7mm Rem mag and Berger bullets

[Spothogg32]

First of all I would like to say hello everyone I am new to this forum. I would like to tap into the knowledge of those shooters who load Berger 168 and 180 grain bullets for the 7mm Rem mag. I just received my custom built long range rifle and have just started loading Berger bullets for the first time. The gun is built on a Remington action with a 26" Broughton 5c barrel with a 1 in 9 twist rate. I was wondering what kind of velocities that you guys have come up with using these bullets on a similar set up. My rifle seems to have a pretty long throat on it and my COAL for these bullets is 3.553" to touch the lands. The 168s are seated out a little to far for my comfort the boattail is halfway into the neck so I seated them into the case further so they will have a jump start. I am loading Retumbo powder with CCI 250 prmrs. Any information that anybody has to offer will be greatly appreciated.

[roninflag]

i have a 26 inch, 9 twist krieger. vais brake. the 180 kicked more than i liked. i have shot a lot of 168's . i load them .020 of the lands. re-19 for 2920 fps. awesome. you can get more. h-1000 or h-4831. 215S gave higher velocity and ES. 250s, 9.5m and WLRM were all the same in mine.

[runshort]

Spothogg welcome to LongRangeHunting. If you use the search function you can find a ton of info on Berger bullets. My experience with these bullets is limited to two rifles and we could not get the accuracy nor the velocity that most people have reported. On the other hand I have friend that is shooting a stock Rem. 700 that holds 1/2 MOA out to 800 yards which is as far as he has checked it. That was with the 168 Bergers and with H1000. Velocity was running around 2900 fps if I remember right. Seems like some rifles just shoot the Bergers better than others. Good luck with rifle and loads.

[Spothogg32]

Thanks for the info so far guys. My starting loads showed signs of low pressure. The first 5 rounds with 68 grains of Retumbo and the 168gr Berger had powder residue all the way up to the belt on the case. But there was no sign of excessive pressure so I shot the next 5 shots with a half grain more powder and the residue problem got a little better by the time I hit 70gr of retumbo the residue was confined to just the neck of the case which is fairly normal in my experience. My groups decreased in size as the velocity increased. My last 5 shot group with 70gr of Retumbo measured .506" but was only going about 2814fps and the ES was 80fps. I had no signs of pressure yet so I am going to keep increasing the charges and see if the velocity comes in at around 3050 to 3100 is my goal and I hope to maitain the 1/2 moa groups. I have heard that this velocity is possible with the 7mm Rem mag but was wondering what other guys experiences have been?

[backwoods83]

All rifle are obviously different but with retumbo you may go up to 74grns before you see pressure, if you got this on hand you may wanna try 64-66grns Imr4350 with a CCI BR2 or Fed 210 or CCI 200 or maybe 68grns Imr4831. I get 3064fps with an ES of 6 with 162 a-max and 66.3grns Imr4350 and CCI BR2s. The retumbo will give you the speed but I doubt you'll be able get the ES below 25.

[Spothogg32]

Originally Posted by backwoods83

All rifle are obviously different but with retumbo you may go up to 74grns before you see pressure, if you got this on hand you may wanna try 64-66grns Imr4350 with a CCI BR2 or Fed 210 or CCI 200 or maybe 68grns Imr4831. I get 3064fps with an ES of 6 with 162 a-max and 66.3grns Imr4350 and CCI BR2s. The retumbo will give you the speed but I doubt you'll be able get the ES below 25.

Thank you, this is the kind of info I am looking for. I have never used Retumbo until now so I am going to play with it for a while and see what happens. Before I had this gun rebuilt and customized I used H4350, H4831, and IMR 7828 powders with 160gr accubonds and CCI 250 primers with good results. The IMR 7828 ended up being my favorite load with an ES of 10 or less on avg. and a velocity of 3056fps. I have never used anything other than magnum primers. So what advantage does the lighter primer have over the magnum?

[backwoods83]

The hotter blast of a magnum primer with a powder in the burn rate around 4350 is to radical the standard large rifle primer will lower the ES.