7-08 deer load

rickt300

New member
Well I fooled around and found this years deer load. Actually I found several. I won't list the WC852 data only to say it was very accurate and a bit mild as for speed. My bullet choice is the 145 gr. Speer BTSP and the 140 gr. Nosler Partition. The Hornady 139 BTSP shot poorly in this rifle sad to say. However I tried IMR 4895 topping out over book max by 2 grains and getting very good accuracy. But I wanted a bit more velocity for no good reason. My lease is in the panhandle plains region of Texas which has high grass, mesquite and live oak trees and a heck of a long shot is 150 yards. I just today looked the property over and paid for the right to hunt as soon as I could. The bucks are big bodied weighing 200 or a bit more live weight. 8 and 10 points generally in the 120 - 140 class on average though some of the game cam pics showed me a 160 class buck. Originally I was going to hunt Wyoming this year hence wanting the most speed I could get out of my 18 1/2 inch barrel though I would take two rifles on this hunt if I went to it. So I looked for some Big Game powder but alas there was none at the Cabelas, second choice was H414. I worked up to Hodgens book max with no issues and MOA accuracy. Recoil alone told me I was gettin more than I was out of IMR 4895, had to lower POI 1 inch to be at 3 inches high from previous sight in. The 145 Speer seems to be a fine bullet and it printed tight groups with every load tested.
 
I have 3, 7-08's that I load for and I get great results with 120 to 130 gr pellets on top of varget powder, 1/2" groups at 100 and 1 shot kills..
 
Mine was a Stevens 200 (Savage 10) with 22" barrel.
I eventially reamed the chamber to 7mm-08AI.

While the Hornady 139gr SST grouped fairly well (0.78 for 5 shot group at 100 yards) i could often cut sizes down with the Nosler 140gr Ballistic Tip, and the 140gr Berger VLD Hunting.

Top velocities came from RL17, with decent ES/SD.
Had good grouping with H414 (same powder as Win 760), IMR4350, H4895.
Best accuracy came from Alliant PP2000. ES of 7fps, SD of 2fps.

For your distances, i'd go to the RL17. Will give you 50-100 fps over any other powder i tested. Alas, i was never able to find Big Game locally, so could not test it.
 
The rifle is a model 7 Remington and as to accuracy I have been pleasantly surprised how well it shoots with most bullets. I only ran one powder for the testing with the 139 gr. Hornady spbt bullet and it yielded 1 3/4 inch groups. The other loads and bullets generally put three in an inch. IMR 4895 provided many tight groups and is a good enough powder for the vast majority of purposes this rifle would be used for. Top velocities with this powder average just over 2600 fps. I looked in several manuals at the 4895 data and find I am only 2 grains above max in one of them. I worked with 140 and 150 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips, the 160 gr. Speer Hotcor, the Speer 145 gr BTSP and the 140 gr. Nosler Partition. Final sight in puts the H414 145 gr. Speer load 3 inches high at 100 yards and the 140 gr. Partition powered by IMR 4350 2 inches high at the same distance. Those two loads will work perfectly for the rifles two tasks, the Partition for night hunting big feral hogs and the Speer for my deer hunting.
 
After rereading the OP's post I see that he is shooting a model 7 which I also have in 7-08 and I have tested many different bullets weights for that rifle, my best load for that came out to be a 140 gr Sierra SPBT on top of a healthy dose of Varget, average 1" groups and drops em DRT...
 
I ifgure that is good enough for such a light handy rifle. I replaced my Walnut with a Predator camou stock. Balances much better but doesn't look as good.
 
I chronied the load using 47.0 grains of H414 (max listed load in Speer manual) popped with a CCI 250 magnum primer under the Speer 145 gr. BTSP. The three shots averaged 2745 fps. A bit faster than i expected from my 18 1/2 inch barrel but I am still happy with it.
 
My Tikka really eats 120 grain Barnes TTSX like candy with IMR 4350 and BR2match primers. Sub moa groups zeroed in at 200 yards. It will stay moa with anything from 120 to 160 but best accuracy is the 120.
 
I have a Ruger American Compact in 7mm-08 and my son has Remington Model 7 in 7mm-08 as well. I bought it for him when he was 1 year old and then spent the next 13-14 years "breaking it in" for him while deer hunting before he took it over. Killed a bunch of deer with that rifle, vast majority were one shot DRT hammer of God type kills (one spine shot was the exception).

I reload for the 7mm-08 but I've found that Hornady's American Whitetail ammo with the 139 grn Interlock bullet to be pretty full-proof.

I loves me some 7mm-08 in handy compact and light rifles!!! :D
 
My 7mm-08 was a 22" barrel Stevens 200, not the 18.5" barrel the OP has.
My findings were as such.
I shot mostly the 140gr bullets, feeling that heavier bullets being longer, infringed on powder space.
Highest velocities were gotten with RL17, with decent accuracy and ES/SD numbers.
H414, H4350, IMR4350 gave decent velocities with decent accuracy & ES/SD.
Alliant PP2000 gave same velocities as previous 3 powders with best accuracy, ES of 6fpr, SD of 2fps. This over 10 rounds.
IMR4895, Varget, RL15 all gave good accuracy with decent ES/SD, but lowest velocities.
Bullets tested ranged from 120gr. Hornady HPFB Varmint(discontinued) to 160 gr Sierra HPBT GameKing.
Note, one of my best ever groups came fron 160gr HPBT GameKing and RL19.
Bullets mostly used were 139gr SST, 140gr Nosler Ballistic Tip.
Form(COAL) and G1 BC are the same between the two, however group size at any distance was cut almost in half with the Ballistic Tip vs the SST.
Also used was the 140gr Berger VLD Hunting. Slightly higher BC than the Ballistic Tip & SST.
These liked to be up close & personal to the lands though. 0.005" off the lands.
Ballistic Tips performed well (as always) on game, usually leaving an exit wound.
The Berger VLD also performed well on game. Giving bullet sized hole on entry, with no exit wound. Bullet got on past rib & came apart with massive internal damage. Jacket found under offside hide.

