7mm-08 powder start

[williaada]

Getting ready to start reloading for a 7mm-08 I have the following powders. Going to be running 140 gr nosler ACcubonds. What powder should I start with.

Vagrant
Big Game
4064
Stabile
R15

 

[Arcola]

Everyone I talk to touts Varget or Big Game. Varget seems to be faster. I have both but I’m stuck on H4895. Started there and no reason to look further.

 

[Cousin Basil]

IMR 4064 worked best in my rifles with 140 Partitions and BT's.

 

[BuzzH]

Varget, H4350, RL-15, RL-19 all have worked well for me with 140's.

H380 (if shooting 120's).

 

[Addicting]

Everyone I talk to touts Varget or Big Game. Varget seems to be faster. I have both but I’m stuck on H4895. Started there and no reason to look further.

Big game is faster than Varget, Varget is more stable than Big game.

Big game can creep faster and faster in a warm barrel.

 

[Farmerj]

Everyone I talk to touts Varget or Big Game. Varget seems to be faster. I have both but I’m stuck on H4895. Started there and no reason to look further.

I was going to suggest 4895 (either variant) or 4064

 

[N2TRKYS]

Start and finish with Big Game. Wake that 7-08 up.

 

[MThuntr]

Varget is my choice purely on consistency. Big game produces good groups but is temp sensitive

I use imr4166 which is a varget copycat

 

[Dan O]

Hodgdon's reloading site also shows 6.5 Stabil as the fastest load for 140's. Has anyone tried it yet?

Anyone load for a specialty pistol in 7-08? Curious what you came up with. I have a Savage Striker in 7-08 just going to try to develop a good antelope/mule deer load with Nosler 140 BT.

 

[blueridge]

I tested loads with both Varget and Big Game. Varget worked better for me.

 

[N2TRKYS]

For those that have seen temp issues with Big Game, what were the details? I’ve been shooting it for several years now with no temp issues.

 

[Farmerj]

Hodgdon's reloading site also shows 6.5 Stabil as the fastest load for 140's. Has anyone tried it yet?

Anyone load for a specialty pistol in 7-08? Curious what you came up with. I have a Savage Striker in 7-08 just going to try to develop a good antelope/mule deer load with Nosler 140 BT.

I’d personally start with a powder at the faster end of the chart.

 

[Addicting]

For those that have seen temp issues with Big Game, what were the details? I’ve been shooting it for several years now with no temp issues.

I notice it on warmer range days. As the barrel heats up it seems to constantly speed up and the groups open up. But I am still able to get a 5 shot group touching holes. There just has to be 3-4 min between shots. On a hunting situation with cooler temps I feel comfortable using it.

Varget didn’t do it as bad and stayed more consistent but was quite a bit slower. So if you need to machine gun groups in the summer, Varget is better.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I notice it on warmer range days. As the barrel heats up it seems to constantly speed up and the groups open up. But I am still able to get a 5 shot group touching holes. There just has to be 3-4 min between shots. On a hunting situation with cooler temps I feel comfortable using it.

Varget didn’t do it as bad and stayed more consistent but was quite a bit slower. So if you need to machine gun groups in the summer, Varget is better.

Thanks for the info. I only develop loads at my normal hunting temps and never shoot in the summer.

 

[MThuntr]

Hodgdon's reloading site also shows 6.5 Stabil as the fastest load for 140's. Has anyone tried it yet?

Anyone load for a specialty pistol in 7-08? Curious what you came up with. I have a Savage Striker in 7-08 just going to try to develop a good antelope/mule deer load with Nosler 140 BT.

I have tried it with 140gr Etips. It was fast but threw some not great ES and SD numbers except at the very high end of max

 

[Farmerj]

Wouldn’t get too wrapped up on SD and ES.

 

[AckleyHunter]

Hodgdon's reloading site also shows 6.5 Stabil as the fastest load for 140's. Has anyone tried it yet?

Anyone load for a specialty pistol in 7-08? Curious what you came up with. I have a Savage Striker in 7-08 just going to try to develop a good antelope/mule deer load with Nosler 140 BT.

The Staball data is way too fast. I was getting faster loads from RL15 and accuracy was poor (22 in tikka t3) from 140 BT/accubond. 41.5 gr RL15 for 140s gives me 2850 fps and one hole groups.

 

[MThuntr]

Wouldn’t get too wrapped up on SD and ES.

That's all fun and games but consistent loads are why I reload. If I wanted garbage numbers I'd shoot factory ammo

 

[Farmerj]

That's all fun and games but consistent loads are why I reload. If I wanted garbage numbers I'd shoot factory ammo

How to say, “I didn’t watch the video…”

Without saying you didn’t watch the video….

 

[huntnpack]

I've been playing with staball 6.5 with 162 gr ELD-X. Not hating the results so far.