7 Saum 162gr ELD-X H1000 and H4831sc

[PowellSixO]

I'm about to finish putting a rifle together, and it's time to start testing some new loads. I have picked up some 162 gr ELD-X bullets to try, and I have gobs of H1000 and H4831sc to burn. All of the load data I can find clearly lists min and max loads for the H4831sc, but none of them list anything for the H1000. I've read where others are using H1000, but don't really want to just take a random guess at where to start. Can anyone give me a safe starting point with the H1000? I'm not super worried about max FPS. I want accuracy above all things. This is just going to be used on deer, not elk. Any and all load suggestions welcomed, with the materials I have available. Thanks.

Savage SA
25" X-Caliber Heavy Varmint barrel
Norma Brass (Have 100 brand new cases)
WLRM and WLR Primers (what I have on hand, but would be willing to purchase different primers)
H1000 and H4831sc (Powders available)
162 ELD-X bullets

 

[Plinker147]

Hodgdon lists 64gr start and 67gr max compressed on their website for H1000

 

[PowellSixO]

Thanks for that. I didn't realize that Hodgdon's website had that info. That's an excellent resource.

 

[Smokinghole]

I'm shooting eldx with H4831 right now. Letting the barrel cool down. I wouldn't say my shots today are a fair evaluation as this is the first firing of necked down .300saum to 7mm. I'm running 58.5 today just to form this brass out.

 

[PowellSixO]

I'm shooting eldx with H4831 right now. Letting the barrel cool down. I wouldn't say my shots today are a fair evaluation as this is the first firing of necked down .300saum to 7mm. I'm running 58.5 today just to form this brass out.

How's it shooting so far? The mail man is bringing the rest of my parts to finish my rifle today, so I should be shooting it this weekend. I need to sit down and load some rounds up one of these evenings when I get the time. I read that the 300 saum brass was the way to go for longevity, but I read it a little too late. I had already ordered 100 pieces of norma 7 saum brass that I'll be loading for now. I don't plan on hot rodding this rifle though. I just want an accurate load that will put a deer down out to 600-700 yards, and ring steel out to a 1000.

 

[andrewsben]

I was running an X-Caliber 24.5" 7 saum on one of my savages. Liked it really well but have an abundance of large shank target repeaters, so decided to order a new barrel for one of them and let the standard action based build go. I only put like 87 rounds through it but found two good consecutive loads using norma brass, 162 eld-x and H4831SC (both were .3ish during my .5 grain increment testing). Looks like I spec'ed out to load .1 increments between 58.1 and 59 (good loads must have been around 58.5). My research showed 60 as max on H4831SC so there might have been something a little faster that would have worked well too.

Didn't play with seating depth any, but was jumping .020 and it seemed to do pretty well.

Didn't try H1000 on it since I use H4831SC in several other cartridges and like to stay with as few powders as I can.

Good luck.

Ben

 

[Smokinghole]

How's it shooting so far? The mail man is bringing the rest of my parts to finish my rifle today, so I should be shooting it this weekend. I need to sit down and load some rounds up one of these evenings when I get the time. I read that the 300 saum brass was the way to go for longevity, but I read it a little too late. I had already ordered 100 pieces of norma 7 saum brass that I'll be loading for now. I don't plan on hot rodding this rifle though. I just want an accurate load that will put a deer down out to 600-700 yards, and ring steel out to a 1000.

I was shooting RP brass. I don't know the capacity difference between it and Norma but it was RP cases.
The 162 ELDX shot okay. I just loaded up the .300SAUM neck downs with a safe charge. It got me zeroed and got the brass better formed I wasn't in a node and I was touching the lands. Primers were nice and rounded though no cratering. The formed cases look better than before but I think my rifle has a tighter neck. I cannot slip a bullet into the fired case on the cases that I haven't neck turned. Just getting to know this chamber. It was a rescue barreled action so I don't know the reamer specs.

The 175gr Berger EH shot way better than the 162 but that was also with RL23. Nothing special but this was my first time playing with the 175s and RL23.

 

[Buttermilk]

My 7 RSAUM really likes H1000 behind the H162eldx.

H4831sc was considerably slower in my 17.5" Bartley bbl XP-100.

Both were accurate powders in my gun.

