As noted, I used a round designed for penetrating heavier game and it's the only deer I've shot with my 7mag, but it hole-punched through the thing and the exit wound wasn't noticeably bigger than the entrance wound. My experience is probably thus skewed.

I shot a .270 for about 15 years before switching to a 7 mag 2 years ago. I shoot 160 partitions for everything and can't tell that, at least on white tails, that they kill any faster or damage any more meat than the .270 does.

Like Elmer Keith said "It can't be over dead".

I deer hunted with mine for twenty years and if I did it over again I would not use it on deer. Between lost deer and destroyed meet it's not worth it. I had more deer run farther after shooting them with it than any other caliber.

It kicks enough to easily develops a solid flinch even in medium weight rifles in a lot of people.

This whole statement is an oxymoron. I don't know how you can complain about meat damage and then say it doesn't put a deer down.

I have a Ruger 7 Rem Mag. I also have a Marlin 45-70. IMO, both are overkill on Texas Whitetails but I have used both to do the deed. For me, they both have uncomfortable recoil, but one shot kills make up for the inconvenience. If the 7 Mag was my ONLY rifle, you can bet that I would use it for Whitetail hunting.
My choice for whitetail deer is a .257 Roberts and on occasion a scoped Marlin 30-30.
The name of the game is clean kills, whatever you happen to use for that purpose.

If you don't want to tear up meat then don't shoot them in the meat! If you don't want them to run then don't hit them in an area that will allow it. While I like the 7 mag I don't hunt with one anymore and it's not because of any problems stated in the above comment. I went to Weatherby's and never looked back. What you described is not a caliber problem but a shooter problem, don't blame poor shooting abilities on a gun.

I have one of the older Winchester 7mm with the BOSS, which really reduces the felt recoil imo, does make her a hell of a lot louder though on my end. I have used it for WT MD and elk through most of the 90's and never lost an animal, generally DRT, or only steps. I wouldn't hesitate to use one again one bit.

Actually iirc, I used 180 grn for all around use, I go for the double lung 99.9% of the time, so a little lost rib meat doesn't bother me. Very versatile caliber imo for short to long range.

Wouldn't use one for quail hunting though

Been shooting a 7mag for over 30 years.

Get accustomed to the recoil, and it's a Killer. In all of the years hunting, I have only lost one deer. I originally bought that caliber thinking some day I would go elk hunting,.....still waiting on that day.

This quote says it all. It's operator error. A 223 can cause major meat damage. It's all about the bullet. I throw accubonds out of my 7 mag and have always had quick and clean kills. No more damage then a 243 with core locks. It's a penetrating bullet. It doesn't expand like a hollow point will. It's made to hold together and mushroom. I like it cause it has a great ballistic coefficient so it makes a good long range bullet. I prefer pass throughs over extream expansion.

So that being said this is what it comes down to....
If you are not hunting and don't plan on hunting places where long shots are common it's unnecessary. It will work but so will a 243. Inside 200 yards there are better caliber choices. Outside 200 man it's hard to beat. Really hard to beat.

I shoot a Savage model 10 that they custom made for me in 7 mag. It's got the muzzle brake on a bull barrel. Doesn't kick more then a 243. It is long and fairly heavy. It's not balanced well either. I shoot by a Harris bipod tough and it's a great gun.

Right on. Just introducing the mere thought that a 7mm Rem Mag is insufficient or inadequate, etc is laughable.

Guess really depends on where our hunting? use 7 for long shots past 250 and up and. I know that animal won't be getting near me! Hornady BBT in 150 been a solid winner for me, we handload.

Otherwise most hunting for meat, short shots Rem ADL 223, custom trigger, 24" pipe with hornady 55grn ballistic tips put meat in our freezer last 11 or so years.

Plenty of cheap brass to load.



hunt safe all...

When someone makes a bad shot the first thing they do is blame it on the gear

Until they're at a zero line with an instructor sitting next to them.

"Was that miss equipment fault, or shooter fault?"

-I think it was me, I'll try again.

he has tracked a few for us and I can't say if any were shot with a 7mm mag. One was a 6mm Ackley improved, I know that.



he also hates bowhunters.



imo, if your a bad shot with a 7mm you are a bad shot period. I don't know anyone who is proficient with a smaller hunting caliber turn terrible when given a caliber like a 7mm or .300

Don't hit the deer directly in the shoulder with the 7mag. Hit the deer behind the shoulder.

most the meat is in the hams and back straps anyways. If you lose a shoulder your not losing a ton of meat anyways.

7 mag is a great caliber, I have harvested several with mine.

