Best powder for 7mm Rem Mag.

[Petrol & Powder]

An acquaintance is getting into reloading and he wants to load for his 7mm Remington magnum. He uses 160gr bullets and will not deviate from that bullet. I've been helping him out with equipment, some guidance and answers to his questions but I don't have much experience with the 7mm Rem Mag. Another person recommended IMR 7828 for the 7mm Rem mag but my manuals show IMR 4350 as the optimum powder for 160gr bullets. My Sierra manual even goes so far as to recommend IMR4350 as both the best accuracy load and the best hunting load with that bullet.
Does anyone have some insight they would be willing to share?

[bdicki]

IMR4831 is what I use.

[Heavy lead]

With 160's and 175's Alliant Reloder 22, IMR 4350 will work ok, in my opinion it is better suited to the 30-06. IMR 7828 should work well too, but I've not used it.

[Loudenboomer]

4831 of ether brand or AA3100 could complete your short list above. But many will due. A lot may depend on current powder availability. 2 of my sons use WCC 860 under a 162 Hornady BT for their deer load. The best advice you can give your friend is to buy several manuals. I can recommend Mr. Lee's

[Bullshop]

I always got outstanding accuracy with the heavy bullets with a compressed load of H-870 and a magnum primer.

[Petrol & Powder]

Manuals are not a problem, plenty of those available. I'm trying to get him on a simple track first, one bullet, one powder, one primer type and one case. It's the powder that's the sticky problem right now. The manuals seem to lean to 4350 or RL22 but 7828 is being recommended.

[Weaponologist]

On my 7 Mag I use Remington Primers 67.5g of R22 to push a Nosler 140g BT. However..DO NOT START with that powder charge...It's very close to MAX load and I worked up to that only after I found that my Rifle wouldn't tighten up the group size until I kept going hotter.. Personally I like keeping my loads somewhere in the 80% if at all possible.

[DLCTEX]

+1 on IMR 7828, prefferably in ssc. It gets me top velocity and accuracy.

[Petrol & Powder]

Thanks all

[gtgeorge]

My best load is with Retumbo and 162gr SST's and get similar results of well under MOA with 4831.

[bobthenailer]

I had two 7 mags over the years and currently still have one with a 26" Shilen match barrel, Canjar trigger & 4.5x14 50mm AO Leupold scope , I have used either H4831 or AA3100 for bullet weights from 140 to 160 grains in my two as well as 3 friends 7 mags of different makes, all shot 1" or sometimes better at 100 yards. my personal rifle will usually do around 1 1/2" at 300 yards if i do my part.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Definately H-4831! I prefer the traditional long grains type, but the newer short cut variety works as well.Robert

[crawfobj]

Definately H-4831! I prefer the traditional long grains type, but the newer short cut variety works as well.Robert

Big +1. My Browning Eurobolt loves the stuff pushing 139gr hornady btsp and any 160gr I choose to throw. I can cover 5 shots with the 139s with a dime at 100 and still sub moa at 300+.

Poked 2 nice holes 4" apart in a trotting bull elk at 180 yards with 160 grand slams a couple of years ago.

I've seen no difference in performance between the full size and SC versions.

I have no need to try another powder in mine.

[jonp]

I worked up some loads for my Brother In Law's Savage years ago and had the best results with a 140gr Spitzer and IMR4320.

I still have most of a can of it marked $14.99 from the local hardware store

[nekshot]

if he wants to use cast sometime get a good supply of 4227 and sr4759 on hand, at least in my 7mag that was the winner for hunting speeds.

[Gibbs44]

I use Sierra 140s, but I didn't have any clue where to start. I placed an email to Sierra to ask for a recommendation. They came back with Reloader 22, of course that is a lighter bullet, than what your friend wants to use.

[Petrol & Powder]

I don't think cast bullets are in his future for that rifle.

[Hardcast416taylor]

[QUOTE=Hardcast416taylor;2841794]Definately H-4831! I prefer the traditional long grains type, but the newer short cut variety works as well.Robert[/QUOTE

I worked up a hot load with H-4831 in Fed. brass with Fed Mag. primers and Speer 7mm 145 gr. BT Hot Core bullets. At 250 yds. the Kleingunther K-15 rifle was putting 3 bullets into the same hole! Bob Kleingunther was so impressed by this saying he guarranted less than 1" accuracy, but this was beyond that! That load accounted for a 350 yd. 1 shot drop on a 15" antelope near Casper, Wy.Robert

[Petrol & Powder]

So it's looking like IMR 4831 is the favorite with a few votes for 7828, 4350, RE22 and H-870.

My Sierra manual seems to lean towards 58.8 grs of 4350 but this informal poll clearly favors IMR 4831!

[Bullshop]

4350 may be the better choice for the lighter weight bullets and 4831 for the heavier.
With a bullet weight range from just over 100gn up to about 180gn a single burn rate can not be optimum for all.
Barrel length will also be a determining factor.