7mm-08 and 162 ELD-M

Hodgdon data shows 2821 FPS with a 162 ELD over Staball6.5 in a 24" barrel @ 59k PSI. That's about what guy i shot with was hitting with a 26" barrel. When he told me low 2800s I assumed he was hot rodding the heck out of it but charge weight was below hodgdon max actually.
 
Damn! It’s supposed to have great temp stability too. And it’s available. It’s all too good to be true 🤣
Hodgdon data shows 2821 FPS with a 162 ELD over Staball6.5 in a 24" barrel @ 59k PSI. That's about what guy i shot with was hitting with a 26" barrel. When he told me low 2800s I assumed he was hot rodding the heck out of it but charge weight was below hodgdon max actually
 
Damn! It’s supposed to have great temp stability too. And it’s available. It’s all too good to be true 🤣
I’ve seen a few videos on temp stability for it and it’s stable for a ball powder, but h4350 etc still has better stability
 
I’ve seen a few videos on temp stability for it and it’s stable for a ball powder, but h4350 etc still has better stability
Yeah it sounds like it’s better than rl26 for stability and if that’s the case it’ll definitely be manageable enough to account for. My BR4 makes that super easy as well
 
Fine find the whole temp stability thing to be much ado about nothing for my applications. I don’t worry about it.
 
I have tried several iterations of 162 eld-m and 150 eld-x with 6.5 StaBall in my M70 featherweight that has a long mag box and now chopped to 18.5" barrel. Velocity is still around 2600 even with the short barrel.
Sadly, I have not found this barrel to like 162 eld-m's or the 150 eld-x's with either Big Game or 6.5 Staball.
Rifle seems to prefer 140 AB's and I'm guessing will like 150 BT's... so that's next on the list. Really tempted to try some 168 bergers for S&G's, might stumble on something good.

On paper, that 162eldm seated out long in good brass with a magnum primer and a responsible amount of 6.5StaBall behind it looks like 7-08 heaven. But alas, my rifle so far doesn't like it regardless of seating depth/jump.

Anybody have a Berger bullet recommendation for a rifle that seems to prefer a Nosler AB type ogive shape? Classic hunter looks most similar, but I'm a bit of a Berger bullet neophyte.
 
Berger has a 7mm 150 gr Classic Hunter bullet. I bought some of them. And some ELD M 162 gr. To try in my 280AI rifle.
 
When the 150 eldx first came out there was no load data so I called Hornady for advice. The tech I talked to said they developed the 150 for the 7mm-08.

I tend to value speed highly so I prefer a faster 150 over a slower 162, despite BC differences. Since I use the 162 eldx in my 7mm Rem Mags I researched using the 162 in the Mighty -08 also, for efficiency.

I did extensive load workup but nothing I tried was superior to my 150 recipe so I abandoned the project.

A couple of years later I got a wild hair and tried again.

Still nope.

But hey, I had fun trying.




P
 
When the 150 eldx first came out there was no load data so I called Hornady for advice. The tech I talked to said they developed the 150 for the 7mm-08.

I tend to value speed highly so I prefer a faster 150 over a slower 162, despite BC differences. Since I use the 162 eldx in my 7mm Rem Mags I researched using the 162 in the Mighty -08 also, for efficiency.

I did extensive load workup but nothing I tried was superior to my 150 recipe so I abandoned the project.

A couple of years later I got a wild hair and tried again.

Still nope.

But hey, I had fun trying.




P
I’ve been trying to focus on keeping impact velocity over 1800. As long as it’s doing that I am comfortable. The 162 at achievable velocities seems like it will do that from further away than I intend to use this rifle
 
My 162s arrived in the mail today, and I'm gonna see if I can seat at the BT/neck junction without hitting the lands. I'll report back with max COL for my Tikka.
Good deal. Mine were delivered as well but I’m on dishwasher replacing replacing duty this evening. I’ve read that they like to be 20-30 thou off the lands so that’s where I was planning to start
 
150 eldx with 46.2 gr BG.

View attachment 708580


Deer, elk, antelope. 2790 fps. If you want a 280, get a 280.




P
@Pharmseller, how did that 150 eld-x perform for you terminally? I just recently shot a decent sized stag (500ish lbs, so not as big as your elk) with the 150 eld-x and felt like I'd prefer a bullet to stay together and penetrate a bitter deeper before coming apart. Obviously the bullet did its job, but leaves me questioning adequacy on a larger animal.
 
@Pharmseller, how did that 150 eld-x perform for you terminally? I just recently shot a decent sized stag (500ish lbs, so not as big as your elk) with the 150 eld-x and felt like I'd prefer a bullet to stay together and penetrate a bitter deeper before coming apart. Obviously the bullet did its job, but leaves me questioning adequacy on a larger animal.

On the shoot2hunt podcast @Ryan Avery has said multiple times that in 7mm the eld-X performs much worse teeminally than in other calibers. Maybe he can speak to the best killing bullets at 7mm08 velocities...I'm asking selfishly 😜
 
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@Pharmseller, how did that 150 eld-x perform for you terminally? I just recently shot a decent sized stag (500ish lbs, so not as big as your elk) with the 150 eld-x and felt like I'd prefer a bullet to stay together and penetrate a bitter deeper before coming apart. Obviously the bullet did its job, but leaves me questioning adequacy on a larger animal.
Sounds like ideal performance
 
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