Im new!! I love to hunt, dont reload, and I want to buy a new rifle for my Montana mule deer, elk hunt. The guide told me to be ready to shoot 400-500 yards.
I hunted with a 7mm RM for years and it served me well. Never lost any game with it and a 400-500 yd shot is well within it's limits. Having said that, I now have a 300 WSM. It has a little more punch and will push a 180 gr bullet about as fast as 7mm RM will push a 150-160 gr bullet. A 30 cal bullet will do a little more damage than a 284 bullet. Guides like seeing 30 cal bullets more than 7mm, if you can shoot them. A 300 RUM is more than you need but will definitely get the job done if you can shoot it without flinching. You might want to shoot one before you buy it. You could put a brake on it, but they're noisey, add weight, and reqire more cleaning. I use a slip on recoil pad for bench shooting and never feel anything in the field when shooting at game. I personally think the 300 WSM is a good all around Montana rifle, but if you're interested in making 1000 yd plus shots, go with the RUM. The 300 WSM is a good 800-900 yd cartridge for deer and elk. My next long range outfit will be a custom 7mm Dakota. It's a good 1200 yd cartridge where as the 7mm RM is probably about a 700-800 yd rifle. My estimates are based on bullet terminal performance velocities of about 1800 fps.
At a 1000 yards with a berger 180 flying at 2950 your amost at your 1800 fps. So going off your 1800 fps 800 yards should be a walk in the park with a 7rm and 180 berger. There's a guy on the cover of Trophy hunter magazine that shot a huge bull with a 168 berger out of 7rm at something like 1140 one shot if my memory serves me well. To me it's all about bullet selection and where you hit them that counts.
I think that 2950 for 180 bullet coming out of a 7mm RM (24"-26") factory barrel is pretty optimistic. And yeah, you can probably kill a bull at 1140 yds with a 7mm RM, but what was the velocity of that bullet and what did it do on impact and how risky is it? I would try the shot on an antelope, but would pass on the elk unless I knew it would expand. JMO
I agree with you on elk. The speed however is not optimistic as that is what I'm getting with no pressure signs right now. I got em to 2990 with extractor marks and new I was pushing my luck. No blown primers or split neck though. My accuracy load is right at 2925 with excellent accuracy.
That's real good performance.. what are the specs on your outfit and whats your load? I'm getting about 3020-3030 out of 180 ETips with 66 gr of H4350 out of my Finnlight 300 WSM.
Sendero SfII, jewell trigger. Load: 68 grains retumbo, fed 215m primers, 180 berger. Jammed into lands. Shoots super tight groups. However, the gun seems to be copper fouling more than usual which is bothering me. It seems I'm getting copper around 30 rounds. When new it seemed I could go farther. Oh well, shoots lights out. Almost forgot: That's max load in the book. How do you like the finnlight? I was looking at one the other day for backpacking. I'm gonna haul in the superpig tommorow for the opener. Has a Ferrel base and rings and a Mk4 6.5-20x50 lit. Also sports a harris swivel 3-9 and horus vision cosine with level followed by a eagle stock pack. It should kill my shoulder quite nicely after the first 10 mile tomorrow.
Last edited by linksmechanic; 10-08-2008 at 02:37 AM.
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