7mm LRM

[meles meles]

Has anyone used the 7mm LRM (Long Range magnum) cartridge from Gunwerks?  ( http://site-media.net/gunwerks/7LRMarticle(1).pdf )

We currently shoot a 7mm Rem Mag at moderate ranges and were thinking of stepping up to a .338 for longer ranges, but several better shooters than us have advised we stick with the 7mm until we can consistently group to 1 MoA at 1,000 yards. Swapping to .338 would make that easier they agree, but we'd learn less about reading wind and so not actually become a better shot. It sort of makes sense...

That said, though we like the 7mm Rem Mag, we don't like how fiddly reloading for it can be, much of the faff apparently being related to the belt. One option we are considering is ordering a fancy die from Amerikky to resize the case, especially around the belt area. We find that after about three or four reloads the case becomes difficult to chamber - even with full length resizing. The whizzy die from Innovative Reloading Technologies ( http://www.larrywillis.com ) claims to settle all that and increase case life considerably. However, another option seems to be the 7mm LRM which claims similar performance to the 7mm Rem Mag but without the belt. Maybe that is a better option ? We'd like to stick with 7mm for the time being rather than migrate to .300 magnums as we have a good rifle, bullets and powders for this calibre. (180 grain Bergers, RS 70)

[Catch-22]

I'd looked into the LRM a while back.

In practical terms it doesn't offer any performance or real life accuracy gain over the 7 Rem Mag.

The big downside I saw with the 7LRM is the propriety brass. Can't be bought from anyone but Gunwerks in the US. And you can't form it from other parent brass. I'd already emailed them about this a while back so decided it wasn't for me. But we all love shiny new toys 😁

That specialist die looks interesting though!

[trucraft]

How about 28 Nosler or 7- 300 Norma (7mm Jazz) ?

Brass and dies aren't too hard to find or form.

[Chanonry]

7mm Blaser Magnum ?

Brass from Norma.  Seems to have been designed for exactly this purpose - 7mmRM but nae damn belt.

Can even buy ammo. Allegedly... 😀

[No i deer]

There won't be much difference between a 7mm magnum and a 338 lap mag ballistics at 1000yds apart from the extra recoil.

[Laurie]

If you're happy with the 7RM's external ballistics, you have various non-belted alternatives.

Perhaps the two most obvious and simplest are the American short magnums, viz SAUM and 7WSM (or one of the minor wildcats that F-Class shooters use and are designed to get brass and case-neck benefits such as 7/270 or 7/300WSM).

You may not want to go downwards on performance, but the SAUM doesn't lose much over the Rem Magnum. With a 12% smaller capacity case, that equates to a 3% reduction in MV for the same barrel length and PMax, or around 85 fps for a 2,800 fps loading. It's done OK for Paul Hill here and taken a lot of US matches. (In fact, there are many more 284 Wins and improved variants such as the Shehane and KMR taking 1,000 yard US matches than anything else.)

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/?s=Paul+Hill&submit=Search

The 7mm Blaser case has near identical capacity to the RM so is a ballistics swap. Some of the European 'Effers' use this cartridge presumably because reamers and good brass are readily available. The WSM in its various forms has near identical capacity and peformance to the Rem Mag and Blaser and is a known success in this country with lots of experience. (In the US with a combination of big temperature variations and very fast 'string shooting' in F-Class producing serioulsy high barrel temperatures few use the WSM and the SAUM is the natural upper size limit for the sevens. The 300WSM has more than a few adherents though particularly in the Southern states with their windy desert ranges and copes well with the temperature issues as well as giving good barrel life).

Moving up to the next case size bracket, the 7mm BooBoo wildcat and 28 Nosler have 10-12% greater capacity. Given that the WSM / Blaser / WSM are pretty heavily over bore capacity for 7mm, this pair are seriously 'over-bore' and the gains from the extra charge size reduce accordingly whilst an already poor barrel life will likely be halved in range use shooting multiple shots.

[JBirchall]

I’ve been shooting a 7 Rem Mag for 20 years and never had an issue with the belt. I do have the Larry Willis die and it’s not really a problem to run the brass through it to size down to the belt.Certainly a lot easier than say neck turning for example. I’ve always found the Rem Mag to be an easy cartridge to get to shoot accurately and if you can psychologically accept the belt it’s a good option in my opinion.

[One on top of two]

On 2/21/2019 at 11:39 PM, Laurie said:

If you're happy with the 7RM's external ballistics, you have various non-belted alternatives.

Perhaps the two most obvious and simplest are the American short magnums, viz SAUM and 7WSM (or one of the minor wildcats that F-Class shooters use and are designed to get brass and case-neck benefits such as 7/270 or 7/300WSM).

You may not want to go downwards on performance, but the SAUM doesn't lose much over the Rem Magnum. With a 12% smaller capacity case, that equates to a 3% reduction in MV for the same barrel length and PMax, or around 85 fps for a 2,800 fps loading. It's done OK for Paul Hill here and taken a lot of US matches. (In fact, there are many more 284 Wins and improved variants such as the Shehane and KMR taking 1,000 yard US matches than anything else.)

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/?s=Paul+Hill&submit=Search

The 7mm Blaser case has near identical capacity to the RM so is a ballistics swap. Some of the European 'Effers' use this cartridge presumably because reamers and good brass are readily available. The WSM in its various forms has near identical capacity and peformance to the Rem Mag and Blaser and is a known success in this country with lots of experience. (In the US with a combination of big temperature variations and very fast 'string shooting' in F-Class producing serioulsy high barrel temperatures few use the WSM and the SAUM is the natural upper size limit for the sevens. The 300WSM has more than a few adherents though particularly in the Southern states with their windy desert ranges and copes well with the temperature issues as well as giving good barrel life).

Moving up to the next case size bracket, the 7mm BooBoo wildcat and 28 Nosler have 10-12% greater capacity. Given that the WSM / Blaser / WSM are pretty heavily over bore capacity for 7mm, this pair are seriously 'over-bore' and the gains from the extra charge size reduce accordingly whilst an already poor barrel life will likely be halved in range use shooting multiple shots.

As a side note , I was shooting F class and butts detail next to Paul hill on Saturday at Barton road , I had no idea who he was or what he had achieved until ten mins ago . 

Paul and his mate ( Shaun ) were true gents and and had me feeling right at home in minutes and at no point made me feel like the beginner into the world of F class that I am . That also goes for west Suffolk rifle club . Fantastic day ! With some true gents 👍