7mm-08 Success at last!

Have a 7mm-08 that has been pretty tough to tune. It is on a Savage PTA, 30" CBI barrel with 1:9 twist. I've tried a lot of different bullets, powders, loads, seating depths etc and it never shot badly, but it never shot that great either.

100gr Sierra Varminters shot well, but nothing for long range work. I'd pretty much resigned myself to using it for prairie dogs next month and then re-barreling it when we got back.

Then I ended up with some Sierra 175 MatchKings. Hadn't tried them before because I thought they'd be too heavy for the 7mm-08 case and they recommend at least a 1:8.5 twist. Anyway, figured I had nothing to lose, here's how they did-

3 shots @ 200 yards.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps7ae8d22c.jpg


5 shots @ 200 yards.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/a...psbcd74db4.jpg


4 shots @ 300 yards. I forgot to mark a bullseye so I just aimed for center of the plate, then used that shot as a point to aim for with the next 3.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps9306bc2a.jpg


3 shots @ 600 yards.
http://i877.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps2c244289.jpg


These aren't competition winners by any means but they're about as good as I can shoot and are at least a place to start.

I had high hopes for the project when Istarted it and was getting pretty frustrated, nice to have it finally starting to come together.

Got a lot of great ideas and suggestions from lots of folks here- appreciated as always.

Special thanks to Jim at Nortland- he made some great suggestions as always.

Looking pretty good so far.
As I recall, the 7mm-08 I put together last year was quite temperamental. I went thru 4 different powders & 5 different weights on bullet before the magic combination came together.

Looks like you got a winner there. Nicely done.

Very nice. Glad you finally got it to come together.

Thanks for the replies. I was getting pretty frustrated for sure. I think part of the problem was a couple years ago Jim sold me a 20 Practical barrel that made me think I'm a better shooter than I really am.

Ya know, it seems lots of folks that struggle getting Hornady 162s (either Amax or BTHP) to shoot eventually find success with the 7mm 175gr SMK; it ain't the highest BC bullet in that weight class but its no slouch either...

Maybe its just me but I always had really good success with Hornadys in factory barrels and Shilens- but the Criterions just seem to prefer Sierras.

I've got a 7-08 also and I've only ran 120-140gr so far. Are you seating long or mag length? I'm gather stuff now to build a 260 on a long action.

I'm using a PTA so no mag length issues. Both the 100gr varminters and the 175 match kings shoot best at 2.246" to the ogive but obviously the overall length to the tip is different.

Looks like winning combo to me.

Thanks, we're heading back west in about a week, can't wait to stretch its legs and see how it does on prairie dogs.

I've got a bunch of 162 AMax and 160 Sierra bthp. I'm thinking of going with another 7-08 for my hog hunter action. Hmm. Maybe

Any idea on your velocity with the 175s?

2775, but again,that's a 30" barrel.

As an aside, have a 7mm-08 26" CBI light varmint contour on a 200 action that is doing great with the 150gr Sierra GameKings. It's not a comp winner by any means but I have shot it out to 600 on a number of occasions and would be very, very comfortable taking a deer at that range.