What is your favorite Light 7mm-08 load for white-tails?

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Lets hear about your loads please. I made a run of 120gr ballistic tips in front of 43gr of IMR4350. They shoot well for an 18 1/2 barrel model 7 and are fairly mild to me in a light short rifle. I am looking for some suggestions for possibly milder loads for my grandson in a similar rifle.
 

EdP

WKR
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I developed 2 loads for my M7. Neither has much recoil but may not be any different than your load in that regard. Generally, a lighter bullet will give less recoil. Hammer makes .284 all copper bullets from 90 grains to 172 grains. (On their website, all their .284 bullets have a note to make sure your twist rate is fast enough for the bullet. It doesn't make any sense to me for the lighter bullets, but that's what is there.)

43 gr Varget, 120gr Hammer Hunter
40 gr Varget, 140gr Sierra GK

If I was trying to minimize recoil I would give a moderate load with the 101gr a try.
 
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TN2shot07

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The factory loaded 120 ttsx’s are pretty mild out of one of my model sevens. They’re as accurate as I can shoot that little rifle and hell on deer.
 
OP
swampmaster
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So can anybody tell me what the rate of twist is on late 90's model 7 with the 18 1/2" barrel? That is what mine is. It was my wife's gun, but she no longer hunts so I threw on a full size synthetic and it's my go to for tight quarters. If I am going to be doing drives I will also carry it because it is quite capable of long shots on the fields. Anyway that is where I am leaning for my grandson. I have also been looking at the 700 sps compact so I wonder if the Rate of Twist is out there for that also.
 
OP
swampmaster
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Oh By the way.... Holy crap! I haven't purchased reloading stuff for a while, but man!!! $60 for 50 slugs??!!! I used to get mad when I had to pay $25 for 100 partions!! I might just end up using the 120's ballistics since I already have several hundred on hand. I'll keep watching the thread to see what others say. I have always used IMR powders because that is what I started out with. I understand that there are others that are as good and likely better so I'd like to hear. Bear in mind I also load 30-30, 35 rem, 44. 280. and 30-06. I try to keep my powder numbers to a minimum.
 

Rufus

Lil-Rokslider
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Hey Swampmaster. I don’t load for a 7-08, but did check on Hodgdon’s website and they show a few reduced loads for the 7-08. One that looked promising would be a 120 gr ballistic tip over 40.8 gr of H4350 for a mv of 2496 fps. This would basically duplicate the 7-30 Waters from years ago, which at one time, was a very respected whitetail round designed to compete with or surpass the 30-30. I have a 7mm BR handgun that does about the same with 120gr ballistic tips and it does well on whitetails.

Hodgdon had several other loads with the powders for the 120 gr ballistic tip. All of them were around the 2500fps, give or take.

You are doing a great thing for your grandson by reducing the recoil. Make sure to let us know how it turns out.

Thanks. -Rufus
 
OP
swampmaster
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Hey Swampmaster. I don’t load for a 7-08, but did check on Hodgdon’s website and they show a few reduced loads for the 7-08. One that looked promising would be a 120 gr ballistic tip over 40.8 gr of H4350 for a mv of 2496 fps. This would basically duplicate the 7-30 Waters from years ago, which at one time, was a very respected whitetail round designed to compete with or surpass the 30-30. I have a 7mm BR handgun that does about the same with 120gr ballistic tips and it does well on whitetails.

Hodgdon had several other loads with the powders for the 120 gr ballistic tip. All of them were around the 2500fps, give or take.

You are doing a great thing for your grandson by reducing the recoil. Make sure to let us know how it turns out.

Thanks. -Rufus
I will definitely run up some of the H4350 with the 120's. I wonder how different it will be from the 43.5gr of IMR4350. I was always a little wierded out by those numbers once I learned many years ago that they were different but the same. My Sierra book only goes down to that 43.5gr of the IMR. I know when I drop from 59gr of IMR4831 to 57gr in my .280 it makes a noticeable difference in the recoil. I also noticed that once I hit 59.5 gr of IMR4831 the groups will start to flare. I like my 56.5gr with Hornady 139grBTSP. Easy to shoot from the bench and nothing runs away.
 

