Thinking about my next rifle and looking at the reloading manual.

I want a rifle to shoot the Barnes LRX 160 gr .284 bullet, seems like a great hunting bullet. I want to be over 2,800 fps, so my 7-08 is out.

If I stay around a 160 gr bullet, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the .280 Remington and a 7mm Rem Mag. The 7mm PRC can push a .284 160 gr bullet over 3,000 fps, but its 10-15gr more powder and I'm sure more recoil.

What do y'all think?

For the 160 LRX, you'll need an 8" twist barrel. There's a big difference between the 280 Rem and 7 Mag. About 68 grains of water capacity to 82 grains on the 7 Mag, so quite a big difference. I don't see the 160 LRX reaching 2800 fps in a 280 Rem. The 160 LRX is a LONG and skinny bullet, and will need to be seated deep into the case. If you have room in the magazine to seat it out long, this will help. But, you need good velocity to open up those X bullets. I have played with both the Hornady 160 grain CX and the Barnes LRX in a 280 AI, and had magazine (short mag box) and bullet seating issues. You may need to plan that out.

The 7 PRC and the 7 Rem Mag are almost identical in performance. They hold almost the same capacity, but the 7 PRC is slightly more efficient case design. The speeds I am seeing are almost the same as the 7 Mag with the same weight bullets. I've even had some 7 PRC rifles not reach the desired velocity we planned for before reaching pressure. I'm also seeing many 7 PRC rifles with short barrels shooting suppressed, and still wanting the high speeds.

Are you building a rifle or buying something off the shelf?

7mm-08 Ackley Improved will make the velocity you want, but it will require a 24" barrel.

.280 Ackley Improved will make the velocity you want. And you can go with a little bit shorter barrel.

I'm not seeing 7mm PRC making the same velocities as 7 Rem Mag. It's still a great cartridge, though.

Really good input, thanks fellas!

I might do a semi-custom with a Tikka action. I’m leaning that way because I have 2 other Tikka and if I buy a chassis, I could use it across all my Tikka rifles. It sounds like I can’t go with an off the shelf Tikka 7mm REM Mag because it’s a 1:9 twist.

So I could rebarrel the Tikka into a 7mm PRC, but could I have issues with the smaller COAL of the Tikka action?

If you bought a Tikka in .300 Win Mag or 7 Rem Mag, and rebarreled for 7 PRC, you're going to gain room in the magazine.

The brass length:

7 PRC 2.280"
7 Rem Mag 2.500"

You can request a custom free bore with some gunsmiths. (I have zero free bore reamers, and cut the throats myself) That way the bullet seating depth can be what is necessary to fit in the magazine, and the throat is cut to match.

Also, Red Snake bottom metal is a Tikka foot print. Red moved the back of the magazine rearward to give more room for cartridge length.

Nice that’s good to know. Thank you Sir!

If I was building a rifle around that bullet I’d want more than 2800 fps mv.

You can easily launch a 160 accubond 3100fps with a good dose of Retumbo in your 7mag. The results are predictable and deadly.

What will 2800 fps not do?

That 7 PRC 20" I just built is shooting a 175 gr at 2725 fps.

It's ran out to 800 yards with zero trouble. It's already filled several coolers. It is super sonic, in current conditions, to 1475 yards.

There's plenty of 300 Win Mags shooting 200 gr bullets +/- 2800 fps. And they've killed piles of elk and Moose.

Nothing against the velocity till paired with a mono metal bullet.

I don't use them, so I don't consider them.

The LRX bullet is designed to expand at a minimum 1600 FPS. A ballistic calculator will show that a MV of 2800 FPS will be 1620 FPS at 900 yards, with a 160gr LRX. At 500 yards it is still above 2000FPS, I do not understand what more you would want.

I don’t trust the minimums with mono metal. I believe they shine with excess velocity. But he isn’t me and can do as he pleases.

Monos would be my last choice.

Now i'm curious, if NOT a mono bullet then what bullet for hunting?

Let's say this example of 7mm 160ish-gr @2800fps. Since it's being compared to mono bullets, which are usually fairly pricey, then please do not consider cost.