When it comes to shooting small little cloverleafs, i'd highly advise listening to WendyJ!
Glad she doesn't shoot against me in matches!
 
Reynolds357,
Win 760 is essentially the same as H414.
Hodgdon load data between the 2 is identical, in both charge weight and velocities.
Both are a great powder in the 7mm-08 with everything from 120gr-145gr bullets.
For 150gr and heavier, RL19 is your friend.
 
I chronied the load using 47.0 grains of H414 (max listed load in Speer manual) popped with a CCI 250 magnum primer under the Speer 145 gr. BTSP. The three shots averaged 2745 fps. A bit faster than i expected from my 18 1/2 inch barrel but I am still happy with it.
Curious on the Mag primer use for 47 grains of powder. I like 145 Speers.
 
Reynolds357,
Win 760 is essentially the same as H414.
Hodgdon load data between the 2 is identical, in both charge weight and velocities.
Both are a great powder in the 7mm-08 with everything from 120gr-145gr bullets.
For 150gr and heavier, RL19 is your friend.
Good to know because I have a pile of 760 I need to do something with.
 
Yes, they are both cannister grade WC760 from the St. Marks, Florida plant. The 2009 and earlier MSDS sheets revealed this, but then the law changed to allow companies to keep more MSDS information proprietary than they used to, so it disappeared. Here are the other equivalents I collected back then.

Code:
Powders from 2009 MSDS sheets (some newer MSDS sheets lack the powder name information due to
changes in MSDS requirement regulations).

Note that bulk grade versions have wider burn rate specs and can vary significantly from the
canister grades, which are controlled for burn rate by blending with held back fast or slow 
lots, as needed to adjust them to within ±3% of their nominal burn rates.

     Canister      | Bulk Grade |       Canister         | Canister |      Canister        |
      Grade        |            |        Grade           |  Grade   |       Grade          |
                   | St. Marks  |                        |          |                      |
     Hodgdon       | Mil & OEM  |      Winchester        | Thales   |        IMR           |
___________________|__Numbers___|________________________|__(ADI)___|______________________|_
                   |            |                        |          |                      |
HP-38--------------|-- OBP231 --|- 231 ------------------|----------|----------------------|-
                   |   OBP124   |  AALite (WFL)          |          |                      |
Titewad            |   OBP132   |                        |          |                      |
Tightgroup --------|-- OBP242 --|------------------------|----------|----------------------|-
                   |   OBP465   |  Super-Handicap (WSH)  |          |                      |
Longshot           |   OBP473   |                        |          |                      |
Lil' Gun ----------|-- OBP516 --|------------------------|----------|----------------------|-
Hybrid 100V        |   SHP771   |                        |          |                      |
                   |   SMP224   |  AutoComp              |          |                      |
-------------------|--- WAA90 --|- WST ------------------|----------|----------------------|-
H110               |    WC296   |  296                   |          |                      |
HS-6               |    WC540   |  540                   |          |                      |
HS-7               |    WC571   |  571                   |          |                      |
-------------------|--- WC748 --|- 748 ------------------|----------|----------------------|-
H414               |    WC760   |  760                   |          |                      |
H335               |    WC844   |                        |          |                      |
BL-C(2)------------|--- WC846 --|------------------------|----------|----------------------|-
H380               |    WC852   |                        |          |                      |
US869              |    WC869   |                        |          |                      |
-------------------|-- WMR780 --|- Supreme 780 ----------|----------|----------------------|-
                   |   WXC170   |  WSF                   |          |                      |
Clays              |            |                        |  AS30N   |                      |
International Clays|------------|------------------------|- AS50N --|----------------------|-
Universal Clays    |            |                        |  AP70N   |                      |
H4227              |            |                        |  AR2205  |IMR 4227 second source|
H4198 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2207 -|----------------------|-
                   |            |                        |   BM1    |                      |
H322               |            |                        |  AR2219  |                      |
Benchmark          |            |                        |   BM2    |                      |
-------------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2210 -|- IMR 8208 XBR -------|-
H4895              |            |                        |  AR2206H |                      |
Varget             |            |                        |  AR2208  |                      |
H4350 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2209 -|----------------------|-
H4831              |            |                        |  AR2213  |                      |
H4831SC            |            |                        | AR2213SC |                      |
H1000 -------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2217 -|----------------------|-
Retumbo            |            |                        |  AR2225  |                      |
H50BMG             |            |                        |  AR2218  |                      |
-------------------|------------|------------------------|- AR2215 -|IMR 4198 second source|
                   |            |                        |  AS25BP  |IMR Trail Boss        |
 
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