LETS TALK SEVENS

[MagnumManiac]

Funny, how the high BC bandwagon ONLY concerns 7mm's.
Funny how there are offerings in 6.5 that have much higher BC's and there are, of course, much higher BC's offered in 30, 33, 37 and 41.
I get the love, but don't kid yourselves that the 7's rule.
My 29" barrelled 264WM runs rings around my 7STW....just saying.
Just this past weekend, witnessed a sub MOA 10 shot group from a 6mm at 600mtr. Quite impressed, but it ain't gonna make me go and build one....just saying.

Cheers.

 

[UCzO___]

But the 7's offer heavier bullets too. If target is your game, go for it. I am trying to get setup for both target and medium to large game.
Nothing against the 6.5's. Not going anywhere north of .30 and there have been improvements there, agreed.
Thanks!

 

[LVJ76]

Funny, how the high BC bandwagon ONLY concerns 7mm's.
Funny how there are offerings in 6.5 that have much higher BC's and there are, of course, much higher BC's offered in 30, 33, 37 and 41.
I get the love, but don't kid yourselves that the 7's rule.
My 29" barrelled 264WM runs rings around my 7STW....just saying.
Just this past weekend, witnessed a sub MOA 10 shot group from a 6mm at 600mtr. Quite impressed, but it ain't gonna make me go and build one....just saying.

Cheers.

But the 7's offer heavier bullets too. If target is your game, go for it. I am trying to get setup for both target and medium to large game.
Nothing against the 6.5's. Not going anywhere north of .30 and there have been improvements there, agreed.
Thanks!

Will start that this is a pretty old thread but an interesting one. Rich's wildcats sure are sexy.

Yes the 6.5's have some high BC bullets but the one thing they cannot offer is high energy.

A 6.5 156gr bullet in a 264 Win Mag will have an energy of around 2,850 at the muzzle while a 7mm 180gr in a 7mm Rem Mag will have around 3,300. I'll take my chances with the 180gr.

I'm not saying the 6.5 is bad or won't kill, I simply preffer a larger and heavier bullet

There are 6.5 fans, there are 270 fans, there are 7mm fans, there are 30 cal fans, etc etc. None are wrong, just different opinions.

And FYI, 7mm does rule

Stay safe

 

[MagnumManiac]

LVJ76,
Are you quoting velocity or energy with your 2850 & 3300?
A 156gr Berger @ 3100+FPS has an energy of 3370lbs/ft. A BC of .679, wind drift at 1000 in a 10mph cross wind is only 3MoA.
If I wanted more energy, a 7 is not the answer, a step up, with slightly less BC, to a 30 cal would be a better choice. Hits considerably harder, but at both ends.
I have no issue shooting my light guns (12lbs-14lbs) from prone, one is a 7STW, another is 264WM and lastly a 300WM. Also have heavy versions of the last 2.
When you compare apples to apples, the differences really are SMALL and not enough to really worry yourself with.
Regardless of cartridge, within reason, all of my hunting rigs have very similar trajectories, so do my varmint rifles.
A 1" difference in drop or wind drift is neither here nor there unless you are shooting off a dedicated bench and rest, holding an inch with field positions is a task unto itself in 99% of circumstances.

Cheers.

 

[Brandon Winterholler]

I'm a sucker for 7's, but haven't ventured into any short action 7's yet. The SST or the Max are definitely on my radar though! I had a 7-300PRC built last year, and 180 Berger Hybrids at 3150 are pretty fantastic!

 

[LVJ76]

LVJ76,
Are you quoting velocity or energy with your 2850 & 3300?
A 156gr Berger @ 3100+FPS has an energy of 3370lbs/ft. A BC of .679, wind drift at 1000 in a 10mph cross wind is only 3MoA.
If I wanted more energy, a 7 is not the answer, a step up, with slightly less BC, to a 30 cal would be a better choice. Hits considerably harder, but at both ends.
I have no issue shooting my light guns (12lbs-14lbs) from prone, one is a 7STW, another is 264WM and lastly a 300WM. Also have heavy versions of the last 2.
When you compare apples to apples, the differences really are SMALL and not enough to really worry yourself with.
Regardless of cartridge, within reason, all of my hunting rigs have very similar trajectories, so do my varmint rifles.
A 1" difference in drop or wind drift is neither here nor there unless you are shooting off a dedicated bench and rest, holding an inch with field positions is a task unto itself in 99% of circumstances.

Cheers.

My bad, I was talking about energy (ft/lbs) and I was using the 264 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag as examples. Also I mean 2,950 ft/lbs for the 264 Win Mag.

