7mm short magnums.

Michael Glenn

Private
Minuteman
Jan 9, 2022
16
3
Boyers USA
While there are many 7mm short mags to choose from, Id like to point out and discuss a few that are worth looking into.
The three I'm comparing are; 7RSAUM the 7WSM and the 7SS (Sherman short) This basically is an on paper head to head battle for those looking into building or buying a hunting/ Long range precision rifle in any of these calibers.
All calibers mentioned will be compared using 180gr factory ammo with the exception of the Sherman wildcat using data from their website, there will not be any load data posted for liability reasons, velocity as advertised will be compared, all rifles and loads are different.

I'm not at all a subject matter expert, and there are many calibers to choose from, what I'm hoping to achieve is shortening the "shopping phase" for anyone getting into the market or undecided on this subject, and if this takes off I'll start posting articles on other calibers in "head to head" comparisons.

For starters the 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Mag (RSAUM)
Remington introduced the 7Saum in 2002 to compete with the 7WSM (Winchester short magnum) and was intended for long rage use, the differences between the two cartridges as far as velocity differs by barely 50FPS with both calibers achieving optimal balistic ranges with 120-160gr bullets. Remington was a day late and a dollar short with this cartridge, resulting in the 7WSM being more popular with more options from the factory and reloading supplies becoming more available faster and cheaper this resulted in the 7SAUM becoming the more costly cartridge as of mid 2014 with the lower demand for factory ammunition. The 7 SAUM is a popular cartridge in F-class competitions and holds many records in this discipline, the 7SAUM is also a popular choice with long range shooting competitions inside the 1200 yard range but with experiments in hand-loading can be taken out further.

The 7 SAUM is a .532 bolt face rimless bottleneck cartridge that with load development and tuning can easily handle 180gr bullets at velocities around 2,850fps and still have room in the magazine without exceeding the maximum COAL. The biggest cons to the 7RSAUM are factory availability and price per round, while the pros are that with some tweaking you can get it to run heavy for caliber bullets with little to no issues and once you can find the components to reload its fairly easy to reload for.

Next we have the 7mm Winchester Short magnum (WSM)
As stated in the previous paragraph the 7wsm was released prior to the 7RSAUM in 2001 in a partnership with Browning arms company, of the original WSM family it was the least popular due to the shorter case neck making it difficult to load heavy for caliber bullets making it less suitable for large game, cost was another downfall for the 7WSM being that the 7RUM and 280 Rem had already gained a foothold ahead of it the 280 having a touch less muzzle velocity and the 7mag being about equal.

The 7WSM is a .532 bolt face bottle necked cartridge that serves its purpose for large game like Mule deer, Elk, Black bear ect, but prefers the shorter lighter bullets due to case design however it is capable of launching a 180gr bullet at velocities around 2,850fps like its Remington rival, but comes in much more cost effective at $40-60 lower in cost to the 7Saum per box of 20 rounds. The 7WSM also is more available with factory ammunition being found online and in some local stores where the 7SAUM is difficult to find even online.

And last but certainly not least the 7mm Sherman Short.
The 7SS was designed by Richard Sherman as a laser shooting 7mm short magnum with as much as 10 grains more of case capacity than its factory competition, the neck is lengthened and a 40 degree shoulder is formed while maintaining the same COAL with the 7SAUM at 1.920. The 7SS boast its ability to shoot 180gr bullets at velocities of 3,000fps and even sending the 195 EOL bullets at velocities over 2,900FPS. The biggest drawback to the 7SS is that while and incredible round it is a wild cat, with reloading components such as brass and dies only being available from ADG for brass and Hornady for dies both can be purchased from the Sherman wildcats website. The Sherman family of cartridges are fairly new to the market but hold impressive records in F-class and long range competitions competing with the best of them.
The 7SS is a .532 bolt face bottleneck cartridge that boast a tremendous ability to handle heavy for caliber bullets and handle them well with the cons being extremely limited components for it and a heavy price tag for brass/dies along with the only source for load data being published on their website in an "experimental" list
Published load data for the 7SS can also be found on the Sherman wildcat website and the discussion forums to see realistic results from those experimenting with the Sherman wildcat family.

Hope that assists in some way or another I did not get as deep into a comparison as I would've liked to but hopefully I've been able to assist in the decision making process....Thank You to all who took the time to read!
 
