I am a little behind on my load work up for a 7-08. I am looking to load 140 ballistic tips for deer hunting this year. Trying to "make magic happen" by getting a good sub moa load on my first or second try. What is the best powder some of you 7-08 have found to work with the 140's in your rifle? BTW I am out of IMR 4350 and cannot find at anywhere locally.
best powder for 140's in 7mm-08
- Thread starter ReloadKy
- Start date
ammo.crafter
New member
140gr
H332
H332
CarJunkieLS1
New member
I like Varget
When i still had the 7mm-08AI barrel on my Stevens 200 with factory 22" barrel, i tested many powders.
With 140gr bullets, Ballistic Tips, Berger VLD-H, and the Hornady 139gr SST, the following have been my results.
RL17 for highest velocities, and decent accuracy. But had a little higher ES/SD than i wanted for long range.
RL16 gave decent velocity and accuracy. But it's bulky. High compressed loads. And i didn't care for the recoil impulse it gave.
Varget gave good accuracy, but low velocities.
Same with RL15.
H414, and Win 760 (same powder) gave both decent velocities and good accuracy. I wouldn't hesitate to use for a hunting load.
Ditto H4350, but a touch faster than H414 by only about 20fps.
Ramshot Big Game is supposed to give excelldent velocities, but hard to find in my area so without a steady supply i never tried it.
Where does that leave us?
With my top powder pick.
Alliant Power Pro 2000MR.
Velocities that match H414, H4350 but with excellent accuracy.
ES-6 fps
SD-2 fps
That over 10 round string.
With 140gr bullets, Ballistic Tips, Berger VLD-H, and the Hornady 139gr SST, the following have been my results.
RL17 for highest velocities, and decent accuracy. But had a little higher ES/SD than i wanted for long range.
RL16 gave decent velocity and accuracy. But it's bulky. High compressed loads. And i didn't care for the recoil impulse it gave.
Varget gave good accuracy, but low velocities.
Same with RL15.
H414, and Win 760 (same powder) gave both decent velocities and good accuracy. I wouldn't hesitate to use for a hunting load.
Ditto H4350, but a touch faster than H414 by only about 20fps.
Ramshot Big Game is supposed to give excelldent velocities, but hard to find in my area so without a steady supply i never tried it.
Where does that leave us?
With my top powder pick.
Alliant Power Pro 2000MR.
Velocities that match H414, H4350 but with excellent accuracy.
ES-6 fps
SD-2 fps
That over 10 round string.
Savagehawg
New member
46 grn of IMR 4350 on 140gr works good for me getting 1" and under in my 7mm-08 BLR Lever action and i would imagine would be better in a bolt gun, just picked up some H380 which according to the Lyman books is suppose to be best for the 08 so we will see
Best in what way?
Velocity?
Accuracy?
And that is in THEIR "gun" , on THAT day, under THOSE conditions.
Is it an actual gun? Or a receiver & test barrel?
Testing from the bullet and powder manufacturers is done in an enviormentally controled area, and then corrected to standard atmospheric conditions. Those being 59°F, 29.95 hg barometer, at sea level.
Be aware the match shooters are staying away from H380 due to pressure on hot days, and when the chamber gets hot.
Not something i'd want for a hunting setup either.
Wendy,
Your measuring incorrectly. With your calipers measure from the furthest edge to the closest edge. Your group size is actually about half of what your shown measuring.
Maybe one day i'll shoot as well as you!
Velocity?
Accuracy?
And that is in THEIR "gun" , on THAT day, under THOSE conditions.
Is it an actual gun? Or a receiver & test barrel?
Testing from the bullet and powder manufacturers is done in an enviormentally controled area, and then corrected to standard atmospheric conditions. Those being 59°F, 29.95 hg barometer, at sea level.
Be aware the match shooters are staying away from H380 due to pressure on hot days, and when the chamber gets hot.
Not something i'd want for a hunting setup either.
Wendy,
Your measuring incorrectly. With your calipers measure from the furthest edge to the closest edge. Your group size is actually about half of what your shown measuring.
Maybe one day i'll shoot as well as you!
Last edited:
STD mag you are already a better shot I’m sure. You never brag but I’ve seen a few responses on your matches you’ve posted. I just got lucky with this rifle and it is a tack driver. I had some more 200 yard group pictures with the 140 ballistic tips but can’t find the pictures. ReloadKY I’m sure the imr 4350 will be back soon. We had a dry spell here for about 3 months and it’s back on the shelves again. If you use it in a bunch of rifles it’s almost worth the hazmat and buy 8 lb can. We load 4 rifles with imr 4831 and 8 lbs is the cheapest way for us to go.
Std7Mag,
I am intrigued by your results with Power Pro 2000 MR. I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to try it in a 7-08. Looks like it is almost magic in your gun.
The ladies outshoot the gentlemen frequently. In teaching them, I've found they don't bring a lot of preconceptions to the shooting bench, so they listen, and they seem to have better fine motor coordination and more quickly prove able to isolate their trigger finger's movement from the rest of the muscles in their trigger hand. Guys come to the range with a long history of yanking shots with a cap gun, and man, it can take some work to reverse the habits engraved on the brain by that.
I am intrigued by your results with Power Pro 2000 MR. I'm not sure it would have occurred to me to try it in a 7-08. Looks like it is almost magic in your gun.
The ladies outshoot the gentlemen frequently. In teaching them, I've found they don't bring a lot of preconceptions to the shooting bench, so they listen, and they seem to have better fine motor coordination and more quickly prove able to isolate their trigger finger's movement from the rest of the muscles in their trigger hand. Guys come to the range with a long history of yanking shots with a cap gun, and man, it can take some work to reverse the habits engraved on the brain by that.