Remington 7mm for getting into long range?

Hey guys, I'm new to the whole long range shooting thing. A little while ago I purchased a Remington 700 in 7mm mag from my cousin. It was his elk rifle and after doing some online research, it looks to be made in '78. I haven't gotten the chance to shoot it yet, but I would love to get use it for both hunting and precision shooting. My biggest question is would this be a good rifle to get into the long range game with or should I start with something else? I have read pretty extensively on the 7mm mag and know that it has good ballistics, I am just curious as far as the platform and the recoil go for someone who only has experience shooting those old Mosin Nagants as far as bolt guns go.

There isn't a much better platform to start with then what you have. The Rem. 700 action is one of the the most used and cloned actions out there, and the 7mm has great ballistics. In the wrong stock the 7mm can have some mean recoil but a simple buttpad can take care of that. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by HBARleatherneck

what barrel profile do you have? if it is a lightweight barrel, I personally wouldnt recommend using it in that configuration for long range or extended shooting sessions. If its a lightweight barrel in a lightweight stock, its probably great for hunting, but not good for long range precision work. And it would be cheaper to buy a heavy barrel 700 or savage to use as a long range gun, than to take an existing rifle, change out the stock, barrel, trigger, etc.


if you think you are going to do alot of shooting, I would probably pick a different cartridge as well. 308, 6.5 creedmore, etc are better cartridges with better barrel life, less recoil and cheaper to shoot/reload.

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TBH, I don't know. I am not terribly familiar with the Remington 700 and bought it mostly as a favor (family member needed the money). I have included a picture of it. Obviously if I use this for long range, it will get new glass and a new stock. I'm just trying to determine whether I should use this for a long range setup or if that's a waste of money and I should find something new.
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HBAR had some good advice. That is a nice elk gun you have but you would need to change pretty much everything on it for long range. The barrel profile is light weight and will heat up quickly during some long strings. This will reduce barrel life. As mentioned it would be cheaper and better to pick up a heavy barreled rifle and add on from there. Cheaper is relative term in the long range game. Looking at 2-3000 at minimum an that is the low end. Most guys spend that on glass alone. You can pm me and I can let you know the route I took.

Hbar and Sako55 pretty much nailed it, that's a great hunting rifle, but it'd take far to much work and or compromises to turn that one into a capable LR gun without also making it nearly unusable for a hunting rig because it is gonna be heavy.

Magnums are handy from a ballistic perspective, but taking that to a big match like say Snipers Hide Cup, is going to put a serious whooping on your shoulder with a round count in the area of 250 rounds in 3 days. To make a magnum effective in the LR game you NEED a heavy barrel with a good brake on it and a relatively heavy stock so you can control recoil. A good portion of shooting LR is seeing your misses. If you're still riding out the recoil when your bullet gets there, you can't learn anything from that miss.

For perspective's sake, that rifle probably weighs in the neighborhood of 7-8 lbs as it sits now. My 260 Remington match rifle (also based off a 700) weighs in at 19.5 lbs and has a badger FTE brake on it. Makes it so I can see misses as close as 200 yards (although I hope I'm not often missing @200 yds hahaha) Not so much fun to carry for long distances though.

I've been thinking about building a heavy match rifle off that exact action in 7WSM but I've recently thrown that idea out the window and decided to go to a bit lighter rifle in a LOT lighter caliber for my next build. The magnums are handy and fun, but spendy to shoot, many times a lot more touchy to load for accurately and more expensive to feed. Not to mention the beating you take shooting them for long strings and how fast they eat barrels.

Pick up a heavy barreled 700 or Savage in 308, 6.5cm, 260, or similar, slap a decent scope on it and go to town. I know there's a couple scopes in the trading post section right now that would be great for you, a burris XTRII and an SWFA 5-20 HD. Upgrade as you go and learn how and where you want to spend your money.

I'm not familiar with that cartridge so I don't know how fast it is. If you plan to shoot local matches, some have limits on MV to protect the targets.

If it were me, I'd do something in the 6mm or 6.5mm family if you load, .308 if you don't.

I say it depends on what you mean by "getting into long range". If that means competition, the point has already been made by others. If that means going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time, then no big deal... that is more than enough rifle. I would glass bed it with a $35 acraglas kit and do a trigger job:

http://quarterbore.com/library/artic...00trigger.html


Just give it time between shots to cool off a bit and you can shoot long range all day with that gun.

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Originally Posted by Zombie Steve

I say it depends on what you mean by "getting into long range". If that means competition, the point has already been made by others. If that means going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time, then no big deal... that is more than enough rifle. I would glass bed it with a $35 acraglas kit and do a trigger job:

http://quarterbore.com/library/artic...00trigger.html


Just give it time between shots to cool off a bit and you can shoot long range all day with that gun.

