Kinda wondering about 7mm-08

[doninreno]

I normally shoot a 6mm BR in competitions, but I'm now showing about 2500 rounds through that barrel and it has shot LOTS of groups in the .2 to .4 MOA range at 300 yards. HOWEVER, now I'm looking for something to play with and happen to have on hand the misc. parts to put together a 7mm-08 using a 22", 1:8.5 twist Bartlein barrel (that was shortened from a pretty new .284 barrel that I used in F-Open rifle), Mack Bros action, Timney trigger (two stage) and a VORTEX Viper scope all screwed onto a Manners T2-A. The rig will be shot off of a SEB NEO with an Edgewood rear bag most of the time.

What I am trying to accomplish here is to use up some powder (and I have lots of variety here) and have a fair selection of bullets on hand that I want to use up while I finish shooting my current 6mmBR out and wait for my new Bartlein 6mm barrel to show up, get chambered (may wind up as a 6mmGT!?!?) and put into use in place of the current barrel on my 6mm BR. I like to shoot in our club's 300 yard matches and would like to continue to do so and have pretty much always been lucky enough to wind up on the podium, so I'd like to be "at least competitive" with the 7-08 if I can. (and yes, I do have other rifles handy, but just want to play with the 7-08!)

So---I'm going to have to do some load development work, but would like to hear from you guys about what has worked "well" and may just turn out to be a "lights out" hammer (yeah...I know...I'm a dreamer) in my rifle and maybe come up with a reasonable starting point, knowing that my rifle may or may not like what you guys have found to be "quite good" with bullets in the 120/130grain to 162 grain range. So, please let me know what recipes happened to work well for you and I'll have a starting point and hopefully have some fun!

Thanks! And I'll try to keep you all posted on what I find!!

 

[doninreno]

Well, here is how it turned out:
(For convenience all loads are .002 headspace, .002" off the lands and .002 neck tension and all primers are GM210 LRP from Federal) All shot at 100 yards with very little wind and 5 shot groups. All shot with Mack Bros action with an 8.7 twist 22 1/2" Bartlein barrel in a Manners T2-a stock off of a SEB NEO with only a sandbag rear rest.

1st load: 139 gr. Hornady BTSP, 40.0 gr Varget, 3000 fps (questionable!), SD 20.1 and 1.03 MOA
2nd load: 120 gr. NOSLER Ballistic Tip, 44.0 gr Vihtavouri N140, 2716 fps, SD 14.3 and .91 MOA
3rd load: 145 gr SPEER BTSP, 38.5 gr VARGET, 2622 fps, SD 12.8, .51 MOA

4th and 5th loads (45.5 gr H4350) and 40.0 gr Varget) produced MOAs of 1.64 and 1.94, so not worth listing though the VARGET load did show a decent SD of 7.6.
I liked the 145gr Speer load with the Varget, so I shot it again at 300 yards with basically the same results as above, so I think I'll use this load for future development and see what kind of groups/speeds/SDs I can come up with and maybe luck out and get better groups sizes!

 

[64Rambler]

I ran a 7mm08 my first year of F-Open mid range. It's quite capable. When I get home I'll post loads and targets.