A recently obtained a model 70 in 7mm Rem Mag. The barrel is a new 24 inch Kreiger.

I intend to reload, but just wanted to check the gun out and be able to have a factory ammo that shot good if I was in a hurry or too lazy to make some ammo.

I found with Winchester 160 grain Accubonds I got about 2780 feet per second and about 2960 with Federal 140 grain Nosler Partitions and 140 grain Accubonds.

In others' experience, is this fairly consistent with factory ammunition or does it look like I have a "slow" barrel? I appreciate any comments.

I haven't fired factory 7rm in awhile but it's more likely the ammo is slow & not your bbl. With good handloads you should be able to exceed 3000fps w/ a 160gr anything & push 3200fps w/ a 140gr bullet. Try Federal, they seem to be loaded closer to the potential of the 7rm.
http://www.federalcartridge.com/ballistics/Ammo_Search.aspx

Okay, I gotta ask...

Why Schrodinger's Cat for a moniker?

The last factory ammo I chronographed was Winchester 150g Power Point loads. Winchester at the time claimed 3110 fps from this load. It got 3090 fps in my 24" barreled Remington 700.

AnotherAZWriter, just a concept that fascinated me when I was in college many years ago. Look it up on the internet--kinda interesting.

You will find that often with the 7 Mag, if you shoot factory ammo, you are shooting hot 7x57/.280 Remington loads. The good thing is that these are still very good game killers so the average guy without a chronograph won't know the difference. You should be able to load 160's to 3000-3050 fps, 140's to 3200-3300 fps.

IMR7828 and H870 should both get you close to 3100 with 160 Gr. bullets. IMR4350, RL19 and RL22 should get you into the 3300 fps rangewith the 140's.

quote:

IMR7828 and H870 should both get you close to 3100 with 160 Gr. bullets. IMR4350, RL19 and RL22 should get you into the 3300 fps rangewith the 140's.

Ditto to Jay's post, R22 will also get you 3100 or close to it w/ the 160s as well.

R22 is a heck of a powder in the 7RM.

Last Factory 140s I chronoed were Hornady Customs 139 ILBTSPs, they went 3015 which is well below advertised. That was in a BBR w/ Factory tube. I also chronoed some Federal 160 Sierra factory loads, they went 2900 from the same BBR.

I chroned some Remington 150 CLs one time that were above the advertised velocity, the only split case I've ever had from pressure was from a factory 150 CL that went 3259 over the Chrono . Needless to say, I didn't fire any more of them. They were pretty old so, I'm not sure if the powder had broken down or what. Just used them for foulers from time to time.

Good Luck

Reloader

Thank you all for your responses, I shall follow the reloading advice.

What Jay Johnson said. Thats what I get.

I used to load 139 grain Hornadys in my 7 mags and got 3128 fps with the load that I used. You can definitely get higher than that. I shoot only 175s right now as they are only elk rifles. My current load is with RL22 and I get 2800+ fps with both Nosler partitions and Hornady interlocks. I have never had an elk walk away with one.