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While there are many 7mm short mags to choose from, Id like to point out and discuss a few that are worth looking into.
The three I'm comparing are; 7RSAUM the 7WSM and the 7SS (Sherman short) This basically is an on paper head to head battle for those looking into building or buying a hunting/ Long range precision rifle in any of these calibers.
All calibers mentioned will be compared using 180gr factory ammo with the exception of the Sherman wildcat using data from their website, there will not be any load data posted for liability reasons, velocity as advertised will be compared, all rifles and loads are different.

I'm not at all a subject matter expert, and there are many calibers to choose from, what I'm hoping to achieve is shortening the "shopping phase" for anyone getting into the market or undecided on this subject, and if this takes off I'll start posting articles on other calibers in "head to head" comparisons.

For starters the 7mm Remington Short Action Ultra Mag (RSAUM)
Remington introduced the 7Saum in 2002 to compete with the 7WSM (Winchester short magnum) and was intended for long rage use, the differences between the two cartridges as far as velocity differs by barely 50FPS with both calibers achieving optimal balistic ranges with 120-160gr bullets. Remington was a day late and a dollar short with this cartridge, resulting in the 7WSM being more popular with more options from the factory and reloading supplies becoming more available faster and cheaper this resulted in the 7SAUM becoming the more costly cartridge as of mid 2014 with the lower demand for factory ammunition. The 7 SAUM is a popular cartridge in F-class competitions and holds many records in this discipline, the 7SAUM is also a popular choice with long range shooting competitions inside the 1200 yard range but with experiments in hand-loading can be taken out further.

The 7 SAUM is a .532 bolt face rimless bottleneck cartridge that with load development and tuning can easily handle 180gr bullets at velocities around 2,850fps and still have room in the magazine without exceeding the maximum COAL. The biggest cons to the 7RSAUM are factory availability and price per round, while the pros are that with some tweaking you can get it to run heavy for caliber bullets with little to no issues and once you can find the components to reload its fairly easy to reload for.

Next we have the 7mm Winchester Short magnum (WSM)
As stated in the previous paragraph the 7wsm was released prior to the 7RSAUM in 2001 in a partnership with Browning arms company, of the original WSM family it was the least popular due to the shorter case neck making it difficult to load heavy for caliber bullets making it less suitable for large game, cost was another downfall for the 7WSM being that the 7RUM and 280 Rem had already gained a foothold ahead of it the 280 having a touch less muzzle velocity and the 7mag being about equal.

The 7WSM is a .532 bolt face bottle necked cartridge that serves its purpose for large game like Mule deer, Elk, Black bear ect, but prefers the shorter lighter bullets due to case design however it is capable of launching a 180gr bullet at velocities around 2,850fps like its Remington rival, but comes in much more cost effective at $40-60 lower in cost to the 7Saum per box of 20 rounds. The 7WSM also is more available with factory ammunition being found online and in some local stores where the 7SAUM is difficult to find even online.

And last but certainly not least the 7mm Sherman Short.
The 7SS was designed by Richard Sherman as a laser shooting 7mm short magnum with as much as 10 grains more of case capacity than its factory competition, the neck is lengthened and a 40 degree shoulder is formed while maintaining the same COAL with the 7SAUM at 1.920. The 7SS boast its ability to shoot 180gr bullets at velocities of 3,000fps and even sending the 195 EOL bullets at velocities over 2,900FPS. The biggest drawback to the 7SS is that while and incredible round it is a wild cat, with reloading components such as brass and dies only being available from ADG for brass and Hornady for dies both can be purchased from the Sherman wildcats website. The Sherman family of cartridges are fairly new to the market but hold impressive records in F-class and long range competitions competing with the best of them.
The 7SS is a .532 bolt face bottleneck cartridge that boast a tremendous ability to handle heavy for caliber bullets and handle them well with the cons being extremely limited components for it and a heavy price tag for brass/dies along with the only source for load data being published on their website in an "experimental" list
Published load data for the 7SS can also be found on the Sherman wildcat website and the discussion forums to see realistic results from those experimenting with the Sherman wildcat family.

