7mm-08 E-tips

[CowboyLeroy]

I bought a few boxes of the 140 grain etips a few months ago for my 7mm-08, and they shot great at one and two hundred yards but once I stretched it out to three hundred the groups went absolutely wild. (I'm talking nine or ten inches here) so I moved back to 200 and was shooting in the one to two inch range size group. Is there anybody else experiencing this? My initial thought was the bullet may be too long for a 1:9 barrel to stabilize, but I can put 150's under three inches @ 400. I'm not on some holy crusade to abolish lead ammo, but I did like the way the copper sabots worked in my muzzleloader. Mostly I just don't want to get hung with 65 dollar bullets that don't shoot worth a fact. If anybody has an idea shoot it to me please.

 

[blueridge]

1:9 is more than adequate to stabilize a 140g Etip. Was the 300 yd shots after the barrel was hot? Maybe try from a dead cold barrel.

 

[G. McAlister]

Could be your scope might be slightly off level or aligned slightly off. Did you change anything with your setup between distances?

 

[CowboyLeroy]

Could be your scope might be slightly off level or aligned slightly off. Did you change anything with your setup between distances?

No that's what's so confusing. It shot great at 200, couldn't hit the target at 300 and then went right back to shooting great at 200

 

[1_pointer]

I'm guessing it's not a mechanical issue then. I've had bad days at distance...

 

[CowboyLeroy]

I'm guessing it's not a mechanical issue then. I've had bad days at distance...

WATCHU TRYIN TO SAY

 

[6mm Remington]

Rough crowd.............but funny!

 

[Beanland_fan]

My experience; I shoot the same ammo (I think), Nosler E-tip factory ammo. I don’t have a problem getting a good group at 300 yards, often less than 3”. Gave me confidence to shoot a cow elk at 370 yards.

 

[std7mag]

I'm guessing it's not a mechanical issue then. I've had bad days at distance...

I've had the bad distance hangup before.
Good groups at 100, 300. But just couldn't get anything going at 200.

Leroy,
What did the holes look like in your 300 yard target?
Nice & circular, or oblonged?

 

[CowboyLeroy]

I've had the bad distance hangup before.
Good groups at 100, 300. But just couldn't get anything going at 200.

Leroy,
What did the holes look like in your 300 yard target?
Nice & circular, or oblonged?

The ones that hit the target were circular, so they weren't in a full tumble that I know of.

 

[Dougfirtree]

I don't know the answer, but my kids' .308 does the same thing with 130 grain TTSX's.

It would be interesting to re-do the load development (is this a handload?) at 300 yards and see if there's another node that shoots well there and acceptably well at 100 too...

 

[CowboyLeroy]

So an update on the accuracy troubles, I think it could have been an issue with barrel temps. My rifle has a pretty heavy barrel so I suppose it could have overheated without me realizing. Below is a 300 yd target.

 

[blueridge]

That’ll do for 300. Nice to have some confidence back.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

That’ll do for 300. Nice to have some confidence back.

Confidence is key. Unfortunately I only have twenty more rounds to be confident in, with no confidence in finding another box before the season starts

 

[Beanland_fan]

@CowboyLeroy i might have some boxes of the Nosler factory 140 E-tip ammo stashed away. I’ll check and PM you in a couple days.

 

[CowboyLeroy]

@CowboyLeroy i might have some boxes of the Nosler factory 140 E-tip ammo stashed away. I’ll check and PM you in a couple days.

Sounds good to me!