Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles A "Cooper" Christmas in July

Load work done! Very cool.

I've fooled around with alot of loads in my 7m/08. I'm getting good results with Speer 145 hot cors and hornady 139s. IMR 4350 or Varget. Your gonna love that gun!

Very cool rifle, lastround! Something tells me that rifle will see plenty of 120 TTSX's through it!...

You are exactly right. The TTSXs are the bullet I really want it to shoot. The Campfire favorite load will be the first I try. They worked great in "that other rifle".

For some reason I've been lusting after one of the Cooper Jackson's in 7-08 lately, even though I don't know squat about them. I understand the test targets the come with are shot at a distance of 40 yards, not 100. Are they inherently finicky with loads, not so much, or what. I'd spend the extra $$$ over a Kimber if they're worth it.

I will find out how the 120's shoot? The 140's are a no go in the 7mm-08, it hates 140 grain ammo! I had high hopes to use the 140 NBT but scratch that out. I won't use the 130 SMK for hunting. So hoping this thing works out with the 120 grain NBT. I believe Barnes makes a 130 TTSX? If so I will be buying those.

They make a 120TTSX. No 130 I'm aware of. I'm betting the 120's (NBT & TTSX) will shoot.

You a hand loader?

My son had an Excaliber which he reported on earlier in this thread. It shot pretty much anything reasonably well. I remember distinctly that some were lights out: 120 gr. Nosler BTs, 120 gr. Barnes TTSXs, and 139 gr. Hornady Interlocks come immediately to mind. I'll know more about the one I just got in a few days.

Thanks, yes I handload, (LOL)apparently not very good if I can't get this Cooper to shoot? Waiting for some cooler weather and be hitting the range to try out some loads. Found some IMR 4064 that I will try also. Not happy since my Wally World 379.00 Remington ADL was fairly easy to get to shoot?
I like the action on Cooper and dang light so once I get her shooting I will be quite happy.

Essox,
Sorry you're having trouble with your Cooper; sure hope I don't with mine. I think 7mm-08s in general are a little finicky until you hit on the right combination. I have had four previous 7mm-08s that I have loaded for and the favorite powders seemed to be (in no certain order) H4350, Big Game, Reloader 15, and Varget. If it won't shoot with one of those powders, maybe a trip back to Montana is in order. They will make it right. ((Hint: the favorite here on the fire with 120 gr. BTs seems to be 44.0 gr. of RL 15, but that is a max load to work up to). I have tried BG in this one and just for fun will try RL 15 next. Good luck man.

And hey, nothing wrong with those 700s either. They all seem to shoot pretty well.

WOW! Awesome! I wish I could have done something like that for my dad. He passed before I had my feet under me enough to pull something like that off. Well done SAS! You must come from good stock...

w.t.f. all i get is underware!

What a beauty in my favorite cartridge. You raised a great kid there and waiting to see some range and kill pixs.

Great story!! Thanks for posting

Good on you, Darrik....

P.S., my birthday is in April! A used Cooper would be fine. Thanks!

For anybody interested; I did a little load work with the new Cooper. This is two three shot groups back-to-back but a day apart.





My "heavy game" load work is done. Now it's time to just play and enjoy the rifle. I have only shot 30 rounds thru the gun and am sure it will do nothing but get better as it gets broken-in more. I have appreciated all the kind words. Have a good day.

Found a promising starting load today with the Cooper! Varget and 120 NBT's. 43.5 and 44.5 of Varget seemed to be sub moa at 100 yards. Max load looked great but it had a "sticky" bolt with 45.0 grains of Varget. Weather today was humid, overcast with 77 degrees. The rifle took forever to try to cool down. I tried H4350 which would put two through the same hole and then throw one an inch or so but better than the 140's! I'm starting to be happy with the accuracy.

Bad news now: While firing from the rest I discovered I had put a "hole" in my Cooper stock on the comb! The only thing I can figure is while shooting the 7th shot, the recoil of the gun which isn't much hit the edge of my ear muffs and apparently broke a hole in the stock? I can't win. I hope Cooper will help me out with this? I will try to post a pic.

They use Bell & Carlson stocks I think. Same as Winchester uses on their Extreme Weather model. I would think that Cooper will replace it no questions asked. I have never seen such a thing. Must have been a bad spot in the stock.

Thats what I was thinking that it didn't "cure or harden like it should have", everything else appeared solid, it acted like a "soft spot" in it? I thought it was sweat at first on it not realizing after the shot a "hole" formed?

I'm glad I got it shooting the 120 NBT though and once this is fixed it should be ready for some deer/hogs this season.

Shortaction, what is max load for Big Game using 120's? Thanks.