Hope that assists in some way or another I did not get as deep into a comparison as I would've liked to but hopefully I've been able to assist in the decision making process....Thank You to all who took the time to read!
Thx for the ad Wolf. I'd like to make a correction and comment. The case capacity on the SS is only 72 grains with the new /B chamber which is about a grain less than the saum and maybe 9-10 short of the wsm depending on brass.
Also, if handloaded, the saum will come pretty close to SS velocity if loaded in a long action and the wsm will beat it by 100' likely. The best quality of the SS IMO, is the case design. It allows full performance in a short action and the short burn column is a little more efficient. It has a better neck and the low body taper reduces bolt thrust and handles pressure better. Also the 40 degree shoulder and longer neck help reduce throat erosion, IMO, and reduce case stretching.
 
I think that the prc brass will be available for a very long time. If the 6/5/7 doesn't have quite enough speed the 7FCP designed by F-class products out of AZ will get you to the 2920-2980fps (30" tube) with the 180 class of bullet. Not as fast as the wism or sherman but quite formidable. It and the straight 6.5/7prc have proven to be world class accurate.
 
I don’t see any component of the 7 short actions being cheap, at least not for quality components.

I think it depends on what you want to do. If you like to tinker and play around with different calibers then it doesn’t really matter cause you’ll probably change anyways down the road.

If you want the most options for pre fits and components then 7SAUM probably makes the most sense.

7SS seems to take the short action 7 magnum idea and essentially make it as close to the best efficiency without giving up the true short action length. For my purposes it makes the most sense. I want maximum performance in strictly a short action. I’d prefer to keep barrel life as good as possible and I hate trimming cases lol.
 
I'm setup for 7SS just haven't had a barrel spun up yet. Making mock up rounds with 180gr and 190gr rounds was impressive to see how well they fit in a short action. I don't plan on pushing it hard, I'll be happy with medium pressures. If I need more performance I'll bring my 300NM.

I don't like rounds where I feel I'm fighting mag length constantly. Plus brass was easily available, those are my main reasons for starting down the 7SS path.
 
180 in a 7-6.5prc loaded to 2.950. Just shy of 2800 from a 22” barrel
1F6DA431-3F09-481B-9A3D-41A383B96CE4.jpeg
 
Geno has his turned.

I know him quite well, so figure there is a good reason, though I haven't asked him about it.

Another reason I’m going 7SS. I also don’t shoot out multiple barrels in 7 so the extra cost of brass isn’t a problem to me as it’s not a volume rifle. Seems like the perfect niche filler for my needs.
 
Funny I’ve been shooting my 7wsm all summer with 190 atips seated to mag length in a short action. No doughnuts, no neck turning, bertram brass with no weight sorting. Must be defying physics over here….

Yeah, but yer like brand new to this whole shooting thing and its just beginners luck!

Wait till you have actually shot a lot, like at a world championship or work in the industry.
Until then, yer just a poser and likely just lucky and lack knowledge and skill.

So there! 😁
 
7 WSM is the best of the bunch in a short action, brass definitely being the limiting factor. Love me some 7 WSM.

It’s always seemed oxymoronic to run a short action cartridge in a long action just for bullet seating length IMHO.

The 7-6.5 PRC is interesting but the new 7 PRC is going to bury the others performance wise and with Peterson and ADG on board the deal is probably sealed.
 
Why do you say that?
Base performance without having to do a bunch of extras to get it there. Yes you can outperform it by going long action a la 7 SAUM but then you could just do the same to the WSM..... Factory style reamer out of a standard SAAMI chamber, I like the WSM. Brass offerings for the 7 WSM are the weak link but its useable. If you're going to push performance, you end up in a long action and then your best choice is the 7 PRC.
 
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I would say the best short action 7 mm magnum in my opinion would be a 7 SST. But you will probably have to inside neck ream the brass because you have to mandrel 6.5 SST brass up to 7 mm. So then you're going to be dealing with donuts again after the first firing. Assuming you're smart enough to spec your reamer so you don't already have to neck turn anyway.

Why not just the straight 7SS?

Brass is in stock on their website. Unless I’m missing something but I haven’t heard anyone complain who shoots a 7SS.

PVA and Preferred Barrels both make pre fits
 
I've been shooting a wsm for about 12 years. Luckily I have about 600 pieces of virgin Winchester brass that I haven't even dug into yet. But I do shoot it in a long action. I considered building a seven PRC, but when you look at the velocities you're talking about a difference of about 50 - 100 feet per second. Just wasn't worth it in my opinion. If I was starting out fresh I would do the PRC.

