7mm Remington Express

tennmike

It was rainy today, so I thought I'd clean out a bit of clutter in my Dad's old reloading bench. I came up on a full box of 7mm Express Remington ammunition. It is 150 grain Core-Lokt spire point. I don't know, but suspect, that Dad bought it for his 7 x 57mm Mauser, and didn't discover the mistake until he got home with it. Funny how the 7mm Express Remington never took off, but the renamed .280 Remington did.

It's got one of the old red 5 cent State of Tennessee ammunition tax stamps on the box. That puts it way back in time, at least sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s. Can't make heads nor tails out of the hieroglyphics on the box end tab.

I also found some odd pistol ammunition in a cardboard box. Have to clean it up and see what it is. Some is .32 and some .38 cal. (I think) but they aren't anything I'm familiar with. Cases are too short. Maybe the headstamps will provide a clue. The lead bullets have a nice white crust on them. Probably around 100 years old, more or less. A few of the rounds have copper cases instead of brass. I'll clean up the cases a bit, and wipe the bullets with an oily cloth. No sense scattering lead dust about.

jbohio

Neat-o.

Pics?

Durwood

Actually .280 was the original name...the 7mm Express Remington name was a short lived gimmick.

Linefinder

Durwood wrote: »

Actually .280 was the original name...the 7mm Express Remington name was a short lived gimmick.

True. Much like the .244 Rem became the 6mm Rem simply by changing the name and barrel twist. Only the 7mm Rem Express turned back into the .280. A guy I used to hunt with had a Mod 700 marked 7mm Rem Express.

Mike

beartracker

Neat box of ammo marked 7mm Express. I kind of liked that name they gave the .280, I thought it was cool.

NN

Interesting find, I'll be interested in seeing the pistol rnds.

tennmike

Here ya go, NN.
.32 S&W, .32 S&W long, .30 WCF, and WRA .38-55. I have no idea where the .38-55 came from. There never was one owned by my Granddad as far as I know.


7mm Express box and cartridge.




Box of original .32 S&W Long cartridges


Original box of .30 WCF cartridges (.30-30)


Box of .38 S&W Special cartridges


Box of 20 Ga. Remington Economy shotshells. Paper hulls, roll crimped, and printed on overshot card, "Economy 7 1/2 c LIGHT 2 1/4-3/4

beartracker

Cool collection of ammo Mike :up:

snake284

No it wasn't. It was always 280 Remington. However, since Remington chambered it in the model 742 and the 760, everybody always loaded the factory ammo down. Then sometime in the 70s they chambered it in the Model 700. When they did they realizeds how anemic a round it was for a bolt gun. Then they came out with a higher pressure load and named it the 7mm Rem. Express. This was around 1978. But when Joe Public saw it they figured ahh express rifle, this means it fits the 7mm mag, and some tried to chamber it in magnums, Remingon took the lawyers advice and changed the name back to .280 Remington. I think they also cut back on the pressure and it was the same anemic round as before. But the seed was planted and people saw that by reloading they could have a fine performer. That I think is when it began to generate real interest. First it was only among hand loaders and other serious shooters. Also as premium ammo made its appearance some of this would produce higher pressures and better ballistics. But I think today regular Remington Ammo is still fairly anemic for it and it's still mostly a reloading proposition, albeit a good one.

wookie

I have a rem 7mm ex. But it doesn't see alot of use. I would rather shoot my 7 mag. It doesn't make my arm go numb or give me a headache like the express does

snake284

Wookie, in light of that, I would have to say, either you're loading your 7mm Express too hot or your 7 mag too cool.

breamfisher

? Is there a difference in platform or loading? Because the express pushes its bullets 150-200 fps slower than the magnum, and should have lower recoil.

Ernie Bishop

Stock may be different, and possibly overall weight.

snake284 wrote: »

Wookie, in light of that, I would have to say, either you're loading your 7mm Express too hot or your 7 mag too cool.

N320AW

Hey. Are those balloon head cases on the 30-30 & 38-55?

N320AW

wookie wrote: »

I have a rem 7mm ex. But it doesn't see alot of use. I would rather shoot my 7 mag. It doesn't make my arm go numb or give me a headache like the express does

You got some 'splaining to do with that comment!

