Custom 7mm-08 Build Finished

[firstshot425]

Just picked up my 7mm-08 build from Tumbleweeds Custom Rifles of Round Rock, TX last night. I'm extremely pleased to say the least. Dropped of all the parts on Jan 21 so build only took 62 days total. Mark Pharr did an excellent job.

• Remington 700 Action
• 24" 1/9 twist Bartlein #3 Heavy Sporter Contour R5 Barrel
• Boyd's Laminated Prairie Hunter Stock
• Kepplinger Single Set Trigger
• Zeiss HD5 Conquest 5-25x50 w/target turrets
• VRL-1 Varment Light w/Red & Green modules (Removable)
• Glass Bedded
• Free Floated
• Squared Bolt Face
• Barrel & Action Beed Blasted to Match
• Pachmayr Decelerator Pad
• Boonie Packer Sling
  

Here are a few pics.

Can't wait to take her out this weekend and see how she shoots.

 

[tonedaddy]

Nice!

 

[Erik Cortina]

Besides the sling it looks great. I don't like anything touching the barrel of my guns.

Nice gun.

 

[jonbearman]

Congrats,it looks real nice.Let us know how she shoots.

 

[firstshot425]

Thanks guys! I sure hope she shoots too!! Going to the range this weekend.

Eirk
The sling is only on from & to the stand. I take it off as soon as I get in the blind. I've had it bang against the window and spook game before, so I always take it off.

 

[mattri]

Looks great! What twist did you go with, what bullets do you plan to use? What kind of hunting?

 

[firstshot425]

The barrel is a 24" 1 in 9 twist. I've got a few pet loads to try. Will start out with 140 Sierra ProHunters over max load of IMR 4350. They have been the most accurate in every gun I've tried so far. Another favorite is the Speer 145 HotCor again over IMR4350. Also plan to try out some Nosler 120 ballistic tips on top of Varget. Never shot these before but read a lot of good comments about them.

I primarilly hunt deer and hogs in the hill country north west of Austin, TX. Also do a bit of preditor calling for coyotes and bob cat

Most of our hunting is from elevated blinds with majority of shots being from 50 - 250 yds. We've got quite a bit of open ground on our lease so a 250-400 yd shot could present itself.

 

[mattri]

Sounds like you made an excellent decision, can't wait for the range report.

 

[Erik Cortina]

The barrel is a 24" 1 in 9 twist. I've got a few pet loads Will start out with 140 Sierra ProHunters over max load of IMR 4350. They have been the most accurate in every gun I've tried so far. Another favorite is the Speer 145 HotCor again over IMR4350. Also plan to try out some Nosler 120 ballistic tips on top of Varget. Never shot these before but read a lot of good comments about them.

I primarilly hunt deer and hogs in the hill country north west of Austin, TX. Also do a bit of preditor calling for coyotes and bob cat

Most of our hunting is from elevated blinds with majority of shots being from 50 - 250 yds. We've got quite a bit of open ground on our lease so a 250-400 yd shot could present itself.

Not the smartest move. Start low and work up. Keep it safe.

 

[firstshot425]

The barrel is a 24" 1 in 9 twist. I've got a few pet loads Will start out with 140 Sierra ProHunters over max load of IMR 4350. They have been the most accurate in every gun I've tried so far. Another favorite is the Speer 145 HotCor again over IMR4350. Also plan to try out some Nosler 120 ballistic tips on top of Varget. Never shot these before but read a lot of good comments about them.

I primarilly hunt deer and hogs in the hill country north west of Austin, TX. Also do a bit of preditor calling for coyotes and bob cat

Most of our hunting is from elevated blinds with majority of shots being from 50 - 250 yds. We've got quite a bit of open ground on our lease so a 250-400 yd shot could present itself.

Not the smartest move. Start low and work up. Keep it safe.

Thanks for the advise Eric. I really do appreciate your concern, but I've been reloading for 30 years and I do not start out with hot loads. I should have worded the post better, and in future post I will be sure to make it clear that I am working up to a max load so as not to give the wrong impression to new reloaders.

 

[kolar55]

You may want to try some WW 760 with the Nosler 120 Ballistic tips. I have found very good accuracy and velocities are good too. Flows through a powder measure nice too! That combination has taken a number of whitetails.

 

[firstshot425]

You may want to try some WW 760 with the Nosler 120 Ballistic tips. I have found very good accuracy and velocities are good too. Flows through a powder measure nice too! That combination has taken a number of whitetails.

I was looking at WW 760 in the loading manual. It shows the two top loads of 50G & 52G as being compressed loads at 104% and 108%. I've never loaded compressed loads before. What load level are your using? Have you had any issues loading these compressed loads?

 

[jonbearman]

You can reload with compressed loads but you need alittle heavier neck tension so the bullet doesnt back out after sitting awhile.Or you can do it with light neck tension ,but be sure to reseat before you shoot.

 

[kyreloader]

IMR8208XBR was magic with the 120g Nosler BT in my friends Model 7. That powder gave me the best accuracy and took away most of any temperature worries needed for a one load for everything load.

Those 120g NBTs have worked awesome for the 4-5 whitetails that he has killed with it.

 

[kolar55]

You may want to try some WW 760 with the Nosler 120 Ballistic tips. I have found very good accuracy and velocities are good too. Flows through a powder measure nice too! That combination has taken a number of whitetails.

I was looking at WW 760 in the loading manual. It shows the two top loads of 50G & 52G as being compressed loads at 104% and 108%. I've never loaded compressed loads before. What load level are your using? Have you had any issues loading these compressed loads?

I had to go look up what load I was using as the CRS kinda took over here, but this is used in a factory Remington 700 BDL. 47,5 gn. of 760 is giving me about 2850. This was the load my daughter used for hunting. As I said accuracy was superb and cases last as this isn't a hot load. I also had a stiff load of Varget listed in my notes but the 760 seemed to shoot better. Your mileage may vary. Good luck-that is a fine looking piece you have there-my cup of tea(so to speak). Lonnie

 

[firstshot425]

Well, looks like I've got IMR4350 and H414 on the bench so I'll be using IMR4350 with the Sierra 140 ProHunters and the H414 with the NBT 120's.

Going to try to get to the range this weekend with the Sierra's. Will post a report when I've got one.

 

[firstshot425]

Well....snake bit twice!..... it's always something :-(

1. Started to put together some reloads and when I used my Stoney Point OAL gauge to measure the distance to the lands for a Sierra 140 SPT I got a 2.465 OGIV. That would make overall bullet length 2.945 from base to tip. Max for a 7mm-08 is 2.800. I tried the same with a 120 NBT and when you hit the lands the base of the bullet is no linger in the case. Soooooo, it's back to the gunsmith.

2. Clasic case of "My Bad"! I had some Sierra 140 SPT's already loaded up with a OGIV of 2.292 so I knew they wouldn't reach the lands in the new rifle. Only problem is, I "probably" grabbed one to try that was a 308 case necked down to 7mm-08. Now it's stuck in the match chamber and the bolt will not budge. Anyone know how to get a "live" stuck round out of a bolt action?

 

[firstshot425]

Never mind... I got the round unstuck!

 

[jsthntn247]

That's why I had mine built on a long action=to seat the longer bullets out further and still feed in a magazine. The biggest error folks make is not getting throat length correct from the start.

 

[kolar55]

Curious to know how the 7-08 is coming along. Were you able to get it to shoot?