Disappointing Load Results 7mm-08

[singleshot]

My daughter shoots 39 grains of aa2520 with 139 grain hornady interlocks out of her NEF . Nothing fancy but proven effective on deer and elk, javelinas, and a couple of coyotes. This load shoots consistent " minute of bottled water".

[rossislider]

I shoot the Bergers out of of a t3. Try backing the Bergers off the lands and jumping them in. My 270wsm like the bullet touching the lands, however my brothers 300wsm in the t3 likes the bullets jumped. Once you find what length your gun likes in those Bergers, you'll touch em all. It's a tedious process, but so worth it!

 

Not sure what you mean by jumping them in?

[PRDATR]

I shoot the Bergers out of of a t3. Try backing the Bergers off the lands and jumping them in. My 270wsm like the bullet touching the lands, however my brothers 300wsm in the t3 likes the bullets jumped. Once you find what length your gun likes in those Bergers, you'll touch em all. It's a tedious process, but so worth it!

 

Not sure what you mean by jumping them in?

 

That just means loading them so they are not touching the lands. What is the twist on the T3? Are you using a Chronograph? Don't be afraid to use 4064 that round loves it. I had good results for accuracy using W760 and 168gr HPBT Sierra Match bullets. For Elk I prefer something with more punch.

[rossislider]

I shoot the Bergers out of of a t3. Try backing the Bergers off the lands and jumping them in. My 270wsm like the bullet touching the lands, however my brothers 300wsm in the t3 likes the bullets jumped. Once you find what length your gun likes in those Bergers, you'll touch em all. It's a tedious process, but so worth it!

 

Not sure what you mean by jumping them in?

 

That just means loading them so they are not touching the lands. What is the twist on the T3? Are you using a Chronograph? Don't be afraid to use 4064 that round loves it. I had good results for accuracy using W760 and 168gr HPBT Sierra Match bullets. For Elk I prefer something with more punch.

 

The twist of the T3 is 9.5". I am using a chronograph but haven't checked the speeds yet. I usually wait on that till I find a load that is shooting well.

 

Thanks

[Coach]

I don't have a 7MM/08... BUT... I have been handloading for a lot of different guns over the years. 25-06, 270 Win, .270 WSM, .300 WSM and .300 Wby, for me - my friend adds a 7mm Rem to the mix. There has been one powder that has stood out over anything else we've tried and that is IMR 4350. I've gotten rid of everything else and have this powder in my quarter bore to the big magnums.

 

IMR4350 combined with Nosler Ballistic Tips & Accubond, and CT Silvertips (all very similar bullets) with Winchester brass and WLRM primers (don't ask me why, they just work) seem to produce the best accuracy. Some guns like them touching the lands so your COAL is as long as you can get and still have them fit in the magazine. I can't even begin to list all the tweaking of powder, primer and bullets I've tried in various guns over the years. For some reason they all perform best with the exact same formula - That tells me that it's a very good all-around recipe.

 

I know it's expensive to go buy a pound of new powder and box of bullets, but without fail this combo of powder, priimer brass and bullet has been the best I've seen so far in the widest ranges of guns and calibers.

[rossislider]

I don't have a 7MM/08... BUT... I have been handloading for a lot of different guns over the years. 25-06, 270 Win, .270 WSM, .300 WSM and .300 Wby, for me - my friend adds a 7mm Rem to the mix. There has been one powder that has stood out over anything else we've tried and that is IMR 4350. I've gotten rid of everything else hand have this powder in my quarter bore to the big magnums.

 

IMR4350 combined with Nosler Ballistic Tips & Accubond, and CT Silvertips (all very similar bullets) with Winchester brass and primers (don't ask my why, they just work) seem to produce the best accuracy. Some guns like them touching the lands so your COAL is as long as you can get and still have them fit in the magazine. I can't even begin to list all the tweaking of powder, primer and bullets I've tried in various guns over the years. For some reason they all perform best with the exact same formula - That tells me that it's a very good all-around recipe.

 

I know it's expensive to go buy a pound of new powder and box of bullets, but without fail this combo of powder, priimer brass and bullet has been the best I've seen so far in the widest ranges of guns and calibers.

 

Thanks, I think I am going to give the 4350 a try with some Nosler Silvertips. My 243 shoots outstanding groups with RE15 so I can just save that powder for that gun. I appreciate the suggestion.

[PRDATR]

4350 is way too slow, you can't get enough of it in the case and velocity will suffer. If you have a 1 in 9 1/2 that is suprising as 1 in 9 1/4 is the usual twist. I always used CCI Bench Rest primers.

 

http://www.accurates...dge-guides/7mm/

 

http://www.imrpowder.../burn-rate.html

[rossislider]

4350 is way too slow, you can't get enough of it in the case and velocity will suffer. If you have a 1 in 9 1/2 that is suprising as 1 in 9 1/4 is the usual twist. I always used CCI Bench Rest primers.

 

http://www.accurates...dge-guides/7mm/

 

http://www.imrpowder.../burn-rate.html

 

Attached are the twist rate specs for the rifle. See 7mm-08.

