Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Hornie 7mm 180 ELD might be worth playing with...

Crap man, 22lbs...share the wealth!

That's only good for about...2300 rounds of 7WSM, so about 1-2 barrels worth

The rifle is a GAP 7wsm, surgeon action with integral 20moa rail and integral recoil lug, Bartlein 1:9 26" mtu, McMillan A5, Timney 510, Kahles k624i. To say it is accurate seems to be an understatement. I have yet to try any load with the 180 eld-m or 162 Amax that went over 3/4" even with my magnetospeed attached. Sans magnetospeed everything with the 180 eld-m's and 7828 or R26 has gone sub 1/2" or better



Loaded an old virgin can is 7828 I found so loaded from 63-65gr. No pressure whatsoever. 65gr shot into .352". Average velocity of 2975 with sd of 7.4.



R26 again stole the show. I loaded 65-68 gr and only at 68 did I find the slightest ejector mark but I had to really look for it. The 68gr averaged 3080fps with sd of 7.2 and .329" group.


Going to back it down to 66gr as that was averaging 3020 fps, sd of 4.8 and several groups hovering around the .2 arena and the bolt still cycles like the glass. The group shown goes .123"



Everything was loaded to an oal of 2.94" to feed from my accurate mags. Jump for the 180 eld-m is exactly .035 in my gun. Nothing went over 3/4" even with the magnetospeed hooked up and without it was sub 1/2". I may play with seating on the 66gr load but clearly the weak link is me for groups. I don't see any reason to try to push the gun over 3k with that bullet and it's accuracy as more speed opened them up.

Very nice! Wicked rifle, and nice shooting!

I'm getting 2990 fps with 67gr of this new lot of 7828ssc, so slightly faster than your 65gr load, but it's worth noting that I'm shooting moly-coated bullets. That's good for a 1-2gr difference right there.

Man I wish I could get my hands on some R26. The US distributors are always forgetting us little guys to the North

Jordan, across the board I have found a free 150-250fps with r26 over my old loads in several rifles. It seems to burn clean and be pretty stable. My initial attempts were at 90 degrees, 58 degrees today and I lost a whopping 9 fps, seems stable to me this far.

As I mentioned yesterday my 7828 is the old rectangular can. If I remember right I bought it when I first got my Ruger #1 7mm stw so it is close to 20 years old. I'm guessing the current formulation isn't the same as what I have in hand. Once I burn this can I will buy a new can of 7828 ssc if only to see what happens.

I too got in on the midway eld-m seconds to the tune of 3000 so I got some to play with anyways 😎.

If the next range trip shows similar groups for the 66gr R26 that may just seal the deal.

Glad it's all working so well for you MA!

I'm still not gonna ramp up my velocity. Nope. Not gonna touch it. Must..... not..... revisit...... load.....

(I would, but I've got a coveted 'lope tag in early August and I just HATE shooting in July and August......)

Jeff, which tag did you score?

Jeff,
Your results with 65gr of 7828 are only about 75 fps behind my results with same and I have a 26" barrel which jives with the standard thought of 35-50 fps per inch of barrel. Also not sure it matters but my can of 7828 is about 20 years old, but I bought a lb of 7828ssc yesterday and plan to try it again tommorow working from 64gr -67gr in 1/2gr increments. Will also reshoot r26 from 66-68 in 1/2gr increments.

In my barrel both R26 and 7828 can get 3k fps without shcitt for pressure signs and great accuracy so now I'm just playing to play.

Ran up to 66.5 of 7828ssc today with sub 3/8" groups and 3030fps with sd of 1.2. R26 at 66.5 shot into .2 at 3065fps with sd of 3.1. Clearly my rifle isn't picky at all as poi for both R26 and 7828 is less then .2 mils.

In both R26 and 7828 I saw 30-40fps per grain of powder. I'm thinking I am done screwing with it and will use R26 as I have plenty

Had 10 rds of various loads left over that went into .53 (2@ 65.5, 266, 1@ 66.5 of 7828, 266, 1@ 66.5, 2@ 67 of R26) velocity ranged from 2970-3065fps.

Lost my good sense and sent my smith a 28 reamer this afternoon I'm next on the list and was going 7mmRM. But a 180 ELD at 3100+ is a ballistics laser. Should be more fun than my edge in the wind.

I think you did the right thing!

Not relevant to the ELD 180, but the guy in the link below is getting over 3100 with the 195 VLD

28 Nosler with 195 VLD

I took a low risk approach and snagged an off-the-shelf 28 Nosler to play with. I'm thinking the 180 ELD may be just right.

Hey Rogue!

Steens. I know there's "better" antelope tags in Oregon, but I know Steens well, and I love being there. Could be HOT in August though.

Also got a High Cascade deer tag as a 2nd choice so that's going to be a fun backpack adventure if nothing else.

Planning on using the 6.5 SAUM for both... or if I'm really setting up to reach out, my heavy 7 WSM with the 180 ELD's and a big NF scope should suffice.

I shot the 180 tonight in my 7 rem ridgeline with RL 26 68gr at 2965fps and no pressure yet and the bullet was stabilized in my 1-9 twist at 2400 ft elevation. They sure wack steel hard at 600 yards. I used the advertised BC and it was alright but how does it have higher bc then the 195 vld ,by quite a bit ? I shoot the 162 eldx and compared the two side by side along with the 180 vld and I just don't see 0.797 bc out of the but I'm no balistcian.

Little windy today with winds 5-15mph but 66gr of R26 is going to be the long term load.

Hey guys Im coming in late on this conversation, But I have a question.
I have just recently put together a 7mm Rem Mag. 30" 1-8" twist, I am currently shooting 7828ssc and the 180gr ELD but reading this post, I think I need to look at RL26.
I have RL25, it is my understanding that RL26 is the temp stable version of RL25? Is that correct? Are they interchangeable?

Mark

Ironically my buddy's load in his 7 WSM was RL-26 @ 67.5 and 3115 fps with the 175 eldx....works to a mile atleast. I wonder if 67 would be the magic number in his for 180s.

My 7 WSM ran 67 of R26 at 3075 fps with 5/8" groups. Dropping to 66 gr in once fired brass and I am at 3040fps average, sd's of 2.1-3.6 the last 3 times out and groups hovering in the .3's with several 5 rd groups doing better.

Bump so MA can give us some terminal performance details from his bruin.

Was just shooting the 180 out to 1018 meters yesterday. The thing flat out hammers. Can't wait to try it out on some critters.

JeffO, not my bear just my rifle used to take it. Not much to tell, 578yds quartering fairly well away. Bullet went in about 4-5" back from onside shoulder crease taking out that lung, took about 1 1/2" off the bottom of the heart, put a big hole in the front of the offside lung and came out square in the front shoulder/ neck junction of the off side shoulder. Bullet hit a rib going in took out the sternum going out. Exit was about 1" diameter chest cavity was full of soup but minimal meat loss at the bully holes.

I will be using it some more for deer as we predominately hunt wide open wheat stubble fields. I am undecided on using it for elk as I'm not even sure where I am going to hunt them yet.

So far I am very happy with the 180's just as I have been with the 208 eld-m and 212 ELD-X.

Also going to run the 108 in my new 6 predator (6mm grendel)

"Is it an elk bullet"..... the age-old question.

Might not be hunting elk this year myself; if we do it'll be an OTC Oregon tag. Sounds like it did everything you want a bullet to do, terminally.