7mm-08 Reloading Questions

[gadawg31]

Question for the gurus. I recently purchased a 7mm-08 for my son and wanted to get some opinions/info regarding reloading. I try to do all my on reloaded and I have a lot of old .308 brass. A buddy told me that I could resize and trim my .308 brass, so I could reload with 7mm-08 bullets. Any thoughts, concerns, suggestions, recommendations? Thanks.

JD

 

[Bwana John]

Works just fine until someone looks at the headstamp and fires it in a .308.

Not really that dangerous, but not very accurate.

Probably not great for the bore.

 

[rcmodel]

Size & trim them to 2.025", if needed.

Then seat a sample bullet and measure the case neck dia. of each and every brand of case you have.
If they are larger then .315" O.D., they will need to be neck reamed or turned.

Now the next question?
Are you also shooting .308 currently?

If you are, you need a real good plan to prevent any chance of mixed up ammo.
Mr. Murphys Law is alive and doing quite well.

rc

 

[gadawg31]

Very good point guys. Murphy has a spare room at my house, so I may try what my pa in-law did and paint his ammo. I know this sound anal, but he taught me to be very OCD when it comes to reloading. After he loads, he has a system for his specialty ammo and a color code go with it. With that said, I may try painting only my .308 and then wire brushing them. This will make the stamp stand out very visiably. Something for me to ponder. Thanks for the info and advice.

JD

 

[Nomad]

I necked down 308 for a number of years when I had a 7mm/08 and 308. I always marked the stamping with a felt tip and when I was done reloading they went in a plastic MTM box with the headstamp up and bullet down. The other thing that helps, if you happen to be using Nosler Ballistic Tips the color of the tip for 7mm and 30 cal are not the same.

 

[sourdough44]

Yes it would work, you mention this is also for your Son. I'd start him out right & just buy 50 or 100 new 7mm-08 cases. Then he has the proper headstamp & with the new cases you won't have any chambering issues. Varget gets high marks in the 7mm-08. JMHO

 

[quartermaster]

I have toyed with the idea of necking up and down .243 and .308 cases a few times, due to the fact of having an excess of one or the other.

There are good points taken above on how to keep them separated to distinguish the diffence, but mistakes do happen and to me for what 50-100 brass costs, it was never worth it.

 

[NeuseRvrRat]

7mm-08 brass is cheap enough that i wouldn't chance it.

if you do decide to neck down .308, you better have a very good way of keeping them separate and also make sure your son fully understands the system and the importance of sticking to it.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Necking down the .308 to 7mm-08 is easy. I've never had a problem with mixing up the brass. I do, however keep them in 50rd plastic boxes with caliber/cartridge clearly marked and color coded (ie:all my 7mm08 are in Red boxes (like the Nosler ballistic tips). (ie: .257's are in blue) and .260's are in "smoke" colored...ect.).

I do match them up in same headstamps (ie: all my 7mm08 are in Federal, Remington, or Winchester brass.... and sorted likewise.). (All my .260Rem are in PPU .243 brass...).

I really, really like Reloader17 in the 7mm08. If you need data, you can essentially substitute RL17 for IMR4350. Velocities will be close to, or slightly higher than H4350.

I'm loading 48.0gr of RL17 under the Hornady 139gr BtSpt for 2,900fps (20"bbl !!!).
46.0 under a 150gr bullet for 2,800fps. Accuracy is as good or better than IMR4350 which has proven to be best powder from my rifle for accuracy. Never have gotten decent accuracy with Varget, IMR4064, H380, or H414.... My rifle is "very, very particular" about what it shoots well. It much prefers slower extruded powders..... And pressures below factory level for good accuracy.

 

[langenc]

Ive dont the opposite accidentially.

Put the case in the press and seemed like quite a bit of push required. Removed case and looked at the headstamp--7mm-08. I was sizing 308s, I thought. Put it in the scrap at $2/pound.

 

[gadawg31]

Thanks guys for all the great advise, but I think sourdough44 really hit it home for me. Your right, it is not worth taking any chances with my son. It's sad I actually had to be reminded of that, but I take pride in my safety practices when reloading, ao I didn't think that far down the road. Goose, thanks for the reloading info! I am going to try it out and see how my rifle likes that potention. Again, thanks for the feedback.

JD

 

[Peter M. Eick]

I will add that the only time I blew a primer in a rifle was a 243 round that got resized to 7-08 and was shot with a normally fine load on a hot day.

A nice puff of gas in the face convinced me to never by a 243 and to keep my 708 brass separate from my 308 brass.