You cant find anything about the 7mm Allen Magnum……?? Dozens of write ups here on LRH. Just need to use that search option. It like many if my other wildcats are based on the 338 lapua parent case. Was designed in 2005, released for order in late 2006.
at that time i was working with my good friend Richard Graves who was creator and owner of Wildcat Bullets. He designed a 200 gr ULD RBBT just for my big 7mm.
The case again is based off the 338 lapua, necked down to 7mm and fire formed to produce a 38 degree shoulder angle and reduce case body taper.
body taper is appropriate for this diameter of case. Many reduce case body taper to much and then run into extraction issues at top working pressures, especially when cases get a number of firings on them and the brass gets a bit less elastic.
some have claimed their designs offer more capacity, that may be true but they also are limited in how much pressure can be used with reliable function. My wildcats are not designed to be used at red line pressures. They are designed to have a BIG ENGINE so they can get the work done with less stress on the rifle system. Wildcat Bullets eventually was sold and new owners disolved the company assets so those amazing bullets are no more but we still have many great options.
my 7mm AM is on the right loaded with the 195 gr berger for one of my Stalker Hunter rifles using the HS Precision DM system which is why the throat is cut short to allow this long bullet to fit in the mag and be seated to the lands. Little guy on the left is my 26 Stalker based on the 300 norma mag parent case.
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the 7mm AM is best loaded with bullet weights of 160 or heavier. The 140 class can be used but you will tend to see some higher velocity spreads. These big cases thrive on bullet weight for consistent powder ignition and powder burn. The 160 gr Accubond and 168 gr barnes LRX are great choices for a hunter wanting the ability to target game at closer range where impact velocities are quite high and out to 1000 yards easily. For those that plan to hunt in the 400+ yard ranges, the 180s and 195 gr are amazing on game.
i generally recommend the hybrid Target version over the Hunting bullet version as the target has a thicker jacket and handles the velocity better on the terminal end.
the 180 and 195 gr are pretty much identical in trajectory out to a bit over 1000 yards, past that the big 195 gr will start to show an edge in drift numbers and of course retained energy!!
as mentioned, the 7mm AM as well as all of my wildcats were designed to offer amazing performance but at a pressure level that allows long brass life. My recommended loads will offer at least 8 firings per case and sometimes even more. Many of my customers get performance above what i report but at a sacrifice of case life. In my opinion, getting an extra 3-4 firings per case is much more valuable then adding 100 fps to an already amazing level of performance.
barrel life is always the question about this round. First and foremost, if you want a rifle you can shoot alot, this is not the one for you. That said, when proper Practical Field Shooting practice is done, its EASY to stay proficent with these rifles even at long range by shooting a very limited number of rounds.
My first personal rifle in 7mm AM lasted me 10 seasons. That included 39 hewd of big game harvested at ranges from 450 to 980 yards, all being one shot kills except for two. Those two being a pilot error on one with me not setting the rear bag properly which resulted in a clean miss at 500 yards but a followup shot at 640 with the rifle properly set up was a perfect hit. The other was a bullet issue. Breaking both shoulders on a good montana mule deer buck at 700 yards with the then new 175 gr sierra mk. But the buck on his nose but did not kill him. Had to do that at close range with my trusty 1911.
at the time i retired that rifle i had close to 1000 rounds down the barrel and while it would not shoot the thin jacketed bullets well at the end because of the rough bore, it was still shooting the Accubonds and LRX bullets into 3/4 moa groups at 1/2 mile. This from a 7.5 lb rebuilt Rem 700 packing rifle.
the 7mm AM was also somewhat responsible for the design and production of my Raptor receivers. the short version of the story is a customer had purchased one of my converted Rem 700 rifles. He was told to never exceed the recommended loads i developed in his rifle. He saw that they were relatively low pressure and decided to go against my warning and loaded his 7mm AM up to pressures far exceeding anything i would ever recommend. Over time and use, his rifle developed bolt lug set back and eventually had a catastrophic failure. Put him in the hospital with serious injuries.
law suit followed but luckily the rifle was recovered with some of his loaded ammo locked up in the rifle. We were able to find proof he was loading to far higher pressures then i recommended and i had proof of my warning and recommended loads via email conversations where he also agreed to never go beyond my recommendations. Suit dropped but scared the hell out of me.
designed my Raptor receiver and on that day stopped offering any of my lapua based wildcats on any commerical receiver. The Raptor is so over engineered that using proper burn rate powders, you could never blow one up without an odd case failure or barrel obstruction.
using the Raptor also allowed an increase in performance while maintaining the same case life which truly took the 7mm AM and my other wildcats to new levels. It is a big heavy receiver though.
so a few years later we Defiance and I, worked up my Stalker receivers to offer a very strong, lightweight option for my new Stalker Hunter line of rifles, leaving the big Raptor for my Raptor LRSS line of rifles.
here are a few pics of my Raptor LRSS rifles
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the 7mm AM is coming up on 20 years pretty quickly now. Hard to believe!!