Final question, is something like Berger Hunting bullets good on game performance?

Yes IMO, best 7mm under 3000 @ muzzle is 175 EOL and from there if you want more splashy 175eldx or less splashy go thicker 180 hybrid,

Mono’s have a very narrow wound channel, they are better at higher impact speeds as they need high rpm’s to really expand that wound channel. They absolutely will kill but the lower the velocity the narrower the wound channel..

Often, Berger and Hornady ELD-X perform well on game when you run them heavy for cartridge. I load those two bullets the most. In .280 A.I. I've loaded 175 ELD-X with great feedback and 168 Berger VLD-Hunting, and 168 Berger Classic Hunter with great feedback. In .280 A.I. they are well north of 2800 fps, usually closer to 2900 fps or greater.

One extra step needed for a Berger bullet is to run a .040" drill bit into the hollow point of the bullet. The nose can get accidentally closed while they make the bullets. And I have felt what I presume to be lead dust inside the supposed to be hollow cavity, get removed by the drill bit.

I make the complete loaded ammo, and then put the drill bit in the drill press. Leave the chuck up in the drill press and pass the bullet into the bit from underneath, lifting the ammo up into the bit. You will feel the bit bottom out at the bottom of the cavity. 50 rounds takes less than 5 minutes.

I load 162 ELD-X in my 17" 7mm-08 A.I. MV of 2640 fps. On 100 to 250 yard whitetail it makes a 1 1/2" exit, passing through both lungs. And it will target shoot the entire length of my range with ease. The farthest I've ran that bullet was in a friend's 7mm-08 A.I. with a 24" barrel and we were on a fire forming load. So it was actually just 7mm-08 velocity at the time, 2700 fps. We hit steel out to 1400 yards with it.

There is NO WAY a solid is expanding at 1600 fps. I've seen MANY TTSX and TSX solid copper bullets not expand well above 2000+ fps. IMO, if you "have" to shoot solid copper Lehigh makes a very good copper bullet. There Controlled Chaos is the most amazing solid bullet I have seen yet, including compared to lead. We've hunted and killed MANY coyotes and pigs night hunting, and the Controlled Chaos has by far the most effective and quick kills. It also has the loudest "thud" when it hits an animal. Stuff just drops in it's tracks with that bullet.

I'm not a fan of the Barnes solid copper bullets, unless you push them fast. Fast, meaning, drop down at least 20-30 grains from normal, common caliber weight and bump up your speed in that round. This will help with expansion. But IMO, the TTSX and LRX are not a good "hunting" bullet for longer range shots. They simply lack the ability to expand at the lower impact velocities at longer range.

Out of 60+ African plains game I killed with a 7mm 160 Accubond, 3100fps at the muzzle, these are the only 5 ever "caught" in an animal, up through and including blue wildebeest sized game. I intentionally shot through low shoulder attempting heart shots, impacts were from 100-160 yards. You'd be hard pressed to find a better performing hunting bullet IMO.



Here's a mature, 180lb TX Panhandle whitetail doe, 7mm 168 VLDH, 100 yard impact, behind shoulder entry. This isn't my idea of good bullet performance, and they were equally as bad on about 20 feral hogs.

That’s beautiful, perfect wound cavity, mass organ destruction.


Mean while here is a really hot TTSX 80gr impact velocity between 3200-3500 +- 100 yards. Notice the difference in trama/wound channel, that wound is going to be exponentially smaller the lower the impact velocity

Run Bergers heavy for cartridge to slow them down. Slow them down because of the heavy bullet and/or a farther shot. And the results are good.

Thanks for all the input!

Looks like hitting 2,800 fps with the right 7mm bullet produces great results.

With that in mind, would a 7 SAUM or 7 WSM fit the bill if I wanted to stay with a short action? The 7 Sherman Short looks awesome, but getting brass looks challenging.

Trying to squeeze long hi bc bullets into a shorter action can complicate things. Personally I would go with a long action on any of those if the intent is for long heavy bullets. Keep the bullet from filling your gas tank.