7mm-BR in a rifle
- Thread starter RonS
- Start date
Had a friend who used to work at Shilen that I helped with some load testing with a 6.5 BR. Even in a lightweight silhouette rifle, recoil was nominal. It's certainly nothing you'd need to be concerned about.
I plan to use it for hunting deer and some target shooting, that's why I was asking about the 168gr. So which would be better an 11T or 12T for the lighter bullets? Shilen recommends an 11T for up to 140gr bullet and a 12T for higher velocities. I would like to keep the barrel short, around 22", for use in the woods but heavy enough to be used as a target rifle. What are your thoughts? Thanks.
An old friend of mine had a nice 7mmBR rifle built of from a unused XP-100. He was guiding in Africa at the time and this rifle was built just for his clients. He found out very quickly that most people can't shoot a big magnum very well and that most people would show up with their small rifle being a 600 superboomer. So when he found one of those clients he would slip that little 7mmBR into their hands and they would suddenly become deadly. Using heavy bullets (sorry, I do not remember his exact load) they would use that little 7mmBR on everything up to Eland.
Go for the faster twist as it will allow you to shoot the heavier bullets with little to no impact on the performance on the lighter weights.
Go for the faster twist as it will allow you to shoot the heavier bullets with little to no impact on the performance on the lighter weights.
My old man shoots a 7br made from a Stevens action for deer hunting with the 140gr class bullets. He uses the Hornady 139 sst bullets and has had good luck. I think his load was a moderate 2500 fps with a 20 in barrel. He has never been one to push things but for deer hunting it works just fine.
I used to use that caliber to shoot high power rifle silhouette more than a few years ago, but gave up on it after losing too many 500 meter rams that would not topple over when hit. I ended up re-chambering the rifle to 7mm-08 and the problem went away.
The 7 BR should make a good 200 yard deer rifle. I still use that caliber in my TC Encore handgun, mostly for long range handgun hunting of jackrabbits.
The 7 BR should make a good 200 yard deer rifle. I still use that caliber in my TC Encore handgun, mostly for long range handgun hunting of jackrabbits.
I've also been using one for many years in my HP Silhouette rifle. Good performance, very accurate and just a very lild recoil to deal with, it's a great combination. You will occsionally ring a ram, but that's the tradeoff you make for shooting for such a mild cartridge. Not the greatest Silhouette cartridge I've ever used, but certainly not the worst, either. I use both 140 and 168/175 grain bullets in mine, but it should make a great deer round with the lighter weight bullets.
Hi Ron I was just looking for some info and saw your post- did you go for a 7mm BR - I shoot a custom built rem 700 - 7mm BR 1:8 twist for metallic silhouette and it is my favorite rife, shoot fantastic and ater 80 shot Match it has little to no effect - Just a Gem of a Rifle on rams i throw 175 Grn at 2,400 + feet per second. and I use 125 -145 for the other targets depending what i buy at the right price . get back to me if you want any other info - regards Phill
Hey guys thanks for your input, I had forgotten about this one. I had to put that project on the back burner way back then but I have the barrel and would like to get back on it. Do I have to get 7BR dies? I have 6BR S-type die set that I use for my 22 & 6 BR target rifles. I have an old Rem 788 I was thinking of using for this build? I'd like to do a no turn neck, can I use Lapua or Norma brass? What is your loaded neck size? Thanks for reminding me of this project...
Re 6BR dies on 7BR, if my experience with bushing sizers in other calibres is a guide, the answer is likely 'no'. The opening for the case neck under the section that holds the bushing will most likely give a fairly small clearance to a 6mm case-neck, and will therefore be undersize for 7mm. The opening needs to be bored or honed out by 20 thou' to suit the new case. Whether that affects the die's use on the smaller calibre cases, I wouldn't like to say as you've cut some of the shoulder-bump area out.
I did this boring trick with running 284 Win with a 6.5-284 Forster Bushing-Bump sizer, Forster not having added this cartridge to the die availability list strangely.
On the second question, I've been having a look at adopting 7BR in a rifle for short-distance 'F', and the listed chamber neck diameter dimension on the PT&G 7BR reamer shows 0.309". With 3 thou' overall clearance (0.0015" at any one point) that requires a loaded round neck O/D of 0.306" which means 0.011" wall thickness, a couple of thou' thinner than Lapua 6BR necks, so turning would be required for this make. Can't comment on Norma. (My assumption here that others can confirm or knock down is that the chamber is designed for original 7mm BR Remington case dimensions and Remmy brass is thinner than Lapua.)
Having recently adopted .30BR and been making brass by necking-up Lapua 6BR, I can tell you that the expand operation creates a noticeable bulge or collar at the base of the new neck which apart from any other factors that determine the neck wall thickness to be used, makes turning essential. Even if it weren't needed for chamber clearance, turning this bulge off is needed to avoid the mother of all doughnuts forming inside the neck. With 0.024" less neck expansion involved with 7BR, this issue won't be as large, but I imagine it'll still apply. After all, you're necking the parent case up by some 41 thou' - a lot.
Ron, believe I had Redding dies, with neck sizer, non-bushing. Also had a 6.5 expander decapper to bump necks on Lapua 6BR brass, as a mid-step. Worked great. Btw, I know a few run the 47 Lapua case, that is another option, but I suppose it depends what speeds you need. I ran 120s at 2880, 130s around 2660, and 139s ran 2545, in my 21" - with my loads. A longer barrel might net 10 fps per 1" I would guess.
Good luck.
Good luck.
mbp708
Silver $$ Contributor
What powder are you using to get those velocities ? Best I can get is around 2600 with a 120 Nisler BT with 8208 XBR and a li'l over 2500 with a Sierra 130 with 8208 XBR out of a 20" bbl
Last edited:
In the early 80's I used to shoot an XP 100/7BR in pistol silhouette. I don't remember the powder because I sold the gun (one of my worst decisions ever). I do remember the bullet - a 154 gr. Hornady flat base. It taught me the value of a heavy-for-caliber bullet over a smoker. I can't tell you how many people I saw 'ring' a ram and have it sit there looking at them. Not once did I fail to knock over a ram at 200 meters with this load.
Especially with a rifle (more barrel and more velocity) and a still relatively low power load, I'd opt for the 139 to 154 gr. bullets.
Just my opinion.
Upgrades & Donations
This Forum's expenses are primarily paid by member contributions. You can upgrade your Forum membership in seconds. Gold and Silver members get unlimited FREE classifieds for one year. Gold members can upload custom avatars.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.
Click Upgrade Membership Button ABOVE to get Gold or Silver Status.
You can also donate any amount, large or small, with the button below. Include your Forum Name in the PayPal Notes field.
To DONATE by CHECK, or make a recurring donation, CLICK HERE to learn how.