Out of the loop... 7mm bullet choice still suffering?

[Old Rooster]

I have not been able to find Nosler Accubond bullets for the past 3 years or so.
I bought 180 gr Hammer Hunters and used my old load for the accubond bullets and first 3 shots I matched my best group I ever had with Accubonds.
I'm sick of hunting for bullets so it's Hammer bullets for me from now on.
Yep they cost a little more but I feel they are worth it.
Old Rooster

 

[slickyboyboo]

Thanks Steve for the clarification and offer. I honestly haven't looked for powder for a while but I'd love to get ahold of some rl16 and try to replicate your 280AI data with the absolutes. Like you say, hard to settle when you know what it can do. I actually bought a smaller neck bushing and a lee crimper to try to make h4831 less anemic when I had a stockpile. Then I sold some to buy a bow so it's a little irrelevant. I'll try to reach out.

I'm shooting the 155 Absolute Hammers with RL16 and Steve's advise. 25" barrel, I'm at 3186 fps and sub 1/4 MOA. It took me 12 rounds to develop that load, 5 of those were confirming velocity. They are phenomenal bullets!

 

[Phil09]

The bullet supply situation seems to just go on and on! Tim McWhorter is building me a .280 AI now and I asked him to work up a load with Hammer Hunters because at the time we set the build, they were about the only thing available. Fortunately Hammer has continued to keep inventory in stock so that is the direction I will take. So many good reports on their products - looking forward to shooting them. I love Nosler bullets and have used them for years but their apparent overwhelmed production and pitiful tiny trickling of supply into the reloading market makes me wonder. They aren't the only ones for sure. I like the old Sierra 130gr GameKing in my .270 and those were not available for over two years. Crazy.

 

[chav0_12]

I didn't read much of this. My take is, Nosler right now sucks for bullets. I don't think I've seen or bought a Nosler bullet that I need/want in a few years. I have in stock notifications set up on their site and I haven't gotten anything from them. Granted, they might be sending them all out. I have however been able to find some Hornady and Berger bullets, only the Berger in 7mm, I haven't looked for Hornady in 7mm, yet. I have in stock notifications set up in quite a few places and some bigger sellers that should be getting shipments but like I said I haven't seen anything Nosler in a while. It might be time to switch.

 

[oregonbowguy]

I got lucky late last year and found 12 boxes of the 7mm 140 Accubonds on sale at a hardware store in Pendleton OR. They also had 6 boxes of 6.5 140 gr Accubonds on sale. If you have a D&B Outfitter store near you, they might surprise you....good luck in your search.

One other tip, my wife likes yard sales. She often finds families selling off "dad's reloading stuff". This is the time of year for scoring at yards sales.

 

[FEENIX]

I didn't read much of this. My take is, Nosler right now sucks for bullets. I don't think I've seen or bought a Nosler bullet that I need/want in a few years. I have in stock notifications set up on their site and I haven't gotten anything from them. Granted, they might be sending them all out. I have however been able to find some Hornady and Berger bullets, only the Berger in 7mm, I haven't looked for Hornady in 7mm, yet. I have in stock notifications set up in quite a few places and some bigger sellers that should be getting shipments but like I said I haven't seen anything Nosler in a while. It might be time to switch.

Agreed! The major bullet manufacturers will always try to cater to their bread and butter money-maker contracts and ammunitions over hand loaders. What trickles down to the shelves or is available online is scarce, pricey, and quickly sold. I started this thread over a year ago https://www.longrangehunting.com/th...the-local-gun-store-empty-handed-rule.255740/ to help prepare and sustain my hobby. It also forced me to try other bullets and powders to try. I can use them for trading for items I am not keen to use.

 

[just_jon]

Another nice option offered by the guys at Hammer are 15 count sample packs. It is a cost effective way to try a number of different bullets. Judging from the number of bullet clean out classified, I'm not the only one here that has a bunch of half full boxes of bullets that either didn't work out or got put aside when another shiny thing caught our attention. In my case the shiny thing was hammer bullets.