No, it isn't...the only way was to take the shoulders out...destroy both, or heart/lung shot and they ran forever. I actually shot one and blew out the front shoulder and yet it ran close to 300 yards. I used factory Hornady ammo, 139 grains. Frankly in retrospect I think I'd done better with a heavier bullet. And I'm not complaining...I'm simply stating a fact as it relates to my experience. I still have the rifle and it is a flat tack driver and I love the rifle. Its going to one of my grandsons. But I simply believe for deer hunting in Texas here are better options. Sorry I didn't explain it better.

Have you ever hunted with one?

I have the whole gamut of 7's. 7-08, 280, 7rem mag, 28 Nosler and 7.21 Firebird. It's a proven round right in the sweet spot for 7's. What do you shoot now? I'm guessing a short action with less recoil.
It's probably slower and works better with the fast expanding bullets you're using. Some of those bullets aren't supposed to be shot over 3000 fps. This is more than likely your problem.

Interesting. The lease next door brought in a dog to find a deer that us and other neighbors could not find. The dog handler said the same thing, with a 300 mag close 2nd.

...and we wonder why the old 7x57 is so well thought of as a big game killer of the 1st kind shooting 160 & 175gr bullets in the 2500-2700's MV's out of a 22" barrel

I backed into a M70 7x57 last year and am just now doing the final research on bullets. I also did a trade for some 260 brass, about 300 pc's of new RP 260's and dies for about 700+ 284 bullets...and most of them are 150-154's & 160's that the guy had been killing Elk and Mule deer with in far northern Montana...and thought I'd gotten screwed with not very many 139 gr'ers & nothing smaller smaller. The SST's will not get shot at over 27-2800 at anything I want to eat...

Seems the guy in Montana was downsizing for a young teen in the family into a 260 to hunt Mule Deer & occasionaly Elk with....then I went out and found a NIB WBY VG II SS 7Rmg that'll get loaded at the very bottom of a given powder's load list at about 28-2900 fps 'cause accuracy is king over MV's, and only at Texas WTails and hogs and depend on slippery'er BC'd bullets for more reach raher than recoil. Just Sayin
Ron

7 rem mag is more than you need for most instances, but not too much. When you step up the horsepower, bullet selection needs to match. I think it's at it best on deer, shooting a 160 grain cup and core bullet, at speeds matching a 270 with 130's. That is a very effective combination. The 7 rem mag is up near the top of the heap if you are discussing the most capable deer cartridges, and my personal favorite. Never had or witnessed an issue of it being a crippler. Felt recoil is a little above a 30-06 ,so if you are a little bit recoil shy, a light sporter may not be your cup of tea.

That's not the fault of the cartridges. That's poor marksmanship.

My 7 Rem Mag is loaded with 180's. It bothers me none to shoot a mag through it. I've been shooting lots lately, just because it is precise and hits like a truck. But, I quit taking it on whitetail foe hunts. Why burn up 70 gr of H-Retumbo and a 180 gr bullet, when I can burn 40.0 gr of H-Varget and a 162 gr bullet out of the 7mm-08. It don't take much rifle to sever a brain stem.

But if all I had to hunt with was the 7 Rem Mag, that would be alright with me. I know things die quickly at the other end of it.

I suspect recoil shy is the major player though most won't admit it.

I hunt with 270 and 7mm mag, love them both. Flat shooting and with just a little range practice, good optics and factory ammo you can confidently shoot from 100-400yds. I used to live and die by the 270 but the 7mag is right there with it. I used load for both, but HSM makes some great ammo. Their 140 grain trophy hunter ammo is really good!

I probably did more reloading for my 7-mags than any other cartridge, I really like the lighter bullets in the 115 to 120 grain for whitetails. I now see where there's a 100 grain available. I could push the 115's and 120's around 3500 fps. 3600 to 3700 might be possible with the little 100.

Hwy_Man. I own an old dog that will find a poorly shot deer. I also lease out around 140,000 acres to hunters in Texas. The old dog and me have found more than our share of deer that hunters can't find. What I have seen is marksmanship is the main factor. Most typical scenario is a guy that has a history of losing deer because he can't shoot for beans. The answer he comes up with (instead of mastering his weapon) is a bigger gun to knock a bigger hole. The recoil makes him twitchy, and the problem gets worse. Most often visiting with the guy about improving his skill level is a monumental waste of time.
Here we go with profiling, but the millenial generation, and their culture of instant gratification, are the most egregious in my experience.

I've been shooting my Rem 700 BDL .30-06 for 23 years.It's time for a new gun.Im on the fence between .270 and 7 Mag.I hunt in East Texas.

Could split the difference, if you're a hand-loader.

