$1500----7mm Rem Mag or 300 WM----what make?

O

OneCleanShot

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Minuteman
Nov 22, 2013
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Alaska
#1
Ok Gentlemen. First long distance bolt gun (1000 yds+) 90% Targets/ 10% Hunting in Alaska. Budget is $1500 for the rifle. I have a scope. 7mm Rem Mag or 300 Win Mag? What manufacturer? What stock? I will be reloading for it. I will consider your experienced advice and build or buy accordingly. Thank you for your time and Happy New Year!
 
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#2
I would say Remington sendero in 7 RM. buuuuuuuut after doing sheep hunts I would say tikka t3 lite. Weight is a huge thing when backpack hunting! but light, long distance, and 1500 don't really go together 100% I use a Christensen Arms in 7wsm as my sheep/back country gun it is good to 800yd hunting shots in my hands...
 
#3
Remington 700 in 300 Wm. I really like the XCR long range tactical. There are a couple other nice models. Then I would get a nice 700 cdl for your Alaskan hunting trips. You can try to make one gun work for 1000 yard shooting and Alaskan hunting but its not really ideal.
 
#4
The best muzzle brake you can afford ... that's all I got to say. Maybe Savage Bear Hunter in 300WM?

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#5
Rem 700 Stainless MilSpec 5R in 300WM with threaded barrel, these run around $1100. For around $130 you can add a Surefire brake, that has a very small profile, but still very efficient, and is not obnoxious like some of the brakes out there. You can add a Near Mfg. 25-MOA base that has a recoil lug for $175. A set of Leupold Mk4 rings for around $125, and you're there.
 
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#6
Bought a sendero 300wm a while back, and wasn't too happy with accuracy. Nice custom barreled actions come up for sale on gunbroker and forums. I picked up a nice 6.5x284 with low round count, krieger barrel, and trued rem 700 for $800. Tossed it in a bobby hart accublock stock, and with a bit of load dev it shoots just under an inch at 300. The 300 win 5r looks sweet, 24 inches is a bit short for caliber, but not a big deal.
 
#7
"Rem 700 Stainless MilSpec 5R in 300WM with threaded barrel, these run around $1100. For around $130 you can add a Surefire brake, that has a very small profile, but still very efficient, and is not obnoxious like some of the brakes out there. You can add a Near Mfg. 25-MOA base that has a recoil lug for $175. A set of Leupold Mk4 rings for around $125, and you're there."

This ^^ If I had to do it over again, I would get a 5R.
 
#9
I went with the weatherby ultralight in 300 win mag. It has the right twist in the barrel to shoot 210 amax. Short throw on the bolt. Weight will be important in hunting. I have shot mine out to 1k and that is far as I would ever shoot it at an animal. I held out and found a used stainless. Can not be happier.

I went and bought an egw 20 moa rail on it so I could use what ever rings I wanted.
 
#10
What unit?

Personally I would go with 700 SPS tact in 308 for 1000 target and Tikka T3 SS for hunting in 7.08 or 30.06, 308. In the neighborhood of $1500 for both pop guns.

The 700 in 308 will get you to 1000 and a little more, 308 more economic to reload and shoot so you will have more rounds down range. Its how I started in the fun. I tried to shoot my 338 at longer ranges fun time but the recoil and cost was too much for me to enjoy a weekend of shooting. Once I went to 308, cost had more rounds on the trigger, more rounds the more I learned and more time I could spend the day shooting.

Tikka is the out of the box rifle for Alaska, a 7.08 will count ounces for totting your rig hunting and yes, contrary to Anchoragemagnumitese, it will tip over the largest moose with a well place bullet in the kill box, More horsepower will not make up for a miss.

I ran both 7mm and 300 mags in Alaska for quite a few years and prefer the 7mag more better. In my experience, I believe the 284 flies better to the target and once there drives deeper for a worse or better wound channel. I ultimately went to 338 for the very same reasons, 338 diameter in my hunting does it all but the recoil. Two things I wish I would have done different, one is 375HH for its history and 338.06 for performance. I know a few guys who run the 338.06 and its a hot rod for Alaska.

Heavy long range and light nimble hunting are two entirely different rigs for Alaska unless you road hunt. Can one do both, of course but I for one cannot fathom toting a heavy rifle on a hunt.
 
#11
Now you have a few criterias unsettled here.
Caliber choice my favorite hunting cartidge is the 7 RM so for me it would be easy.
The 300 WM does produce a good deal more recoil to get similar ballistics, but if i was looking to tackle Alaskan grizzly i'd go 300, just my opinion as both will do that too if needed.


Tikka T3 lite 300 WM, 570ish dollars.
Take off and seel the stock for 100?
And you're down to 470.

