Savage Lightweight Hunter in 7mm-08 loads suggestion ?

BlackHorn

BlackHorn

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I just bought a Savage 11 Lightweight Hunter in 7mm-08 .
Somebody got one and can suggest some loads and bullets for it ?
Main use will be Whitetail deer and possibly moose on short to mid range.
Any suggestions for that 20'' barrel are welcomed .
 
SuperCub said:
139gr Hornady or 120gr Nosler BTs are a good start for deer.

Any heavy C&C or Partition, TSX for moose.
Click to expand...

120 BT will certainly have a try as they are quite good in my friend's rifle.
139 Hornady Interbond were a mess.

Will have a try with SST if i can find some. Same for TSX or TTSX ,

Thanks !
 
I was referring to the 139gr Interlocks.

I have not tried them, but SSTs have a reputation for being frangible. I wouldn't use them on moose.
 
For all around hunting with 7mm-08 I use 150gr cup and core bullets (better ones are Rem CL and Hor IL) or 139-140gr class mono metal bullets.
Sorry Nosler 140gr partition....they loose their front core every time and penetrate poorly in my experience even with 7mm-08 speeds.
Also the best propelant for those weights IMHO is H414 powder for good speed and accuracy as well.
 
SuperCub said:
I was referring to the 139gr Interlocks.

I have not tried them, but SSTs have a reputation for being frangible. I wouldn't use them on moose.
Click to expand...

I was thinking of SST for deer.
Weight retention is certainly advisable on moose and Interlock should be superior to the SST in that area.
TSX even more.
 
gunrunner8 said:
For all around hunting with 7mm-08 I use 150gr cup and core bullets (better ones are Rem CL and Hor IL) or 139-140gr class mono metal bullets.
Sorry Nosler 140gr partition....they loose their front core every time and penetrate poorly in my experience even with 7mm-08 speeds.
Also the best propelant for those weights IMHO is H414 powder for good speed and accuracy as well.
Click to expand...

The idea of an all around bullet is not bad. I have some 150BT that i could try. Just don't want to lose too much speed.
Unfortunately , i don't have h414 on hand for now.

Thanks for the advice.
 
Try the 145 speer bt ahead of H414 or W760. You could probably substitute one of the the 4350's with similar results, I was skeptical but then very pleasantly impressed by the performance. Speer do not have any interlocking ring but it appears the jacket is heavier(harder) than similar weighted bullets and results were good with these the 85 6mm offering and 100 gr 257 offering. Probably would not be my choice for large heavy boned animals unless you can avoid bones

Neilm
 
Factory twist rates in 7-08 really like 140gr projectiles and speeds in the 2750-2850 ft/sec range.For an all round bullet use a bonded/partition/mono.

H4350, W760 , H414 etc......
 
I have a lot of Varget and IMR4350 to begin with.
Will have to put H414 and 760 on my buying list .

Thanks a lot !
 
120gr NBT over H4895 should crown 3000 fps in a 20" pipe. Work up to 44.5grs - wife's cousin whacked a nice bull moose with that bullet a few years back, although his was loaded down to 2500 fps MV (Hodgdon.com youth load)
 
4 of us are all shooting 120 Barnes ttsx over 43.5-44.5grains of Varget. Some are using magnum primers but I have a longer barrels am using a standard match primers. I'm getting 2970 fps and excellent accuracy. We have all shot deer and elk with them.
 
Time for a range report .

Sorry if i don't give all specific datas , i'm far from home now.

My first attempt was unsuccessfull . 120 Nosler BT load that worked ok in my friend rifle proved to be a disaster in mine. Other loads were tried but nothing interesting. Bad components or mismatched in cause. My bipod teared the swivel stud from the stock and i didn't brought a front rest at that moment. Real bad session. 140 TSX group at 2'' was my best that day.



My second session with Speer 130 BTSP and Varget went better with just over MOA group.

Then , joy came in when i shot 140 Nosler BT with 45,5 gr of IMR 4350. R-P case and WLR primers were used to obtain that nice group measuring a little less than .6 MOA . 2700 f/s from the tiny 20'' barrel is satisfying too.

I finally got a nice usable load for the next deer season.

The Savage Lightweight Hunter proved it can shoot and will have more of my attention in the next months.

Thanks to all for your great help .
 
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