9 Best Hunting Rifles in 2025: I tested 60 rifles to find the best

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I bought the B-14 Ridge in the traditional hunter stock. I didn’t love the HMR stock. It seemed heavy and plasticy. But the gun is great. Mine is a midwest deer gun in 450 Bushmaster.

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Does anyone have any insight into barrel lengths and twist rates?

I am looking at 7mm Rem Mag rifles and seeing barrel lengths between 20-26in (most are 22in or 24in) and twist rates of 1:8 and 1:9. Seekins even lists 1:8.5.

Some of the factory and semi-custom rifles allow you to choose length and twist. Is there a correct decision here?

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Barrel length effects velocity. Longer equals faster. The downside to longer barrels is there more difficult to maneuver especially in tight situations and they are heavier too.

For seven Remington magnum, I personally wouldn’t drop below 22 in. Anything below that and you’re really just wasting a lot of powder burning after the bullet leaves the barrel. But then there’s also the idea of using a short barrel Magnum to get you regular barrel length performance of a standard cartridge. So for the 7RM, a real short barrel would give you what you would typically get out of a 280 with a standard length barrel.

Twist rate is mainly there for bullet stabilization. The standard for the 7RM is either 1:9, or maybe even 1:9.5. And that will work fine for more of the older style bullets. But if you’re looking to shoot some of the brand new very sleek bullets you’re going to need something faster like a 1:8. That seems to be the sweet spot for most of the new 7 mm coming on the market right now and will allow you to shoot the longer bullets like the 175 eldx

Edit to add

But shooting a longer, higher bc, Sleek bullets in a 7 Mag is not only dependent upon twist rate. You need to be careful about magazine length as well as not getting the bullet stuck in the rifling

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My son (25 yr old) has one (Bergara B14 Wilderness HMR in 300 WM) and loves it. It is his favorite to shoot by far. Recoil is tame and (since he is young) weigh is not an issue. Very accurate 1/2 MOA and we routinely hit 6” square steel targets at 600 yards.

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