7mm-08 at 400m help

[WhelanLad]

Considering the price difference between cheap ~140gr bullets and cheap ~160 gr bullets, I'd figure out what bullet you plan to use on game and pick a similar weight for a cheap bullet to practice with.

With the known purpose of long range Elk-sized animals, something like a 160gr Woodleigh sounds like a great choice - its no Long Range Accubond for BC, but its not terrible either (0.486 they list on their webpage, which is slightly better than the 160 partition BC of 0.475 published by Nosler) and with a muzzle velocity of 2950fps Federal says the 160 partition is still going 2040fps at 500yds (which is 457 meters in everywhere but America, Myanmar, and Liberia...)

Similarly, the 140 partition and Woodleigh have nearly identical BCs, and Federal lists a MV of 3150 and a 500yd velocity of 2122. The difference in wind drift @ 10mph is not much, 18.5 vs 18.2 (140gr vs 160gr bullet)

It should be noted the velocities listed above by others exceed these numbers by not insignificant amounts as well, so even if you can ONLY get to the mild numbers listed by Federal from their ammo using the Partition bullet as a stand-in for the woodleigh, you should be good out to 450m with either the 140 or 160. Long story short, pick what weight you're going to shoot at the game, and get practice ammo in a similar weight, because theres no good reason not to IMO. Any difference in recoil between a full house 140gr load and a full house 160gr load won't be significant enough to matter IMO, one is heavier but the other is faster so in the same rifle it wont be a big enough difference to be worth screwing around with multiple bullet weights.

ey Thanks Suther, that makes alot of sense and is good info. appreciate that.

 

[WhelanLad]

i tested the 708 140gr woodleigh load i use at 400m today for drop, it is where it was the other day on some long range rocks, right where the vertical post goes 'fat' , so thats usable for me as a mtn stalker backpack rifle, i rekin i must not have it much higher than 1 inch at 100m as the 250m drop is reasonable- along the lines of back line holds, where as i remember having it close to 2-2.5 inch high at 100 an using backline holds for 300m ?... but no stress, crucial factor here is shooting those measured distances and aligning the scope with this particular rifle, iirc it is only just goin 2700fps for a 140gr, min load range...

i will definatly be sighting this 7 rem around 2 inches high at 100m, so expecting a much flatter 400m poi with the same 140gr woodleigh at first..

if all goes to plan, i should be close to 3100 fps with a 26 inch barrel on the Rem mag ?