 

[257Tony]

What part of Utah are you in? Smith & Edwards in N. Ogden area has had lots of Bergers available off and on.

 

[Swamplord]

saw these on the shelf yesterday at one place, pretty sure there's more at other stores

,,,

 

[JakeC]

What part of Utah are you in? Smith & Edwards in N. Ogden area has had lots of Bergers available off and on.

I work one exit down, I didn't know they carried reloading stuff. Nice.

 

[KCJCOCOM]

As far as I can tell the situation for 7mm pills isn't much better than it was, still extremely slow to get back on the shelves, is that correct? I've been away from my rifle for a year now, took a deep dive into bowhunting, but I drew a pretty good deer tag and need to get shooting again. There's also a very high likelihood of a spike/cow hunt on the same unit. My problem is ranges on the unit can be high, high enough that I need to practice a bunch and I'm not sure I have quite enough 168 Accubond LR to get as good as I need to be. I have about 100 more 180ELDMs but I'm seeing some mixed messages about their performance. Granted every bullet has that on one end or the other. What are people's feelings about these two?

Is anyone getting any Nosler 7mm bullets anywhere?

For the record I'm shooting a SAUM with h4831sc. 168 is right around 2800, 180 is around 2650. I'll chronograph them in the next couple weeks.

I would absolutely try hammers but between bowhunting prep and needing to procure a different powder and just not having the reloading talent yet I don't think that's going to happen. Anyone in Utah have experience I can rent?

Gold Country Ammo manufactures 7mm bullets as well as many other calibers - soft tip and hollow tip in several styles. High precision, custom bullets can be ordered in almost any grain. www.goldcountryammo.com

 

[BEARWalker73]

After running the 169 HH in my 7-LRM I'd never go back to a Barnes. Hammers have similar or better BC, even though the Barnes are tipped, and more consistent terminally. And you can run the Hammers a good bit faster. Easier on your barrel too, I wager.

284 / 169 HH - G7 .285 (1.562")
284 / 168 Barnes LRX - G7 .271 (1.595")

284 / 143 HH - G7 BC .230 (1.40″) - lightning
284 / 145 Barnes LRX - G7 .239 (1.418")

Would you be interested in sharing the data your have on the HH 169. Powder type and gr. Weight/ Feet/ Sec. Etc. Always looking for another great load for my 7mm Mag. Also what would be the twist on your barell. Mine is 9.5.

 

[tooth doc]

As far as I can tell the situation for 7mm pills isn't much better than it was, still extremely slow to get back on the shelves, is that correct? I've been away from my rifle for a year now, took a deep dive into bowhunting, but I drew a pretty good deer tag and need to get shooting again. There's also a very high likelihood of a spike/cow hunt on the same unit. My problem is ranges on the unit can be high, high enough that I need to practice a bunch and I'm not sure I have quite enough 168 Accubond LR to get as good as I need to be. I have about 100 more 180ELDMs but I'm seeing some mixed messages about their performance. Granted every bullet has that on one end or the other. What are people's feelings about these two?

Is anyone getting any Nosler 7mm bullets anywhere?

For the record I'm shooting a SAUM with h4831sc. 168 is right around 2800, 180 is around 2650. I'll chronograph them in the next couple weeks.

I would absolutely try hammers but between bowhunting prep and needing to procure a different powder and just not having the reloading talent yet I don't think that's going to happen. Anyone in Utah have experience I can rent?

it takes a little faith to take a step in a new direction buy sometimes it is worth it. i have been shooting berger 195,s in my 28 nosler. i met steve and brian from hammer on our way to africa and again on our way home. steve convinced me to try the 143 hh in my 28. this year in africa i took blesbok at 530, blue wildabeast with good hits at 680. 720, 780, they are tough, and zebra at 980 and 1046. accuracy under .5 moa with a load i just picked shot for speed and at 100 yds. i had no more time. used ballistic chart for the alltitude i was at. which was dead on the money. for me it was so easy and these hh 143,s were so effective. and on game that are big and tough.

 

[sfdoc2000]

Just received 200 Berger 7mm 164 VLD's from Optics Planet. Reasonable price.