I would say the best short action 7 mm magnum in my opinion would be a 7 SST. But you will probably have to inside neck ream the brass because you have to mandrel 6.5 SST brass up to 7 mm. So then you're going to be dealing with donuts again after the first firing. Assuming you're smart enough to spec your reamer so you don't already have to neck turn anyway.

As far as calling a 7 WSM short action cartridge, I guess technically you're right. But it it's also like calling the 284W a short action cartridge.
Shooting a 7wsm in a long action is some monkey pox shit. Why shoot a short action case in a long action instead of a long action case ?
 
Aren't we all salty?

I really love making the most of an existing short action and I don't see a huge gain in the standard long action calibers over what you can stuff in a short action (though, there is a gain).

With this in mind, If I'm going to choose a long action then I'll choose a long action caliber. So, Why choose a 7 WSM over any other 7mm that would require a long action?

This is the reason I'm building a 300 Norma mag... I'm really quite happy with the 7-6.5 PRC for my needs.
 
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I’m not salty at all. If I had a long action, I should wouldn’t neuter it with a small case. The only way a wsm makes sense is a short action. The 7wsm makes the most use out of a short action 7mm.

Long action, there are so many better cases out there. The new thought that you have to have all the bullet hanging out of the case mouth is dumb.
 
Yeah I can get behind that. If it helps, there were no intentions here to get under peoples skin. I just took the time to explain my philosophy of caliber choice and action length.

With some of the new , and more "balanced" calibers like the 7 PRC shooting a 180gr bullet comfortably, I see less draw to a short action 7mm mag in a long action.

Really, people focus too much on the nuance during caliber selection. I get it, it's fun. But usually once you're on the line, most of that doesn't matter and it has to do more with the shooters ability and knowledge of the rifle. I guess that's why ve got the "ride the horse you've got" mentality, at least till you find its limits.
 
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I guess one perspective is to try juice a bullet with as much speed as possible by stuffing the the biggest thing that will fit in your mag. It's like skinny jeans logic. But it all doesn't have to be tight and constrained, you can just get a bigger pair of pants.

Another perspective is perhaps you want to drive a particular bullet weight and caliber at a given speed range and you pick a case that will get it there. Then you just put it in a frame that will get it out of a mag and into the barrel.

I think this has been the overwhelming majority of people's approach. Guys have been shooting 7 SAUMs, 7WSMs, and 300WSMs out of long actions for years. It's kind of wild to me that there's people on this thread acting like this hasn't been the case for over a decade. "It's ghey!" " Monkeypox!" In fact the issues involved with trying to fit 180gr bullets in a short action has created a cottage industry of special SAUM/ WSM magazines, and medium length actions/mags/chassis. People are constantly trying to solve it with cartridges like the 7 SS. I would also go as far as to say that issues with it all allowed the space for the 6.5 PRC to become successful. If there wasn't anything wrong with SAUMs and WSMs in short actions everyone would still be shooting them and they wouldn't be dying out.

I've been guilty myself of hyper focusing on short action rifles. Like it would kill me to shoot a long action. And it all revolves around two differences. Ostensibly overall rifle weight and definitely magazines. But the difference between a long action Anti and a short action Anti is something like 3 oz. And long action mag options are a lot better these days. Your options aren't just gigantic obnoxious 338 Lapua AICS mags. Hawkins makes long action WSM mags for hunter DBMs.

Yeah, I've cut the front out of AR mags, paid people to machine binder plates out, fucked with ARC mags. You can do that shit if you want. I'll pass these days.

So basically on this thread we have people who want to get the most out of a cartridge so they put it in an action that will let them and then we have people that want to get the most out of their action length so they stuff shit in it. And the difference of opinion has us trying to push each other's buttons? Seems like a giant waste of time.
The wsm isn’t going anywhere. The 300wsm is one of the most shot rounds in long range benchrest.
 
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I just picked up a 6.5SS and got a barreled action with dies and 300 count brass for a great price.

Already started collecting info for my jump up to 7SS with 180 and 190 gr Bergers. That’s next.
 
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I've shot 180 vld's in a 7 WSM for many years with great results. Unfortunately the lack of available brass been a kick in the satchel.
I switched to saum for this reason. It’s a shame as the 7WSM is essentially a 7PRC in a short action. The compressed space can be fiddly to load for, but once you have a load… you save a good few oz’s on your hunting rig.
 
