Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles New to me 7mm-08

Good morning(it is here anyways), I'm not so much of a forum poster as a lot of people are, but I always like to contribute. I do, however, read a lot, just to see how others have done things, especially when I start a new project. I would say that 95% of my hand loading is done with cast bullets so I have always just been a part of those types of forums. The new rifle I have is going to be fed copper patched bullets so I figured I would share on this site instead of the cast bullet sites. It is, after all, where I have gleaned the most information about this cartridge.

Anyways, I thought I would share my progress in loading for this gun so that there will be just that much more info for others to read later on. Plus, I don't doubt that I will have some questions and I always have an open ear for suggestions.

The gun is a Ruger American Compact stainless. I put a Burris Fullfield E1 3x9x40 on it. I got the gun specifically for hunting the mountains of Colorado, but it will see most of its use here in the hills of NW Arkansas. Short barreled little sucker, and comes in right under 7lbs with the scope on it. Very handy little gun. Same size/weight as my M94 Winchester - except my lever gun does not have a scope.

I almost never buy factory ammo, in fact I cannot remember the last time I did(maybe 10 years ago?), but in this case I figured why not buy some cheap Hornady Whitetail ammo to shoot/sight in with and then have the brass. I was amazed at the ease of getting the gun on target, and in less than 20 rounds I realized I had to extend my range out to 250 yards to see what it could do.

I say all of that to say it shoots VERY well with the Hornady factory stuff. I am averaging 2575 fps with the factory stuff, 10' from the barrel. Its right at MOA out to 250 yards(all I have to shoot at my house). So now that I have 50 rounds shot through it I figured I would start my reloading process for it. I could stick with factory ammo, but I love to reload/shoot way too much.

So, just thought I would share as I go. Hopefully the next guy coming along will be able to use some of it to help him along.

Which bullet is atop that Hornady load you've gotten such great results from? I have a new to me Tikka 7-08 that shot the American Whitetail load that utilizes the 139 gr Interlock and it also shot very well.

I've had exceptional results from Ramshot Big Game & 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tips, as well as from that powder with 150 gr Sierra Game Kings, both loads running close to max charges with newly resized Lake City 7.62 NATO cases and large rifle magnum primers.

Good luck w/ the project; 'tis a great cartridge!

Good stuff TTN. Welcom to the 'fire. I have 2 of the RAR's and they shoot great, like yours, and are not very fussy. Enjoy!

I guess I should include that I have started prepping cases and getting measurements. For starters I bought some Sierra 140 grain Pro Hunters. I bought Hornady dies, so I do have some 139 grain BTSP coming. I wish they would send out the flat bases as I hear most of the time flat bases are easier to get good accuracy up to around 300 yards. Plus, that is the bullet Hornady uses in their factory ammo which seems to shoot very well.

Seeing how I am going to limit myself to 300 yards on big game out west, and rarely have a shot over 200 yards here in Arkansas, I thought flat bases would be the way to go. But, maybe the boat tails will work out fine for me.

I did take a fired case, slightly size the neck, and stuck the Sierra bullet in it to get a OAL. I measured it quite a few times and always came up with the same number - 2.757". Sierra load data listed their OAL at 2.780", so I know I will have to start low and work up for sure. I will have to say that I was a bit perturbed when I called Sierra about this, trying to see if they had any idea of a correlation between my seating depth and how it will effect pressures. The guy on the phone, older gentleman, acted like I was a complete idiot and did not present his company in a very good light. I have had past dealings with them that were good, so I will write this one off as a grumpy old man day.

Needless to say, this gun has a very short throat/leade. I think the only reason why the Hornady ammo shot good was because their bullet secant ogive is significantly different than other bullets in the same weight class. I'll have to wait till I get some of their flat base bullets to see, but I bet I am not far off the lands with that factory ammo. I do remember some guys posting about how their Ruger Americans were hard to close the bolt on with other factory ammo. I have to wonder if it is not because of the short throat. Its definitely something you don't think about normally, but I can see how it would happen.

