I picked up a LH 700 7mm Mag online a while back with the intentions of using it for a donor action. In the picture it just looked like a beater with a synthetic stock and a brake. Just a factory tube and the gun has several worn spots on the bluing and the paint had worn off the stock on the inside of the grip. It had obviously been hunted quite a bit. Upon closer inspection, the synthetic stock turned out to be a McMillan which had been glass bedded and it had a Timney trigger. Hmm, somebody did some work on it, maybe I ought to see how it shoots?
I threw together a load out of my Hodgdon book with some old powder that hadn't shown promise in any other rifles, used some primers of a brand I don't use anymore and were just sitting around, and seated the bullets where the borrowed dies were set.
Well, the first five groups at 100 yards using two different bullet weights have an average of 0.45". I put on a Burris 4.5-14 Ballistic Plex reticle scope and shot it the other day to see if my drops would match the reticle. After zeroing at 200 yards, I shot at 400 and 500 yards with the 150 gr Ballistic Tip. Shooting off the roof of my car at 400 yards the 3 shots went into a nice 2.00" cluster and at 500 yards 2 shots went into 3". I goofed and used the main reticle for the first shot. POI was almost exactly dead center at all three distances. Looks like I will be using this donor which I have dubbed "the truck gun" on my upcoming mule deer hunt in Colorado.
Shooting the donor can end up costing you money but in this case I believe it was well spent. I just wish I knew the story behind the rifle. I imagine that somebody killed lots of game with it and either got too old to hunt, passed away or got into financial trouble and had to sell it. I fully intend to kill lots more game with it while not worrying a bit if I put another little scratch or two on it.
I threw together a load out of my Hodgdon book with some old powder that hadn't shown promise in any other rifles, used some primers of a brand I don't use anymore and were just sitting around, and seated the bullets where the borrowed dies were set.
Well, the first five groups at 100 yards using two different bullet weights have an average of 0.45". I put on a Burris 4.5-14 Ballistic Plex reticle scope and shot it the other day to see if my drops would match the reticle. After zeroing at 200 yards, I shot at 400 and 500 yards with the 150 gr Ballistic Tip. Shooting off the roof of my car at 400 yards the 3 shots went into a nice 2.00" cluster and at 500 yards 2 shots went into 3". I goofed and used the main reticle for the first shot. POI was almost exactly dead center at all three distances. Looks like I will be using this donor which I have dubbed "the truck gun" on my upcoming mule deer hunt in Colorado.
Shooting the donor can end up costing you money but in this case I believe it was well spent. I just wish I knew the story behind the rifle. I imagine that somebody killed lots of game with it and either got too old to hunt, passed away or got into financial trouble and had to sell it. I fully intend to kill lots more game with it while not worrying a bit if I put another little scratch or two on it.