I can push the 180 faster with a 7mm RUM and I'll get over 3,600 ft/lbs of energy. The thing is that I can always get more energy with a heavier 7mm bullet than a 6.5.

And you are correct, a 300 Winnie or other 30 cal will give me more energy.

The beauty of the 7mm is that it's right in the middle of all calibers. Better BC's than most 30 cal bullets and more energy than a 6.5, It's a win win.

As I mentioned before none are a bad choices, we all have our preferences.

Some like bourbon, some like rum and some like tequila, none are bad, just personal preferences.

Stay safe

 

[JMW67]

Talk about your head up your b--t I was reading along and came up on a post by JE Custom and was going to commit on it, I starting typing and then I heard the load pop that was my head coming out, I sure miss the guy, need to start looking at original post dates I guess

 

[LVJ76]

Talk about your head up your b--t I was reading along and came up on a post by JE Custom and was going to commit on, I starting typing and then I heard the load pop that was my head coming out, I sure miss the guy, need to start looking at original post dates I guess

I realized it was an older thread when I saw his post.

Do miss the informative posts for JE

 

[UCzO___]

Sorry for reviving such an old post. New around here and trying to learn the ropes. Thanks for bearing with me.

 

[shinbone]

Nothing wrong with bringing up the Golden Oldies. That's why they're still accessible.

"7mm: hits like a .30, flies like a 6.5mm."

 

[gregsjt]

Funny, how the high BC bandwagon ONLY concerns 7mm's.
Funny how there are offerings in 6.5 that have much higher BC's and there are, of course, much higher BC's offered in 30, 33, 37 and 41.
I get the love, but don't kid yourselves that the 7's rule.
My 29" barrelled 264WM runs rings around my 7STW....just saying.
Just this past weekend, witnessed a sub MOA 10 shot group from a 6mm at 600mtr. Quite impressed, but it ain't gonna make me go and build one....just saying.

Cheers.

What bullets in 6.5 have a higher bc than the 7's? In the Berger line the highest bc 6.5 bullet is the 153.5 at .69. Berger has a couple 180 7mm bullets that are right in the same ball park and the 190 and 195 are both over .75. Hornady's highest bc 6.5 is the 153 atip at .704, the 7mm 180 eldm is .777 and the 190 atip is .838. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I'm not aware of a 6.5 bullet that has a higher bc than the best 7's. You have to get into the heavy .30 and .338's to find higher bc's.

 

[SteelBanger]

My bad, I was talking about energy (ft/lbs) and I was using the 264 Win Mag and 7mm Rem Mag as examples. Also I mean 2,950 ft/lbs for the 264 Win Mag.

I can push the 180 faster with a 7mm RUM and I'll get over 3,600 ft/lbs of energy. The thing is that I can always get more energy with a heavier 7mm bullet than a 6.5.

And you are correct, a 300 Winnie or other 30 cal will give me more energy.

The beauty of the 7mm is that it's right in the middle of all calibers. Better BC's than most 30 cal bullets and more energy than a 6.5, It's a win win.

As I mentioned before none are a bad choices, we all have our preferences.

Some like bourbon, some like rum and some like tequila, none are bad, just personal preferences.

Stay safe

It is this very reason that I ended up choosing the 7SST as my go-to, do-it-all hunting cartridge. I figure the 7SST will easily cover all my hunting needs unless / until I get into really big or dangerous game.

 

[jweigel]

Funny, how the high BC bandwagon ONLY concerns 7mm's.
Funny how there are offerings in 6.5 that have much higher BC's and there are, of course, much higher BC's offered in 30, 33, 37 and 41.
I get the love, but don't kid yourselves that the 7's rule.
My 29" barrelled 264WM runs rings around my 7STW....just saying.
Just this past weekend, witnessed a sub MOA 10 shot group from a 6mm at 600mtr. Quite impressed, but it ain't gonna make me go and build one....just saying.

Cheers.

I wish just for fun we could shoot together some day. You with your 264WM and me with my 7STW shotting 195EOL. No comparison on the energy potential but one could shot better then the other.

Having said that.....I wish my other 7 in a 7RM woudl need rebarreling as I would redo it in a fast twist 264WM rather then a 7 as I have a sweet 7 now.

jjw
ND

 

[gregsjt]

Just to illustrate my point from above, I keep a list of the popular bullets from major manufactures handy to make sure inputs are correct in calculators. This is my list sorted for highest g1 bc first. Now this is only the major manufactures and it is published data so take it for what it's worth, but it still shows that the highest 6.5 bullet available is about 17th on this list, lots of 7mm bullets above it and you can see the trend that the larger the diameter the higher the BC's get. .338 are higher on average than .30. .30 are higher than 7mm, 7mm are higher than 6.5.