I am not 100% positive just yet, but I think that the chamber is on the small/tight end of the spectrum too. I use the Lee trimmer, which I found does not quite get the cases cut down to recommended length. It was cutting them down to 2.030", recommended being 2.025". Well, I tried to chamber one of these last night and the bolt was VERY hard to close. Actually, it did not want to close at all, and I would probably never shoot a round in a gun that I had to close the bolt so hard on.

I marked the end of the case mouth with a sharpie and it was smeared off when I took the case out. I am going to trim down the Lee trimmer pilot so that my cases are 2.025" and then see if the bolt sticks again. I could not see where it was hanging up anywhere else on the case though.

My desire would be to find a load with H4895 since I use that in a few other cartridges, and I have always wanted to find a powder I use a lot of to justify buying in bulk. But everything I hear is that H414/760 is tried and true. I can work around any temp issues it may have.

I'll for sure give updates as I go along. I'm sure I'll have some pictures too. Looks like rain all weekend, but if it breaks I'll get out and do some testing.

Interesting, especially that short throat and OAL deal. Keep us posted if you don't mind.

I suppose my last post will answer your question, but its their #2820. I actually caught one in some water jugs I put out at the 250 yard mark. I'll take a picture of it.

I've thought about using Big Game, but that would be just one more powder to add to the collection. I load for a .308 and a .243 also, so I might wind up using H4350 in the end. But with it being a 18" barrel I have a feeling it will have more of a muzzle blast with it versus the other two powders I use already.

I might eventually try 150 grain bullets in it, but for now I see it shoots very well with the 140's its hard to try something else. Plus, being on the light side of weight for a gun, I want to keep recoil to a minimum.

I thought so too. I like to have a shorter throat than longer, even though I know it limits my upper weight range. But the short OAL has me stumped. From what I can tell SAAMI spec is for a 2.035" case MAX. I would have thought they would at least cut it that long.

And, I may have interpreted my test wrong last night. I did not spend much time with it as it was just a passing test. I will know for sure when I take the same case I tried, and trim it down without doing anything else to it. If it functions fine then I known for sure its the OAL. But like I said, I am almost positive it is because the marker was worn off the face of the mouth which would really only be caused by it being forced against something hard.

Not saying your wrong at all, but I've loaded for 3-4 of our 7-08's and had to seat at max mag box length to get as close to lands as possible. Still wouldn't touch, but by max OAL is usually in the 2.805 range.

2575 fps from the factory ammo sounds quite slow.

For a 22" barrel, 2800 fps for a 140 is readily achieved, so shorter barrel should be in the 2700 fps range.

What bullet are you using? I suppose I could chamber cast the gun and get a exact picture of whats going on inside. But I am not concerned really. I just don't want to be shoving the bullet into the lands. Its a hunting gun, not target, so I want 100% reliability - with as much accuracy as possible.

Its "supposed" to be 2840 fps, that's what it says on the box, but I am guessing that's out of a 24"-26" gun. It is their most economical line of ammo.

I had a few rounds hit 2600 fps, but once you factor in the ones that only hit 2550 fps then you get a median of 2575 fps.

What you come up with is a 35-45 fps/inch loss. That's not too out of line I don't think. Not ideal. And who knows if it would not be 100 fps faster if I were shooting in warm weather. Could be the powder they are using. If its temp related then it could be closer to the 25-30 fps/inch loss mark.

I'm personally not hung up on speed though. Just want to make sure I know what it is so I can know what its doing down range. I figure I will be able to get better hand loading though.

Personally, I think its the weather/temp. I have heard they like to use ball powder in their ammo, and its notorious for temp sensitivities.

I knew I was going to be giving up speed from the get go. I struggled with it for a while, between getting the standard or compact. But in the end, knowing the ranges I am going to be shooting, the lighter weight/smaller package was the winner.

I can still kill paper out longer ranges though.

I am loading 120 BTs for my daughter's 7mm-08. It is a custom rifle, so the chamber was cut with the reamer that my gunsmith had at the time. I have to trim the cases to at least 2.035" to get more than two loadings without having to trim again.

