School me on the 7mm Rem Mag

Hi Fella's,

I'm headed over the ditch to hunt tahr with a kiwi colleague in early November...

I was going to bring my .270, but given that my opportunities to hunt tahr are pretty limited (10 years since my last trip), I thought I'd give myself a bit more margin for error as well as giving me a bit more knock down power if a nice bull presents itself a bit further out, So today I ordered in a t3x tikka in 7mm rem mag. It will be ready to pick up in a month. I'll pair it with a zeiss victory 3-12x56.

This cartridge seems to pretty well regarded by blokes on here and on the 'other' forum for tahr, and seems like it should do the job. I'm comfortable shooting out to around 350-400m or so - haven't ever had the need to shoot any further and most of my hunting over here is done at ranges under 150.

Any advice on good loads of tahr - what weight projectiles work well ? What about powders - I've got lots of ADI 2213sc left over from loading for my .270. Hopefully, I will get a chance to work up some loads for it, but if I don't get a chance what good factory loads are out there?

Any other comments or experience with the 7mm mag for tahr would be appreciated.

Cheers,

The 162 gr go well in 7mm mag. 2217 or 2225 go better with that weight. With 2213 you probably want to use a 150gr projectile. I ran a 160 accubond as a close range load and then 162 a-max for 300 yds plus. Now the 162 eld-x or eld-m would be the pick. You could try a 150gr longrange accubond as a one projectile load. the 168gr berger was also a good projectile. You need something with a good BC because of the wind in the mountains.
Best bit of advice with the T3 is to get a limbsaver recoil pad, although the new t3x might be better than the old t3 reocil pad.

Yep - I know what you mean about the pad. I use a 9.3x62 T3 battue for Sambar over here and it was rather unpleasant under recoil before I swappped the stock pad to a limbsaver, much nicer now. They've apparently upgraded the pad on the new model, but I haven't seen one in the flesh.

@Carpe Diem hes got a pretty wicked shooting one he might pop in and share a few tips

I'm shooting a Berger 168 VLD over 2225 with good results. Haven't shot a Tahr but kills red deer out past 400 no worries

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Originally Posted by stug

Best bit of advice with the T3 is to get a limbsaver recoil pad

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Or a decent brake, get a Terminator T2 and you are sorted. Then you won't get beaten up running a decent load. Looks like a good combo, good luck on your hunting trip.

Ive used a 7mm Mag for over 30 years, shot a lot of tahr. The one load that has always been consistent is 140gn SGK over 70gns of either 4831 or 2213SC. Now apparently this is a hot load, but not in my rifle. Checked it last weekend, 5 shots in the magic 1", 3140fps over the chrony. Am now playing with the 154SST just for shits and giggles, and it performs well. But its always the 140SGK's I take when I go hunting.
And theres no need to shoot tahr way out at beyond 400, there are plenty of animals in good terrain that are closer. The average distance for all the tahr I've shot or been in on, would be about the 150-180 mark. Remember after you shoot it you still gotta retrieve it so may as well close the gap before you pull the trigger.
Good luck, have fun, they are one helluva trophy to chase.

From what I have read on this forum stug gives about the best advice on loads so what he has suggested would be a good starting point, I have the same riffle you have stated and am running 162 grain ELDX which I have found does a great job. My bro does all my loads and I have lost the piece of paper with it all written down so I'm sorry I can't help you for now with the full load however I do know it is travelling just under 3000 FPS. Some hunters prefer to get in close as Husky1600 has suggested however the 7mm rem mag has got serious legs and can drop animals out to long ranges so as long as you know where your bullet is going why not use the riffle for what it was designed for. Good luck with your hunting and enjoy your riffle, it's a great caliber as you will soon find out.

And if you're coming in November - its "low-vember", and the bulls are generally low to very low then (we've seen mobs of 30 bulls in a riverbed), this might not alter the range at which you have to shoot, but it does sometimes make recovery easier.

I've shot a bunch of Tahr with a 250-3000 right through to my favorite - a 7x64 (162 amaxs up till now), which is 7mm Rem mag "lite". At the end of the day as with all game a poorly placed shot is going to give a poor result no matter - no amount of additional power will change that - especially with Tahr which are not "tough" if hit right, but are "bloody tough" if hit wrong.

You mentioned you'd been shooting a 270, which is for all intents and purposes the same to shoot as a 7mm Mag, IF the rifle's weight is the same - how does your new rifle compare with your 270?. If you can shoot your 7mm Mag as much as you can before you go to ensure you can place your shots with complete confidence.

Shooting in mountain terrain is a lot different to any other hunting situation and not getting or compromising "field position" causes lots of misses (half the Tahr videos on the web have a clean miss at a moderate range and I've done it myself all to often).

