Best Powder?

[LongRangeLapua]

What would you say is the best powder for a 7mm-08 out of a 22" barrel? Looking to shoot 120 TSX's and 139 SST's

 

[Bullet bumper]

Hodgdon Varget ( Aussie made AR2208)
For a slightly faster powder H 4895 ( Aussie made AR2206H )
Faster again hodgdon Benchmark . ( Aussie made Benchmark 2)
All three powders will work with 120 to 139 or indeed the full 7mm08 range of bullets upto 162 grain.
Probably Varget is a good place to start.

 

[casey36]

I can second Varget. Best powder i have used in it. Great speed and great accuracy. I used 45.0grns. with a 120grn. with a 120 BT at 3050 F.P.S and it shot great in a model 7.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Varget and 4895 are good but if you want max. speed with a short bbl. and a 140 in a 7-08 I'd go with 760/h414 as you'll be able to get another 100 fps out of them compared to the stick powders mentioned. Better case fill. Had a m7 in 7-08 many moons ago.

 

[LongRangeLapua]

Which 4895, Hodgdon or IMR? and yeah I would like to push those 140's and 120's really good.

 

[jimbires]

another powder to try is RL17 . I'm using it with 140 berger hunting bullets .

 

[Truc]

I used 43 gr Varget w/ 139Hornady BTSP, dropped a lot of Bucks w/ that load from a tree stand

 

[Bullet bumper]

Varget and 4895 are good but if you want max. speed with a short bbl. and a 140 in a 7-08 I'd go with 760/h414 as you'll be able to get another 100 fps out of them compared to the stick powders mentioned. Better case fill. Had a m7 in 7-08 many moons ago.

I agree that 760 is a great powder for extra energy and it meters nice and smooth. Also ball powders have a great chemical stability and will last longer in storage than any other type. Definately the powder for the survivalist or doomsday prepper , seriously .
I use it in my 30-06 AI and it gives good ballistics. However Varget , H 4895 and Benchmark are much better at resisting temperature changes than ball powders.
I am not concerned with tiny groups with the 30-06 however extra velocity is a good thing. If I am trying to shoot tiny groups then I would use H 4350 ( Eq to Aussie AR 2209) which is about the same in burining rate to 760 and H414 .
For general hunting there is many powders that will do the job just fine and one gun might love one powder and another gun hate it . We can't generalise with this kind of thing , one shoe size does not fit all.

 

[LongRangeLapua]

Yeah I want to hit that happy medium of speed and accuracy. I want to push them some, but i still want sub-moa accuracy that the rifle is capable of.

 

[Bullet bumper]

Then start with Varget , once you have a go to load . Then you can play around with other powders on the side maybe go a bit faster and see if you can improve on the go to load .