I have been hearing a lot of stuff lately on velocity and barrel life and such and I just had a question regarding the 7mm Rem Mag. I am interested in purchasing this gun but I want it to last at least 25-30 years. Will the magnum shells and high velocity deteriorate the life expectancy of the barrel and bolt and stock? What are your thoughts on this gun. I am thinking about the Remington Model 700 ADL. Will this setup handle the recoil and power of this gun or are there any problems with it falling apart over time? Thanks

I personally know of 7mm mags with over 2000 rounds through them that still offer fine accuracy.If you don't overheat them by rapid fire or damage them by improper cleaning the barrel life can easily be several thousand rounds.The 700 action is very sturdy and will easily hold up to a lifetime of shooting for the average shooter.

Nathan: My rifle of choice for about 20 years was a 7 MM Rem in a Ruger M77. I have used that particular rifle to take hundreds of game animals from coyotes to Elk. I shot more than 10,000 rounds through it before I started having any problems. The gun has been squared up, rebarreled, rebedded, magazine spring replaced, and is ready for another 20 years. I personally don't like any of the American made rifles off the rack right now; I'd buy a used Ruger or remchester.

I don't know about the 7mm Rem. Mag. as I've never put enough rounds through one to find out.

I have shot a great deal of .300 Win. Mag., particularly though one rifle that is fitted with a Hart barrel. With that rifle at least, I've noticed that accuracy started dropping off after 2500 rounds or so, and that meant 77 grs. of powder was burned every time the trigger was pulled (for the most part). Even then, accuracy was still good enough to hunt with.

I suspect that a 7mm Remington would be good for at least as many rounds of guilt-edged accuracy, if not more. When you get to that point, you've really gotten your money's worth, and you can then afford to rebarrel.

AD

Once a good load is developed, 20 rounds a year would be an unusually large volume to put through a hunting rifle, especially if you hunt different game with more than one rifle.

Let's say you burned a hundred shots coming up with a satisfactory load. After 35 years, the rifle would have had no more than 800 shots through it. Even the worst of barrel burners (assuming reasonable loads and pressures) will last longer than 800 rounds.

If you just like to burn up ammunition to hear the gun go "boom", then that's a different story. On the other hand, if you think "practice" shooting is important, you can and should effectively practice with a much less expensive caliber.

There's nothing about the 7mm Magnum that will be harder on any component of the rifle (stock, action, etc.) except the barrel than, say, a .243. Your only concern should be barrel life, and that is, in terms of the typical hunter, a period which exceeds your own life expectancy.

I bought a .264 Winchester Magnum when I was 14 years old, and until I was in my late 30's, it was practically my only high-power rifle. I shot everything with it -- targets, watermelons, rabbits and ground squirrels, coyotes, whitetails, muleys, elk, hogs, bobcats, turkeys; and worked up loads for at least a dozen different bullets through the years. I can't say how many thousand rounds it has had through the barrel, but the result is that the throat area is visibly roughened. It now requires about 1% more powder to achieve the same velocity as when new, but still shoots as accurately as ever -- honestly under a minute of angle. I wouldn't even consider changing the barrel.

My point is this: Only prairie dog and competitive target shooters really have an issue with barrel life. On a hunting rifle it can be considered indefinate; in other words, hunting rifle barrels are typically changed because the owner has some desire to change (the barrel was never accurate in the first place, or the owner wants another caliber or length), not because they have been "shot" out.

Many overbore cartridges burn up the throats at the shooting range, rather than the hunting fields and I've seen plenty of them already showing marked discoloration and roughness after only 250 - 300 rounds. The quest for top loads with the myriad of bullets and powders available today can be most addictive and, in tandem with firing too often and cleaning too little, somethings gotta give.

I've been shooting an old Model 700 ADL in 7mm Rem Mag since I was 14 and I'm 39 now. I have no idea how many rounds have gone through it, but I would be comfortable stating that I shoot at least 200 rounds a year. You do the math.

The rifle is as accurate today as it was when it came out of the box. I haven't noticed any drop in accuracy yet. The only thing I've done to it is put aBell & Carlson stock on it and piller bed it. The trigger was adjusted to 2.5 lbs. It wears a Leupold Vari-X II in 3x9.

Don't know about the quality of a new Remington, but the old ones were good. My father still uses his in 7MM Rem Mag and he bought it in 1965.

Mac

Stubblejumper - I missed your post .. sorry for essentially repeating it.

