Doc7
Member
I shot my first handloads today...it was very fun and I am glad I have delved into this. For 7mm-08, the cost savings are significant unlike loading for my 9mm pistol or my 223 rifle. Savings on the order of almost a dollar per round for my typical hunting ammo are available for the 7-08.
I started with a good factory load, Federal blue box which is a Hotcor bullet. They call it a 150 but the only .284 Hotcor is 145grn so that is what I bought. I also have Nosler Ballistic tips to move on to next as a deer round, but the Speer bullet itself is already a good deer bullet and much cheaper to be an everyday practice round.
I loaded all rounds to COAL of 2.730" which is what all load sources for this bullet call for (Speer site and Hodgdon load data site), using 9 1/2 primer.
Edited to add: New Starline Brass, which was FL Sized, trimmed to 2.025", chamfered, deburred, Primer pocket uniformed, flash hole uniformed. Lyman Ram Primer seated all primers to 0.004".
All groups were 3 shots for initial data purposes.
I started with a factory load warmup off of sandbags prone and shot a 1.035" group (range is 92 yards). Then I proceeded to my handloads with IMR-4895 and I shot my 3 "Sighter" rounds (utilizing the OCW website as a source of how to start off selecting charge increments) which were 38.5 grn, 39.4 grn and 40.2 grn. These went into a 1.118" group so I was definitely feeling good now.
After that it fell apart with the IMR-4895. 41.1 grn = 1.346", 41.4 grn = 1.994", 41.8 grn = 1.616" and 42.1 grn = 1.930". I didn't even shoot my max load. I shot another factory load just to check myself if I was doing very poorly and it was 1.3" which is typical of me shooting this load.
I went onto my Varget loads and this was very promising but now I don't know what to do next.
Warmup rounds of 37.6, 38.4 and 39.3 grn Varget were not any special group like they were with the IMR-4895. But then 40.1 grn 3 shot group was .793" and then 40.4 grn = .662" - with two in a hole barely larger than bullet diameter. Then it widened again with 40.8 grn = 2.30"! I didn't call any fliers. I did put a 4th round into this group and any 3 shots would have been 1.6" so even if there was weird thing happening with one round the group still would have been much larger than the previous charge weight. Then 41.1 grn = 0.936" and 41.5 grn = 1.70"!
To summarize, with Varget and my 145 grain Speer hotcors in my Tikka T3:
40.1 grains .793"
40.4 grains .662"
40.8 grains 2.30"
41.1 grains 0.936" (this was 4 shot group as well)
41.5 grains 1.70".
I took 9 minutes between groups and the rifle barrel was cold to the touch prior to each group.
I don't know what to do now...as I understand it, variations in ambient conditions, powder consistency, etc can cause a load to act like a load an increment above or below it. All of my loads are immediately adjacent to a much worse load. Seems like even if I find a good one, it will not work when it is in the 20s or in the 80s.
I think i am giving up on IMR-4895 altogether at least with 145 Hotcors at 2.730" COAL. I will give it a go with the Nosler Ballistic Tips Nosler/Hodgdon website loads as well so it may prove to be a winner there.
Wife and I are giving up social media including message boards until Easter after tonight, so I will drop by later but after that if you notice I don't reply, you can safely assume I am following safe handloading practices and just taking a break from the internet for a few weeks.
I started with a good factory load, Federal blue box which is a Hotcor bullet. They call it a 150 but the only .284 Hotcor is 145grn so that is what I bought. I also have Nosler Ballistic tips to move on to next as a deer round, but the Speer bullet itself is already a good deer bullet and much cheaper to be an everyday practice round.
I loaded all rounds to COAL of 2.730" which is what all load sources for this bullet call for (Speer site and Hodgdon load data site), using 9 1/2 primer.
Edited to add: New Starline Brass, which was FL Sized, trimmed to 2.025", chamfered, deburred, Primer pocket uniformed, flash hole uniformed. Lyman Ram Primer seated all primers to 0.004".
All groups were 3 shots for initial data purposes.
I started with a factory load warmup off of sandbags prone and shot a 1.035" group (range is 92 yards). Then I proceeded to my handloads with IMR-4895 and I shot my 3 "Sighter" rounds (utilizing the OCW website as a source of how to start off selecting charge increments) which were 38.5 grn, 39.4 grn and 40.2 grn. These went into a 1.118" group so I was definitely feeling good now.
After that it fell apart with the IMR-4895. 41.1 grn = 1.346", 41.4 grn = 1.994", 41.8 grn = 1.616" and 42.1 grn = 1.930". I didn't even shoot my max load. I shot another factory load just to check myself if I was doing very poorly and it was 1.3" which is typical of me shooting this load.
I went onto my Varget loads and this was very promising but now I don't know what to do next.
Warmup rounds of 37.6, 38.4 and 39.3 grn Varget were not any special group like they were with the IMR-4895. But then 40.1 grn 3 shot group was .793" and then 40.4 grn = .662" - with two in a hole barely larger than bullet diameter. Then it widened again with 40.8 grn = 2.30"! I didn't call any fliers. I did put a 4th round into this group and any 3 shots would have been 1.6" so even if there was weird thing happening with one round the group still would have been much larger than the previous charge weight. Then 41.1 grn = 0.936" and 41.5 grn = 1.70"!
To summarize, with Varget and my 145 grain Speer hotcors in my Tikka T3:
40.1 grains .793"
40.4 grains .662"
40.8 grains 2.30"
41.1 grains 0.936" (this was 4 shot group as well)
41.5 grains 1.70".
I took 9 minutes between groups and the rifle barrel was cold to the touch prior to each group.
I don't know what to do now...as I understand it, variations in ambient conditions, powder consistency, etc can cause a load to act like a load an increment above or below it. All of my loads are immediately adjacent to a much worse load. Seems like even if I find a good one, it will not work when it is in the 20s or in the 80s.
I think i am giving up on IMR-4895 altogether at least with 145 Hotcors at 2.730" COAL. I will give it a go with the Nosler Ballistic Tips Nosler/Hodgdon website loads as well so it may prove to be a winner there.
Wife and I are giving up social media including message boards until Easter after tonight, so I will drop by later but after that if you notice I don't reply, you can safely assume I am following safe handloading practices and just taking a break from the internet for a few weeks.
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