EGW picatinny rail: 40$
Manners composite stock: 450-900$. (MCS T3 495$, MCS T4 A with fixed butt 655$) with a T3 recoil lug +24$.
CDI LA DBM: 275 $ with 1 mag.
Quality reduced trigger weight spring 5-10 $, if you can tune it your self.
Will need to be bedded properly preferably with pillars Around 200$ ?

Will get away with 1500$ if you choose one of the simpler MCS stocks like a T3.
For the T4A it'd cost you about 1650.
ANd you'd still be looking for a scope mount?
Also the plastic bolt shroud is something i would change in time, it does not affect function though.

For this you will have a quality stock of you're choice fitted to you.
A good rifle, generally 0.5 moa capable.
Picatinny rail.
A really good, and reliable trigger when tuned.
Dbm sytem for AI mags.
And a good bedding job.

Might bulk you're budget a bit but for the price it's impossible to beat in my mind.
 
#14
No matter which round you go with, if you have a good buddy gunsmith that is REAL reasonably priced (and is a decent 'smith) or will do it for a case of beer, I'd say the best thing is to put together you own rifle. Really all he will need to do is true up the Remmy action and chamber/install (that includes head spacing) the barrel. In MY opinion, a muzzle brake is not really worth spending money on as the only time it does you any real good is when shooting for zero or playing at the range.......but it usually is REALLY GOOD at annoying everyone around you. Not necessary for a HUNTING gun unless you are EXTREMELY recoil sensitive! When you are out hunting, keep in mind that you have to carry it around 99.9% of the time and only shoot it .1% of the time...and if you hit your target, the animal will never know/hear the difference. Based on personal experience, you will never even feel the recoil!

Also, money spent building a GOOD, ACCURATE personally satisfying rifle is money well spent, so if you DO go a tad over budget go ahead. You will get over it really quick if you spend a tad more than planned and will have a great rifle to shoot FOREVER, but if you scrimp, EVERY TIME YOU PICK THE RIFLE UP you will get all disappointed all over again....FOREVER! Trust me on this...I am an old guy and have lots of guns, but only a VERY FEW of them make me smile every time I even just LOOK at it!!

SO, here we go:

Remmy 700 action off of a donor gun: maybe $150.00 (or maybe even you already have a junker behind the bedroom door...so ZERO dollars)
A good barrel: Minimum about $330.00 (NOT the place to "economize")
Good recoil lug--maybe $50.00
A simple and adjustable Timney trigger: $125.00 (NOT really needed oftentimes, as some stock triggers CAN be OK with a little work)
A stock that fits you right: $350.00 to maybe $700.00 (or UP:eek:) depending upon your tastes/budget...You want bling or a good, practical stock??
Decent base/rings of your choice about $150.00

If you have an old junker behind the bedroom door and can use the action off of that, just toke your gunsmith buddy the $150.00!! Keep in mind that the donor gun does NOT HAVE to be a magnum action, but it is convenient if it is....If not, the bolt face can be opened up as needed, so it only has to be a long action!!!

HAVE FUN!!
 
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#15
I'm w/ rockbox. It's not beautiful, but a savage action is cheap and easy to come by, the floating bolt head is the secret to their inherent accuracy. You can pick up a first tier barrel for less than 500: LW is mid 300s, Brux is mid 400s. Add a good stock, If you have to cut some dollars, the BC isn't a McMillian, but their tactical stock with the aluminum bedding block is solid. Les Baer uses them on his bolt guns. This package is the ticket to the most rifle for the least amount of money. Later, if you want you can add cdi bottom metal and detachable magazine, it's easy to do.
 
#17
Goatman007 said:
7mm definitely, lighter gun, less recoil, still has enough punch out at 1K, but not so much on your end, about the 300WM, there is good news and bad news, the good news is, it has punch on both ends, the bad news is it has punch on BOTH ends! LOL
Click to expand...

Not too sure a 7mm mag is going to be much lighter than a 300. Same action length, barrel length, where's the savings?
 
#18
If you are really going to spend 90% of the time target shooting with it long range, why would you subject yourself to much more recoil with the 300wm for no additional performance? A 7mag with berger 180s close to 3000 will hang with a 338lapua 300smk with significantly less recoil. If you make this gun light to hunt with, again you will want the 7mag because who wants to hunt with a muzzle brake? 7mag will kill anything in North America.
You gain nothing you need by going with a 300 over the 7mag. You have to have the super heavies in the 300 to match what the 7 does with 180s.
 
#19
I don't think you are going to see any difference in weight savings by going with the 7mm vs 300 WM. In theory, if two guns with the same specifications were being compared, the 300 would be unnoticeably lighter due to the larger bore diameter.

The 5R is a good gun, but it wouldn't be my first choice as a hunting rifle. I have the 308 model with a 24" barrel and it's almost 13 pounds including the glass and a bipod. I'd go with the T3 and make the necessary upgrades. I've heard the factory recoil lug needs replacing with one made of steel because the aluminum lug can't handle the abuse of magnum calibers.
 