LiteStainless-1.pdf

[PRDATR]

Is the Berger bullet longer than a bullet by say Nosler? If so you probably want to use a powder where it can be pushed faster with that slower twist so it stabilizes better.

With a production rifle I would be satisfied with MOA.

[rcdinaz]

4350 is a relatively fast powder nothing like any of the magnum powders. I started using CCI primers last year and prefer them o er federal now also.

 

As for the load work it looks like you know what you are doing so I would focus on a few things.

 

How close can you get to the lands? Please don't attempt to jam the bullet no mfg recommends this for a hunting bullet and my real world experience has taught me this is a bad idea

 

Look up mfg powder recommendations on the bullet mfg charts.

 

Download the burn rate chart from IMR. Pick a powder that is higher and lower; a few up/down the scale and listed in your load data. Look up the load data and avoid any compressed or under loaded powders. If a buddy has something that is on hand try it. Load for the similar MV after testing and see if Powder burn rate has any affect.

 

A lot of work! Most of the time my guns get settled on a certain COAL so all of the powder testing is not necessary. 4350 and RL15 look like the go to powders for most which you already know. It looks like H414 had a bit higher MV on most of the mfg load data I looked at.

 

While you are cursing the whole process remember once you figure it out you can be done forever! At least with that gun!

 

[Coach]

4350 is way too slow, you can't get enough of it in the case and velocity will suffer. If you have a 1 in 9 1/2 that is suprising as 1 in 9 1/4 is the usual twist. I always used CCI Bench Rest primers.

 

http://www.accurates...dge-guides/7mm/

 

http://www.imrpowder.../burn-rate.html

 

With all due respect, and you obviously know your stuff - When I reload - it is for one thing and one thing only. That is accuracy. I know every rifle has a sweet spot, when the perfect balance between burn rate, meets the harmonics of the barrel - and everything from primer to brass to powder and bullet weight all come into play.

 

I have to disagree that 4350 is "way too slow". While I agree it's not a super fast burning powder, it is very stable and provides consistency. From what I've seen, consistency and accuracy go hand in hand.

 

Based on 20 years of reloading, I would bet you would be hard pressed to find a single powder that is more consistently accurate from the 25-06/270 Win platform up through the .300 Magnums than IMR 4350.

 

I've never seen 4350 flatten primers at medium loads, or produce barrel whip at higher loads like I have in the other powders I've tried.

 

Again, not trying to be argumentative, I just don't think you can discount IMR 4350 in just about any finicky rifle without trying it out.

[AxisWorks LLC]

I ran across a problem with my .300 WSM where the rifle liked the bullets @ .005 off the lands. Problem was the only bullet I could get to do this and feed into the magazine was Nosler Partition Protecter Points. You might try these, the bullet geometry pushes the ojive further forward alowing you to get it to the lands with a shorter COL and allowing it to feed into the mag.

 

Just a suggestion.

Speedy.

[PRDATR]

4350 is way too slow, you can't get enough of it in the case and velocity will suffer. If you have a 1 in 9 1/2 that is suprising as 1 in 9 1/4 is the usual twist. I always used CCI Bench Rest primers.

 

http://www.accurates...dge-guides/7mm/

 

http://www.imrpowder.../burn-rate.html

 

With all due respect, and you obviously know your stuff - When I reload - it is for one thing and one thing only. That is accuracy. I know every rifle has a sweet spot, when the perfect balance between burn rate, meets the harmonics of the barrel - and everything from primer to brass to powder and bullet weight all come into play.

 

I have to disagree that 4350 is "way too slow". While I agree it's not a super fast burning powder, it is very stable and provides consistency. From what I've seen, consistency and accuracy go hand in hand.

 

Based on 20 years of reloading, I would bet you would be hard pressed to find a single powder that is more consistently accurate from the 25-06/270 Win platform up through the .300 Magnums than IMR 4350.

 

I've never seen 4350 flatten primers at medium loads, or produce barrel whip at higher loads like I have in the other powders I've tried.

 

Again, not trying to be argumentative, I just don't think you can discount IMR 4350 in just about any finicky rifle without trying it out.

 

No problem. I did some web surfing and did find it being used by one fellow. The slowest powder I used was 760 (H414) and that filled the case to the bottom of the mouth and was a compressed load so it stands to reason that 4350 being slower will not give optimum velocity, although it being a very consistent powder accuracy could by all means improve.

Then again not every production rifle is capable of sub-moa. I tend to be a bit methodical when it comes to reloading and start out with a new batch of brass then chamfer case mouths and uniform primer pockets and clean flash holes and confirm all cases are the same length before I weigh/sort cases.

I tend to pick tried and true powders after I decide on a bullet then chrono each load and note the results.

[DCS]

I've been reloading since 1969,and learned something new a couple of years ago.Most of my loads would shoot pretty good,but I had a couple of rifles that didn't like anything.Midway had a sale on the rubber doughnuts that slide down the barrel.They are made by Sims laboratories,and you can buy them for 15.00 or less.I tried one on each of those rifles,and both of them shot groups of an inch or less.It was almost imbarrasing,to think of all the powder I had shot up over the years trying to work up loads.Just an idea.

[PRDATR]

I have never used on but Jackie Bushman seems to have one on all of his rifles.