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

[swampmaster]

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).

Good to know!! I think I have some 120 gr. .284 SST's in the cabinet also. I started buying them when supplies started getting hard to find.

 

[wyosam]

If you don’t need much range, put your favorite 120 grain bullet over 31-34 grains of h4895. Really mild recoil.


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[N2TRKYS]

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.

Whitetails. They expand like they’re designed to do and provide great blood trails on broadside shots for me.

Don’t know that I’ve ever heard anybody say that Partitions didn’t expand for them. For experience with them seems weird.

 

[swampmaster]

If you don’t need much range, put your favorite 120 grain bullet over 31-34 grains of h4895. Really mild recoil.


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Where did you get your data from for that load. I don't have 4895 In stock, but I found a sale on IMR4895 at $35/lb or 8# for #230

 

[Mosby]

My 7-08 is a mountain, close range gun. Has an old Leupold 1x6 on it. Shots under 50 yds. I normally load 139 gr Hornady inter bond or SST bullets for it.

 

[BigBelle]

140 grain Nosler BT's perform extremely well in both 7x57(modern rifle loading) and 7mm08 for me.

 

[199p]

I ran the 140 gamekings and they worked amazing from my 18" barrel on red deer

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

The 140 Fusion should be a good bullet as well. I got some 150 Fusion overrun's and they shoot well with SB 6.5.

 

[wyosam]

Where did you get your data from for that load. I don't have 4895 In stock, but I found a sale on IMR4895 at $35/lb or 8# for #230

H4895 (H only! NOT tested with IMR and not recommended by Hodgdon) can be started as low as 60% of max load listed for the cartridge. So could theoretically go even lower, but I’ve found they shoot better and necks stay cleaner a little above that. If you google “h4895 reduced loads” you’ll find hodgdon’s info on it.


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[EdP]

So can anybody tell me what the rate of twist is on late 90's model 7 with the 18 1/2" barrel?

I have a list of twist rates downloaded from the internet a few years ago. It shows the M7 in 7-08 as 1 in 10.

 

[swampmaster]

I have a list of twist rates downloaded from the internet a few years ago. It shows the M7 in 7-08 as 1 in 10.

Thanks, but I keep reading about different rates depending on the gun. I know my model 7 does well with both 140 and 120 so 1 in 10 sounds right. I thought about putting a couple of 150 partitions left into the 7mm-08 to see how it does, but I think that thing will bite hard from the bench with those. The 140's will wake you up the way it is. That is why I dropped to 46gr instead of 47.5gr.