In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
7mm08
timhill100
Member Posts: 1,133 ✭✭
whats a 7mm08? Are they better than just a normal 7mm?
Comments
thanks in advance
You have a great cartridge, in a really great little rifle, that will be real fast handling. Due to the short barrel, you will not be able to get all the 7mm-08 is capable of delivering, but it will still work just fine.
I personally would use a 140 grain Nosler Ballistict Tip, or Accubond, and around 44-46 grains of Winchester 790, or Hodgdons 414 powder. I wouldn't suggest a 120 grain bullet, unless it is a Barnes TSX, as it might not work all that great, if you hit heavy bone on the way in.
Here is a web site for Hodgdon/Winchester/IMR powders and loading you can browse also.
http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp
Best
"...i got the books but was hoping for a short cut."
Every rifle is unique so assuming another shooter's load will be up to your requirements is often incorrect.
Sierra and Speer both have manuals which select a particular load for it's accuracy. So does Vihta Vuori or at least they did with their online resource.
The cartridge is gaining more followers every day, more so as deer season approaches. It's been a proven performer so long as the proper bullet selection and placement is accomplished.
I usually suggest the 140 gr. Nosler Partition or the 145 gr. Speer SP for short range deer hunting. Either is easy to develop a load for and both will do the job on the deer.
Powders of choice for the short barrel rifles are:
IMR-3031
V V N-140
AA-2495
Be aware of muzzle flash early and late in the day as well as the increase in noise from these short barrels.
Good Luck with your hunt!
Best.
That would certainly be a conveninet tree stand gun. It could also be a pretty good long range gun if you wanted to try that as well. A longer barrel would be helpful in that arena, but the round has some really high BC bullets that can make it work well enough to go a long ways out.
So, since you have an 18 1/2" barrel, my opinion is you should use faster powders such as H4895 (41), VV-N135 (39), VV-N140 (41), Ramshot Tac (39), Win 748, (38) and AA2520 (40). I listed each of those powders with a safe start place using 140 gr. bullets. You would need to work up. The only one of those that's a little on the slow side for your barrel is the VV-N140. If it doesn't give you a great big flash it's a good choice.
The best thing to do is run a ladder with a few of the powders I've mentioned. My personal choice here would be the H4895 followed by the Ramshot Tac. But anyhow, take each powder and load up 7-8 bullets in increasing increments of 1/2 gr. powder each. When you start to see the loads walk up your target and then three, sometimes four, all kind of sit in one place, that's the best load with that powder. By loading up seven or eight you will actually go above max in the book sometimes. YOU CAN VERY WELL EXPECT TO PULL A CASE OR TWO IN EACH POWDER CHOICE. So don't worry about that. Just find what's right and use the bullets you pulled for practice when you re-load them in the powder of your choice.
BTW, the groups you will get are what's called finding the 'natural flex' of your barrel. The harmonics of the charge bring it to that. The barrel will show a given stiffness which will take a good amount more of powder to overcome. That's when you really see erratic groups. You also will be overpressure by that time. So, stick with the lower or mid load from those groups.
Also, I have no problem using 120's, 115's or even 100 gr. bullets when shooting deer. At the speeds your short barrel can push the lighter bullets they will still kill an animal handily. It comes down mostly to picking your shot anyway. You save more meat too by picking your shot and not destroying a whole quarter. But, you maybe already knew that. I've killed a lot of deer with 85 and 100 gr. bullets.
-good luck
i like reloading as well, reason for short cut is deer season is only a few months away, no time for the whole 9 yards here, if i can just get a good deer load for this season is all im after, ill start from scratch in the spring
Federal Premium with either a Barnes TSX bullet, or 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. That will be far safer, and give you some brass to play with, untill you can seriously decide to reload. Being that rifles in general are their own individual, yjis is the safest approach to use.
If you have time enough to explain to us, as to why you don't have time to work up a load, then you ultimately do have the time.
Best
Best
In addition to the Federal suggestion, I've been testing some of the Hornady Super Performance ammunition and find that it would be a vast improvement over a fast work up handload.
Most of us who handload exclusively often feel that this is the only real solution. But a couple of the major ammunition manufacturers are making some great inroads into accurate factory ammunition. Hornady has been leading this effort for quite a while now and has some pretty good alternatives for instances such as yours.
http://www.hornady.com/store/7mm-08-Rem-139-gr-GMX-Superformance/
http://www.hornady.com/store/7mm-08-Rem-139-gr-SST-superformance/
Good Luck with the hunt!
Best.
Good luck with your hunt.