Ultimate 7-08 Load

Mountain Mike

Mountain Mike

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Good Day All,

I'm thinking 140gn. Berger VLD Bullets behind a Winchester nickel brass, stuffed with 45gns. of IMR4350 and set off with a Remington primer. All set .010 off the lands.
What do you guys think?

This is for hunting from a 7mm-08 Stainless Stalker Browning X-bolt topped with a Cabels Euro 3-9X42
 
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Is this for accuracy/target or hunting??

You will have to play with charge weight and seating depth to find the sweet spot for your rifle.

Load develop, there is no "magic" load, every rifle is different.

What I can state is that:

My most accurate loads came with H4350, not IMR
140gr bullets like factory twist rates and velocities 2800 ft/sec to 2890 ft/sec.
 
139gr Interlock over a max load of H4350, have yet to recover a bullet and leaves a 2" wound channel thru a meaty neck or shoulder or the ribs on WT's... It's the finger of god load for me, never had a deer move after being hit by it.


Oh you want to stretch your legs? 162gr Amax over a max load of H4350 should have you on target out to 700M with about 68-72 clicks on the turret... And it hits the steel HARD.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Is this for accuracy/target or hunting??

You will have to play with charge weight and seating depth to find the sweet spot for your rifle.

Load develop, there is no "magic" load, every rifle is different.

What I can state is that:

My most accurate loads came with H4350, not IMR
140gr bullets like factory twist rates and velocities 2800 ft/sec to 2890 ft/sec.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Good tip. Ill try H4350. I had some rounds loaded with IMR, and I get quite a few flyers, I don't know why but maybe that's part to do with it.
 
From Sierra:
Accuracy Load: RE-15/ 39.6grs. 2700fps/ 2266ft. lbs.
Hunting Load: IMR-4350/ 45.7grs. 2800fps/ 2437ft. lbs.

Nosler list 46.0 grains at 2840 as the most accurate load tested
 
Mountain Mike said:
That sounds like a heavy hitter
Click to expand...



I'm pushing them as fast as most folks push 140's but I have a bit more barrel then most hunting rifles...

Forget any powder other than H4350 when it comes to 7-08, it's been experimented with by folks from 24hr campfire, AR forum, LRH etc etc... They all start with Varget or RL-15 and a bunch of others but end with H4350 for best velocity and accuracy.

So far I've used it in 3 7-08 rifles, all 3 shoot sub MOA, had loads worked up for them within 15rnd's with the bullets I listed above... Possibly the easiest cartridge to build loads for I have ever come across :)
 
Mountain Mike said:
Good Day All,

I'm thinking 140gn. Berger VLD Bullets behind a Winchester nickel brass, stuffed with 45gns. of IMR4350 and set off with a Remington primer. All set .010 off the lands.
What do you guys think?

This is for hunting from a 7mm-08 Stainless Stalker Browning X-bolt topped with a Cabels Euro 3-9X42
Click to expand...

I have never used Berger bullets, but 45 grains of 4350 is a light load with 140 grain bullets of other brands.
46 grains of 4350 only got an average of 2613 fps with a flat base 140 grain Speer bullet.
48 grains gave just over 2800 with a 140 grain semi boat tail.
With 145 grain Grans Slam bullets, 49 grains of 4350 gave just under 2800 fps.
With 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, 49 grains of 4350 averaged 2824.
However, there are other powders that work that work well in a 7-08. Forty grains of 3031 gave 140 grain Nosler BT 2780 fps. Shootable, but not spectacular.
I think H414 might be the best of the powders I have, as it is with the 243.
Hogdon on line show max load of 47 grains of H414 with a 130 grain bullet as doing 2925 fps.
For me, that load, 47 of H414, gave 2850, which is pretty close and showed no sign, whatsoever of excess pressure, thus another half grain or so will likely bring it up to what Hodgdon's state it will go and will be a very respectable load.
One problem with IMR4350 is that the loads of 49 grains I was using with 140 grain bullets, filled the case to the top of the neck, thus creating a huge compression to seat them. H414 will give the same velocity with the powder only coming to the bottom of the neck.
The rifle being tested is a new Tikka. I can detect no difference in accuracy, regardless what powder I use or how much!
I seat the bullets deep enough to work through the magazine and so the bolt will close. The Nosler Ballistic Tip had to be seated very deep, creating a great deal of compression with 4350, but again, I could not determine any difference in accuracy.
I have been making 1 MOA groups, or very close to it, with regularity.
Here is one five shot group with the Speer 130 grain bullets, which measures about .82 inches.
 
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Varmit said:
find a different bullet first.
Click to expand...

I agree with this! The Berger is a very fine bullet......for targets!! As a hunting bullet it leaves so much to be desired.

Additionally, there are a number of High-BC, true "Hunting" bullets available. [LRAB, Scirocco II, etc, etc] that using a bullet that disintegrates like the Berger makes no sense whatsoever.

H or IMR 4350, H414, W760, N550, Norma 204 should all produce great results with the 140 grain and up bullets in your rifle.

Regards, Dave.
 
Eagleye said:
I agree with this! The Berger is a very fine bullet......for targets!! As a hunting bullet it leaves so much to be desired.

Additionally, there are a number of High-BC, true "Hunting" bullets available. [LRAB, Scirocco II, etc, etc] that using a bullet that disintegrates like the Berger makes no sense whatsoever.

H or IMR 4350, H414, W760, N550, Norma 204 should all produce great results with the 140 grain and up bullets in your rifle.

Regards, Dave.
Click to expand...

I didn't state in my post above, but I was using Norma 204 interchangeably with IMR4350, with very little difference, except not so much compression was required.
Bruce
 
WELL I'm not sure now, I was going to use my 270 win this weekend but now I'm thinking it's time to try the 7-08 with a hand load of IMR4895-41gr and nos part-150gr???
should work on deer here in Quesnel where the average shoot is not over 200ms. It's one of these little whippy things light barrel BUt easy to pack.
 
Ok, same topic but a slight highjack: Right now I'm shooting 140 partitions with 38 grains of Varget. The book speed is 2610 fps (no chrony here), and I'm wondering what you guys thought about the speed? The load is the most accurate I've found to date which is important to me, but wondering if 200 fps is going to make a difference out to 250 yards in killing power?
 
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