Rufus

Lil-Rokslider
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Hodgdon says you can use 42.0 gr of IMR4350 with 120 grain bullet for 2508 fps.

They also say you can do 42.8 grains of IMR4350 under a 139gr for 2488 FPS.

Their site has other loads that you may want to check out.

Hope this helps. Thanks. -Rufus
 

Rufus

Lil-Rokslider
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It’s really too bad that H4895 isn’t available now. I’ve had really good luck taming down many rifles for kids with H4895. It’s been unavailable for quite awhile. Hope they do a run of it soon as I’ve only got about a quarter pound left. -Rufus
 
OP
swampmaster
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Hodgdon says you can use 42.0 gr of IMR4350 with 120 grain bullet for 2508 fps.

They also say you can do 42.8 grains of IMR4350 under a 139gr for 2488 FPS.

Their site has other loads that you may want to check out.

Hope this helps. Thanks. -Rufus
Looks I should just go get a Hodgdon Manual to go with my collection. Thing is with such a short barrel it doesn't pay to run the loads very hot. Once I can find out the Rate of twist I can look for more bullets. My seven shoots both the 120 and 140's well, but when I get up into the 47gr that little turd starts to bite pretty hard at the bench. I have a quirk where I manage to beat myself pretty hard trying to make sure the gun is doing it's part and then in the field it's up to me. I always did the same thing for my kids. Made sure the gun grouped well and then it was up to them to dial it in. My daughter and I always shot exactly the same POI until my eyes started to get old, but we are still close. My youngest boy is a lefty his POI is always 4 up and 6 left of mine even to this day 22 years after he started hunting. I hope I can get that many years in with the grandsons. One is 9 and one is 3. The 9 yo has been hunting with us since he was 5 like my kids did. I might try and get the youngest out for a few minutes next year into the swamp ground blind. Easy walk, if it's froze, lots of red squirrels and birds and better yet a heater.
 

Rufus

Lil-Rokslider
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I’m not sure if the reduced loads are in the printed manual or not. Google “Hodgdon reloading data” and you’ll find it. -Rufus
 

N2TRKYS

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I hunt with a Model Seven with a 20” barrel. I load 140 grain Partitions and Accubonds and 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips(NBT). I like my loads towards the top end of speed, so mine aren’t reduced loads. My 140s are 2850 fps and the 120s are 3000 fps.

If I were wanting a reduced load, I would use the starting loads in the load data.
 
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The factory loaded 120 ttsx’s are pretty mild out of one of my model sevens. They’re as accurate as I can shoot that little rifle and hell on deer.
I like 120 TTSX out of this cartridge but it needs velocity to expand. For light recoil, I would stick with 120 BT and a light charge.
 
OP
swampmaster
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I hunt with a Model Seven with a 20” barrel. I load 140 grain Partitions and Accubonds and 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips(NBT). I like my loads towards the top end of speed, so mine aren’t reduced loads. My 140s are 2850 fps and the 120s are 3000 fps.

If I were wanting a reduced load, I would use the starting loads in the load data.
What are you shooting with the partions? I used 140's in my .280 and quit because on broadside shots through the ribs they didn't expand hardly at all. On frontal shots under a 100yds they would literally end for end.
 
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May have to give this one a try, MV?
Unfortunately, I've never chronoed this load. However, it was very accurate in my Tikka T3x. According to Gordon's, in an 18" barrel it should be around 2,791, and in a 22" barrel it looks like 2,942. The pressure is under 55k psi as well. Varget shows very good calibration on the Gordon's tool FWIW.
 

Macintosh

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If you run into a hassle or have a hard time finding the right powder, my wife has used the hornady factory-loaded low recoil loads with good success on deer sized game with a shorter barrel. They are shooting 120gr SST’s, and have all been bang/flops out to just over 200 yards which is the furthest she’s tried. Its a fairly similar bullet to a ballistic tip. Accuracy has been fine and recoil is noticeably less than the factory-loaded 120gr ttsx (which is at much higher velocity).
 
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