Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm 120 grn Cutting Edge Copper Raptors, 7mm-08AI

Well, I posted an inquiry about these and got no responses. DirtFarmer reminded me of a previous post he had made on the .308 135 CE Raptors out of his 308. DF seemd to be pleased with their performance:

http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/10719100

The 120 grn 7mm's are interesting to me mainly because of their 0.436 bc. While that's not spectacular, it's darned impressive for a 120grn 7mm. A little playing around w/ Quick Load indicates I should be able to push them to ~3150ish w/ RL17 for 60K PSI in my 23" barrel 7mm-08AI. That speed w/ those velocities should do just about anything I want to do w/ my rifle inside of 600yds.

https://cuttingedgebullets.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=ER_J120_CU_RAPTOR

I ordered some to try. The throat on my rifle is tight, I can lighly kiss 150 Scenar L's at 2.795 COAL. A kiss on these CECR's is 2.785. I made some dummies, and worked up some initial conservative pressure finding loads, will report back once I get a load developed.










David

Very cool - keep us in the loop...

David,

Interesting. If the CE Copper Raptors are anything like other mono's, they'll like to jump.

So, bumping may not give you the best accuracy.

It'll be interesting to see how they work.

DF

DF,

Yeah, I haven't had much luck kissing TTSX's, but the LRX's worked ok w/ a light kiss out of my 6.5CM. Hoping I can get away w/o too much of a jump as the CECR's are really long and already eating some powder capacity just to get to a light kiss!

We'll see, fun to play w/ something new at the least. The reports of the Raptor's terminal effects on game make me think it's worth pursuing.

David

Oughta be interesting.

I've tried Raptors in several rifles from the .22-250 to 9.3x62, and they don't seem particularly seating-depth sensitive.

They also kill well. Dunno if losing the petals, as they're designed to, affects how well they kill as CE claims, but it doesn't hurt. Have shot a bunch of animals with various petal-type and never could tell if it made any difference if they lost petals or retained them.

The one wholesaler here in PA gave me a few boxes to try and report back to him on there performance. They shot well in the cartridges I shot them out of, I think the Barnes TTSX shot better. Tried the 22 cal 50gr raptor in a 223, 7mm 130gr, and the 6mm 65gr in a 243. Killed deer with all three, couldn't tell the difference between them and the Barnes. Biggest down side is there price. Have used the 338 300 gr out of my 338 Edge and 338 lapau, talk about bc's, .835 and the 50 cal 802gr with a bc of .950, these are match/hunting bullets, never shot a live animal with either of them but the shot great and flat

65s in 243 ought to be pretty Kewl.

JB mentioning CE's in his 9.3x62 got me thinking.

Now, I'm "forced" to try a 9.3 mm Raptor...

Bet that's a mean round.

All these Loony ideas are the "poison" that feeds our pathology...

DF

Looks like 48.0 RL17 is going to push them at 3150-3170fps out of my rifle. Load seems safe. Didn't load more than a few exploratory pressure finding rounds for today (pulling bullets isn't any fun!) Shot all of the Raptors with the Magnetospeed strapped on today.

The Magnetospeed doesn't affect some of my rifles too badly but it plays hell with the Kimber! No accuracy reports today. Probably gonna be a few weeks before I make it back to the range, will report back on how they shoot then.

Side note - Looking around on CE's website makes me wish I had a 270WSM. Run the numbers on a 130grn w/ a .53 BC @ 3250fps....

David

MD,

I doubt it makes much difference one way or another as long as they do open. I've never had anything but positive experiences w/ Barnes bullets but the few documented cases of failure to expand do give me pause. When I look at the massive ballistic tip in the massive hollow point of the Raptor it makes me think it will expand reliably one way or another.

Just to be sure, my 7mm-08AI is sporting a 8" twist....



David

They do well free mounted.

Need a long bench.

DF

DF

I wish I had a place to shoot where I could utilize a tailgate setup like that - very nice! I could get away w/ making something like that for my range's concrete bench's - too lazy so far....

David

Looking forward to hearing how the Raptors pan out for you!

David, just a little off subject but can you tell me your formed 7-08AI 150 Skinner Load/Velocity that you settled on ?? Moly or nekkid??.... Thanks.

ridgeline,

I'm shooting nekkid 150 Scenar L's at ~2900fps w/ 46.2grns RL17 in Norma 7mm-08AI formed cases, F210 primers, 2.795 COAL.

Rifle has a 23", 8 twist Hart barrel and it is very fast!

David

Good info David -

For context, in my vanilla 7-08, I'm running naked 140 Bergers at 2,900 even with 46.0 grains RL-17 in a 22" tube.

So I think we are right where we need to be...

They make 55 and 65 grain brass Raptors in .243 too.

I brought my new load to the range yesterday. They shot terrible! 5 shot groups were 5-7"! Groups were so bad I thought something must be wrong w/ my rifle! I shot some of my 7mm-08 fire form loads and the 150 Scenars went into the tight little clusters I've become accustomed to.

Oh well - I may play around with them a little more, but in my experience when things are that bad load development may shrink the groups but it is unlikely to produce satisfactory results. I've got some 145LRX's, will probably play with them next.

David

Man oh man I appreciate what just happened to you! I thought all the excitement of a new product and then going to the range and finding a Semi disaster only happened to me. Funny how sometimes the newest and greatest things slide together wonderfully and we just know they're going to work sweet and we get burned. Dang!

I've been on a lucky steak for awhile. I've got two rifles w/ nice aftermarket barrels that seem to shoot everything well, so I've come to expect it. It was time for a humility lesson....

David