I load 162 gr Hornady A-Max with 65 grs of AR 2213 SC for 2955 fps average. I haven't shot tahr with that load but a few deer and it works ok. I think the ELD-x 162 gr bullet with that charge should be good. I am loading for a Rem 700, so you should work up to that load in your rifle as it is over max in the books form memory but ok in my rifle.
Another bullet that would be good would be the Noslar 160 gr Accubond.

I was going to say get a muzzle break or suppressor on there first to reduce recoil id never used either until recently on a browning 7mm mag the break is really good , are you guys across the ditch even allowed to have a thread on your barrel ?

when I lived there you just weren't allowed suppressors

No to suppressors here.


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Thanks everyone. I've got plenty of 2213sc to burn so I might start with working up a load for something around 150gn. Has anyone tried the 150gn Ballistic tips, or the Woodleigh 140's or 160's? ELD-X or ELD-M, and nosler LR accubond are all not so readily available over here.

No issues with threaded barrels for muzzle breaks, although I find them obnoxiously loud, so I'll see what the recoils like. No suppressors unfortunately - too scary for our gov

Tentman - yep I understand your point about shot placement, wasn't trying to compensate for that. Rather if I get a shot at a nice animal I want everything in my favour and the extra oomph of the magnum I'm sure won't go astray - and anyway my .270's a bloody boat anchor and would rather not be lugging that around NZ hillside...:)

Hey @nak.
I am running 150gn Nosler BTs in front of 70gns of AR2213sc. I started with this load as it was recommended by Greg Duley (NZ Hunter) as his go to 7mmRM accuracy load. It didn't disappoint. Not super fast in my rifle (T3 24" barrel) @3063 fps but the charge is well above ADI book max. No sign whatsoever of excess pressure though.
Last animal shot with it was a bull Tahr with the perfect result so I would not hesitate to use it again on tahr out to my (personal) maximum range of 600 yards.

Great calliber with plenty of projectile choice.im using 150 gn soft point with great results on big animals,the caliber really goes well with the 160s however.

I used to run 150 BT's with 2213 in my Rem Mag and they work well on Thar and everything else bang flop job done.

Right I think I'm sorted....I've got some 150gn B/tips on the way to use up some of the 2213sc which I'll use on the upcoming tahr trip. I also managed to find a couple of boxes of 162 ELD-M that I'll have play with later on.

Any particular primers that I should look for - reading through some old threads Federal magnum primers seem well regarded.

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Originally Posted by nak

Federal magnum primers seem well regarded.

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You got it sorted:thumbsup:

Well for that tahr trip last november, I ended up using the 150gn ballistic tips with 2213sc nice and accurate but not overly fast - did the job though.

I'm headed over in couple of weeks to chase spring tahr again, and this time I've followed the hype and decided to try the 162gn ELD-Ms. Worked up a ladder to check velocities load with 2217 and this was the first group I shot with the charge weight I had settled on. Again, not super fast but I'm happy with the accuracy and with this load it will hold 1500ft/lbs to around 600m, so that'll do me.

Not bad for a 5 shot group from a standard tikka - shot off a sandbag

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1927/...a9e13ecb_k.jpgUntitled by nak _80, on Flickr

Lookin pretty good, post a story when you are back from this coming trip, hope the greenies haven't bombed up the area you are going to.

I noticed your load at 70.5 grs of 2217 gave 2865 fps my 7 mm mag a rem 700 and 71 grs of 2217 is going 3042 fps average out of a 24 inch barrel. Amazing the speed difference. That is with the 162 gr ELD X.

Im still using 162 gn A Max's as I brought 2000 of them the other year and that should see me out . AR2225 . Have shot bulls with this combo from 50 yds out to 800 yds. Plenty of knock down and kill cleanly.

mooseman, I think the 7mm mags like long barrels to burn all the powder. I m using your exact same load in my zastava and getting 2950 out of it with a shorter barrel.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nak

Well for that tahr trip last november, I ended up using the 150gn ballistic tips with 2213sc nice and accurate but not overly fast - did the job though.

I'm headed over in couple of weeks to chase spring tahr again, and this time I've followed the hype and decided to try the 162gn ELD-Ms. Worked up a ladder to check velocities load with 2217 and this was the first group I shot with the charge weight I had settled on. Again, not super fast but I'm happy with the accuracy and with this load it will hold 1500ft/lbs to around 600m, so that'll do me.

Not bad for a 5 shot group from a standard tikka - shot off a sandbag

https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1927/...a9e13ecb_k.jpgUntitled by nak _80, on Flickr

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That's a bloody good group, good on you :thumbs:

Nice group, dont stress on speed looks job done, very nearly the same load as im using