7mm-08 Pet Load Data

[grapevinedave]

Just bought a 7mm-08 Ruger American Wild On Camo model because it come with an 8.5 twist barrel. Was wondering if any of you have reloaded for 150-175 grain high BC bullets in a 7mm-08 and if you've had any success doing so. Got all the components and want to try and not waste a lot of them during load development. I have Hornady ELDX 150, 162, and 175's. I have Nosler 150 ABLR's. Nosler 150 Ballistic Tips. Sierra SBT 150, 160, 175's. Have all kinds of powder as well. Any help you can give would be great.  

[PRDATR]

My favorite powders were 4064, RL15 and W760 but that was 20 years ago so there might be some better ones. I loaded 110, gr to 168 bullets in a factory 700 24" barrel which was 1/9.25. 175gr seems a bit much for that little case.

[rugermann]

17 hours ago, grapevinedave said:

Just bought a 7mm-08 Ruger American Wild On Camo model because it come with an 8.5 twist barrel. Was wondering if any of you have reloaded for 150-175 grain high BC bullets in a 7mm-08 and if you've had any success doing so. Got all the components and want to try and not waste a lot of them during load development. I have Hornady ELDX 150, 162, and 175's. I have Nosler 150 ABLR's. Nosler 150 Ballistic Tips. Sierra SBT 150, 160, 175's. Have all kinds of powder as well. Any help you can give would be great.  

I am loading some 7mm-08 for my kids elk hunt.  I have an M77 with a zytel stock which is too big for them.  I will need to find a crappy wood stock to cut down to size.  I am loading a 150 grain hornady (Cant think of the model of slug).  Lyman suggests H380 works the best for accurate loads.  I will work up a load in half grain increments.  I can let you know what mine likes.

[Big or Bust]

Reloader 17 is a great 7-08 powder, as is H4350 and most others in that burn rate. 

For heavies in a 7-08, I like the 168 Berger VLD. Great bullet down to 1600 or so impact speeds and penetrates well. Run those numbers at 2,650 MV. 

[grapevinedave]

4 minutes ago, Big or Bust said:

Reloader 17 is a great 7-08 powder, as is H4350 and most others in that burn rate. 

For heavies in a 7-08, I like the 168 Berger VLD. Great bullet down to 1600 or so impact speeds and penetrates well. Run those numbers at 2,650 MV. 

Very cool. I have both of those powders and that was what I was hoping for. 2600-2700 with 160's and 2500 or a little better with 175's. I think it's attainable but will have to load up some and see how it goes. 

[Couesdeer]

I am an unabashed 7-08 slut.  I love the chambering as it is so easy to load and shoot.

That said, I will second the Re17 with heavy bullets.  I load for 5 different 7-08s and 162 eldx over Re 17 is pure magic. 

In a 26" heavy barreled rifle, I get 2625 with the 162s and a moderate charge of 17.  Accuracy was so good, I stopped there.  If velocity is the goal, I could bump it up a couple of grains and still be within published safe loads. 

 

 

[IA Born]

Both of my kids have 7mm-08s and both rifles have 4-5 loads each that are under 1-inch.  I only load Barnes, specifically the 140gr TTSX, but both are at ~2700fps MV.  Loads include RL15, IMR 4064 (son's), IMR 4895 (daughter's) and H380 (both).  Hunting loads are with IMR 4064 (son's) with 0.48" group and IMR 4895 (daughter's) with a 0.58" group.  My daughter's 7-08 also shoots Hornady 139gr GMX factory loads sub 1-inch.

That doesn't help much with your heavy bullets, but its another perspective.

[grapevinedave]

3 minutes ago, IA Born said:

Both of my kids have 7mm-08s and both rifles have 4-5 loads each that are under 1-inch.  I only load Barnes, specifically the 140gr TTSX, but both are at ~2700fps MV.  Loads include RL15, IMR 4064 (son's), IMR 4895 (daughter's) and H380 (both).  Hunting loads are with IMR 4064 (son's) with 0.48" group and IMR 4895 (daughter's) with a 0.58" group.  My daughter's 7-08 also shoots Hornady 139gr GMX factory loads sub 1-inch.

