Thread: can't leave well enough alone 7mm rem mag 180gn eldm and VLD

G'day team
After selling my prized carbon 270wsm sako, I have since become the owner of a Fierce Fury in 7mm rem mag, it shoots factory Sako 150gn powerheads (barnes ttsx) 1/4 moa but i want something softer and heavier also I'd rather hand load than be reliant on the availability of factory ammo.
Now as best I can tell the Fierce is either a 1:8.5 twist or at worst 1:9 twist with a 24" barrel.
I have bought some Norma brass and a sample pack of 180gn Hornandy ELDM and 180gn Berger VLD hunting.
I know people have been getting great results wth RL33 and 180gn VLD's however I would prefer to stick to ADI if possible as RL seems to sell out in anything that is useful to me having experinced the frustration of trying to buy RL26 for my WSM I'd prefer to stay away from RL powder if at all possible.
So I looked at ADI site for their load data and they quote some interesting/promising figures for 2225 and 2217 both of which i have already.
Has anyone had any experince loading the above projectiles in front of the above mentioned powders ?
I will of course work up a ladder for both starting with the 2225 and go from there, the fierce has a long mag (3.75") with plenty of room to seat the projectiles way out so hopefully I should be able to seat them pretty close to the lands.
Bearing that in mind should I consider the data form ADI as pretty conservative as I will be seating my projectiles out further than SAAMI specs so hopefully less pressure and wont' be compressed loads as early as there figures suggest ?
Also are the heavier pills likely to stabalise in the twist that I have to work with ?
Looking forward to developing a load for this lovely rifle and happy to hear any thoughts or advice on what I'm doing.
thanks

Doesnt it like being photographed?

Originally Posted by charliehorse

Doesnt it like being photographed?

I'm at work.....pics are on the agenda

Your twist should be fine.
Im running 180eldm's out of a 9.5 @2650 and they're sweet.
Havnt tried the 180vld but did have a play with 175 elite huntes and they were stable too.

162 is the optimum weight in 7mm mag. You don’t gain enough by going to 180gr. What you gain in BC you lose in velocity and extra recoil. To really get the advantage of 180’s you need more case size.
71-72gr of 2217 will give 2950-3050fps depending on barrel

Nice rifle. I have been running the 180eldm in mine, between 72.5 and 74gr of 2225. I noticed quite a big variation between powder lots so I would start in the upper end of the adi data maybe 68 grains and go from there. Getting about 2970 from a 24inch barrel.

I’ve got a 7mm mag case and Hornady comparator if you want to measure to find the lands.

I found 2225 better than 2217 in 7mmRMs and 162gn pills. Usually around 73-74 gns. Slightly more speed but tighter groups. If your going to 180 gn pills then 2225 should be the better option. +1 for what @stug said on 162s being the sweet spot.

162eldm will eat animals for brekky. Don't have to go silly speeds as that means you can use them more successfully up close and still out a long way. I ran them at 2750-2770 from my 284 and they were good to 800 so the rem mag should get 2800+ with next to no effort

I too have found spare time making me do silly things haha. Now I had a perfectly good load for my rem mag with the 162 ELDX but, I've just been playing with a load using the 175 grain ELD-X, not the same but similar to 180 ELD-M I guess.

I had used 2225 with these in the past and only managed to get up to 2800fps in mine (24" barrel) but I've tried out 2217 with them recently and I'm up at 2960, same rifle!

Getting 2840 fps from mine with 180 ELD-M and RE26. It’s an accurate load and I could go faster, but it’s quick enough for me.

I might give 2217 a run as it’s readily available and temp stable.

AR2213SC is what i used with a 140grain noser partition. grab a few rounds off me and see what you think

I should've added my coal in my above post, these were seated out at 3.470", a lot longer than what fits in my mag (A7) .

Your twist of 8.5-9 will be sweet as. I too have been running them in a 9.5 twist 22 inch barrel and they stabilise just fine