7mm-08 loads...lengthy question
Guys, I recently purchased a custom made 7mm-08 at an estate auction. It was made from a Mauser action, douglas barrel, and I believe a timney trigger. Not sure on the trigger but it breaks cleanly at 2 lbs every time. This will be my first experience ever with a Mauser built gun, and I am looking for some loading info. I was told by some friends that these rifles tend to like a longer COAL than standard, and have a overall length gage and case from Midway on the way. The two bullets that I will be primarily loading will be Hornady 139 grain SST, and Sierra 140 grain SBT. Powders I currently have at home for this are IMR 4064, IMR 4350, and H335. I am not against trying different ones either, so don't be shy if you have a favorite load with a different powder. I would appreciate all information about loads, 7mm-08 caliber feedback, etc. Thanks in advance, Mark
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Mark,
Good action, great round. You should be in for a lot of fun. Bullet and powders sound right for some good combinations. I assume the powder supply means that this isn't your first excursion into the land of reloading, yes? What do you have for manuals? Same old, same old:
start where the book says to start and work your way up slowly. What most of us would suggest as "best loads" were arrived at by finding out what our rifle liked best. You'll have to find out the same for yours. If you don't already have at least 2 good, recent, manuals; get them and read cover to cover before working with what someone says worked in their gun. It's always interesting to know what has worked for other folks, but there a no shortcuts.
Good luck.0 -
Mark Leonard,
I wanted to write a little last night but I was too tired by the time I got home from work. So here are a couple of thoughts.
"I was told by some friends that these rifles tend to like a longer COAL than standard, and have a overall length gage and case from Midway on the way."
The OAL or COAL are controlled by the length of the chamber and the reamer selected to cut the chamber. The brand of rifle has very little to do with that. The magazine length is the other control feature which serves as a limiter to how far we can seat bullets out when we're trying to engage the lands.
Mausers in there military guise had some longer throats because of the bullet designs being used at the time. Your decision to get some tools to measure the chamber and throat is a good one and will yield some useful information while you develop loads and select bullets.
This is a good brief over view of some developed loads:
http://www.6mmbr.com/7mm284.html#7mm08
Powder selection can run a good range because of case capacity vs usable bullet weights when magazine fed. H-335 is a tad too fast for my liking but IMR-4064 gets good results from most shooters. I prefer IMR-4895 for the mid-range bullets in moderate length barrels with bullets seated to magazine length. You might look into Re-17 a great alternative to the standard selection of powders. I also get good results from V V N-550 with a slightly compressed load under Nosler Partitions.
Enjoy the new rifle and the process!
Best.0 -
Rob, You are correct in that this is not my first excursion into reloading. I reload several other calibers, and have the newer Sierra and Nosler manuals, and am considering buying the Hornady one as well. I agree that much of the fun is finding the load the gun likes, because the main reason I reload is increased accuracy. I have a strong loyalty to Sierra bullets because that is what I was weaned on by my father, and they don't perform half bad either. IMR 4064 was the main powder I was going to try, partially because it works very well in some other guns, and in part because I just bought an 8lb container of it[:D]. Thanks for the good info guys, Mark 0 -
When I got my 7mm-08 about 15 years ago I started with powders I had on hand . The first powder I tried was W-760 and that is also where I stopped looking . I have a hunting load that consists of the Speer 145Gr. SPBT over 47 Gr. of W-760 which shoots sub MOA out of my 20" Rem. Mod. 7 . This load flattens Deer like lightening and is downright pleasant to shoot ! That being said , at the time I hadn't started using IMR-4064 yet but I'm sure that it will work just fine . IMO none of the cartridges based on the .308 case are fussy about components used in them . You should have all the magazine length you can use and come up with some good loads ! Enjoy !! 0 -
Got my overall length gauge in today. It truly is amazing what this thing can show you. With the Hornady 139 gr SST it touched the rifling at 2.908 inches, and with the sierra it was 2.797. I am going to try the SST's at 2.90", and the sierra's at 2.790. I am pretty sure I did it correctly, because the bullet stayed in the rifle until I gently tapped the bottom of the stock on my carpeted floor. If any one has better suggestions please let me know. Thanks, mark 0 -
I have a Winchester Clasic Featherweight in 7mm08 that has become my favorite deer rifle.
Overall lenth seems to be critical to group size with this rifle and I've come up with 2.780 being best in mine with Sierra 140g pro hunter bullets. I've tried the Hornady SSTs but this rifle must not like them.
I started out with IMR 4064, but ended up with Varget as the best combination with the Sierra bullet. 41.2 grains acording to my log is the ticket. This load shoots little tiny groups in my rifle.0
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