Because it's not actually a short action cartridge. It was a short action cartridge in 2003 when it was loaded with 130 grain bullets. My case overall length with 180 grain bullets is 3.150. Stuffing that bullet 200 thou deeper into the case is the monkey pox shit. That's when the fact that it's a 7 wsm doesn't matter anymore. You just start eating up that case capacity with bullet and the difference between a short action SAUM and a short action WSM is negligible. And I know you know this, which is why you are trying to do a 7-6.5 PRC. You're just salty you let yourself get boxed into saying something stupid.
I agree that you loose a fair bit of space running 180s in wsm and a short action. Getting the right powder helps get the most out of that configuration. I have both saum and wsm… I prefer saum but I definitely get faster speeds from my wsm
 
Ya, my WSM is a hunting rifle so I didn't even want a DBM at the time. I thought about putting a Hawkins Hunter mag BM on it, but it just doesn't really change much of how I use the rifle. This rifle is a product of 2011. BDL BM, heavy Manners MCS stock instead of a lighter carbon version, fluted steel #5 instead of a carbon fiber barrel, 9 twist instead of 8 twist. But shit, it still works. I do kind of want to build a more modern version in a Manners LRH, Hawkins Hunter DBM, CF 8" exclusively for copper bullets, maybe lighter weight steel action, but IDK...it's just "want". Still not sure if a 7 PRC would be worth another set of dies and brass. I think we need to wait for time to tell it's a PRC is going to be better "balanced". I think we automatically give new cartridges magical attributes before they're widespread and proven. Kind of like everybody did with the Valkyrie. And it seems like everybody has a different idea about what makes the better cartridge. All the guys shooting SAUMs Will tell you it's more efficient. Basically does the same thing the wsm case does but they're more likely to be running higher pressures to get there. And they see that as an efficiency. Then there's guys that don't want to be constantly trying to run a cartridge at its top end. They want their cartridge on cruise control easily pushing the speed they need.

View attachment 8270409

Here's a 175gr ABLR seated 20 thou off the lands. COAL to the lands is 3.200 in this chamber. I asked the gunsmith 12 years ago to throat it for Berger 180's and this is what I got. I think it seats the big bullets well in the neck. Like if you are agnostic to the action you run and just want to set up the chamber to run this cartridge right with these, I think this is it. I am at 2950 feet per second with 65 grains of RL 26. I think that is about 95 to 98% case capacity and there's not a bit of pressure. It is a 10 gun for wind at 9000 ft ASL. I'm really sure how much more performance you need . The only real challenge in the WSM in my perspective is getting a hold of brass if you don't already have a bunch stored away. If it weren't for that, I don't even think it would be a question.
I think, as much crap as they get, hornady has figured out what "balanced" means. Aside from the 6.5 PRC the rest of the PRC line (to include the 22 ARC) aims to shoot heavy for caliber bullets 2900-3000fps with relatively efficient case design in a 24" barrel. That's what the Valkyrie tried to do also but was much happier at slower speeds.

Really 2800-3000 fps is plenty good, within that band preformance is pretty predictable out to 600 yards (hunting distances), barrel life is pretty good, brass life is pretty good and accuracy is good without straining things.

Most cartridges fit into this category as long as they are set up to handle heavier bullets. But I guess that's my point, for the most part, the caliber debate is over marginal gains.

I shot my 7-6.5 PRC against some much more capable calibers (300 NM, 338LM, 30 Nos etc.) and did pretty well, and that was with 162gr eld's.

Where are you shooting 9000' ASL? You've gotta be pretty close to my area.
 
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I think, as much crap as they get, hornady has figured out what "balanced" means. Aside from the 6.5 PRC the rest of the PRC line (to include the 22 ARC) aims to shoot heavy for caliber bullets 2900-3000fps with relatively efficient case design in a 24" barrel. That's what the Valkyrie tried to do also but was much happier at slower speeds.

Really 2800-3000 fps is plenty good, within that band preformance is pretty predictable out to 600 yards (hunting distances), barrel life is pretty good, brass life is pretty good and accuracy is good without straining things.

Most cartridges fit into this category as long as they are set up to handle heavier bullets. But I guess that's my point, for the most part, the caliber debate is over marginal gains.

I shot my 7-6.5 PRC against some much more capable calibers (300 NM, 338LM, 30 Nos etc.) and did pretty well, and that was with 162gr eld's.

Where are you shooting 9000' ASL? You've gotta be pretty close to my area.
Betting the 166atip is going to be fun in the 7-6.5prc
 
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