#20
KYpatriot said:
If you are really going to spend 90% of the time target shooting with it long range, why would you subject yourself to much more recoil with the 300wm for no additional performance? A 7mag with berger 180s close to 3000 will hang with a 338lapua 300smk with significantly less recoil. If you make this gun light to hunt with, again you will want the 7mag because who wants to hunt with a muzzle brake? 7mag will kill anything in North America.
You gain nothing you need by going with a 300 over the 7mag. You have to have the super heavies in the 300 to match what the 7 does with 180s.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with the heavies? A 210 gr vld or a 200 grain SGK is a long range killer. @ 3000 fps muzzle speed a 200 grain sierra has roughly 1200 ft lbs of energy left at 1000. That's 150 more than a 175 gr. 284 sierra. Admittedly a elk wont notice that extra 150 ft lbs but that bigger chunk of lead with more energy will drive deeper and kill better. I have no dog in this fight, I have multiple rifles in both these chambering.
 
#21
Here's my .02, find a SAKO AV Fiberclass in 7 Mag. You get a damn accurate rifle with a midweight barrel, and CRF action in a McMillan stock with an easily tunable, reliable trigger for about HALF of your budget! The only downside is you have to do some looking to find one, but they come around on gunbroker on a relatively regular basis. Don't fret about buying one used as most of them I've seen haven't been shot a ton..besides, if the throat is cooked, you still have enough in your budget to have a top shelf barrel put on there to replace the old one. I've got one of these that shoots 5/8" groups with boring regularity....you won't be disappointed.
 
#22
Make it a complete Savage rifle (I especially like the Savage Model 111 Long Range Hunter), something chambered in a cartridge built from the '30-'06 casing (Like .25-'06, or .270 Win). Get a 7mm Savage barrel, contour of your choice, from L-W; 24-26" long, 1:9" (or of you must, 1:8") twist, chambered in .280 Rem. You can reach 1000yd with a 150 Nosler maybe even still supersonic, depends on altitude, the 165/168 will do it definitely, and can make it with the 1:9" twist, the 175 and longer will want the 1:8" twist, but really, much heavier than 165/168 is overkill.

I have found the .280 Rem to be rather easy to find accuracy with, having developed with Nosler 120, 140, and 150BT's. It likes H-4350 and H-4831SC. My load is 55gr H4831SC with the 150 Nosler (BT or Partition, your choice).

All the punch, all the flat, not all the recoil. Otherwise, the rifle is already good as-is.

I have a 7mm Mag, and a .25-'06, along with a pair of .280 Rems. My preference is definitely with the .280.

Greg
 
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#24
Smcarroll said:
What's wrong with the heavies? A 210 gr vld or a 200 grain SGK is a long range killer. @ 3000 fps muzzle speed a 200 grain sierra has roughly 1200 ft lbs of energy left at 1000. That's 150 more than a 175 gr. 284 sierra. Admittedly a elk wont notice that extra 150 ft lbs but that bigger chunk of lead with more energy will drive deeper and kill better. I have no dog in this fight, I have multiple rifles in both these chambering.
Click to expand...

Nothing is "wrong" with them, but you said it yourself...no elk will notice. Why not go up to the 338? The 375 or 408? You have to decide how much recoil you are willing to deal with, and the 7mag seems to be in the performance sweet spot in that regard. Since he will be doing only 10% of his shooting with this rifle at something alive, I see no advantage in choosing the 300. Either will work, he will just have to punish himself more with a 300 to get the same wind performance for the 90% of the time he will be shooting targets. A miniscule energy advantage of the 300 doesn't merit that in my mind, and lets step back a little and face facts here: the way he's asking the question he shouldn't be shooting game at a thousand at this time anyway. I'm not knocking either round, i just see no advantage to the 300 over the 7mag in this application, and therefore would choose the one that is less trouble. In fact, I lean to Greg's thinking; the OP is new to this, and even the 7mag is a bit much to get started with so neither choice is great here in this instance.

To the OP, probably best to get started learning the fundamentals of long range shooting with a non-mag caliber, since your success at a thousand yards will have much less to do with your caliber than the fundamentals of shooting. Those skills are a lot easier to learn on something with less boom and buck. There are few, if any, substitutes for well considered and analyzed rounds downrange, and I would bet a paycheck you will shoot more with a non-mag. If nothing else then barrel life alone limits you in both the 7 and 30 mag cases. Long range success isnt about the case. I started with a 308 and was glad I did, because the lack of performance in that round accentuated my mistakes and helped me see them more clearly, and I was able to focus on those things from various shooting positions without worrying about scope eye or being bothered by 100 rounds in one session. Great factory ammo available, so I didn't have to concern myself with whether my poor group was me or my ammo, when I could shoot well with it then I went to reloading my own. This is all about variable elimination, so you can identify a problem and fix it then move on to the next. It seems to me you may be attempting to skip to the end with those choices. Do yourself a favor and read Greg's post again, get something along those lines or one of the popular but less powerful tactical match rounds, and after learning it you can get a bigger more capable long range hunting caliber later and you'll know what you want, and why.
 
