Velocity with my 7-08

[Sitting Bull]

Good day guys,I finally was able to get some velocities from my 7-08 with 140gr TTSX and Varget powder CCI primers and Hornady brass. My Barns manual states 41.2 as a max load. My best group was with 41.0. My average velocity using the Magneto speed was 2650 f/s.I find that to be a bit on the slow side. What do you think?

[heretohunt]

If you switch to the 120 gn TtSX, you should get over 3000 ft./s with Varget.
The way those monos work is speed is more important than weight as far as I understand. Most will tell you that the 120s work perfectly fine.

[Dick284]

You’re mirroring my daughters load with almost the same charge weight, except she’s running 139 Hornady BTSP’s

Hodgdon lists 43.5 of Varget as a max load for 2800 and change for 139 SP’s.

I’ll check my notes as I’m using Varget with 139 LRX’s in my 7-08, I do net a velocity of 2780 with those, but my load notes are at home. I had my daughters load in a text I sent her recently.

[kingrat]

Imr 4350 with 139 lrx I'm getting 2800 from youth model and 2820 from tikka t3. Yours seem slow yes.

[WinFwt]

Checking the load data for my sons 7-08 using Varget with 140 TSX's shows the same sort of velocity as yours. We tested with Reloder 15 and got another 100 fps out of it, but still not the speed he was happy with shooting mono's at.

Ended up switching to 120 TTSX's, 42.5 grs. of H4895, CCI 200 primers, Lapua brass. Results were better speed and accuracy, 3074 fps and 0.75" groups. Has worked excellent on anything he's shot.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Good day guys,I finally was able to get some velocities from my 7-08 with 140gr TTSX and Varget powder CCI primers and Hornady brass. My Barns manual states 41.2 as a max load. My best group was with 41.0. My average velocity using the Magneto speed was 2650 f/s.I find that to be a bit on the slow side. What do you think?

At that speed you are still running well over 1800 FPS at 400 yards.
Dependng on bolt lift, case expansion , etc. you may be able to get a little more out of it, but let's face it- it's a 708 not a 280 , 280AI or 7 mag!
400 yards is a fair poke for the average hunter and a 708 no matter what some books , gun writers or internet experts say
If the load is accurate I wouldn't fuss with it......
Cat

[eaglemountainman]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Good day guys,I finally was able to get some velocities from my 7-08 with 140gr TTSX and Varget powder CCI primers and Hornady brass. My Barns manual states 41.2 as a max load. My best group was with 41.0. My average velocity using the Magneto speed was 2650 f/s.I find that to be a bit on the slow side. What do you think?

If you can, try Big Game with the 139 LRXs. Big Game 48.2gr, Hornady brass and CCI 200s give me 2882 fps from a 22" Montana.

[3blade]

Flipped though my nosler and hornady manuals. Both are within 41+\-1 for varget, and max velocities around 2800 from 26 and 24 inch barrels respectively

Does yours have a 22” by chance? That would explain it

[H380]

Originally Posted by WinFwt

Checking the load data for my sons 7-08 using Varget with 140 TSX's shows the same sort of velocity as yours. We tested with Reloder 15 and got another 100 fps out of it, but still not the speed he was happy with shooting mono's at.



Ended up switching to 120 TTSX's, 42.5 grs. of H4895, CCI 200 primers, Lapua brass. Results were better speed and accuracy, 3074 fps and 0.75" groups. Has worked excellent on anything he's shot.

Curious , how close to max is this load for that bullet

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[raised by wolves]

I appreciate getting the most out of a cartridge and jamming up the velocity on your favourite bullet, but the deer won't know the difference. Load for the tightest and most consistent grouping, not for the highest velocity.

[roper1]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

At that speed you are still running well over 1800 FPS at 400 yards.
Dependng on bolt lift, case expansion , etc. you may be able to get a little more out of it, but let's face it- it's a 708 not a 280 , 280AI or 7 mag!
400 yards is a fair poke for the average hunter and a 708 no matter what some books , gun writers or internet experts say
If the load is accurate I wouldn't fuss with it......
Cat

Solid advice here, as always!

