Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles H870 in the 7MM Remington Magnum

I am bored and want to play around with the seven. I have been using IMR 4350 but results were not that great. Then I realized I was loading the bullets to the length listed in the manual. Today I will seat them out to kiss the rifling and see if that helps. I might as well try a different powder to while I'm at it right? Have any of you guys tried H870? What did you think of it?
How about Accurate Arms 2700. I have eight pounds of that?
GWN

I have been using H-870 for my Mdl 700 Rem Mag for some time now. Using Remington brass, Federal 215 large rifle magnum primers and 78 gr. H-870 I have been getting a chronoed 2890 fps with Nosler Parttions and 2920 fps with Speer Grand Slams, both with excellent accuracy. Seeing Hodgdon has discontinued H-870 I am going to experiment with H-1000 and Ramshot Magnum.

I have used 79 grains of H-870 and the 160 grain nosler partion in W-W cases with the Fed 215 primer for to take Moose, mulies and white tails. Goats, bears ect for thirty years and have great success with it. accurate in my gun but has a huskey recoil to it and it is fairly dirty. One of the few powders that will actually fill a 7 Mag case to over 90 % density. I picked up a lifetime supply for 29.95 each for two 8 lb kegs at Kesslerings gun shop
in Wash. St. I think around 1980.

I haved used up to 80.5 GR of H-870 in WW brass and Fed-215 primers with Nosler 160 part. in 7mm Rem.The brass was once fired and sized to .001 at the sholder.In this rifle we used .025 jump to the lands.In a 24" barrel it cronographed @ 3075-3090 in 0 degrees temp.Just don't try to compress it too much -watch the cronograph while shooting.
The Hodgon 870 did vary between lots.I have used 80 GR with the old 175 partition [same componets]. It has shot well in all the guns I've loaded it in.

I didn't realize it has been discontinued. It figures because my group size was cut in half today. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />
GWN

I have had good results with RL 19 with light bullets...especially the discontinued 100 X bullet (which was a humdinger) and 120 BT's and excellent results with 7828 with 150 Nosler BT's and 175 grainers from Barnes and Remington. IMR4831 works well with 115 Speers I have a Sendaro that is a bit touchy but with the correctly assembled above combinations shoots from 0.5-0.9 groups.

I have also tried H4831/RL22/H1000/H870/IMR4350 with results that were not as good as the above. (1.0-2.0 MOA) This particular rifle hasn't liked 160-162 grain bullets of any stripe nor the 140 grain weight. Go figure.

I have 6 preferred loads and no doubt could find more but from 100X's at 3700ft/sec and 0.8" groups to 175X's(2780) and 0.75" groups I figure it's time to go hunting.

Mine seemed to like 160 Sierras and then after reading about the lighter bullets I wanted to try them.
I am going back to the 160's!
GWN

H870 in several 7mm Rem mags has had the highest velocity
and best accuracy, with 160 Grain bullets Speer, Nosler & Sierra.
With other powders in the 7mm Rem mag my velocity was dissapointing. So I stuck with the H870, lots of it still out there on store shelves.

Just as a side note , this is the only cartridge, powder and bullet combination that I could load with out a scale, if I dip the W-W cases into my keg of H-870 and brush off the powder level with the top of the case they hold exactly 79.5 grains before tapping to settle the contents. ( 160 grain partition, W-W cases)

I think you chose a good bullet but your method of weighing powder scares me a little bit.
GWN

GWN - I burned up a bunch of AA2700 in various cartridges over several years. It never produced the best accuracy or velocity in any application tried. Plus, I think it is too fast for any but the lightest bullets in the 7mm RM. Go for Ramshot Magnum. It's cleaner than H870 by a long shot and has worked well for me in .264 and .270 Wby load development for friends. I got to 65.0 gr H4831 with 160 Partitions in my Rem 700 7mm Mag and have never changed. Just a shade under 3000 fps and accurate. I never needed a better load. Ward

GWN.

Please notice that I said that I could, not that I do. On the other hand I have checked this dozens of times and it never varies more than 1/2 grain Max. Also this is with the lot # that I happen to have and 79 grains of H-870 has never show the slightest signs of high pressure for me.

I agree that this method sounds risky.. but I don't think you can get enough H-870 into a 7mm Mag case to cause any damage with a 150gr bullet (don't know about other bullets!).

You can use a long drop tube, and vibrate the hell out of a case with an electric shaver and you still can't get in trouble.

I have perssonally done this, but I don't have my loading notes handy so I can't say the amount of powde I got in a case, but 80gr plus/minus about .3gr is what I recall. There was little variation among cases in the powder measured (volumetrically). I think I was using the very thick RWS cases, which of course have a lower volume than some.

I don't argue that this is the best way to load, but it ain't like loading with a faster powder! I think of H-870 as having the burning rate of charcoal briquettes... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

My only problem with H-870 was a hard-to-remove fouling after a LOT of shots. An abrasive cleaner fixed that.

John

I think either our brass or our scales are vastly different. My load of 79 grs does not even come to the bottom of the case neck. Anyhow I went to the range today and the loads with Sierra 150's/IMR 4350 were almost twice as big as the H870 loads.
The Accurate Arms 2700 works well in my 220 Swift with 60 gr Hornady bullets and so far its looking pretty good in my sons 270 with 130 gr Hornady bullets. However it stinks in my 7 Mag with 150's.
I am on the lookout for more H870. There is only one load (79)
which simplifies things for me and it is accurate and high velocity. Whats not to love? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Great White North

H870 is all i've ever used in my 7 RM. Load both 160 and 175gr bullets. I leveled off at 77 grains to conserve powder, don't see any need to push them over 3000 fps.
Had to get a long drop tube to get 78.5grs in, Federal, Hornady and Win cases (sorted by brand and lot #'s), WMR primers, Speer bullets.
Got 5 pounds to last me for ever, wish I had more. If I run out I'll try 8700.
Bill

I'll be trying IMR-7828 later this fall in a friend's 7mm RM -- others have said it does very well. Another powder I'd like to try is Ramshot Magnum....

For years I've used IMR 7828 in both my 7 RM and in my 7 Mashburn Super. It may be worth a try for you.

Mark D

I switched to H1000 a year ago and have been pleased with the change. H4831 shoots well, but I get another 100 fps (3000 fps) with H1000 with similar accuracy. For some reason my rifle likes H1000 and 160 grain Speer Mag Tips. Unfortunatly, I'm not near my reloading data to give you the amount of powder, but it doesn't exceed published data.

I appreciate your post, Mark D, and would appreciate any further comments you have to offer. IMR-7828 almost seems like an under-appreciated powder in this round, which seems odd to me when I've read good reports suggesting it's a natural....

41Keith-I used it mostly with the 175's although I did in a fair amount of game also with the 150's and the 160's in the 7 RM.

Now in the 7 Mashburn Super I've used it with 140's to the 175's and found it to work quite well.

On a side note using R25 and the 175's I've gotten very good accuracy and speed in my Mashburn.

Mark D