7mm 08 bullets

[old sparky]

I think I want to shoot a high power match with my 7mm 08 I went thru my drawer of bullets and I am low I have a couple boxes of 150 gr nosler b tips and I hunt with 139 gr hornadys but am real low less than 50 rounds. If I was going to buy some bullets and wanted to stay inexpensive any ideas out there. I figure why reinvent the wheel. I will load with H380.
thanks, Sparky

[Taps]

Don't know what is popular up your way but down under we have great success with the Sierra 168gr HPBT match @ 2450 fps for the rams and the 130gr HPBT match for the rest . They are not cheap but they are accurate . Some shooters like the Hornady A-max 162gr. Depends what your rifle will shoot I suppose .

Taps.

[Jim Beckley]

Sparky, First finding cheap anything that has to do with shooting is like finding 99 cent a gallon gas. I was shooting 150 Sierras HPBT at the short ones and started with 168's, but switched to 175's for Rams. Found the 175's just a tad bit better! Just my .02.

[old sparky]

Thanks for the help. I went out yesterday and found a sight for the pigs probably was wasting time and ammo with the wind at gale force. Then went around looking for some bullets. either none to be found or price gouging like I have never seen. Jim I think 99 cent gas would be easer to find. Oh well
thanks, Sparky

[Jim Beckley]

Sparky, Right now around this area isn't the best time to look for anything, quite simply because nobody has anything to sell, but once the bug has taken a bite and you can't do without HP Silhouette, your best bet is to buy in bulk. If you are rolling in the green buy what you want when you want, if your wallet is thin (like me) buy what you need when you can! A week or so ago at the Superstition 3 gun mystery match at the vendors tent, there was about 4 people with tables set up to sell their stuff, nobody has anything.

[kevinbear]

I've had good success with 140 spitzer flat bases from Sierra # 1910 on chickens and pigs but found them lacking the accuracy and wind bucking characteristics of the more expensive target bullets required to hit turkeys consistently.
As for a ram load it's nearly impossible to get by without using either the Sierra 168 grain or the Hornady 162's because of the energy required to knock them down. I use Hornadys because there cheaper and group just as well in my guns as the more popular Sierra's.
You could use the 140's for chickens and pigs and 162's for turkeys and rams, a little more recoil than most would put up with for turkeys but would be less expensive than having a exclusive turkey load.
Lock, Stock and Barrel in Valentine Nebr. has good prices, there on the net at http://www.lockstock.com
140's 22.86
162's 27.00

[sobrbiker883]

I recently went to 7-08 from 308, and at first I was running 130 Sierra MK's at CPT and 150 SMK's at rams. I lost enough of the few that I do manage to hit that I (upon advice from some guy in Texas) went to 150 Nosler BT's for my ram load. At 2600fps-ish I'm still ringing rams more than I'd like (but better than the 150 SMK's).
The next time I get some bullets, I'm going to switch to 162 Amax's.

[kevinbear]

Try 39.0 grains of Varget with those 162's, I have four 7-08's that group well with that load and chronograph numbers are good as well. I've yet to lose a ram wth this load, they go down without any reluctance. [quote="sobrbiker883"]I recently went to 7-08 from 308, and at first I was running 130 Sierra MK's at CPT and 150 SMK's at rams. I lost enough of the few that I do manage to hit that I (upon advice from some guy in Texas) went to 150 Nosler BT's for my ram load. At 2600fps-ish I'm still ringing rams more than I'd like (but better than the 150 SMK's).
The next time I get some bullets, I'm going to switch to 162 Amax's.[/quote]

[sobrbiker883]

Thanks Kevin, what kind of speed is that Varget recipe running, as I try to use IMR4895 and was thinking around 36.6-36.8gr (4895 is usually a little lighter for the same speed/pressure as Varget).