[Coiloil37]

I personally wouldn’t accept that velocity. Try a different powder or perhaps bullet. I’ve found many, many loads that wouldn’t meet published velocity in certain guns but others did. Often you’ll find the velocity a cartridge is capable of WITH excellent accuracy if you try enough combinations.

2650 is slow and especially slow for a mono but it’s a free(ish) country and you can accept mediocrity if you want.

[Smokinyotes]

Is the rifle a Tikka? I’ve never seen a Tikka yet that isn’t slooooww.

[WinFwt]

[QUOTE=H380;4751631]Curious , how close to max is this load for that bullet


I would consider it a max load.
Even though there were no pressure signs, we stopped there. The load produced good accuracy, and was close to book velocities.

Barnes manual shows a max load of 42.8 grs. of H4895 at 3060 fps. The max loads from 5 sources ranged from a low of 41.8 up to 43.7 grs.

When considering what to load for any given cartridge / bullet combo, I will take as much info from the various powder / bullet manufacturers manuals as I can get, then calculate the average book max, (I have an excel spreadsheet that does that), pick a safe starting load and work up from there in 0.5 grain increments. On the first test run I never exceed that calculated book max, and will often stop sooner depending on pressure indicators and accuracy.

Hope this is not a derail of the OP's thread.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Coiloil37

I personally wouldn’t accept that velocity. Try a different powder or perhaps bullet. I’ve found many, many loads that wouldn’t meet published velocity in certain guns but others did. Often you’ll find the velocity a cartridge is capable of WITH excellent accuracy if you try enough combinations.

2650 is slow and especially slow for a mono but it’s a free(ish) country and you can accept mediocrity if you want.

I personally don't think it's about settling for mediocrity , I think it's about a rifle shooting accurately with the load it will handle.

Just because one gun will do it does not mean another will, and as I stated earlier, even at 400 yards its doing well past 18,00 FPS.
A few years back a friend and I tested some '06 hand loads.
Both maxed out just short of hard bolt lift with the same powder charge, but his Model 70 was 100 FPS slower than my Parker Hale.
Velocity doesn't mean much if a rifle wont get there , and I have seen people drive themselves crazy, and burn u untold amounts of powder trying to get rifles to shoot the velocity "they're supposed to" .
When the Swift came out it was advertised as over 4,000 FPS, but the vast majority of the guns tested by one ammo manufacturer right into the 50's made their bast accuracy at slightly less than that. The public wanted speed however, so that i what they got!
Cat

[32-40win]

In my two 7-08's, 100fps difference with the same load, same brass, it is a LRP vs MLRP though, and I doubt the MLRP will make up 100fps, both same bbl length. I haven't loaded any monos in them yet. Watched Hornady podcast today, they say they noted that in their testing, that their monos were a bit slower with the same load due to friction difference, because of engagement surface on bullet length being longer on the mono, even with relief grooves on it. Would expect a TTSX to be the same in that regard, although in my mind I'd expect around 2750 for the 140, 2800 for a cup & core shud be easily doable.

[Coiloil37]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

I personally don't think it's about settling for mediocrity , I think it's about a rifle shooting accurately with the load it will handle.

Just because one gun will do it does not mean another will, and as I stated earlier, even at 400 yards its doing well past 18,00 FPS.
A few years back a friend and I tested some '06 hand loads.
Both maxed out just short of hard bolt lift with the same powder charge, but his Model 70 was 100 FPS slower than my Parker Hale.
Velocity doesn't mean much if a rifle wont get there , and I have seen people drive themselves crazy, and burn u untold amounts of powder trying to get rifles to shoot the velocity "they're supposed to" .
When the Swift came out it was advertised as over 4,000 FPS, but the vast majority of the guns tested by one ammo manufacturer right into the 50's made their bast accuracy at slightly less than that. The public wanted speed however, so that i what they got!
Cat

Like I said cat, people can do what they want for the most part. Nothing I said was pointed at you. Just my opinion and experience the same as everyone else’s.