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This is a good point, It really boils down to just how much LR shooting you want to do.

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Originally Posted by Zombie Steve

I say it depends on what you mean by "getting into long range". If that means competition, the point has already been made by others. If that means going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time, then no big deal... that is more than enough rifle. I would glass bed it with a $35 acraglas kit and do a trigger job:

http://quarterbore.com/library/artic...00trigger.html


Just give it time between shots to cool off a bit and you can shoot long range all day with that gun.

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I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm more interested in what you said "going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time" is what I'm looking to working towards at the moment. I'm not looking at competition yet, but that could be something that I get interested in after I am a more capable shot.

Simple answer: Buy a different gun or build one for long range. Keep this one as is and enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by osok-308

I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm more interested in what you said "going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time" is what I'm looking to working towards at the moment. I'm not looking at competition yet, but that could be something that I get interested in after I am a more capable shot.

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In that case, buy a decent scope for it, slap a bipod on it, and have some fun. If and when you decide to play the game seriously, then start spending money and build up a proper LR match rifle.

I'll warn you now though, it's addicting and next thing you know, you'll be building up a full tilt LR rig [Beer]

Yea , you wallet will hate you for getting into LR

I don't have a 7 mag, so I didn't know off the top of my head, but I got a second to plug in some info into a ballistics calculator. You can take the rifle as you have it right now, and if you're using a high ballistic coefficient / heavier boat tail bullet and zero at 300 yards, you can easily learn to just hold over out to 500. It might be in the neighborhood of 4 inches high at 100 and 200 yards... roughly 10 inches low at 400... two feet low at 500. You don't ever have to change anything on the scope. With a little practice, it will become an every time thing for you. I can hit an ABC target every time at 425 with my hunting rifle just holding over a few feet, and the 7mm magnum flies a lot flatter than my .338-06.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zombie Steve

I say it depends on what you mean by "getting into long range". If that means competition, the point has already been made by others. If that means going and hitting a gong at a 600+ from time to time, then no big deal... that is more than enough rifle. I would glass bed it with a $35 acraglas kit and do a trigger job:

http://quarterbore.com/library/artic...00trigger.html


Just give it time between shots to cool off a bit and you can shoot long range all day with that gun.

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^^^this

I really like my 7mm Remington Magnum with the Nikon BDC scope and I just plug my data into the Nikon app. It is a great flat shooting hunting rifle that will bang steel at 600 without touching the scope. If that is what you want, then this rifle will fill that purpose no problem; it will give you a pretty good shot on recoil, but it is not as bad as the other belted magnums. After about 10 or so I start flinching and pulling my shots; I need a better recoil pad. The only thing I suggest, is getting the bore checked; see how much life you actually have left in it before spending money on. At the very least, it should be a nice hunting rifle.

My co-worker used a 300 Win Magnum for his long range precision rifle with a muzzle break, which he thought was great until it came time to re-barrel. The money involved in that stuff is insane...

EDIT: I am in the same boat as you; learning. I got the 7mm to do more then my 30 year old 3006, and I just finished my 24" AR (308) build. Wish you luck!

Just a heads up, your scope is gonna run 1500$, mount will be around 150$ Nightforce or USoptics ora leu'y if you go past ~800yds. You need to be able to track and have repeatability in your rig. Most of my stuff, the scopes cost more than the action and stock. I run 8-32x, but if you want, you can also run a 6-20x zeiss that's not to bad on the wallet. Buy it right, and buy it once. Don't expect a 150$ tasco to do that kind of work on a repeatable basis...

After that try a local match to see if it is something your going to enjoy. That's what I did...... now I'm broke....... ALL THE TIME!!! Lol lol

^this , come out to a match and check out the other rigs.

You've been given some great advice. I read all of it cause I'm in the same boat. My r700 7mm mag is a left handed action. You'll have an easier time finding a quality rh stock or chassis than me. I want the ability to take elk within 800ish yards. (I know that'll take some research/practice and skill). I wanted to keep my hunting rifle as is and do a more tactical style lr rifle. After a lot of thinking. I'm going to keep my hunting style rifle somewhat traditional looking and keep it light. The true lr rifle will probably be in .260 or 6.5 creed as suggested.

The hunting rifle is getting a timney, nightforce 20moa base Bushnell Elite Tactical ERS with hours reticle, free floating factory sporter barrel, and glass bedding the stock. It's should be plenty capable for my (and your expectations)
Link to a great deal on the scope below.

http://www.natchezss.com/3-5-21x50-e...ark-earth.html