 

[PowellSixO]

My 7 RSAUM really likes H1000 behind the H162eldx.

H4831sc was considerably slower in my 17.5" Bartley bbl XP-100.

Both were accurate powders in my gun.

How much H1000 were you loading? What kind of speeds were you getting between the two powders?

 

[Buttermilk]

How much H1000 were you loading? What kind of speeds were you getting between the two powders?

I loaded up to 67.0 H1000 using the Berger 168 VLDH bullet. I started at 63.0 gr.

63.0 H1000 gave 2750 fps
67.0 H1000 gave 2856 fps

H4831sc at 60.0 gr (max in my gun) runs just at 2700 fps.

With the H162eldx bullet, I've only loaded from 63.0 to 65.0 gr H1000. I stopped at 65.0 since that load gave me just under 1/2 MOA, and I was happy with the velocity.

65.0 H1000 gave me 2774 fps instrumental velocity in my Barrlein 17.5" bbl.

I have not used H4831sc with the H162eldx bullet.

 

[PowellSixO]

https://flic.kr/p/EyPWNA



https://flic.kr/p/21mB6Xx


This is your barreled action Ben. Here it is with a stock and scope. I still need to repaint the stock, but I think it will turn out nice. I ended up putting an H-S Precision Stock on it. I ordered a 300 WSM magazine for it, and it works perfectly for the 7 SAUM. Can't wait to get some loads ready. I hope to shoot it this weekend.

I was running an X-Caliber 24.5" 7 saum on one of my savages. Liked it really well but have an abundance of large shank target repeaters, so decided to order a new barrel for one of them and let the standard action based build go. I only put like 87 rounds through it but found two good consecutive loads using norma brass, 162 eld-x and H4831SC (both were .3ish during my .5 grain increment testing). Looks like I spec'ed out to load .1 increments between 58.1 and 59 (good loads must have been around 58.5). My research showed 60 as max on H4831SC so there might have been something a little faster that would have worked well too.

Didn't play with seating depth any, but was jumping .020 and it seemed to do pretty well.

Didn't try H1000 on it since I use H4831SC in several other cartridges and like to stay with as few powders as I can.

Good luck.

Ben

 

[PowellSixO]

Thanks for that information.

I loaded up to 67.0 H1000 using the Berger 168 VLDH bullet. I started at 63.0 gr.

63.0 H1000 gave 2750 fps
67.0 H1000 gave 2856 fps

H4831sc at 60.0 gr (max in my gun) runs just at 2700 fps.

With the H162eldx bullet, I've only loaded from 63.0 to 65.0 gr H1000. I stopped at 65.0 since that load gave me just under 1/2 MOA, and I was happy with the velocity.

65.0 H1000 gave me 2774 fps instrumental velocity in my Barrlein 17.5" bbl.

I have not used H4831sc with the H162eldx bullet.

 

[andrewsben]

doh. Didn't really that was you, guess where we talked more through text your username didn't click when i saw it first. Looks like you finished it off nice.

 

[PowellSixO]

Well with Christmas being so crazy, I didn't get the chance to do ANY shooting. But I did get to set down and reload some rounds. I got 3 rounds loaded from the minimum load with H4831sc, in .3 gr increments, all the way up to max load. I loaded them all .020" off the lands. One interesting thing I noticed while reloading, was the COAL with the ELD-X bullets. With the ELD-X bullets loaded to .020" off the lands, I had just enough magazine length to load these rounds with absolutely no loading issues (roughly 1/16" - 3/32" to spare). Well I happened to have a bunch of 168 gr Berger VLD Hunting bullets with me too, so I decided to compared them to the ELD-X. The design of the two appears to be very similar, but not exact (obviously). So for sh!ts and grins, I measured a VLD to see it's COAL in this new rifle. With the different ogive shape of the VLD, the COAL was quite a bit longer than the ELD-X when loaded to the lands. It was long enought that it would have issues with the magazine. In fact, it would not load in the magazine. So for anyone else looking to do a 7 saum in the future, the ELD-X will work in a Short Action Savage Magazine, but a VLD probably will not (unless you want to load them quite a bit off of the lands). To seat a VLD all the way out to the lands, you would have to work with a Long Action. Or you would have to single feed in the short action. Just thought I'd throw that info out there.