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#25
Gentlemen. Honest and thoughtful advice. Thank you all for your time on my behalf. I am still looking, reading, and researching. I will be putting something together this spring. Keep you posted....and keep the posts coming!
 
#27
Gentlemen. Honest and thoughtful advice. Thank you all for your time on my behalf. I am still looking, reading, and researching. I will be putting something together this spring. Keep you posted....and keep the posts coming!

Some further info: I have an AR10 platform with a 26" SS Cryo-treated, air gauged barrel in 308 win/ 7.62. It is very accurate and I do shoot it at 600 yds with factory ammo. I will begin reloading for it and shooting to 1000 yards....which i have access to.

This bolt gun is my very first bolt gun. I have gas guns, shot guns, and lever guns (Marlins). I am looking for a better 1000 yard caliber than the 308 even though, as has been said, it is a great long range learner and certainly 1000 yd capable. I am thinking that since I already have the .308, the 7mm Rem Mag and the 300 Win Mag would round out my calibers capabilities and allow for occasional long range hunting of larger animals. I am not planning shooting anything but targets at 1000 or 1000+ yds. Caribou, Elk and Bear would be the animals being hunted at humane distances.

Question: Are magazines available for the 7mm Rem Mag? I know they are for the 300 WM.
 
#28
Depends on you magazine, but generally any magazine for the 300 win Mag feeds the 7 Rem Mag reliably.
If you take a look on the external dimensions of the two cartidges, you will see that the body dimensions from base to where shoulder starts on both is almost identical.
If you're thinking about AI mags the 300WM ones are what i use in my 7 RM.
 
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#30
OneCleanShot said:
Gentlemen. Honest and thoughtful advice. Thank you all for your time on my behalf. I am still looking, reading, and researching. I will be putting something together this spring. Keep you posted....and keep the posts coming!

Some further info: I have an AR10 platform with a 26" SS Cryo-treated, air gauged barrel in 308 win/ 7.62. It is very accurate and I do shoot it at 600 yds with factory ammo. I will begin reloading for it and shooting to 1000 yards....which i have access to.

This bolt gun is my very first bolt gun. I have gas guns, shot guns, and lever guns (Marlins). I am looking for a better 1000 yard caliber than the 308 even though, as has been said, it is a great long range learner and certainly 1000 yd capable. I am thinking that since I already have the .308, the 7mm Rem Mag and the 300 Win Mag would round out my calibers capabilities and allow for occasional long range hunting of larger animals. I am not planning shooting anything but targets at 1000 or 1000+ yds. Caribou, Elk and Bear would be the animals being hunted at humane distances.

Question: Are magazines available for the 7mm Rem Mag? I know they are for the 300 WM.
Click to expand...

Bou, elk and boobo, what no moose? Very rare to hear elk. What unit?

I am no ballistics guru but me personally having both 7mm and 300 mag, I still say go with the 284 standard or mag. Since you now reveal more beta with a 308 gasser, I would spend your PFD on reloading and get the load data down of my 308 gasser first with trigger time and not try to buy into a better 1000 head stamp. Once solid with the 308, now research for high horse power. Its quite easy to find and go beyond 1 mile in Alaska.

I get confused with; calibers for long range hunting of larger animals. According to Rod, the average shot in Ak is around 275 with around 35% using 30.06. But my family hunts animals for food not shooting of animals.

You need a range toy and a hunting rig, not the same rifle.

good luck
 
#31
check this thread on a Stiller action I built a 7mm Rem for just that,

http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/snipers-hide-bolt-action-rifles/212302-going-remage-build.html

Stiller Tac 300 actioN, Precision ground recoil lug, stock is on its way, H&S Sendero style
Critarion 26 inch 1-9 twist rem 7mm mag Stainless hand lapped match barrel, I duracoated the barrel after bead lasting, Bottom metal is Kwikk Klip (NOT REAL HAPPY WITH IT FEELS CHEEP, NEXT TIME I WILL GET PTG )
This is a walking long range hunter, barrel is light varmint.
I will be running Berger 168 VLD and Hybrids in it

 
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#33
I don't use a brake on the .30-'06 or .280, and I most definitely wouldn't with the .280. My Granddaughter already tells me it the noisiest rifle I shoot, but then, she hasn't seen me shooting the Mosin-Nagant 91/31 with surplus ball ammo much, either.

I have a more serious than average intolerance for recoil.

Greg
 
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