Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7-08 Speed

I have a new 7-08, 22.5" barrel, .8" groups and same point of impact with both 139g Hornady Interlock Flat Bases and 140g Accubonds. Load is 48.0 grains of H4350, CCI 200 primers, Rem cases, .050" jump. I'm pretty excited about these results. My disappointment came from the Chronograph. Surprise! I was hoping for 2,850. 2,760 is reality. I know that 90 fps will mean nothing out to 300 which is farther than I am ever likely to shoot. However, if I wanted to chase to that 2,850 mark ~

- add more H4350? (48.0g is already a little compressed)
- switch powders? Which Powder?

What are your suggestions?

Thanks,

Jeff

Not shot that powder, what I DID shoot routinely was:

45gr/Varget OR IMR4064. One grain over book max at the time IIRC. SAFE in MY guns. IT shot 2850 w/139s in a 20" M70 Carbine, 2900-2960 in two 700s that were chopped to 21" - using Partial sized RP brass.

I'd drop to 42 grains working up slowly in your rifle to say 43-44, and you should see 2800-2900. UNLESS your chamber and barrel for some reason is on the slow side.

That said, 2760 will do ALOT OF Killing, remember, NO animal ever clocked a bullet before impact to decide if it was going to die.

Hope that helps.

I'd give Ramshot Big Game a try.

1flier

Hunt and shoot until the H4350 and Hornadys run out. Then go buy more H4350 and Hornadys and go hunt and shoot some more.

Repeat.

Don't let 90 fps blow your mind if you are getting the accuracy you want. I think you are right in the ball park for those 139's and you should expect good things on game. IMO, easing up on the gas peddle is a good thing for cup and core bullets.

Buy some WW760 (H414) or IMR4320, and you can reach that velocity with ease. Your accuracy won't suffer either, IME.

I will add that I'm quite fond of the Speer 130 gr SPBT in several 7mm-08 rifles that I load for. Now you're talking around 2950-3000 fps with R-15 or IMR4320, and with MOA accuracy. If there's a better deer and hog bullet, I haven't seen it.

You'll also find that the 120 Nosler Ballistic Tip is a fave here on the fire.

+1

If it concerns you, try 48.5gr and maybe 49gr for speed and accuracy. Can't hurt. I shoot 48gr with a 145 Speer BT just into the lands. No idea on speed, but it shoots well and has to be near max.

HighRoad,

I'm not a bit surprised at those velocities. Your experience mirrors mine with H4350 in the 7-08. I've read multiple times that H4350 is a good choice for the 7-08 and I believe that's true, but I don't think it's the only good choice. I did some experimenting and hit upon H4895 and have been pretty happy with it. In every bullet weight I've tried - 120, 130, 139, H4895 has give me more velocity than H4350 when using the data from Hodgdons. Accuracy with H4895 has been as good or possibly just slightly better than with the others I've tried, also, with one exception, H414. H414 and H4895 run very close to the save velocity with the same bullet when using Hodgdon's data, with a slight edge in velocity going to H414. Accuracy is very similar, too.

This year I'll be trying Ramshot's Big Game and I hope it lives up to the reputation it has as a top powder in the 7-08. If it does what it's billed to do, I'll probably look no further for the perfect powder for this cartridge using light to medium weight bullets.

2000-MR gives me 2960 in my Sako (~22" bbl) with a 140. Way under MOA, too.

2960 is truckin'. Impressive!

I tried 2000-MR a year or so ago; great velocity gain at book max charge, but poor accuracy in my rifle. I had high hopes that I could get it to come around, but no such luck. Greentimber's experience makes me wonder if there's something I'm missing in my loads.

I've shot a lot of 7-08s with 48gr H4350 and 140gr bullets and usually got near factory velocity. How do your loads compare to known factory loads? You may have a slow rifle, a slow chrono, or just a slow lot of powder. Who knows?

I'm thinking that you surely didn't acquire that 7-08 to pursue velocity...

2750 with a 140 grain .284" bullet will kill stuff like arsenic.

Tough to argue against this logic.....

I get over 2900 with both Varget and Big Game in my Tikka T3...

I'd switch powders....

If you're absolutely obsessed with speed, do what GregW says. Big Game/140AB's/Fed 215m's are a great combo for my T3. If I were in your shoes, as others have said, I wouldn't worry about it.

When I first started shooting the 7mm-08 a number of years ago, Hornady'ss listed max with the 139 Spire Point was 50.0 grains. I worked up to it and while the powder was compressed, the bullets stayed seated and muzzle velocity was over 2900 fps in my Remington 700 Mountain Rifle, with good accuracy.

In recent years I switched to Big Game, with the same result but easier loading. I tend to prefer Big Game over 414/760 since it burns a lot cleaner and is far more temperature stable--in fact in my tests, as good as H4350.

Good info JB,

Is that out of a 22" or 24" tube?

I gotta get out more. I'm no where near that velocity with 140's and haven't tried anything different in my 7-08 in forever.