[kevinbear]

I'm getting 2552fps with my hunting rifle, a stock remington 700 DBM with a 24" barrel. As for your IMR 4895 try 38.5 grains.
On a slightly different topic but one that I find interesting is working up loads and chronographing them as you go.
I enjoy trading guns almost as much as shooting them which means theres always guns leaving the safe to make way for new ones! Last year I picked up 7mmbr XP-100 by way of a trade on gunbroker. I worked up a quick load to hunt antelope with it then didn't touch it again until last month. We have a couple of guys that shoot pistols the same time we shoot regular highpower rifle matches so I thought it might be fun to see how I could do against them. This would require a load capable of taking rams so I loaded test loads in half grain increments with H4895 and some 168 sierras I had left over. I shoot over a chronograph alot so when I say these are fantastic numbers you can take it to the bank.
This was a five shot string.
168 Sierra Matchking
28.0 grains H4895, a new lot
Average fps 2066
High fps 2070
Low fps 2060
Extreme spread 9.5
Standard deviation 4.8
Average deviation 3.3 !!!
The icing on the cake is I took twenty of them to the last highpower match and they will take rams, slow but they topple. [quote="sobrbiker883"]Thanks Kevin, what kind of speed is that Varget recipe running, as I try to use IMR4895 and was thinking around 36.6-36.8gr (4895 is usually a little lighter for the same speed/pressure as Varget).[/quote]

[sobrbiker883]

Update: just ordered some 162 Amax's from Champion's Choice, under $30/100 and in stock.

[kevinbear]

Champions Choice catalog came in the mail today, lot of good stuff in it.

[Bob Mc Alice]

I tried out a box of 162 A-Max's when they first appeared back in 95. At the time I was shooting Sierra 168's with 42.grs. I 4350 on the rams. This load was slightly compressed in order to chamber a round without jamming the leade. Seating to an overall length of 2.800 to fit in the hunter gun magazine was even more compressed.

The AMAX is even longer than the 168 SMK. Compressing the I 4350 load for a .010 jump resulted in deforming the bullet jacket at the unsupported area at the plastic shank. There was no chance of ever setting it to 2.800.

Changing to 38 - 40 grs. of I 4320, I 4064 gave enough room to eliminate a compressed powder charge and no more damaged bullets. I could not duplicate the accuracy performance of the Match King with the AMAX with any powder I tried in those barrels. Too much of the bullet was inside the case, unsupported, I think.

I have since switched to using only Varget for all loads and stayed with the Sierras.

All this is assuming using a barrel with standard chamber dimensions. A long throated chamber seems to be the right choice when firing the long VLD type or the 162 AMAX bullets......at least in single shot form.

The cut away bullet is from the first production lot runs. Not sure if it represents todays AMAX bullet. The current catalog picture shows it with a smaller plastic tip more like the SST or Vmax pills.

http://s190.photobucket.com/albums/z94/BOBMCALICE/AMAX/

[sobrbiker883]

I was looking at reloading stuff online for 7mm, and I saw reference to "early" and "current" Amax's in the 162 gr offering. May have been 6mmBR forums' reloading page......
You may have been ahead of your time Bob!

I have to make me a modified case for my OAL guage, as I have no idea what the chamber dimensions are on my EMcD rifle.

[kevinbear]

Hornady has changed 6.5 and 7mm A-Max's three times since I started shooting them in the early ninetys that I'm aware of, using H414,IMR 4064, or Varget in 6.5 IHMSA, 260, 7 IHMSA, or 708 I've never experienced powder compression problems. There are some loading techniques that can circumvent that issue.
Being somewhat of a traditionalist as far as the hunting rifle concept in silhouette goes I am keenly aware of what goes on at matches that I attend. It is a rare event for me to witness another shooter load the magazine during the ready, a few still use 700 DBM's {like myself} but most are single loading thier custom "hunting rifles" . Most heavy for caliber match bullets when seated to touch the rifling will not fit in the magazine with the exception of the shorter than 308 cartridges like the IHMSA's. I have never seen a match director enforce the rule that cartridges must be able to feed from the magazine and I agree with that. They start that and with all the other shenanigans going on the protests could last all day.
Load your 162's to touch the rifling and one will fit in the magazine at an angle.