.284 Winchester
.280 Rem
.280 Rem A.I.

Same bolt face and parent case size as the .270 but with a 7mm bullet. All of those are fantastic cartridges.

I buy my guns from Carter's Country in Houston,and I don't recall ever seeing a .280 available, and also I haven't seen any .280 Ammo on the shelf.

I was 20 years old before I saw my first .280 Remington


It wasn't a popular round when I was growing up....the only people I know now that use it are long range guys and one who had a rifles inc. in .280


Right now the fad seems to be in .308's and 6.5's

I was never fond of the only 7mm Rem Mag I owned. I simply did not like the feel of it as I shot it. A lot of punch/perceived recoil to me. It was a very popular caliber back in the 80s/90s but it seems the .300 Win Mag has eclipsed it since then as the preferred mid-weight rifle.

I have always wanted a .280 but have never owned or even shot one.

.300 Win Mag is way too much gun for Whitetail Deer

No such thing.

A lot of people in our camps shot them back in the 90's. Then in the 2000's it was the .300 wsm

Haven't seen much of either in camps the last 5 years

I have owned both the 280 Remington and the 7MM Express as the 280 was renamed for a short period of time. I now have a Steyr in 280 which I have used on Elk the last few years and with new powders it's right on the heels of the 7 Mag. I run 175's 2880fps

Years before we met my wife won a rifle in a raffle. It’s a Browning A-Bolt in 7mm Rem Mag. She’s killed everything drt that she’s shot with the rifle. I just recently bought her a Ruger American Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor. She’s fine with either one.

Nowhere in my post did I say it was the fault of the cartridge. It is indeed poor marksmanship. The trouble with the big magnums is that most folks can't or won't take the time to become proficient with them due to the beating and the muzzle blast. This results in poor shots and wounded game.

fouzman that's sure the rap on anything much larger than a .270/.30-06.

I'm not sure I buy it. A 7mm Mag or a .300 Win Mag is not really a "big magnum". A .300 RUM, .300 Weatherby, .338 Win Mag, .375 H&H, 416 Rem Mag, etc. is a big magnum. My belief is that most guys who don't hunt much/have much experience never learned to shoot in the first place and just think that "bigger is better" and will make up for their shortcomings. I can't prove it but IMO most of them would wound a lot of game even with a .308.

Ill debate that a little, a 300 win mag and 300 wby mag are nearly identical. Sure one has a little more case capacity but in the big scheme of things you not going to do something with one that you wouldn't with the other.

I would consider any of them big magnums, lots of case capacity and big bullets, it has been said, observed, and I consider it proven that 7 rem mag and up produce more recoil than the average joe is comfortable shooting and they wont take the time to learn to shoot it well.

.300 Wby Mag has about 500 more ft. lbs. of energy and at least 20% more recoil. That's just the numbers. Wby magnums have a lot more perceived recoil. Shooting a .300 Wby magnum is an entirely different experience than shooting a .300 Win Mag.

I agree with you about their compared utility. I have zero use for a .300 Wby. I would rather shoot my .338 Win mag if I want to move up.

Again, my belief is guys who "won't take time" to shoot a mid magnum well never "took time" to shoot their .270 well either.

I just don't believe there are a bunch of good shooters with their .30-06 who all of a sudden turn into sprayers just because they move up to a .300 Win Mag or 7mm Rem Mag.

YMMV.

I didn't accuse you of anything.

We are saying exactly the same thing.

.30-06's kick too. Personally I dislike that round.

I have a 7mm mag. I can shoot it well but I don't like to. I bought it to kill bigger animals than I feel comfortable shooting with a .270.

It has been my expert thru guiding dozens of hunters through the years is the ones who shoot magnums well shoot everything well.

Guys that shoot poorly with .30-06's and 7mm mags shoot poorly with .243's and .270's.

Interesting thread for sitting around the campfire...So a 300 WMg is too much for WTails AT WHAT DISTANCE? A 243 with VT bullets is too much for WTails at 50 yards and not enough gun at 400 yards.

IMO Everything is a compromise for a given distance bracket window of perfomance based on distance from Muzzle to Impact. I ran a 300wmg for lots of years as "long range" companion to a 270 and never blew up a WTail as bad as I did with a 270 that I'd done a poor job of bullet placement with...but then I never shot at a WTail with the Winnie at under 250 yards either where the same bullet used in a 30'06 was travelling at about the same speed as the '06 was at 75 yards & usually at past 300+ yards where the 270's MV was dropping off....I also used the same bullet design in both calibers most of the time.

