GUN NOTES
The Numbers Game
Why isn't Remington's 7mm Ultra Mag tearing up sales charts?
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Madison Avenue has long accepted and continues to exploit the concept that "sex sells." The American firearms industry doesn't necessarily dispute that, but most of the time it figures speed sells better. So it would seem that the 7mm Remington Ultra Mag, pushing a 140-grain bullet at a sizzling 3,425 fps, would be an instant success.
It would be a gross overstatement to call it a commercial failure. Over the years, few cartridges have achieved instant success while many others take time to catch on. So the jury is still out on the 7mm Ultra Mag's eventual success or lack thereof; so far it hasn't burned up sales records. In part this is because Remington sort of shifted emphasis midstream. In short order it introduced four long, fat-cased, unbelted, rebated Ultra Mags.
The .300 RUM was the first and, by far, leads the way in sales. Why not? America loves her .30 calibers. Then came the .338 RUM, followed quickly by the 7mm and .375 RUMs. The .338 and .375 are both wonderful cartridges. Neither have sold well, but this isn't surprising; once you get over .30 caliber the genuine need--and thus the market--drops like rocks. On the other hand, the 7mm should be doing better. America loves her 7mms--darn near the only metric she does love. The 7mm has long been a Remington specialty (7mm-08, .280 Remington, 7mm Rem. Mag., 7mm STW). American shooters love velocity, and the 7mm RUM certainly offers that, with much less recoil than its .30-caliber counterpart.
So far, so good. The unbelted, large case is a good idea, and velocity is always a good idea. Then Winchester got its hands in the cookie jar with its WSM cartridges--fat, rebated, sharp-shouldered and short. They're not the equal of the Ultra Mags but duplicate standard (.30-06-length) magnums and produce good accuracy with little recoil. Remington countered with its 7mm and .300 Short Action Ultra Mags, which, unlike the WSMs, were short enough to fit into the Model Seven action. All the short magnums from both companies are good. But--and this is purely my spin--the public was suddenly very confused by all these new magnums, short and long. And Remington was now sending a mixed message with both long Ultra Mags and Short Action Ultra Mags, neither of which had been on the market long enough to be fully understood. Which 7mm did Remington want you to buy?
So let's clarify things, at least in the 7mm arena. The 7mm WSM fits into most short bolt actions but will not fit into the Remington Model Seven. The 7mm RSAUM will fit into the Model Seven. Both produce performance similar to the 7mm Rem. Mag.--not bad from a short action. The 7mm Ultra Mag is much faster. It's much faster than the 7mm Rem. Mag. and about 100 fps faster than the 7mm STW. In fairness, it's not faster than Lazzeroni's 7.21 (.284) Firebird, nor even close. So you can't say the 7mm RUM is the fastest 7mm, but you can say it's the fastest 7mm from a major manufacturer. Recoil is surprisingly mild for its speed, and it shoots flat. Sight-in 1.8 inches high at 100 yards, and you're dead-on at 250, less than three inches low at 300 and slightly less than a foot low at 400 yards. Cheat the act a bit more by sighting-in at 300 yards (2.6 inches high at 100), and now you're eight inches low at 400 yards and just 21 inches low at 500 yards. With inexpensive rifles and cheap ammo from a trusted manufacturer, it should be selling like gangbusters, but it isn't.
