120gr HH’s and Varget- tweak or move on?

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TBuckus

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I've finally ran into a rifle that doesn't immediately like Hammer bullets.
I have a Model 7 7mm-08 youth compact that I decided to load with 120gr HH's. Ladder test showed 44.0-44.5 of Varget was a good starting point.
all groups were 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" at just under 2900fps
I haven't messed with adjusting the COAL yet. Mild crimp so far following Butterbean's recommendations.
Usually I get easy sub 1" groups right off the bat with Hammers. Then I mess with COAL and grains and get it to 1/2- 5/8" groups and call it quits.
So I'm leaning toward switching to H4350 (because I have a bunch) and giving it a shot vs spending a bunch of time with Varget. Plus, for some reason I've never had good luck with Varget with this rifle.
 
If the Varget has never worked for the rifle then it seems like you should try the H4350 if it suits the cartridge.

Sounds like a nest little rifle in a great chambering. Please post pics of the rifle and target when you test the new loads.

I'm going to source some hammers in 7mm and .30 I'm readings lot of good stuff on their performance on game.
 
Have you checked to make sure no loose screws on stock? Scope not loose? After that I would play with coal.
It will usually give more result than fine tuning with powders as it is a more coarse adjustment to figure out what the rifle system,
chamber likes. Its basically all harmonics. Work on the mechanical and physical part of the rifle system first, then the powders. Changing powders or tuning with different charges is fine tuning compared to bullet seating in my experience. Bullet seating usually makes a bigger difference than charge weights or different powders. It's a more coarse adjustment.

I haven't used hammers yet, bought em but not loaded em yet, but I can't see why they would not respond to seating depth changes like other bullets. If you read Chris Long's work on barrel timing for the bullet, and harmonics, its all related to the amount of time the bullet stays in the barrel (milliseconds). Seating it so it exits at just the right part of the Sin wave in the harmonics where the muzzle
end is quiet gives you the best accuracy, repetition, and groups. I'd try to home in on that with one powder, whether its Varget or H4350 before going to another powder.

Also, if this is not a rifle you use much or your kids use, do you know if its been cleaned lately? Maybe its fouled some with either carbon or copper or both and it hasn't been used much lately, just been stored away? Good luck, like you I have heard hammers shoot well in just about anything, so I understand your surprise that it isn't working this time.
 
I shoot most of my Hammers at (about) .100" off and some even more. They shoot better for me well off the rifling even though others have luck with much closer settings. If I were you I'd try a few radically different OALs and see how that works before switching to H4350. Actually, try both and see what the rifle is capable of with the new bullet.
 
TBuckus said:
I've finally ran into a rifle that doesn't immediately like Hammer bullets.
I have a Model 7 7mm-08 youth compact that I decided to load with 120gr HH's. Ladder test showed 44.0-44.5 of Varget was a good starting point.
all groups were 1-1/4" to 1-1/2" at just under 2900fps
I haven't messed with adjusting the COAL yet. Mild crimp so far following Butterbean's recommendations.
Usually I get easy sub 1" groups right off the bat with Hammers. Then I mess with COAL and grains and get it to 1/2- 5/8" groups and call it quits.
So I'm leaning toward switching to H4350 (because I have a bunch) and giving it a shot vs spending a bunch of time with Varget. Plus, for some reason I've never had good luck with Varget with this rifle.
Click to expand...
Try RL-15. It's the go to powder IMHO. All my 7mm-08s shoot great with it and 120gr TSXs.
 
For some of my hammers, I need to remove the expander ball to increase neck tension. That usually helps in combo with the crimp.
 
Barrel is clean. Everything is tight.
Right now I have a .050 jump. Could try seating deeper. Can only go .010 closer due to the blind box size.
Wish I had R-15, used to use that with Accubonds in this gun, but ran out and can't find any.
 
0.05 jump does seem on the short side of coal. Though these bullets may be very low drag like Bergers, I'd try seating them at least .025-.03 jump if you can get that length, and just feed them 1 at a time to see what the difference is?
 
Veteran said:
0.05 jump does seem on the short side of coal. Though these bullets may be very low drag like Bergers, I'd try seating them at least .025-.03 jump if you can get that length, and just feed them 1 at a time to see what the difference is?
Click to expand...
When switching too a mono and especially hammers it is recommended too throughly clean the bore from any existing copper fouling that would be my first step second don't force it too like a powder try h4350 .004 neck tension crimp and start at least .025 too.0030 from lands if not further most are seating too first drive band
 
Hard rock said:
When switching too a mono and especially hammers it is recommended too throughly clean the bore from any existing copper fouling that would be my first step second don't force it too like a powder try h4350 .004 neck tension crimp and start at least .025 too.0030 from lands if not further most are seating too first drive band
Click to expand...
Correction .025 too.030 or too first drive band work down too find the sweet spot
 

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