Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm-08 and big game...thoughts

i have a remington action and hart barrel in 7mm-08 that i recently had the firing pin bushed because of a crater in the bolt face
before i had that done i had used the 120 grain nosler and varget which had easy extraction and good accuracy
i recently tried big game and had to go down to 45 grains at 2900 fps to get an easy extraction...anything above that is a hard bolt lift at the top of the bolt handle stroke when opening the bolt after firing....is nosler load data been good to go for those using it or do you find it generous

Could be a few things. If your brass is extra thick it can dramatically raise pressures, as well as having a short or tight chamber. I load 120 Nosler BT over H4350 for a modest 2900 myself and have no problems at all, because that’s way under max. It seems like the charge weight alone wouldn’t be your issue.

Nosler data has generally erred on the conservative side in my estimation.

I’m using 51.5 gr Big Game with 120 BT for 3126 fps out of a stainless Tikka. No pressure signs.

Remington brass, WLRM.


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I think I would try the old load before you do anything else. Maybe even a factory load if you have any. Sounds like there may have been an error in the bolt work. I bet a go gauge won’t go.

Im using 46.5 grs of BG with a 150 gr NBT. No extraction issues or signs of pressure here.

Im running 50.5 grains BG with 120 TTSX and have gone as high as 52.0 without issue. I have not used 120 BTs yet with BG powder.
I had great luck with Varget and 120 BT. Im using a custom action as well. This load is safe only in my rifle! Any use of this info is at your own risk! You need to reduce and work up as usual!

I have three 7mm-08’s. I shoot 48.5 grains of Big Game under 120 gr BT’s and 120 gr TTSX’s for 3100 fps +/- out of Lapua brass (which is thicker than most) in all three. Very accurate and no signs of pressure. Rifles are a Kimber Montana, a Remington 700, and a Winchester M70 Featherweight. I have also used the same load in a Tikka. I think you have other issues other than Big Game powder........

Tight chamber.

I am loading 45.0 gr of IMR 4350 with a Nosler 120gr ballistic tip hunting bullet#28120. It's not screaming out of the barrel,2800ish. But my 700 mountain rifle likes them and they are freakn hard on deer sized game.

I run about the same charge and bullet. Started using 51.5 a few years ago, then dropped to an even 51 with similar accuracy and well over 3K speeds from a 22" barrel. Works well on paper and deer.

That’s a great load. I’ve shot a lot of game with that bullet 2800ish, 44 gr Varget.
Tough accurate bullet.