Hunting ammunition. Few commercial cartridges born after World War II have had such wide acclaim that they increase, and here is the beauty, with the progress of the years, so those who hunt in the mountains or in large spaces identify in this splendid charge the answer to several questions.
di Emmanuel Tabasso
Discard on the cartridge 7 Rem. Mag. Sees us a little fearful because, knowing our predilection well, we do not want to appear hagiographers of what we particularly like. The first meeting on paper dates back to the late 60s when the not forgotten Giuseppe Gatto drew up the presentation on Diana Armi: the new creation by Remington had recently known the limelight of hunting grounds and the writer of the notes had tried it. in his new Sako Finnbear, equipped with a conspicuous rise placed on the back of the stock, so as to gain an excellent posture for the eye.
The new 7 mm, golden measure of carbine bullets, it paired with many other cartridges: some, although excellent, remained at the project or wildcat stage as the Americans say, that is a toy reserved for those who had studied it, without finding an adoption that would allow it to break into the market . Other cartridges, on the other hand, had a story to tell like the German 7 × 64 by Brenneke and 7 × 66 VHSE, a version still in vogue of the previous 7 × 73 VHSE of very low commercialization such as the .280 Halger, or the American .270 Win. o .270 and 7 mm by Weatherby, not to mention the not too widespread, but very valid ones such as the 7 × 61 Sharpe & Hart or the .280 Ross and again the .275 H. & H. which, born around 1912 had already illustrated the magnificent performance of a high intensity 7mm. Surely the general public was not ready to accept the new verb at the time and the times saw scenarios opening up where the .30-06 Sprg. together with the 8 × 57 IS, the 6,5 × 52 Carcano, the .303 British, the 7,62x54R they held the ground with very different and tragic uses. It is only with the temporal space open between the two wars that we fully dedicate ourselves to the cartridge equipped with the advantageous features for future hunts. The informative concept put several parameters on the list and the first collided with the stable mental set-up of the average American for which a .30 caliber is what you need in every situation: in fact, you go to 7 mm using precisely the studies that in previous years they have put in place those charges intended for a specific field, long-distance shooting on wild animals living in open spaces where the approach is sometimes almost impossible. This is the second reason with the third just following: the cost must not be high so as to radiate this product to a maximum number of users, further lowering costs and increasing the probability of sale. The fourth point sees ballistics at stake: precision, consistency and variety of ball weights are essential parameters.
The belted case is always a derivation of the splendid .275 and .300 by Holland & Holland, obviously with the adaptations that the most recent internal ballistics studies and the new powders have recommended. Thus we see the characteristic caseback with the belt, then the slightly tapered body with a shoulder angle of 25 ° and a collar of 6.9 mm over a total length of 63,5 mm. The formal prodromes are all there and they say of a pushed but not exasperated cartridge, capable of mastering bullets between 120 and 150 gr with authority, launching them at very high speeds, with that magnificent precision that becomes one of the salient and privileged characteristics, with the constancy that sees the performance vary very little between summer and winter, and the cost that, except for the latest surges for which we thank the investors on commodities very much, has always remained at very affordable levels for what you buy. To the greater glory of this charge, we still observe how we can adequately make them digest expanded ball weights between the aforementioned 120 gr and 175 gr, obviously in the latter case with a reduction of V / 0 and grazing, but always reaching considerable peaks: the ambition of the North American hunter-shooter to plinking, varmint or rather use the same rifle for the moose or the bear is thus satisfied. Unfortunately, so to speak, the characteristic that is always very welcome to the stars and stripes enthusiasts represented by military surplus is missing: this cartridge has never been used by the army, therefore the monetary benefits that can be enjoyed from the marketing of the lots that have passed the date there is no expiration date. Patience we will all say, comforted by how much you can still make money in the field of recharging. Without wishing to give doses and advice, we report that we have obtained the best results with progressive powders such as the MRP Norma and 140 gr balls with a significant ballistic coefficient, such as the Nosler Ballistic Tip or the Sierra Game King; for the same types of bullets, but with a weight of 120 gr, the Norma 204 works well while with the 162 gr Hornady A-Max, excellent for very long distances, the N / 560 or the N / 165 works. All the manufacturers produce this cartridge on different types of bullets: having tried different ones we must externalize the now endemic high quotation, but at the same time rejoice for the results obtained in V / 0 and precision, truly commendable on all fronts.
Over the course of several years we have had the opportunity to test this cartridge on various shotguns and all of them have shown themselves up to the situation: a brief mental selection reminds us how first a Ruger N.1 appeared forty years ago. followed shortly after by a Sauer Mod. 80, then a Mod. 90 which prefers 120 gr bullets, again a Mauser Mod. 94, little known and not very widespread, but with excellent results even on the target placed at 500 m, Remington 700 , Merkel Helix, Blaser R93 and lastly a Rössler T6 all sharing excellent performance for a hunting weapon. To fully exploit the possibilities, you need a rod with the characteristic pitch of 1 / 9,5 "and a length of 66 cm, a factor not so used today when you prefer handling: what changes in portability to have 5 cm less rod it is not yet clear to us, but if we like it so be it. The fact is that it is quick to reduce performance to those of a non-magnum cartridge and therefore it becomes useless to adopt that little bit more that, at times, makes the difference. Reading certain speeds on the chronograph, without putting anything in a critical situation, is always a great satisfaction and the outcome on the target or on the wild only confirms the belief that lethality is linked to the transfer of energy (really a lot) and to the hydrodynamic shock. Everything passes through the placement of the ball and its type. The ones we have indicated have particularly satisfied the friends who employ them and ourselves: I agree that sometimes there is a couple of kg of excellent meat to leave to the foxes, but we continue to prefer this theory and this practice with wild game turned off in place. rather than the one that the pass, the bleeding and the use of the track dog are okay. If we were the wild we would vote unsuccessfully for the first option.
Let's spend a few words on the trajectory grazing: it was then the pre-eminent factor for hunting in the mountains when the rangefinders were ... only the Wild, of approximate accuracy, and the site angle meters still to come as well as the ballistic turrets and the sequel. made of optoelectronics. By calibrating the weapon at 210 m there was a maximum rise of around 140 m equal to 4 cm and a fall at 300 of about 15 cm with 140 g bullets such as those mentioned above; with the 6x telescope, only some innovative spirit already had a 12x Weaver, and with young eyes you worked well up to 350 m, taking advantage of the angle of the site, altitude and grazing being able to always aim inside the silhouette of the chamois. On the male deer we know of excellent things with immediate collapse even just above 500 m at the last moments of light of the last day of hunting. To conclude we will say that the 7 Rem. Mag. Is a polyvalent cartridge for all our game in every area, whether it be for that of the North American continent, for a fair part of the African one where soft-skinned antelopes, even of good weight, are within its reach. The spread of the aforementioned rangefinders pushes someone to lower energy and grazing calibers: for us the combination of the two elements, as long as the recoil, not even so marked, is not feared, still represents an optimal solution.