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Author Topic: My 7-08 is picky  (Read 804 times)

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Offline jwbryce

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My 7-08 is picky
« on: October 21, 2007, 06:55:38 AM »
Has anyone noticed that their h&r 7-08 is particular about it's ammo? It hated the 140gr remington factory ammo. I reload, but before I buy a bunch of bullets, I thought I would see what you experts have had luck with.  My h&r 45lc liked the handloads that I use in my Ruger SH, and am hoping to find a good combination for this rifle.

This is my first post, but I have been lurking here for a while. Nice site.

Thanks in advance for the help.

James
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Offline handi243

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2007, 07:16:54 AM »
Mine liked 139gr. light mags (other guys said there's didn't) it would shoot min. of deer it didn't like the core lokts (140) the best i got was speer 145 with 45grs of imr 4350.
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Offline quickdtoo

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2007, 09:45:43 AM »
The 140gr Fusion shoot fairly good out of mine 1¼-1½", but handloads shoot better. ;)

Tim
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Offline OR-E-Gun Bill

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2007, 01:28:23 PM »
Welcome to the Handi side of GBO, James.
I can't offer any comments on the 7-08 but I'll bet there are a few more here that will.


Bill
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Offline LaOtto222

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #4 on: October 21, 2007, 02:05:06 PM »
First off, welcome aboard, you will find the guys here are knowable and willing to share. ;D ;D

I this month's OutdoorLife there is a gun test of a Remington 770 in 7-08. Jim Carmichel was dong the testing. He was getting bad results from Remington ammo. The 140 grain Accutips ran 3+ inches at 100 yards for an average and the 140; 140 Core-Lokt were even worse at almost 3.5 inch average at 100 yards. He stated that Remington was having accuracy trouble with their 7-08 loads. That does not mean that the bullets are no good. It might be for a number of reasons. The same gun shot .8 average with 150 grain Sierra MatchKing hand loads. Three of the first five shot with this load were with in .25 MOA. I do not think the MatchKing is the best hunting bullet made. The bottom line, work up some hand loads.  I would take Quick's advice and try the Federal Fusion ammo first. I do not think you can buy the same bullets on the open market. If you want to try your hand at hand loading some thing, pick a bullet that will work for your application and see if you can get it to shoot straight. This involves a lot of experimenting some times. There are powders and then powder weight, bullet seating depth to experiment with. Just keep trying different ammo/bullets until you find one it likes best. I like the challenge of find a pet load, but I realize that not everyone feels that way. Good Luck to you. ;)
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Offline Doug K.A.

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2007, 03:45:31 PM »
What happened to Partsman? I was just wondering because dont he have a 7mm-08? I aint seen a post of his in a while either. Just wondering ???
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Offline quickdtoo

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #6 on: October 21, 2007, 03:49:50 PM »
He's not been gone too long, his last post was the 17th. ;)

Tim
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Offline canon6

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #7 on: October 21, 2007, 04:12:01 PM »
My 7mm08 likes the 140gr Nosler BT,on top of RL-15 Remington cases.Groups were small enough for me , less than an inch when the loose nut behind the scope was working   ::) Doug
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Offline Doug K.A.

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #8 on: October 21, 2007, 04:20:20 PM »
Quote from: quickdtoo on October 21, 2007, 03:49:50 PM
He's not been gone too long, his last post was the 17th. ;)

Tim
O ok. thanks ;)
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Offline Jimbo47

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #9 on: October 21, 2007, 10:42:49 PM »
I've only shot Winchester Super X power points in 140 grains.

Haven't needed to try anything else, and already taken three hogs out to 125 yards!
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Offline PartsMan

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2007, 03:44:11 AM »
Don't worry. I am OK.
I just took a long weekend of.
Stayed in a cabin. No TV or computer. It was a nice rest.

I did manage to get some loads made for the 7mm-08 but haven't shot them yet.

Mine actually did best  with rem core lokts. :-\
They were only about 2" though.
Some of the other round I tried would not even hit paper at 100yd.

Also I had to break it in first. I had tried Remington first and had not shot,
but after boxes of other ammo (and a trip to the factory) they work fine.
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Offline MTGlass

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2007, 06:45:10 AM »
I have only one Handi in my safe and it's my daughter's youth model 7mm-08.  The best groups I've gotten from it were with 140gr. Core-Lokts over 41.5gr. of Varget in unfired Winchester cases with Remington 9 1/2 primers.  Cases were prepped by deburring the mouths, a run through a full length sizer (just to be sure), deburred flash holes and uniformed primer pockets.  Charges were thrown to within a grain then trickled up.  I switched to Federal Std primers when I ran out of Remingtons and haven't seen groups as good since.  Bullets are seated to as close to .020" off the lands as my crude instrumentation will allow.  Even different bags of Core-Lokts required different seating depths.  Then too, we've put about 150 rounds through the barrel without cleaning since I shot the good groups.  We haven't shot a single factory round through it.

I also did a rather extensive barrel prep before any shooting.  It's outlined in a previous post.

I used cheap Core-Lokts for load development & practice before switching to Partitions for hunting.  The Partitions haven't grouped as well either.
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Offline thejanitor

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #12 on: October 24, 2007, 04:37:07 PM »
My best shooting load for the 7/08 Handi is 130 gr. speer bullet with 41.5 gr. of H4895, Rem 9 1/2 primer. please check it in a book to make sure I didn't write it wrong. But it shoots 1 1/4 @100. MANY loads I have tried are 3" so I think the 1 1/4 is good. Killed a few deer with it. (If I worked the trigger I know it would be a tighter shooter. Just scared to rip into it.)
I have a few different guns to choose from and this handi is my favorite.
Brent
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Offline Jimbo47

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Re: My 7-08 is picky
« Reply #13 on: October 24, 2007, 11:10:58 PM »
Quote from: thejanitor on October 24, 2007, 04:37:07 PM
My best shooting load for the 7/08 Handi is 130 gr. speer bullet with 41.5 gr. of H4895, Rem 9 1/2 primer. please check it in a book to make sure I didn't write it wrong. But it shoots 1 1/4 @100. MANY loads I have tried are 3" so I think the 1 1/4 is good. Killed a few deer with it. (If I worked the trigger I know it would be a tighter shooter. Just scared to rip into it.)
I have a few different guns to choose from and this handi is my favorite.
Brent

1" to 1 1/4" @ 100 yards for a hunting rifle is more than enough to do the job!

I was fortunate in that when I got my new to me 7MM-08 barrel, that I was shooting that type of group from day one with the ammunition that I had originally gotten with the barrel, so I just left well enough alone.

I also couldn't hold steady enough using the under the hinge hold, so I bedded the barrel just ahead of the barrel screw and fore stock for a pressure point, and to dampen the harmonics using a piece of rubbery foam cold drink coozie cut to fit, and now I use the standard rest of just behind the front sling swivel when I aim and shoot, and have never looked back!

I've had two hogs that have dropped to this rifle for the short time I've had it, and I'm looking to use it for deer this next month and have confidence it will do fine!

I shot mine at 200 the other day just to see what it does, and put two shots almost dead center and 1" apart, and decided I didn't need to shoot anymore that day.

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My culled down Handi's are the 45-70, and then I have a few others to keep it company...357 Mag/Max. .45 LC/.454 Casull Carbine, .243 Ultra, and 20 gauge Tracker II.
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