A Gun a Week: Remington Model Seven, 7mm-08 Remington

Remington Model Seven, 7mm-08 Remington

Quickly after becoming a guntard, or rather, an enthusiast, you quickly get sucked into a certain school of thought after you realize that you can't hunt or shoot with just any over-the-counter, store-bought rifle. And I bought into this for a while, for sure.

First is the realization that you can't kill deer with any of the common cartridges sold in Walmarts all over America. No, a 30-06, .243, 30-30, or a .308 just won't do anymore. You need a custom-chambered rifle for your hunting needs in some ancient cartridge that preceded them all. You need a rifle chambered in a cartridge like 7x57mm Mauser that was developed in 1890-something to beat out all the other guys with their cookie-cutter rifles at the hunting-shooting game. 

Here's Emily in 2006 behind the scenes at The Gunsmith's with another "custom" rifle...
I guess we were trying to goad him to finish it by pestering him.

To do this though, first you need to buy an old beater rifle...that's at least 400 bucks. Then you need to buy a new barrel for the thing, and that's another 400 bucks. Then you need to pay a guy to put the two together...that's another 300 bucks...you see what I'm getting at? If you read anything I've written about a "custom" rifle I own, this is what I had to do. It's an expensive process, but slow, so the costs get spread out. But it's something I've done to the tune of a bunch of dollars. Sigh. 

And so it was, several years ago when I wanted a rifle chambered in that old, grandfatherly cartridge, 7x57mm Mauser, in stainless steel so I wouldn't have to wait a year for the gunsmith to get around to bluing it, that I had the mother of all epiphanies: what if I just bought one ready to go? 

Another realization you come to as a guntard is that your nine-pound rifle is way too heavy to tote all the way from your truck to the deerstand. Think of all the other stuff you have to carry: your binoculars, cell phone, and...well, that's about it, but that's alot* when you're bundled up in winter wear. No, you need a svelte little carbine that comes in under seven pounds of course. And they make and sell those for sure. Kimber Mfg. makes them and sells them at such a premium, think MFSR $1,768.00 (from the pages of this month's Rifleman), that gun-nerds will hand it right over to keep from straining their backs. I can't do it, well, not all at once; I got kids...and dogs. 

This is why I type out Model Seven every time. It's just how it's done!

And that brings us back to the afore-mentioned cookie-cutter rifle. Turns out Remington makes exactly that for less than half of the cost of a Kimber. The Model Seven. The only compromise I had to make was getting one in a modern cartridge. You see, the old 7x57mm Mauser cartridge won't fit in a modern short action, but the ballistically identical 7mm-08 Remington will. Introduced in 1980, it's a pretty old design...not as cool and as old as the Mauser round, but it'll do.

The real selling point on the cartridge is this little rifle. Its action is a quarter inch shorter than a regular old Remington model 700 and I guess that little bit helps it shed some weight, and they come with a shorter, thinner barrel too, which also helps keep the weight down. The one I bought, brand new (the last rifle I ever bought brand new eight years ago or so) also has a super-slim plastic stock that makes the thing feel almost toy-like in my grip. If ever a rifle was made for carrying around unnoticed on your shoulder for less than the cost of a used car on Craig's List, this is it.

The barrel is 20 inches long with only about 19 1/4 inches sticking out of the action. It's pencil thin at the end, which you'd think would hurt accuracy but this is not the case! The handload I manufactured for it back in 2007 comes in under an inch at 100 yards and amazingly, at 200 yards as well--shocking to say the least for any rifle let alone a little hunting carbine.

Reloaders save the good, the bad, and the ugly. We need the data so we don't
repeat bad recipes and do replicate the good loads. This is a good load.

Heck, the whole rifle is only 38 3/4 inches long. Mine weighs 8 pounds with the scope, sling and four cartridges in the holder strapped around the stock which means it's a pound lighter than most rifles are nekkid. Admittedly, I didn't do a very scientific weight check by doing the old weigh myself with the gun and then without, but I think it's close enough for the ten people who read this blog...on a side note, I'm back on the Atkins Diet for the next two weeks.

A meter of rifle!

If you look at pictures at an old Remington model XP-100, I think you can see the lineage of the Model Seven. They seem to sport the same action so if you get rid of the XP-100's weird dog-legged bolt, oddly-shaped safety, and "pistol" stock, and exchange it for the standard Model 700's controls, you've got the Model Seven. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch to convert a Model Seven into a pistol...but why in the world...

Here's an old XP-100. 

Here's the Model Seven's controls...You can see the lineage I think.

The only bad thing I could ever say about my rifle is that the recoil pad went "sticky" like most of the Remingtons sold in those days. It's a Limbsaver Inc.'s problem that became a Remington problem, but it's easily fixed. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Such a pain to have to unglue it from the safe floor to get it out for hunting or fondling. And I might just take this opportunity to fix it once and for all for the photos.

Sticky pad problems. Look close and the cartridge headstamps are 308 WIN which
is the parent case for the 7mm-08--a run throught a sizing die does the conversion.

The first doe I shot with this rifle was a micro-deer at 125 yards. I had only been hunting for four years or so back then and sometimes had trouble judging deer sizes in waning light and through the 2-7X Leupold so I consider the fawn an "oops" moment--but! the small ones sure are tender and tasty and easy to manage I hafta say. Two more does in December 2011 and November 2013 until the latest doe in December 2013 which was an awful experience in the perils of neck shots.

A hundred yard, more or less, shot to the neck which dropped her in her tracks as usual, apparently didn't kill her right away and after hours and hours of tracking ever-shrinking blood drops, we finally gave up finding her. I had started using neck shots because it usually keeps the deer in sight for quick and clean kills which is what every hunter should want. I know I work pretty dang hard to keep my kills clean and humane as possible, but lousy shots happen for one reason or another. It sucks when you flub a shot and I think about them often, mostly to try to prevent them from happening again, but also as a type of self-flagellation I suppose.

It's important to not let bad shots from seasons past affect your confidence on the next shot opportunity for the worse. I always say killing an animal is an awful and terrific thing--terrible and thrilling all at the same time...and you don't need the spectre of the last dicked-up shot making you place yet another misplaced shot downrange. There's alot* going into the mental game of taking game. 

Anyway, this little rifle is a proven shooter and game-getter as long as I do my part. I can't think of anyway to improve it except to buy an even better scope for it. Trim little rifle need trim little scopes on top. And of course, I need to get around to fixing the sticky pad. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. 

An extra pair of eyes never hurt.

Of course, all the while, I still keep an eye out for an old rifle chambered for an old cartridge like, say, 7x57mm Mauser. They're still out there.

Ilion's smallest high-powered rifle. The Model Seven.