Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Powder Choice for 140 TTSX in 7-08?

I hit pressure at 48.5 grains of big game with cci mag primers and 140 ttsx today. I had several primers fail to ignite? 5 out of 22 rounds loaded failed to go off? Did not have that issue with the standard cci large rifle primers. Mag primers appeared to help the group's though slightly

Bad batch, seated too deep...?

DF

I used the same hand priming tool, not sure why it would seat them deeper than standard? I'm guessing bad batch.

What kinda primer strike did you get?

DF

They looked ok, the primer looked "coned" or "bubbled" around it? I hit one primer, recocked and hit it again and it went bang. The other 4 would not fire even if I attempted to re fire it. I purchased these primers several years ago and don't usually use magnum primers. I will contact CCI when I get a chance and see what they say?

That's where I ended the chase, too. 48.0 had a good group, velocity, and an ES of 6. 48.5 had an awful group, velocities all over the place, and some shiny marks on the case heads.

Next, to shorten COAL and see what happens. May also try a magnum primer.

FC

Nice, what velocity did you get?

i got 2,850 fps average and just a hair over a 1" group for 4 shots. I used Hornady brass and CCI 200 primers. For a 22" barrel that's been slow with every powder I've tried, I'll gladly take it.

The next best powder in this rifle (again, with the 140 TTSX) was CFE223, where a max load gave me 2,779 fps and a 1.8" group for 6 shots.

I suppose the next quandary would be whether I'd chose a .284 140 grain TTSX at 2,850, or a .308 165 grain TTSX at the same 2,850, to take as a backup on the goat hunt next month. Ah, but such a multi-page pissin' match would be better suited to it's own thread in another forum.

FC

Go magnum primer, you might be surprised. I use WLRM in mine. New primers, not subject to the recall.





P

Well go kill a goat....

tag

This

H414 is very temperature sensitive....

I have not had any issues with H414 when hunting Nebraska from 90 degrees and humidity to low teens. I love H414.

I did so today, and was really surprised:

* Rem 9 1/2 Magnum: slowest, and by far the biggest group.

* CCI 200: good velocity, low ES, and excellent group

* Fed 210: fastest, bigger ES than CCI, and group opened up


I'd have figured the magnum would have been fastest, and I've never seen Fed 210's outpace CCI's. I guess ya never know 'til you send 'em down the tube to check for yourself.

Anyhoo, I figure .66" groups and 2,800+ fps is goat-worthy. Hopefully there'll be pics to show in about 3 weeks.

FC

So what is your final load? I'm guessing 48 grains of Big Game, but not sure. I ask because I recently bought a Nosler 48 Liberty rifle in 7mm-08 and am working on 140 grain bullet loads for it. In my rifle, 46 grains of BG gives me 2,800 even. My old favorite load of 43 grains of WW-748 is about 30-40 fps faster. Same for my other go-to load, 47 grains of WW-760. I would prefer using BG as it is less temp-sensitive.

What gun are using for this load.

Bullet: 140 grain Barnes TTSX
Powder: Ramshot Big Game
Charge: 48.0 grains
Brass: Hornady, 3x fired since virgin and annealed
Primer: CCI 200
COAL: 2.800
Rifle: Rem 700 Cabela's Mountain Guide (22" barrel)

This rifle has been slow with every powder/bullet combination I've tried. I'd have stopped at 2,800-ish if I had gotten there with another powder, or a lesser charge of this one. As it was, I was usually in the low-mid 2,600's, even near max with CFE223, R15, Varget, H414, and H4350.

Surely one of those would have worked well. Nope. Magnum primers will tighten groups with ball powders. Nope. Of course a Barnes likes a good jump to the lands. Not in this rifle.

I'm grateful for all the advice I've received. I just had to run through all the permutations with this quirky rifle. I'm kind of unsure why I bothered, other than being really curious... and more than a li'l stubborn...

FC