Reloading… on a budget

I cringe a bit at the term "reloading on a budget", as shooting is expensive. If you try to take short cuts, you'll likely be setting yourself up for some frustrations. Don't have high expectations, and you won't get too disappointed. Even with less than stellar ammo, you'll likely hit an elk sized vital zone out to 400 yards

Getting a bunch of random 7mm Mag brass given to you can be a problem. You'll have to size them sufficiently to chamber smoothly in your Browning. You may find that as aggressive as you can set a sizer die for shoulder bump, may not make certain pieces fit in your rifle . Definetely chamber all resized brass prior to loading them and taking them hunting. Trust me

Sticking to the listed cartridge length, and don't adjust it for testing as you likely won't see any changes in accuracy that will be caused by the change in length. This is one of the classic moves of a handloader trying to fine tune the result. Load up a bunch of 3 shot groups varying in length and see what the rifle prefers. Trouble is, you can repeat the test and the sweet spot shifts around. It's just small sample testing noise.

Since you're set on the 150gr TTSX, I'd suggest trying at minimum 3 powders to see which one your rifle prefers for accuracy with that bullet. I've used H1000 with good results in a 7mm Rem Mag with 140TTSX, so it can work with the 150gr. I'd also look at H4831sc and IMR 7828ssc, Ramshot Grand, or Winchester StaBALL HD. Since Vihtavuori come in 1KG (2.2lb) bottles as the smallest, you probably won't want to try Viht N560, N165 or N565 (all of which could be excellent choices)

If you want to invest in your knowledge, watch/listen to these :

 
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Denver Steve said:
Good luck with the 150 ttsx and your 1-9.5" twist rate. You are right at the verge of it should be a bit faster twist rate to stabilize better. It should still stabilize it, it might just take a bit longer downrange to fully stabilize(go to sleep) and give you the accuracy you are looking for.

Don't get discouraged if your groups are a bit larger than expected, and shoot it at 200 yards and 300 yards and you might be surprised. A tiny bit of bullet yaw at closer ranges before the bullet fully stabilizes does happen.

But it might fully stabilize perfectly for you and your rifle. Just as long as you know you are right in the edge of where it should almost be a 1-9" twist rate.

I am of no help with load data for 7mm Remington Magnum. Best of luck, let us know how it turns out. But your pick of H1000 is a perfect powder to start with.
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Barnes has the 150 in a 9.5 twist listed in there load data
 
I wish you good luck but reloading has a fairly large cost at the start and I don’t think you will have much luck with your approach , imho you need a few different powders at minimum
 
Hello
I’ve reloaded for 7 mm RM quite a bit.
3 Browning Xbolts
1 Remington 700
2 Tikkas
1 custom
I found 140 g Noslers performed better than Barnes TTSX in all 7 rifles.

But if you like the TTSX, then so be it😁

You can load 300 140 TTSX for approximately $750 all in.
That’s a lot of hunting ammo lol

7 mm RM brass is easy to find but if you want new , there’s 50 pcs of new Nosler on GP for $100.
50 cartridges at a time is good for 7 mm rm as you never know when you may change your mind.
There’s also lots of 1 x fired other as well.

Or lots of mixed.
I’ve used all kinds of different mixed brass and had no issues.



Factory will cost you $85 per box x 15 box’s = $1275 plus shipping + taxes.
 
jcpal said:
Barnes has the 150 in a 9.5 twist listed in there load data
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They sure do. If you look through a bunch of their load data, for many cartridges. They even have bullets listed on their website that won't work with the twist rates they have load data for, with a twist rate barrel they say it won't work for.

I didn't say it wouldn't stabilize, I said it wouldn't be fully stabilized. Run it through a bunch of different online stability calculators and I bet it will be just under a 1.5 SG, but over 1.0.
 
Bigbadbear said:
Hey Gents. New to Gun Nutz and newish to reloading. I just acquired a browning x bolt stainless stalker in 7mm rem mag. 26” barrel with 1: 9.5” twist and I would like to load up some rounds purely for hunting. I’ve done my share of research and have decided on 150gr Barnes TTSX. I’ll be using a combination of Lee and RCBS reloading equipment loaned to me from my father.

