The 7mm Rem Mag, using the correct bullet, is fully capable of taking every single species of North American game animal and at distances beyond normal hunting ranges (300 yards plus).
Its important to educate yourself about 7mm Rem Mag Ballistics, especially for long range shots, because not knowing how your 7mm rem mag load performs at extended ranges could easily result in a miss.
However, its pointless to attempt such shots if you don’t optimize 7mm Rem Mag’s point blank range during sighting-in. Thats why knowledge of 7mm Rem Mag Ballistics is so important. You want to take full advantage of this cartridge’s ballistic potential.
7mm Ballistics Examined
For this ballistics demonstration we are using Norma 150gr Scirocco with a muzzle velocity of 3117fps and a ballistic coefficient of 0.536.
This load has been optimized in Shoot! for a 6 inch vital zone (typical of a whitetail deer). Shoot! tells us to sight-in this load to shoot 2.37 inches high at 100 yards for a 255 yard zero. Point blank range is 302 yards.
Here is the above load showing the trajectory out to 500 yards based on those optimum sight settings:
At 500 yards this bullet is only 29.14 inches low! That’s one flat shooting load considering we sighted-in the bullet to impact only 2.37 inches high at 100 yards. Very impressive ballistics.
What About Remaining Velocity For This 7mm Rem Mag at 500 Yards?
Examine the velocity graph generated by Shoot! ballistics software below for the same load:
At 500 yards the remaining velocity is 2264fps – again, this is exceptional ballistics for a bullet weight in this class and diameter.
How does the 7mm Rem Mag achieve such ballistics?
The bullet’s BC (ballistic coefficient) is very high at 0.536. This streamlined, long 0.284″ bullet cuts through the atmosphere with minimal drag effect, thus retaining velocity and energy far downrange (as you can see from the graph).
7mm’s in general produce such good ballistics like higher retained velocity, energy, etc because of the bullets made for this caliber. There are no bullets below the 0.284″ caliber with a ballistic coefficient higher than the 7mm.
Remaining Energy of 7mm At 500 Yards
Graph below shows the energy remaining at 500 yards for the same load:
At 500 yards the remaining energy is 1710 Ft-Lbs. This is more energy than some other centerfire cartridges at the muzzle! This is more than adequate for taking down large game the size of elk at this distance, provided you use the right bullet to penetrate to reach the vitals and place the shot accurately.
In summary, this is why the 7mm Rem Magnum is an excellent ballistic performer.
7mm Ballistics and Shoot! Ballistics App/Software
If you own a 7mm Rem Mag, its easy to produce 7mm Rem Mag Ballistics reports using Shoot! ballistics app/software that you can understand and use in the field (either target shooting or hunting).
The 7mm Rem Mag is another specialized cartridge that deserves comprehensive ballistics analysis using Shoot! There are 100’s of different 7mm Rem Mag factory ammunition loads and bullets to choose from in Shoot! when doing ballistics for your 7mm Rem Magnum.