Like JG, I load them as long as they will reliably feed through the magazine. With the 120 BT, COAL is 2.890". Length to the lands with this bullet is 2.930" I would like to be able to get a little closer, but accuracy is very good at the current COAL.

Turns out it was not a COL issue. I did not set the FL sizer down far enough I guess. Normally it's ok when you set it to just touch the shell holder, I had to crank it down another half turn to.

I did pull a factory round apart. 44 grains of a ball powder. I put it beside some H414 and it's similar, but darker. I know they probably use a proprietary powder, but at least I understand the velocity issue.

I did notice last time I shot the last round in a string I left it sitting in the chamber longer settling in on the target. That shot was noticeably higher than the others.

Regardless, I'll be putting together some test loads today and hope to get a break in the rain tomorrow.

Got to do some shooting this weekend. I started out with H414, then H4895, and ended up with H4350. I found some decent loads with the first two, but the velocity just was not there. This 18" barrel is biting me in the butt. I am not hung up on velocity, but I do want enough to make 300 yard shots effective. I just don't see how anything under 2500 fps is what I want. I know that I could kill with it, but at the same time I am not just going to settle for it without testing more.

I finally ended up with H4350. Wow, this powder was superb in my gun. I found a node that was giving me tight groups and 2575 fps average. But, wouldn't you know it, this powder is currently hiding from the public. I might have saved myself frustration if I had taken notice that the powder has been this way for some time now, but at the same time I might not have tried it and saw how nice it shot.

After doing some digging I came up with IMR4451 being the next "best" thing. I hope to load some up tonight and test tomorrow. Sure would be nice to find a load with it.

I have to say I am surprised though. Maybe I am not loading hot enough. I am being cautious with my loads, but I am getting a consistent ~200fps velocity difference than book data. I really hoped it would not be that low, and read a lot of guys with 18.5" barrels getting much better. Guess its just the nature of the beast.

Ok, so I have been doing some shooting. I was dumb and did not set up my chrony for the first round of tests, and then set it up too close for the next round. And, on top of that the first round of tests were done off bags, but not off my led sled I have - which I normally use to take as much of me out of the equation as possible.

So needless to say, I now have my head on straight and in the game.

I do have some pictures of some targets. One thing I am real curious about is what is causing some of my fliers. In the first round of tests I could blame them on me. But after using the lead sled it has to be something else. I meticulously weigh every charge, so I highly doubt that is it. Its not cold/clean barrel issue. Sometimes its the first shot in a string, sometimes second, and sometimes third.

Only thing I can figure is bullet runout? But will that cause such a difference in POI? I do not have a runout measuring tool yet, but I do look over each cartridge and there is not a huge runout issue going on.

I have gone through and weighed my brass. There is some difference in weight, its Hornady brass, but again how much is enough to cause significant fliers?

Would love to hear some thoughts. Here are the pictures.

My goal with reloading for this rifle is to get as close to the POI as the factory rounds are. I originally zeroed the scope for them, so I figure if I can get close to the same POI, with the same weight bullet, then I will be matching the trajectory close enough. Understanding differences in bullets do matter in the long run.

Regardless, the POI for the factory rounds is right around 1" at 100 yards. So thats what I am going for. In the third picture, which is where I tested the 4451 yesterday, I want to say the 46.5 grain is going to be pretty close to what I want. Except I don't know what to make of that flier.

The first picture is when I tested H414, and there is one that shows some promise there also.

There are other groups that are also showing promise, but the POI is just too low and the ones I did get velocity readings on showed them around 2400 fps. That would be fine for close up work, but I know the gun is capable of more than that.

I bet IMR4166 would go right along with that list.

I know a couple of things about short barreled 7mm-08

Nice looking rig. I'm intrigued now. XP100? What are the specs on it, and what kind of load tests would you share?

I have a smidgen of Varget I could try some loads with, but I hate to waste bullets without knowing what I might expect.

Have you ever tried the "slower" powders in your gun?