My suggestion is to not overheat the barrel and to keep the rifle clean. If you really abuse the 7 Mag your barrel life will be cut allot shorter than it will if you take care of it. I have shot a 7mm mag for about 8 or 9 years know and it shows no throat wear. You will most likely replace it before you wear it out as long as you take care of it. I have shot around 800 rounds through mine and my loads are on the hot side and it shoots just as good as it did when I first bought it. This is just one 7mm mag owners opinion.

[ 12-17-2002, 23:35: Message edited by: Handloader ]

Nathan, I have 2 7mm mags in my guncabinet, one that is from the 60's and it still does shoot groups with 140, 160, & 175 grain bullets under
1.250 inches. I have a pet load for the rifle with the 160 grain BarnesXLC bullet, that will still shoot 3/4 inch groups. We have had the gun since 1970 and I know there are over 3500 rounds through the rifle and some very HOT too.

My experiance is excatly like MAC's. I have an old remington 700 ADL that I got back in the early 70's. This gun has shot everything from 120 to 175 grain bullets at max loads. The gun has well over 3000 rounds thru it and it shoots just as good today as it did new. Unless you shoot alot more than most people or don't maintain your rifle you will never wear one out. My gun has been carryied over a countless number of miles and the stock takes more of a beating than the barrel.

You would have to try really hard to wear one out. Mine has a lot of rounds through it with no loss of accuracy.

Nathan,

if you shoot it out you get to put a nice custom barrel on it . So that being said look forward to shooting your barrel out.

Make sure you handle a CZ in your chosen caliber before you buy. J. Belk gives them his seal of approval as the best deal on the market for what you get.

I use my 7mm for groundhog hunting and have put 60 to 80 rounds a year through it for 16 years without any drop off in accuracy. It was used when I bought it so I don't know what to expect as a maximum.

The barrel wore out on my second 7MM Rem Mag that I got in 1969. It was on a Ruger #1A and I had more trouble loading for that cartridge. The chamber had too much headspace to the shoulder but was in spec. This is how I learned about the wide range of chambers in belted cases. So I made most of the cases out of 300 Win Mags. I still have that box of stuff from that barrel and I made a prick punch mark on each case on the belt to note how many reloads I got. You can tell that this bothered me as I was spoiled by the 30/06.

As side note is that I hunted with this handy rifle a lot and shot quite a bit of game with it. This fact means little however but does point out that hunters shoot very little so if that's all you do with it barrel wear is no big deal. But first of all I am a shooter. I shoot a lot and have access to a handy range. I can shoot on my property in VT anytime.

About 1994 I noticed that the old 7MM would not group 160 BT's any more. Finally I got a keyhole! At this point the barrel had about 2000 shots thru it and none were all that hot at all. So I measured the twist on the barrel and Ruger had put a 1-10 on it and not the standard 1-9.5 or 1-9.25!

This seems to confirm the saying that "A bad barrel is forever"

I called up Ruger as I was just a little "motivated" when I finally found out about the twist. After a short chat we both agreed to rebarrel it. I already knew that they did not make a 7MM Rem Mag in the 1A any longer but they did not! So they called me back and said that I had my choice of 1A chamberings. Of course I selected the 30/06. Now the rifle has a tight chamber, groups better and is finally easy to load for.

The bottom line is that I would not buy another rifle with a belted cartridge and pay any more than the salvage value of the parts. Even then it's just not worth it.

But if you don't reload you would never know.

This is off the subject, but Stonecreek's comment about the 264 Winchester is common among 264 owners. In any conversation about the 264, the first thing that comes up is, it is hard on barrels. But 9 times out 10 the person making the comment has never owned one. Ask a long time user of a 264 if he has had any barrel problems, "no shoots now, like it did when I got it."

But the stigma has stuck and I don't see it changing.

Saludos...Frank

Velocity has very little to do with barrel wear. If velocity were the culprit, the most noticeable point of barrel wear would be at the muzzle � the highest point of velocity � and not the throat � where the bullet is moving the slowest. Pressure is the problem for firearms and the associated wear. You�ll find that the highest point of pressure in the curve lies in the first few inches of the barrel, after that it drops off rather quickly. The other factor to watch for is heat. Pushing too many high-pressure loads through the barrel too quickly will also lead to barrel wear. Keep the pressures at reasonable levels, watch the heat, and you should be able to have the gun last you a lifetime.

Turok