Tell me about your 7mm-08!

[BoomFlop]

I have been shooting the same rifle since 2003. It is a Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle DM chambered in 7mm-08. I have a Leupold VX-III 2.5-8x36 in Leupold Rings/Bases. It has been a great rifle. It has taken many of big WI whitetail bucks as well as black bears by both my son and I. Been shooting Hornady 139 gr IL bullets. Would like to start reloading to shoot a 120 grain bullet over 3100.

I really would like to make this rifle cooler, with an upgraded stock or a carbon barrel ... however, part of me loves it just the way it is!

Please tell me about your 7mm-08 and what you shoot for a bullet.

Have a great day all!
Steve

 

[J E Custom]

I have been shooting the same rifle since 2003. It is a Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle DM chambered in 7mm-08. I have a Leupold VX-III 2.5-8x36 in Leupold Rings/Bases. It has been a great rifle. It has taken many of big WI whitetail bucks as well as black bears by both my son and I. Been shooting Hornady 139 gr IL bullets. Would like to start reloading to shoot a 120 grain bullet over 3100.

I really would like to make this rifle cooler, with an upgraded stock or a carbon barrel ... however, part of me loves it just the way it is!

Please tell me about your 7mm-08 and what you shoot for a bullet.

Have a great day all!
Steve

I have several 7/08s and one 7/08 AI all perform extremely well and after testing different bullets (I wanted to shoot bullets in the 140 grain class and found many good loads.

Performance on game was good but different with different brands. The 7/08 needs more velocity than it can produce using the 140 grain bullets to get consistent performance on game and In my short barreled rifles it hovered around 2800 ft/sec.

I switched to 120's and the velocity went above 3000 ft/sec and performance on game was phenomenal. I also found that the 120 ballistic tip out did all other bullets even though the BCs are not as good as some others. My best accuracy load is with H 414 @ 3010 ft/sec, but it can be sensitive to heat and cold changes so I use it when the weather is not to hot.

The fastest load uses Varget and pushes 3150 ft/sec It groups on average .073 for 5 shots, the 414 load does it in .054 (Not much difference but it is hard to get away from the best accuracy.

I still wanted to shoot heavier bullets at long range (I have taken 5 deer over 500 yards using 150 grain bullets in my 7/08 pistol) so I built a 7/08 AI and now I can shoot the 140 in the 7/08 AI as fast as the 120s in the 7/08 and again it appears that the ballistic tip expands better at distance than most other bullets.

I also found that for whatever reason the CCI BR2 primer gave best results in accuracy and standard deviation over other primers.

The 7/08 is one of my favorite cartridges for deer size game at reasonable distances.

Just my experiences with the 7/08

J E CUSTOM

 

[BoomFlop]

J E,

If I were to go with a custom rifle in 7mm-08, would it be better to get it in AI as I could still shoot factory 7mm-08 but have the option of reloaded AI ammo?

Thank you for all your help, I have PM'd you multiple times as I know you are a fan of the 7mm-08.

Have any of those 7mm-08's for sale?

Have a great day,
Steve

 

[RockyMtnMT]

We run our Hammer Hunter 131g at 3100fps with Varget. This had proven to be an exceptional load on black tail, white tail, mule deer, and elk. This is an easy 400y to 500y load.

Steve

 

[BoomFlop]

Steve,

Do you offer loaded ammunition without going with the custom load development?

Thanks
Steve

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Steve,

Do you offer loaded ammunition without going with the custom load development?

Thanks
Steve

We have not at this point. We have been talking about it but would need higher production equipment than the Rock Chucker press. This load is a solid load and we may be willing to sell a batch of 100 without your rifle. We wouldn't guarantee the accuracy but I'm not to worried about that. Sends me a pm. I'll look up a price.

Steve

 

[J E Custom]

The 7/08 AI is a great improvement in case life and performance. If you have the rifle chambered by someone that knows you want the shoot factory ammo and head spaces it .004 short, you can fire both the factory/re loads for the 7/08 with great accuracy and the more powerful AI version in the same chamber.

Normally you can expect hunting accuracy while fire forming set up this way. and the extra capacity will allow you to use the 140 class bullets with no loss in velocity. When testing the 7/08, Steve had not started making bullets that I know of so I am going to have to try his bullets
in my 7/08 AI.

J E CUSTOM

 

[RockyMtnMT]

JE our 143g Hammer Hunter is one of my favorite bullets. If you have enough mag length it would be a great bullet in the ai version.

Steve

 

[manitou]

Yeah JE, I run my 7mm-08s @3120 fps wth the 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip. Varget has been my go-to powder, partially because I had good availability to it. Shoots accurate. I have killed multiple deer in the 420-450 yd range, several big deer in the 521- 541 yard arena, and an antelope at 523 yards... all with the 120 NBT out of the 7mm-08.

 

[therifleman556]

This year I'll be trying another makers 140 grain mono copper bullets. Pushed by RL 17 they clock a hair under 2900.

For paper punching I tried the 162 ELD at 2700 but I'm not sure I've got the twist for it as I can't seem to get consistent accuracy. I may try a lighter matchking or vld for such nonsense.

 

[J E Custom]

This year I'll be trying another makers 140 grain mono copper bullets. Pushed by RL 17 they clock a hair under 2900.

For paper punching I tried the 162 ELD at 2700 but I'm not sure I've got the twist for it as I can't seem to get consistent accuracy. I may try a lighter matchking or vld for such nonsense.

Some barrels just don't like certain bullets, so even if we want to shoot them the barrel will normally tell you what it likes and what it dislikes.

A 1 in 9 twist is what i recommend for lighter bullets in 7/08 velocities. For the heavies the 1 in 8 seems to do better.

J E CUSTOM

 

[N2TRKYS]

I bought a new Remington Model Seven SS 7-08 with a 20" barrel back in November. It'll shoot 120 grain NBT @ 3000fps(I don't want it to go faster) and 140 grain Partitions @ 2870fps.

I'm using Varget for the 120 NBTs and Big Game for the 140 Partitions with WLRM primers in both.

I hope to get to try them out this season.

 

[Monttrap04]

I have a couple 7mm-08s. One is my wifes Savage Axis that she wanted because it was pink...whatever. I found a 140 grain accubond load that it shot around an inch and stopped messing with it. Kills stuff dead just fine.

The other has actually been pretty fun to work with. It is a little 16.25" Ruger Frontier that seems to shoot everything well. It shoots my wife's accubond load very well but turns out it LOVES the 120 BT. That stubby pipe has a hard time moving them very fast but for the ranges my kids hunt at it works just fine. No trouble to consistently print groups in the 3/8" to 3/4" range and sometimes better.

My daughter killed an antelope with it this past weekend with a broadside 150 yard shot through the shoulders. I was watching another animal when she shot. I heard the whop but never saw anything that looked hit. Thought for a second it might have been the bullet hitting soft dirt. Walked over the rise and her goat had simply dropped at the shot and died.

She shot a nice whitey and a 6 point bull last year with the same little rifle and a 140 accubond. Hopefully she can repeat that performance this year

 

[RockyMtnMT]

That's a good boy there. He's a wrestler! Good shooter too.

Steve