I cant justify buying 3 different powders to experiment with so my plan is to choose 1 powder, and play with charge quantity and seating depth until I land on the best result.
My theory is that with this I can get the same but probably better results than factory ammo.

As for powder I’m thinking Hodgdon H1000. I have mainly chosen this powder as a couple of my friends with comparable 7mm rem mags have done powder experimenting and both landed on h1000.

As for brass, Im still on the fence. Some guys swear by Nosler, Hornady, Federal… but from what I read it’s really more important to use one brand for consistency then for accuracy.

Keeping in mind that this is strictly for hunting deer and elk, out to 400yds NOT match shooting and wanting sub .5 MOA accuracy. Let me know what you think. Thanks a lot!
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R-19, R-22, IMR4831 AND A 175 GR. BULLET OF YOUR CHOICE, AS WELL, YOUR H1000 IF YOU CAN FIND IT, WOULD ALSO BE EXCELLENT.
 
I first used Remington Core -loks,150 g I believe, in my first browning Xbolt 7 mm rm SS Stalker.
Excellent on moose.
Pretty much any brand of hunting bullets , loaded with either of the powder you listed, would be quite capable of taking down elk.
I’ve seen a few moose shot at further distances with 140 grain bullets and they did the job , nicely.

Unless the Elk are extra tuff?? 😁
 
“. Since Vihtavuori come in 1KG (2.2lb) bottles as the smallest, you probably won't want to try Viht N560, N165 or N565 (all of which could be excellent choices)”

It’s a small thing; but just thought I’d mention that Vihtavouri does come in 1 pounders now; though I’m not sure when that changed.
Viht was always the high priced powder with spotty availability and the one KG bottles so I resisted it. Things sure have changed now, it’s easier to find than some of my old favorites and these days it costs less. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound so picked up six eight pounders to giver a whirl. Yeah, 8 pounders, don’t know when that size showed up either.😆
 
Sometimes you can choose a specific powder and bullet, and it works out well, but sometimes no matter what powder charge or seating depth you try, you won't do better than 1-1/2 to 2 moa. And Sometimes a factory load will only do 2moa, and Sometimes, you get lucky, and it does 1/2moa.
 
stubblejumper said:
Sometimes you can choose a specific powder and bullet, and it works out well, but sometimes no matter what powder charge or seating depth you try, you won't do better than 1-1/2 to 2 moa. And Sometimes a factory load will only do 2moa, and Sometimes, you get lucky, and it does 1/2moa.
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I bought 500 pack of bullets, first 3 powders didn't give good groups. So I went home and dug around, finding 7 more suitable propellants to test. All of them sucked, I was down to the last powder to try - excellent group! I loaded up 20 for a confirmation test and it still shot well. This was for a 223, so it was a bit more fun to test than a big magnum
 
Budget sells PPU brass at a reasonable price. I loaded some 150 etips for a buddies 7rem mag over mag pro that were exceptional for his A bolt 26" Pretty good brass for the price. Somebody else mentioned Viht. powders and I have read that N160 is the jam for that weight. The PPU brass performed really consistently too. Just food for the little grey cells... Cheers
 
todbartell said:
I bought 500 pack of bullets, first 3 powders didn't give good groups. So I went home and dug around, finding 7 more suitable propellants to test. All of them sucked, I was down to the last powder to try - excellent group! I loaded up 20 for a confirmation test and it still shot well. This was for a 223, so it was a bit more fun to test than a big magnum
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A friend bought a 6.5CM, and a 6.5PRC, both Bergara rifles. One finally shot well on the seventh powder/bullet combination, the other on the eighth powder/bullet combination. And both fouled barrels badly. I am not a Bergar fan after those rifles.
 
I would hit gp or e/e here find partials or guys trying to get rid of wht you need for cheap (reputable guys oc) and buy a few different powders. The longer it takes to get something to work the less cost effective it is plus if you ever want to change bullets you start further ahead with a few different testable powders.
 
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