Please.

backwaterbob

:up: Mike,
very nice collection. Paper hulls ! wow.
bwb

Gunner17202

What did you do with the 7mm Express ammo? are you interested in selling?

thanks

-Jay

tennmike wrote: »

It was rainy today, so I thought I'd clean out a bit of clutter in my Dad's old reloading bench. I came up on a full box of 7mm Express Remington ammunition. It is 150 grain Core-Lokt spire point. I don't know, but suspect, that Dad bought it for his 7 x 57mm Mauser, and didn't discover the mistake until he got home with it. Funny how the 7mm Express Remington never took off, but the renamed .280 Remington did.

It's got one of the old red 5 cent State of Tennessee ammunition tax stamps on the box. That puts it way back in time, at least sometime in the 1970s or early 1980s. Can't make heads nor tails out of the hieroglyphics on the box end tab.

I also found some odd pistol ammunition in a cardboard box. Have to clean it up and see what it is. Some is .32 and some .38 cal. (I think) but they aren't anything I'm familiar with. Cases are too short. Maybe the headstamps will provide a clue. The lead bullets have a nice white crust on them. Probably around 100 years old, more or less. A few of the rounds have copper cases instead of brass. I'll clean up the cases a bit, and wipe the bullets with an oily cloth. No sense scattering lead dust about.

NN

Gunner:
Welcome aboard.

tennmike

Gunner17202 wrote: »

What did you do with the 7mm Express ammo? are you interested in selling?

thanks

-Jay

Nope. That box of ammo has a history with me since it belonged to my dad. Sentimental value is higher than monetary value.

And it's against forum rules to post stuff for sale. It was just a show and tell kind of thing to post the pictures of the old ammo and boxes.

JerryBobCo

breamfisher wrote: »

? Is there a difference in platform or loading? Because the express pushes its bullets 150-200 fps slower than the magnum, and should have lower recoil.

I have a friend who shoots a .280 in a Remington mountain rifle. The rifle is very light. I've never fired it, but he claims it kicks like a mule.

I'm glad to take his word for it.

snake284-1

tennmike wrote: »

Nope. That box of ammo has a history with me since it belonged to my dad. Sentimental value is higher than monetary value.

And it's against forum rules to post stuff for sale. It was just a show and tell kind of thing to post the pictures of the old ammo and boxes.

I haven't read all the post here but I did look at the ones started lately, like the last day or so. Here's what I found on the 7mm Express:

"Remington released the .280 Remington cartridge some 32 years after the .270 Winchester and with no particular advantage over its predecessor, the .280 Remington had somewhat unspectacular sales. Remington attempted to increase excitement and sales in 1979, by renaming the cartridge 7 mm Express in an attempt to increase sales. This resulted in people confusing it with the 7 mm Remington Magnum and Remington eventually changed the name back to .280 Remington in 1981.[2]"

http://gunczar.com/280rem.html

This is the way I always understood what happened.

So you're pretty well right on as to the time line, Late 70s and early 80s.

Now how people confused it with the 7mm Rem. Mag. is beyond me.

swamp

Just doing some surfing and found this old thread. I'm new here, but I've been shooting the 7mm Express for 32 years now. Just to shed a little light on the name: When Remington reintroduced the .280 as the Express it touted the 7mm Express as a cartridge that bridges the gap between the 270 and the 30-06 and exceeds them both. I ordered mine when I was 15 and it took nearly 6 months to arrive. Apparently at the time Remington was making limited runs of this cal. and would wait until they had enough orders to warrant another batch. My S/N ends in 051. My original rifle is a 700 BDL now fitted with a Rem. Realtree stock and fitted with a DM. When loaded a little on the hot side it pushes a little above the 7Mag. I used to run 59.6 gr. of IMR 4831 with Hornady 139gr. boat tails. This load was fairly brutal at a bench. I finally settled down to 56.5 gr. of 4831 with the same bullet. This load consistently puts out .75" groups from a bench at 100yds. and is reasonable to shoot at the bench
Back in the day we only had the 150ptsp Rem or the 165gr round nose. The 150's would do just over 1", but the 165's were terrible in my rifle. A 5" group was a good one with those. This is why I went to handloading.
I also own a 700 mountain rifle in .280 and I can tell you personally that this rifle with the 139's and 57 gr. of 4831 are punishing while at a bench. I settled on 120gr ballistics with 55 gr of 4831 and it's a sweet shooter capable of .75" groups off a bench.
I can't explain it, but I have spent quite a lot of time behind a 700 in 7mm mag and with 139gr's and slightly hot 4831 the 7mag doesn't seem to punish as bad. I believe the weight combined with the 24"bbl vs. a 22" on the 280 and the way heavier recoil pad on the mag is the reason the 7mag seems tamer at the bench.
Swamp