Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Need some help from the 7mm fans

I'm gathering data on 7mm bullets for a community wildcat project called the 7mm Valkyrie AR. The project is to design a wildcat in 7mm for the AR-15 with the goal of gettting near to or match 7mm08 velocities for the AR-15 platform. The parent case is 6.5X47 Lapua. Think of it being a shorter 7mm08 with about 42gr of H20 Capacity. I'm gathering data on all the 7mm pills that would be appropriate to load. These are the ones i have not found the length/OAL of the bullet for. Here's my spreadsheet of bullets i have data on https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...n_uyq0nEcgGdud7LxTUo/edit#gid=220710567.


Sierra HP HP 100gr
Speer TNT VarmintJacketed HP 110gr
Hornady HP HP 120gr
Sierra Pro Hunter SPT 120gr
Sierra Match King HPBT 130gr
Speer Hotcore SP Spitzer 130gr
North Fork Tech SS SP 130gr
Federal Fusion Bonded SP 140gr
Swift A frame AF/SS Partition 140gr
Woodleigh Weldcore Protected SP 140gr
Speer Grand Slam SP 145gr
Speer Hotcore SP Spitzer 145gr
Speer Match HP Match 145gr
Sierra Game King SBT 150gr
Remington CoreLokt SP 150gr
Hornady Interlock Secant Ogive 154gr
Federal Fusion Bonded SPBT 160gr
Swift A frame AF/SS Partition 160gr
Speer Hotcore SP Spitzer 160gr
Hornady Interlock Secant Ogive 162gr

Our community Project page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/7mmVar/

Hornady 120 HP 1.007 overall length .500 base to ogive

Your never going to push anything heavier than a 140 to a velocitiy that will cause expansion over 100 yards.

140gr NOS BT's are at 2800fps from the 24in AR about the same a federal factory ammo loaded with 140gr Nos BT's. That was testing done on Sunday of this week with a pressure trace system hooked up. We will be able to push a 160gr with a BC of .528 at around 2580fps or so hoping for 2500fps from a 20in. That accounts for expansion well above 400 yards (1800fps). The key to 7mm is the excellent BC of the larger grain bullets they don't need magnum velocities to get decent hunting ranges from them. You can read up and see the testing results here.

24" BBL on a pig rifle?

Why don't you do your testing with something folks will actually use?

Because then the velocity won't be high enough to validate the cartridge.
I think the call it answering an unasked question.
Put it in an 16-18" and velocity drops to a level that negates expansion at over 100 or so.

So, to paraphrase. Let's use an really long barrel, to create unrealistic expectations, so when folks chamber it in real hunting rifles they leave a whole bunch of wounded game??

I guess that's what we should expect from kalifornia. Add to that the kalifornia lead ban, coupled with big mono bullets in short barrels expansion will be about zero....

Almost all loaded data from manufactures uses 24in barrels as the data for velocities. Thats the absolute norm. Velocities match 7mm08 factory loads so any crap you throw at our handloads you are throwing at 7mm08 factory loads. The 7mm08 is a proven caliber all the way up to moose sooooo.....

The 7mm08 primarily used in bolt action rifles.

Are you designing this primarily for bolt action rifles?

What percent of AR's are built with a 24+" barrel?

Where are the long barreled AR actually used?

What you are testing is, by and large, not what will be used.

I hand load have tried several hunting bullets (Hornady, Nosler and Speer) in my Tikka 7mm-08 and the most accurate bullet has been the 145 grain Speer Boat Tail. The Speer Grand Slam was a close second and the Nosler 140 grain partition was not far behind. I hunt deer, hogs and elk and, if the Speer Boat Tail was adequate for elk, it would probably be my bullet of choice. I will soon be doing some testing with Nosler 150 grain partitions.

Your attempting to compare your top end Handloads to factory fodder as an example?
So in turn I can compare my 160 7-08 hand load at 2700 to factory 280 Remington?
The difference is the same right 51mm co pared to an 06 case?
Your 47 compared to a 308?
Your jerking off into a sock and calling it sex.
I'd expect your new cartridge to be equal in an AR CARBINE TO, almost exactly, a 7-30 waters.
Congratulations...

Yes we are comparing top end (still under top pressure) handloads to 7mm08 factory loads. We aren't saying we can get the same results all things being equal we can't. We can though handload and get 7mm08 factory velocities which is whats mostly in the woods. Lots of Elk, Moose, Caribou, Deer etc have been taken with 7mm08 factory loads and we should be able match those results with an AR-15. We are a community project where 12 of us pulled our funds to help the guy doing the heavy lifting get the stuff to develop the cartridge. We all have barrels on order and he's doing the 24in barrel testing and next week we'll get 16in barrel velocities.

Thanks bud you may want to stop by the Rocky Mountain Reloading site the have Federal 160gr Fusion bullets for super cheap as in 250 for 40 bucks and they have a whopping BC of .528. They are normally only used in Federal Deer Thugs loaded ammo but they had an overrun. Rocky Mountain reloading can't say all that i got the info from Federal customer service. I'm hoping to get 2500fps with the 20in 7mm Valkyrie AR barrel i have on order. That would make it a capable load for out past 400 yards . I hunt at over 8000ft which makes it even better.

I can't wait to see the chrono results of the 160's from a 16".

Notice what happens to the partitions below 2600...

160gr would be inappropriate for a 16in barrel same as a 7mm08. Dude your pissing in the wind the 7mm08 is absolutely proven in the field some consider it the BEST overall North American game cartridge. We can match the factory loads in an AR-15. Are you one of the Anti AR-15 dudes or something? I hunt with a 22in Grendel a 20in 270AR and soon to be 7mm Valkyrie AR. Does that offend you?

It's seems pretty obvious you haven't read many of RW's posts.

Not at all. In fact I'm fairly well qualified to speak on the practical application of the platform.
However....it was designed around a 22 caliber projectile.
Have fun with your endeavor.
But like granddaddy said " don't piss down my back and tell me its raining".



If your making a comparison knowing that you are skewing your preference, then its not a comparison.
Its a circle jerk.

A shorter barrel will reduce velocity and therefore going to a lower grain pill makes sense which is the same story for EVERY rifle in the world. Nothing different here.

At the expense of sectional density.
Look, I run the blackout with 125 BT...no way in hell I think its a 308, chit, it ain't a fkin 30-30.
Its a 150 yard MAX rifle.
It only works on paper with light for caliber bullets.
Know what's gonna happen if I fling a 165 soft point?