I 've shot a few 7Rmg's over the years - just bought one last month to download into 280 MV's when I couldn't find a SS 280 for anywhere close to the same $'s. I never saw the advantage in owning a 7Rmg for the under 300 yard shots on Texas sized critters, where 90% of my deer have been killed, over the 270's lack of recoil and apprx same on game bullet performance in the same bullet design. Really didn't like the 7Rmgs faster shoulder slap aka initial recoil pulse, but could handle the 300Wmgs heavier punch recoil in those days for 60-100 rounds off the bench out of a +/-200 round day at the range.

Bullet Speed (MV's & Impact Speeds) are only One component in getting your knife bloody and obviusly there is a place & need for a variety of calibers and bullet designs....

I agree totally with the statement that shooters who can shoot thier favorite caliber accurately at will...can shoot pretty much any caliber at least decently, and some calibers better than others ...and guys who will not learn to shoot anything accurately at will, can't shoot anything for S$%# no matter how big or how small the caliber. It's ALWAYS been more about the Indian than it is about the bow or the arrow.

I'd love to see Texas impose a mandatory accuracy Test to qaulify for a Hunting License...some of us would pass with a that was fun giggle..and some of us would take up tennis or golf. Seen it done in Europe and made a believer out of me.
Ron

People don't need to be concerned with overkill near as much as they do underkill

Practice, Practice, and Practice until you are comfortable with the gun. Bullet placement is the key to saving your meat, or making hamburger on the hoof.

Nope... my whitetail gun is a 7 Mag... i havent damaged too much meat and shot plenty of deer..

I decided on the .270 Win. Mainly because they didn't have 7 Mag available in the gun (Weatherby Vanguard Sporter)I bought,and looking at the ammo between .270 and .30-06 it wasn't much difference,and also where I hunt and the size Deer that I'm seeing it wasn't a need for the 7 Mag.

I guide a lot of white tail hunters. By far the biggest problem is flinching from magnums. We will get hunters in that have a new .300 Weatherby, .300 Win Mag, 7MM Rem Mag, .300 WSM, etc... in a light weight hunting rig. Muzzle blast and recoil really take their toll on average hunters. Not people who read this forum, but busy executives and novice hunters who utilize a ranch with guides. If one of my hunters fits the above scenario, we will make sure no shell is in the chamber, and dry fire on every deer that we see. We will do this over and over working on "shot placement". It works wonders on improving the shot. It is my opinion that it does not take much to kill a white tail deer. A .243, 7mm/08, .257 Bob, work great. I have culled a lot of animals with my .223 using Hornady 55 grain spire points. A buck/doe is not that thick. Place a 55 grainer behind the shoulder and it will wreck the lungs every time. I would not shoot thru the shoulders or frontal/rear shots with a .223. I have shot red stag in Patagonia out to 500 yards with a lowly .308 Win and 150 grain SST. Lethal and complete penetration at that range. I have also seen more problems with Barnes, GMX and some bonded bullets that are just too tough for white tail. I am very happy when a hunter shows up with a standard caliber and a green box of Rem CoreLokts or Fed blue box cup/core.

You will be well served with it

I got one in 97' and never looked back.

I have other calibers now but it's one of the best 400 lbs and under cartridges

I haven't posted on here much, but do creep around to gain interesting perspectives. I've shot a 7mm Rem Mag with a bedded wood stock and minor trigger work for right at 30 years. I've taken an untold amount of whitetail and I think 11 NM cow elk (main focus is meat hunting). All animals to this point have been taken with Rem 150gr Corelokt. Because of the main focus being the meat, 97% of the animals taken have been neck shots. I have taken 2 cow elk at just over 400 yards with low heart shots with no tracking issues, both fell in site. Most of the animals taken expire before they ever hit the ground. And, I'm defiantly not the best shot in the world, and have missed my fare share. At least with center neck shots, there's no guess work wondering if you've hit the target or not.

IMO, if a person was to own 1 hunting rifle for "any" N America game, the 7mm would be a great choice for overall performance. I've recently started doing my own loads and have narrowed down to a Hornady 162gr SST with a charge in the upper part of the recommended range. My current load seems to shoot lighter than the 150gr Corelokts, so range shooting hasn't really been an issue. As the 7mm will generate lots of barrel heat, most range visits are 20 or less.

My only point is the same as most, the choice of rifle is just a tool. How well you use the tool will translate into the success that is had. The 7mm carriers the velocity and energy way out down range (depending on bullet weight), and can be an extremely accurate round. FYI, I also shoot a 6.5 CM and have grown to enjoy the lighter recoil, but would not hunt larger game than a whitetail with that round.

This is the 162gr load at 200 yards. I've shot this load out to 600 yards with very little effort using a standard 4-16 BDC scope.