18" barrel and 120's

Pick a powder

I'm going with 4064 for now

If you have access to anything you want, I've had great luck with Varget and Big Game.

RL-15

MM

Im thinking in an 18" tube Varget and Big game are too slow

Shane knows of what he speaks. Having JUST gone through this with my son's 22" tuned 7-08, R-15 was the clear winner for accuracy, and second only to Varget in speed.

44 grains of R-15 gave me 3,000 with stupid accuracy and no pressure signs.

Looking for 18" data

It's the same as 24" data, there won't be any significant shuffling of what powders perform best.

Exactly. Which powder "works" best will depend more on the individual rifle than anything else. It's a pretty tolerant round.

The shortest-barreled 7mm-08 I've fooled around with had a 20", and Big Game got the highest velocities along with excellent accuracy of the half-dozen powders tried with various 120-160 grain bullets. But another rifle might do better with something else.

I think I will break out the dusty laptop and run quick load

The powder is converted to gas WAY before 18".

And there is nothing wrong with 4064 (because its essentially the original VARGET and also similar to R15) in the 7=08, if the metering doesn't drive you crazy....

Varget's The Go To For Me.But MR-2000 Also Did Very Well In 18 1/2" Barrel..

My youngest son picked up a Ruger American compact this summer, that I think is an 18" barrel , and I tried several powders and loads before settling on RL17 , but didnt try 120's . I noticed with book max loads around 2700 fps was about tops with that gun and 140 btips and sierra's .Varget and RL15 have always worked well for me with 120's .

Rl-15 44.5gr under a 120gr NBT or TTSX.

what legth barrel was that load worked up for?

Talcum powder works good. It help dress your animal after your 7MM-08 Rem has converted it to butcher paper wrapped freezer packages.

I use Real Guns for a lot of loads. In fact, I've just loaded my .270 Win & 7MM Rem Mag for an elk hunt with loads I've taken off of this site.

I love .284 caliber cartridges. Had I been smart I'd of owned a .280 Rem & never needed another rifle. The 7MM-08 Rem is the .280 Rem's short-action almost twin. Truth is either is good for everything in the lower 48.

My vote would be Varget, RL15, and IMR4064 in that order. I never tried Big Game in this caliber is why not mentioned, but when Mule Deer speaks, I listen.

I'd love to try Big Game in mine...I think Mule Deer is on a stockpiling crusade (i.e. using his connections) and needs to share the love. That or, Big Game has reached "pixy dust" status. I've not seen it in a LOOONG time!

Just start with the 4064 you have on hand. I'm sure a good load won't be hard to find.

I should mention Varget did great for me (22" barrel). I've got some 2000mr that I'm going to play with more. The initial loads were just ok. I've also got some RL 15 and 17 I'm planning to play with.

18.5" Model Seven

But that's a half inch longer.

Best hope BigStick don't stumble on this thread... things will get interesting to say the least.

tedthorn, you can't find a manual that shows loads for different barrel lengths?

rl19

RL15&17 for me. 4064 has been good also it does not meter as smooth for me.

The 7-08 is such a well mannered cartridge that a whole bunch of medium powders work well, and I would would be hard put to say that any one is head and shoulders superior to all the rest. Doing so would arrogantly ignore both the variation between rifles and between lots of the same powder.

3031 is about as fast as I would go, and the 4350s as slow. I shot R12 to great effect, when it was around, R15 is great, R17 I have not tried, R19 is meh. 4895, 4320, are fine. H414/WW760 was my standby for years, although it is dirty. Varget is hard to beat at the lighter end. AA3100 is too slow except with about 175 gr. bullets. N160 works well with heavier bullets, but hard to find. Lots of others I could list, if my memory was better.

With finding powders being a hit or miss proposition in recent years, shooting a cartridge that will work just fine on a wide range of powders is not a bad thing at all.

The barrel length in question doesn't matter. Standard powders for 22" to 24" barrels work the same at 18".

Missing the boat not trying out some Big Game, with mag primers, assuming you can find any.

I should have used a smiley face...

That's about like .22RF, Unobtanium in places other than Montana..

Sure can......kinda like listening to the professionals here

Tough to beat RL15.
Varget would no doubt be a great choice but I never really needed to try it

Was thinking a T/C load manual for a Encore handgun with the 15" barrel.

You can run QL if you want, but it ain't the same as shooting.

It aint?

Yep

15" for the Nosler 7-08 handgun

Faster powders for sure in these listings

I like Stick.....he knows his stuff for sure.... this I have no doubt

Heck....my wife even likes him.....they flirted with each other a week or two ago on here somewhere

Looking at my nosler number four manual under the handgun loads it shows the same powders for the 14" barrel as for the 26" barrel, just slower velocity. It looks like n150 and rl15 are the winners for speed at 2684 fps. H4895 and imr4064 were the next two for speed at just over 2600fps. I would guess 4 more inches would just make any of these better. Big game and 748 are 2 I would look at as well

Hodgdon has pistol and rifle 7mm08 data. No big reshuffling of what powders perform, and what little change there is could easily be from traits of the two barrels other than their lengths.

I haven't done it with the 7mm08, but I have shot a lot of different 308's over a chrono. Barrel lengths have been from 27" down to 16". Guess what? Varget outruns 3031 and H322 over the full spectrum of lengths and with various bullets.

In summary...stop focusing on your short tube and start listening to the advice being given for the cartridge and bullets you listed.

In summary it's a discussion.....I'm not focusing on anything

Start listening?

Funny.....really funny

It's not nearly as complicated as the 4 pages dictate....but thanks for taking the time to line me out

Some here I provoked into thought......

If you don't like the way 4064 meters, pick up a pound of 4320. The kernals are smaller, so it meters nicely.

Out of my 18.5" barreled Remington M7, Re-15 and IMR4320 seem to perform best with the 120 gr NBT and TTSX. My nephew's Ruger Compact (20" barrel, I believe) shoots well with the same two powders. His also likes WW760.

And....I'll throw in with the majority opinion. The same powders that give top performance in a, say, 24" barrel will also be the top performers in a short barrel.

Member Tennessee extolled the virtues of Alliant 2000-MR to me awhile back. He may have posted on it here somewhere, too.

Told me he was pushing 130s at 3,000 fps with that fuel from his 19-in. Tikka T3 Lite custom 7/08. I know he's killed a lot of deer and a large aoudad with that rig, which is quite accurate to boot.

H414 does good things under a 140gr bullet. Pretty sure it was 2750-2800 out of a 20" Pac Nor tube. Accuracy was top notch, so I never tried to get a stiff bolt or flat primer...

Which is nothing more than Winchester 760 -- the original factory loaded powder in Remington's 140 grain 7mm-08 loads.

I use RL 15 and it works wonders with accuracy and on game. The problem lately is being picky on what powder you want to use. In reality, it has become what is available.