Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Range day 120 NBT and two Tikka 7mm-08s

I had a pretty good day at the range with my dad. The primary goal was to see what his Superlite .223 thought of my 50 gr TTSX load. The stars aligned, his rifle loved them!

The secondary goal was to see what my T3 and Superlite thought of my 120 Ballistic Tip load, and if primer choice made a difference. I was particularly interested in the SL, since I haven't shot it much and haven't settled on a load for it.

The load (disclaimer, safe in my rifle, not yours, start low and work up) is half a grain below Nosler #8 max of Big Game, 51.5 grains. All cartridges were 2.806" OAL. Half had CCI 200 primers, the other half WLRM.

The results were very encouraging. The first rifle up was the SL, shooting the CCI loads. Not too shabby.



Then I tried my T3. You'll have to forgive the extra hole, a wayward .223.
The lower right hole is two shots. So far so good.



Then back to the SL, but with WLRM primers. Almost the same group, but I gained 65 fps.



Finally, the T3 with WLRM. I'm not going to argue over group size but the magnum primer got me 89 fps.



I was thinking about moving the SL down the road but it shoots 140 VLD and 120 NBT under half an inch. I think I'll keep both of them.




P

I picked up one of the superlites in 7-08 for myself for Christmas. It's just about the same as yours pictured above but showed a hair smaller groups with that last half grain of powder. I use 52.0 with the 120 BT's.

It's a fun rifle, that's for sure.

Whenever you are ready to send your 7-08 super light down the road pleas let me know. Been looking for one and no sportsmans warehouse nearby.

Thanks and nice shooting,
Craig

The Tikkas are hard to beat for an accurate rifle and the 120 NBT is hard to beat on critters too.

Yup, heading out today with a new stainless t3 bedded in a mcmillan. Blue tip 120s arrived from sps. No big game powder, but hopefully one of the loads works well

Nice groups. Very interesting how the WW primers jumped up the FPS. Find any negatives to using them?

I've been working up loads for a Ruger American Compact in 7MM-08. It shoots the 120 grain NBT just about like your Tikkas but much slower (18" barrel) -- about 2850 fps using Federal 210 Match primers.

I've looked everywhere for Big Game but couldn't find any. I'm using 50 grains of H4350. I'm also trying to find 140 grain AccuBonds -- not even SPS has them.

Barsness has mentioned that Ramshot ball powders often perk up with a magnum primer. I had good results with the Fed 215 when using Big Game and Hunter in non-magnum chamberings.

120gr NBT was going ~3100 fps with Fed 215 & 50gr of BG in a 22" 7-08 using Norma brass.

120gr TTSX was going 3000 fps with 49.5gr. Overall, I think the TTSX shot better but have since moved to a 162.

Must be nice to have Big Game. Sigh...

Nice to see those reloads come together like that.

I tried a pound of BG once, it didn't quite work for me and I don't know why. All the different combinations of charge weights, primers, setting depth, wondering if the scope mounts weren't tight. That said, it has worked excellent of others.

I settled on IMR 4895 using the nosler reload data, just backed it off half a grain from their 'accurate' load and that 7-08/120 gr. nbt really came together. I didn't have any WLR primers so I subbed in cci magnums. Got tiny groups 3" high @ 100 yards, real easy on the shoulder, too. Didn't have any pressure problems and I don't think the bullet cleared over 2,800 fps, but it sure dropped that elk in one shot.