Without writing an essay. When I buy a cartridge it’s for a purpose and I have an expectation of what it’s capable of for velocity with a specific bullet weight. Often, through load development I need to try a plethora of powders and occasionally bullets to find a combination that gives me excellent (cartridge capable) velocity WITH acceptable accuracy.
As I progressed through different cartridges with different bullets I found certain combinations that seemed to work. Sometimes those loads also worked or at least were good places to start when I bought another rifle chambered in the same cartridge.
What I’ve never done is accepted 303 velocity from my 30-06, or one could say I don’t shoot a .338 win mag and accept 338 federal ballistics. If I tried a load and it was much slower then expected with barrel length and all other variables accounted for, I kept looking. I don’t and wouldn’t condone adding more powder. I personally stuck within book loads and look until I find what I’m chasing.

All that said, you guys can do whatever you want. If anyone took anything from what I just wrote. Many times a “book load” significantly under performs its expected velocity but often another will meet or slightly exceed its listed velocity. If you have the resources try another bullet or load.

Or just pour some powder in a primed case, seat a bullet and if it’s accurate leave the chrono in the box and don’t worry about it because it doesn’t matter to some and apparently the animal will never know.

[Echo-Gecko]

I’m getting about the same velocity as you are with an almost identical load out of a 7x57.
I doubt you’ll notice any difference if you got it to shoot faster

[Sitting Bull]

Yes, the rifle is a Tikka T3 Hunter with a 22" barrel. The load is shooting 3 shot group at .75". Good enough for me as far as accuracy off the bench. I just thought it was slow after watching videos of guys shooting 160gr bullets a lot faster than my 140's . I don't have time this week to play with powders and new bullets as I am off elk hunting on Friday and work gets in the way.

[Sitting Bull]

Originally Posted by catnthehat

At that speed you are still running well over 1800 FPS at 400 yards.
mag!
400 yards is a fair poke for the average hunter and a 708 no matter what some books , gun writers or internet experts say
If the load is accurate I wouldn't fuss with it......
Cat

Thanks Cat, I won't be shooting 400 yards. Was really wanting to make sure that bullet opens up with that speed.

[catnthehat]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Thanks Cat, I won't be shooting 400 yards. Was really wanting to make sure that bullet opens up with that speed.

I have actually seen the results just under and over 400 , and yes it does in the 708.
Cat

[brewster29]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

Good day guys,I finally was able to get some velocities from my 7-08 with 140gr TTSX and Varget powder CCI primers and Hornady brass. My Barns manual states 41.2 as a max load. My best group was with 41.0. My average velocity using the Magneto speed was 2650 f/s.I find that to be a bit on the slow side. What do you think?

My Tikka 7-08 was a bit slow as well, my other 7-08 is 100 fps faster even with 1” less barrel. I’m going to suggest you use the 139 LRX. They expand better (at lower velocities) and also have higher BC. I also think Barnes loads are generally on the very conservative side.

[elkhunter11]

I had two 7mm-08 rifles, I used the 120gr Ballistic Tip in the stainless with 20" barrel, and the old 140gr solid base in the FS with 18-1/2" barrel. I took deer with the 120, and a moose with the 140, and at 250-300 yards, four 140s passed through a bull moose . The moose dropped his head at the first shot, then walked slowly as I fired the next three, then it stopped, started swaying, then fell over. The bullets expanded enough, but I wouldn't try a 140TTSX out of that 18-1/2" barrel. The 120s expanded much more out of the 20" barrel, and if I still had a short barreled 7mm-08, that is what I would use. I was seeing less than 2700fps with the 140 out of the 18-1/2" barrel, so a 22" barrel should add another 70-80fps, and a 24" barrel another 40fps or so.

[Bushrat]

Originally Posted by brewster29

I also think Barnes loads are generally on the very conservative side.

Yes, noticed some of their max loads got dropped a couple grains when they updated their online manual a while back..Those old loads were fine in my rifles. Thinking some guys were seating their bullets to touch lands causing pressure spikes. Barnes has always discouraged seating on the lands and recommends a jump for that reason.

[Rusty50]

Originally Posted by raised by wolves

I appreciate getting the most out of a cartridge and jamming up the velocity on your favourite bullet, but the deer won't know the difference. Load for the tightest and most consistent grouping, not for the highest velocity.

This exactly!!