That doesn't help much with your heavy bullets, but its another perspective.

Thanks for the info. The only 140's I have are Sierra SBT's and Nosler Ballistic Tips. Really want to see how the heavier bullets will stabilize out of this rifle with the 1:8.5 twist rate. I have those powders except the H380. 

[PRDATR]

1 hour ago, grapevinedave said:

Thanks for the info. The only 140's I have are Sierra SBT's and Nosler Ballistic Tips. Really want to see how the heavier bullets will stabilize out of this rifle with the 1:8.5 twist rate. I have those powders except the H380. 

If anything I would think you would have stability concerns with lighter bullets like 120's. I never had any problems with 1:9.25 except for some 140gr PMC bullets that I couldn't get to group under 1 1/2" at 100 yards. I later loaded some into my 7 Mag to use for practice and low and behold they grouped well under MOA. I guessed they just needed to be pushed faster. I eventually settled on Sierra 168gr HPBTM which would go 1 1/2" @ 500 Meters at around 2650fps.

[Big or Bust]

For 120-140 grain bullets far and away the best powder is Ramshot Big Game for both velocity and accuracy IME. Safely, with 22" barrels in multiple rifles including notoriously slow Tikka barrels, 140's can get 2900-2950 at the upper node with good brass life and 120's can go 3100+....

 

[1uglydude]

My kids' Tikka youth (20" barrel) loves the 145gr LRX with 40.7 grains of Varget.  Speed is 2740fps. Shoots 3/4 groups at 200 yards.  Boy shot a coues buck at 475 and daughter shot an antelope at 400...also several pigs at 200ish yards. 

I had a Ruger American youth model that liked the 150gr LRAB.  37.5 grains of Varget.  Only like 2550 fps, but shot tiny tiny groups.  I shot a mule deer with that rifle and load at 420 yards. Kids killed coues at 350 and 375. Daughter shot her sheep at 175.  I moved away from the bullet because I didn't like how fragile it is...that being said, it killed everything it touched.

[1uglydude]

I would add that I have found the limitation with using heavier bullets in 7mm08 is that they don't leave much room for the powders in the ideal burn rate (4350 burn rate).  I love RL16 in 7mm08, but I run out of case room before I even come close to max loads.  Same goes for Big Game. 

[Big or Bust]

Lots of options these days for more than the 2.80" or similar constraints.   

[grapevinedave]

After breaking the gun in last weekend (7mm08 Ruger American Wild On Camo Model 1:8.5 twist barrel) with 30 shots of some medium loads with 150 and 175 grain bullets, hardly any copper in the barrel after getting home and cleaning the gun. Went out this morning to do a Scott Satterlee ladder test over the chrono with 150gr ELDX and 175gr ELDX's. Surprising numbers and glad I followed some data from others about really slow numbers because of listed charges in books. I truly understand that all reloading books are there to keep you safe and every gun behaves differently. I used the data from the Berger and Speer reloading book and info online as they were the only ones that posted charges for H4350 with those bullet weights which is what I chose to use. The interesting thing about Bergers book is it doesn't tell you type of brass or primer they use which brass capacity and primer charge can vary pressure greatly. Berger didn't use H4350 as a powder for their 180 VLD only 168's and the max in their book for that was 42.4 grains As you will see, very light load in my gun. Speers was 44.0 grains max for a 175 grain bullet. So I made my best assessment and proceeded to load. I'm using RP brass, Fed 210 primers and bullet seating depth of 2.875 because my magazine measures 2.885. For those that don't know RP brass has a bit more capacity than Hornady or Lapua, so a little more powder can be used and seating the bullet farther out than factory spec 2.800 allows for a little more powder. Figured it was a good place to start.  I posted my charts for you to look at as I found it pretty promising with the both bullets. Just a note on both loads, neither one showed any signs of pressure or heavy bolt lift from the max powder charges. Comfortable shooting all the way through the test. I'm really hoping the 175's group out of this gun. If it will, this will make it a 900 yard gun. Nice to know a coyote might fall if seen at that range. Will see how things turn out when I start shooting groups and messing with seating depth. 

7mm08 150 ElDX Ladder.xlsx

7mm08 Ladder.xlsx