I am thinking about reloading and was wondering if anybody has a good combo/mixture for the 7mm mag.

I am shooting a Ruger M77 7mm mag. I mainly use it for whitetails 250yds being my longest shot.

Most shots are at 100yds, I have been using 140gr Nosler balistic tip with great results.

I guess my question is what powder/bullet is giving you the best results.

I will be using Winchester brass.

Thanks in advance for you help.

2002Z06

If your shots are all 250yds or less, here is a thought:

150gr Sierra Boat Tail, 48grains of IMR4895.

I came across this reduced load a few years ago on an internet forum. Gave it a try just for grins. It's a tack driver in my 7Mag. Velocity is about 2700fps, so it is effectively a 7X57. It recoils very gently, and is all you need for most deer hunting situations. The 150gr Sierra works like a charm on deer and hogs at these velocities...drops them quickly without destroying a lot of meat.

For an elk, or larger game, a serious 7Mag load is the 160gr Partition, with IMR7828, H4831, or similar burning powder at about 3000fps. This load also works well for deer, but is really more than you need for TX WT's.

Get a couple good loading books. Lee makes a good one with lots of loads. Also, Cabela's has books that are caliber specific, containing all the book's info on a given round.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templa...&hasJS=true

Remington uses (used?) bulk IMR7828 in its factory loads. In the three 7Mags that I load for, IMR 4831 is the best all-around powder. One of the rifles prefers IMR4350 with the Nosler 140s. One gun likes Re22 with the 160s. You can't beat Re22 with the heavy 175 gr bullets, although H4831, IMR7828, and Norma MRP are excellent too. But if I were to pick just one powder for full-power loads with the middle-wt bullets in the 7mm Remington Magnum, it would be IMR4831.

I am planning on making up a reduced velocity load so that my daugher can use the gun if she wants. I too have a M77 in 7 Mag and it is my favorite gun. Does not recoil very much even with full loads. Of course, I a very big guy and although my daughter is 35% of my weight, she is real scrappy and has never shot less than 3 inch mags in her shotguns for ducks.

Having gone into way too much detail, I am working on a load of Hornady Boat Tail soft points with 4831 and Federal primers with mostly Winchester, Federal, and Remington brass. I want to load it for roughly .280 specs.

I have a book that is generally available Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabela's with everybody's recipes. I have them for a bunch of calibers and really like the one stop aspect of it. I tend to go with cheaper standard bullets that got the job done for the old guys. How much deader can you get something than with a good old Hornady or a Sierra Gameking??????

GWT: Be careful with reduced loads of slow burning powder like 4831. I would recommend something on the order of 4064 or 4895.

If you DO use 4831 DO NOT go below loads published in the reloading manuals.

"GWT: Be careful with reduced loads of slow burning powder like 4831. I would recommend something on the order of 4064 or 4895."

If you DO use 4831 DO NOT go below loads published in the reloading manuals.


Thanks for the advice. I was actually thinking about going with the second lowest slot in the recipes for that bullet just to be safe. I sure don't need a stuck bullet. Any other cautionaries or advice is very much welcomed. This was a thread I wanted to start back in October and I am glad someone finally did.

Barnes 120 gr. Tipped TSX and 73 grs. RL22 works well on deer and antelope. MV is around 3400 fps. Shoots very well in my Rem. 700.

Thanks I appreciate all the info.

2002Z06

For mule deer I used to load up 63gr of IMR4831 with a 160 Gr Sierra Gameking and a Rem 9 1/2 large rifle primer.

Pushed right at 3000 fps at the muzzle in my 700 BDL and was as accurate as you could want.

Was like a lightning strike on mule deer.