7mm Magnum Cartridge Selection

[Crang]

I've decided to repurpose my Weatherby Mark V chambered in 7mm Wby Mag. The intent is to turn it into a crossover long range hunter and be able to comfortably shoot steel at a mile. Its been my elk gun for 20 years but I dont go on many long range hunts these days but do shoot a lot of long range targets. It will be getting a McMillan A5 graphite/Edge to keep the weight down and a Proof or CarbonSix carbon barrel Sendero contour to keep weight down. Its also getting a DBM setup that uses Wyatt's mags but can switch back to the OEM floorplate when hunting with it. Basically looking to make it a long range tactical rifle for 95% of the time and light enough I can still hump it through the mountains when I actually do go.

Before finalizing on cartridge selection figured I would post here. I am very much a fan of the Weatherby 7mm Mag. Norma makes the brass and its been a tack driver to date. I have the dies and plenty of brass so its attractive to rechamber for it but with a few downsides. Since Weatherby uses so much freebore, seating say Berger Hunters on the lands isnt an option. Also my can is only rated up to 300WM so the Wby is a bit over pressure and a no-go. I would ideally like to have 2 loads- the Berger 168gr Hunters for game and Warner Flatline 151gr for long range steel. Running the expected numbers for the Flatlines thinking it will be right around 13mils to hit at a mile. Scope will have a 30mm tube to keep weight down and sits on a 30MOA Near rail so all good there.

Also considering going with a 7-300WM. Also Norma brass, can use my suppressor, and no need for excessive freebore. I have no experience with this round however, but its attractive on paper.

So given this- which cartridge would be better for the intended purpose and are there any other 7mm mags I should be looking at? Of course I could always go straight 300WM or the new 300PRC but the high BCs of the 7mms are very very attractive to me as is keeping the rifle a 7mm for nostalgia reasons.

 

[flatland1]

I've done several hunting rifles in the plain old 7mm Rem mag for guys going on guided elk hunts in the past 5yrs. They're all using the Berger 168 Classic Hunter, and since my reamer doesn't have much freebore, I've wound up throating the chambers an additional .080" IIRC (it's written down in my record book, so no need to trouble my old mind remembering it) to work with the Bergers. All these guys know each other, and have shared load data, even gotten together to work up loads, and I've seen some remarkable photos of their 100yd 5-shot groups. One of them has access to a 1000yd range with steel targets, and has done some pretty good shooting with his Rem mag there. Probably not as sexy or with as much case capacity as the cases you mentioned, but still, this old 1962 cartridge has a lot going for it.