Action recommendation please

DanB

DanB

New member
I wish to build a rifle chambered for 7mm BR. It will be a medium range white tail rifle that will do double duty as a bench gun.
What I'm looking for is a short action with integral picatinny rail, integral recoil lug, stainless steel, magazine feed, and most importantly short 60 degree bolt lift.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Dan
 
7BR for medium range deer rifle? There are much better cartridges available for that application, IMO. Personally I would consider the 7BR marginal for short range. 284 Win for one in the 7mm, short action, family.
 
Where I live, NH, anything over 100y is considered long distance. My longest white tail kill happened this year. 96y with a muzzle loader. My first gun when I was 15 was a Remington 700 in 300 win mag. Never enjoyed shooting it, it beat me up. Now that I'm older and wiser I look forward to an inherently accurate tame rifle.
I have access to a Kreiger barrel blank with 1:9.5" twist that I could finish at 24". I figure it should make close to 2000 fpe, about the same as a .30-30. The down range ballistics with a good 130-140g bullet should be adequate to 300y, about 1200 fpe.
I doubt I will have to worry about barrel wear in my life time.
Dan

JerrySharrett said:
7BR for medium range deer rifle? There are much better cartridges available for that application, IMO. Personally I would consider the 7BR marginal for short range. 284 Win for one in the 7mm, short action, family.
Click to expand...
 
DanB said:
Where I live, NH, anything over 100y is considered long distance. My longest white tail kill happened this year. 96y with a muzzle loader. My first gun when I was 15 was a Remington 700 in 300 win mag. Never enjoyed shooting it, it beat me up. Now that I'm older and wiser I look forward to an inherently accurate tame rifle.
I have access to a Kreiger barrel blank with 1:9.5" twist that I could finish at 24". I figure it should make close to 2000 fpe, about the same as a .30-30. The down range ballistics with a good 130-140g bullet should be adequate to 300y, about 1200 fpe.
I doubt I will have to worry about barrel wear in my life time.
Dan
Click to expand...
We consider 350-450 medium range for white tails where we hunt in Kansas. Long range would be in the 550-800 yard bracket. Anything longer than about 900 is considered luck, with a Whammy, 25/264 Win Mag Imp.
 
7br

I have had/built three 7BR rifles through the years. It is a great cartridge that performs beyond what one would expect given the smallish powder charge. It should work great for what you have in mind.

None of mine were as sophisticated as yours though, I used mine primarily for silhouette shooting. One was built on a 600 action and the other two were built on short action 700's.

It always amazed me to watch the 55 lb rams tip over at 500 meters using such a small cartridge. What was even more amazing is that it was extremely rare to hit one and not have it go over.

I did use mine for some rockchuck hunting and also took a couple of deer with it - no issues.

drover
 
What put me on to the 7mm BR was Bob Milek writing about the xp-100 back in the 80's. About 20 years ago I bought a Remington custom shop xp-100 with English walnut stock. I could print 1.5" groups at 100, I'm sure the gun was capable of better. Unfortunately I sold it.
I like the Sako action but will opt for a custom job if I can find one with my specs.
Dan

drover said:
I have had/built three 7BR rifles through the years. It is a great cartridge that performs beyond what one would expect given the smallish powder charge. It should work great for what you have in mind.

None of mine were as sophisticated as yours though, I used mine primarily for silhouette shooting. One was built on a 600 action and the other two were built on short action 700's.

It always amazed me to watch the 55 lb rams tip over at 500 meters using such a small cartridge. What was even more amazing is that it was extremely rare to hit one and not have it go over.

I did use mine for some rockchuck hunting and also took a couple of deer with it - no issues.

drover
Click to expand...
 
The 60deg bolt lift is the problem youre facing. Also I dont think a 7br will ever feed thru a magazine. There are no good options to fix your problems. May need to give a little here and there to be happy in the end.
 
DanB said:
What put me on to the 7mm BR was Bob Milek writing about the xp-100 back in the 80's. About 20 years ago I bought a Remington custom shop xp-100 with English walnut stock. I could print 1.5" groups at 100, I'm sure the gun was capable of better. Unfortunately I sold it.
I like the Sako action but will opt for a custom job if I can find one with my specs.
Dan
Click to expand...

We first used the 7BR for banging steel in the early days of IMHSA. Using the 7BR in a Contender pistol for several years is what would make me doubt the knockdown of that round. I've left many 50# rams standing at 200, I switched to a 35 Rem. The 200 grain 35 did way much better than the 140 grain 7mm on Rams.
 
7BR seems like a great choice for your area. Bat doesn't list three lug as an option for the VR, but you might ask them. Their roller cocking cam is a nice feature. While they list the integral rail, an integral recoil lug is not listed. They do a bolt-on lug that goes under the middle of the action for single shots. If there is room, maybe they could bolt the lug in front of the magazine?
 
I like the sound of that roller cocking cam! It would help keep my arm from getting tired if I ever try a 3-lug... ;-)
F1
 
The roller only makes it the same if not a little bit more pressure to lift the bolt. Remember youre doing the same firing pin stroke in less travel.
 
JerrySharrett said:
We first used the 7BR for banging steel in the early days of IMHSA. Using the 7BR in a Contender pistol for several years is what would make me doubt the knockdown of that round. I've left many 50# rams standing at 200, I switched to a 35 Rem. The 200 grain 35 did way much better than the 140 grain 7mm on Rams.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I suspect it may have been the bullet more than the cartridge, many of us used the 7BR or 7TCU in rifles with 24 inch barrels for
high-power silhouette. The 7TCU worked most of the time but the 7BR rarely failed to knock the rams over. Over time most of us went to the 7BR for the greater case capacity and more reliable knockdown, there was minimal difference in recoil. I managed to shoot my way into AAA using a 7BR.

The powder charges were generally near max for the rams and the bullet of choice was either a Sierra Matchking or if it was a range where the rams were hard-set or had soft-rails (rails with some give or sway to them) we used 175 GameKings. For chickens we generally used 120's and for pigs and turkeys 140's.

The only real drawback to either cartridge was that you had better be a good wind reader because the ram loads were so slow that the wind really pushed them around.

drover
 
Maybe a little less wear on the cam? In a recent magazine a reviewer told how he lubed the rear of the locking lugs to make cocking easier...
 
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I believe the Sako 85 has a 75 degree bolt lift, three lug. Should be a little easier than a Weatherby 57 degree or more common 60.
I have a Rem 788 and am not concerned about the lifting force.
Dan
 
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