New long Range Savage 7Ultra

[E4aker]

I was running into some pressure problems during breakin that have gone away. I believe that it was due to having some oil in my chamber, as I was cleaning between shots. This cartridge seems real finicky about pressure spikes!

 

[gamedog]

Sounds like a shooter Earl. I'm strongly looking at doing a 7 RUM in the near future as well.
With the bc of those 180 Bergers, that is a bad *** combo!

 

[E4aker]

The 7 ultra is really awesome ballistically with the 180's. I don't have my drop charts in front of me....but with a 375yd. zero. I want to say my drops @ 1000 are around 14.5 moa with about 4 moa of drift in a 10 mph wind. I think its still cooking along above 2100 fps. @ that distance. For a lightweight repeater..that awesome!!

 

[E4aker]

Well after shooting up the better part of a box of 180 Bergers I decided to give it a try on some live game! Deer is a S. Carolina whitetail..around 170 lbs estimated. Definetely not a monster buck, but the first with a new rifle. Shot was not long range...258 yds. Deer was about knocked off his feet but did manage to nose walk for about 20yds.

Shot was quartering away double lung shot. Bullet (or what was left) was stuck under the hide in the off side. Bullet weighed 67.9 gr. I will say I have never seen so much damage to the chest cavity of a whitetail. Thr lungs where completely turned to jello.

The bullet not exiting does not suprise me, due to the impact velocity being so high. All and all I'm extremely happy with the rifle/bullet combo. I just need to get the deer to start walking out alittle further!!

Here are some Pics..

Date in the camera was alittle off on the deer pics...fixed it for the bullet pics though.

 

[Magnus]

Man thats awesome, and all done with a savage you built yourself! LOL I too have a couple of Savages that I have put together myself and they are shooters in 6mmbr. My go to PD rifles!

Congrats on the buck and one awesome rifle!

 

[milanuk]

Earl,

Sweet rifle! I've been contemplating a long range 'thumper' for a few years now... Yours looks very close to what I had in mind. Good to see you went ahead and did it!

If you don't mind me asking... did you do the 'assembly' yourself? Anything special required to fit a RUM in a standard 111 push-feed action beyond bolt head and magazine follower?

Monte

 

[E4aker]

Monte,

I put the rifle together completely myself. It's about the 10th savage I've done. I did do a 30" pac-nor barreled 338 edge last year that was a real shooter also. I regretfully sold it but soon replaced it with this 7 rum. I know that the 7 rum doesn't create as much energy down range as the 338 edge, But after shooting both I like the 7mm more. It really is a smooth combination. The US869 and the 180's really put up some good numbers in my rifle. The action was one of the newer centerfeed model 111 with a DBM. I had to be real creative to make a 3.875" cartridge feed through this rifle. First thing I had to do is get rid of the DBM. The stock Box will only take about 3.5" cartridge. I replaced it with one of the old style 375 H&H boxes and dremeled out the back of the box leaving a lip on both sides to retain the follower. The lips on each end of the maazine where it connects to the action was also removed and the box was glued into the stock to look like one of the newer center feeds. It now acts like a centerfeed again and will hold 3 rounds and functions smooth as silk. It could not have turned out any better.

Thanks for all the good comments!

 

[milanuk]

Earl,

I was kind of afraid of something like that. I had been looking thru one of Fred's posts @ savageshooters.com on what fit what, and thought the OAL listed for the 7/.300 RUM seemed kind of short. Probably okay for factory ammo, not custom handloaded long range fodder.

My second choice for cartridge would be something in the 7/.300 WSM range... those should feed okay from a centerfeed DBM, wouldn't you think? I've had... questionable experiences with Savage's magazine feed (pre-DBM) over the years, so I'm a little leery at this point.

Thanks,

Monte

 

[E4aker]

Monte,

I'll tell you what...the new centerfeeds feed awesome. If I was going to do it again, I would do exactly what I did, and not change anything. It will hold 3 rounds and cycles flawlessly. I love the extra "HorsePower" of the 7 ultra over the 7WSM. If you did want to go the WSM route, I would go with a long action. Here is a pic I took for you with one of the new centerfeed long action, DBM with a 300 WSM cartridge loaded to give you an idea. Next too it is a 7 ultra.

Mcmillan will inlet an A-5 for the detachable mag set-up. I have some bottom metal, trigger guard, and magazine, I'll let go cheap if you are interested. I have a 300 WSM large shank 12 twist 3 groove, waiting on an action. I plan on using it as my "woods" gun where shots will be shorter.

I will say this building the savages over the last 5 years has become addicting. I've been shopping lathes and plan on putting one in my gun room soon to continue to feed the habit!

 

[royinidaho]

Earl,

Nice work with good posts and information.

I just read through all of the posts and am confident that your "pressure" problems during break in were as you stated. (Not an oil free chamber).

You lucked out on the 180 Berger. That's a good thing.

I await your report on the deer harvest.

Like Magman I have dusted Bergers and WC 195s in a 3 groove fast twist 277 three groove barrel.

 

[geargrinder]

Earl, I'm trying to get my head around what you did to make it a repeater. I sounds like you are using a stagger feed magazine in a center feed rifle. Is that correct? What is the difference between the two types of actions? Would it be possible to post a photo of the magazine?

I've been toying with the idea of a screwing a Ultramag barrel on one of my Savages it would be great if it could be a repeater too.

 

[E4aker]

Roy,

The deer pics and result are on page 3 of the thread.

The magazine used is indeed a staggered feed, but set up to be used as a centerfeed. I'll try to get you some pics of the setup.

 

[E4aker]

Here are pics of the first mag that I modified. You'll need a dremel!!

1.) remove the tabs off both ends of the magazine.
2.) remove metal from each end of the mag so the cartridge will fit down in there. You want it clearanced on the front and back.
3.) shim in stock with tape to test for fit and function.
4.) when you are happy with results hot glue mag box into stock.


With a standard centerfeed action I think it can handle about a 3.8" cartridge.

I took the dremel and removed a slight amount of material from the bottom, rear of the action opening to allow me to clearance a 3.9" cartridge.

 

[milanuk]

Earl,

Thanks for the details and pics on the magazine modifications. It does seem fairly doable... I have a Dremel, a pea-grinder (air-powered dremel, several sizes up in power), and files so I should be set

Did you spec a certain OAL or throat dimension when you ordered the barrel from Pac-Nor... send them a dummy cartridge or something, or did you just go with what they sent by default for a 7mm RUM chamber?

Thanks,

Monte