Savage Edge 7mm-08 Rem compact load suggestions

[nthomp77]

Hello everyone,
I am fairly new to handloading. I have been working on trying to figure out a good accurate load for my Savage Edge compact in 7mm-08. I am looking to develop an accurate deer hunting load. To me and accurate hunting load something that shoots close to a 1 inch group at 100 yards. I am looking for any kind of powder and bullet combinations that have worked well for others. I am not so much looking for a powder charge weight. I know that I will have to work that out for myself and my gun. I have tried 140 grain Sierra Gamekings with StaBall6.5, H4895, and Reloader 15 in Winchester Brass. I currently have some Hornady 150 grain ELD-X with Superformance. And I also have 162 grain Hornady SSTs and H4831 loaded. I have a bunch of different powders to try. These are just the ones I have tried so far. I have some once fired Hornady and Remington brass that I have not gotten around to use yet. Any useful or helpful suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Please go easy on the new guy. This is my first post.

[LHitchcox]

My favorite load is the Nosler 120 Ballistic Tip over a warm, not hot, load of Ramshot Big Game. The 120 BT is a tough bullet and takes Tennessee deer down in a hurry. Recoil is light and the load chronographs 3050 fps. My second load is Big Game and a 139 Hornady soft point. Currently the Nosler 120s are hard to find, so I may be using the readily available Hornady bullets this fall.

[Robinhood]

I had great success with R-15 and the 140 SGK's.
Also IMR 4350.

[Whynot]

Todays controversial opinion... especially considering it is in the reloading section:

Buy a couple boxes of hunting ammo and use the one that shoots best. The ammo company has already done the work of finding a good powder/bullet combo. With all the combinations you mentioned you want to try you will spend more reloading than you will on ammo. Besides- hunting ammo doesn't need to be that accurate for actual hunting distances.....(unless you "hunt" like they do on tv- where it is really just target practice on live targets.)

And then if you want to shoot the gun more and practice reloading you can use match bullets that will be better for distance than most hunting bullets- and usually less expensive.

[Robinhood]

Todays controversial opinion... especially considering it is in the reloading section:

Buy a couple boxes of hunting ammo and use the one that shoots best. The ammo company has already done the work of finding a good powder/bullet combo. With all the combinations you mentioned you want to try you will spend more reloading than you will on ammo. Besides- hunting ammo doesn't need to be that accurate for actual hunting distances.....(unless you "hunt" like they do on tv- where it is really just target practice on live targets.)And then if you want to shoot the gun more and practice reloading you can use match bullets that will be better for distance than most hunting bullets- and usually less expensive.

[Dave Hoback]

LOL! Priceless

[nthomp77]

Thank you very much. I have a some of the Nosler BTs in 120 grains and Big Game. I will have to try that combination.

[nthomp77]

thank you. I will try that combination.

[Fuj']

Barnes TSX 140 gr, and AA-4064, with a Winchester standard primer.

With 140 gr. bullets or less, powders in the R-15, 4064's, and Varget
work the best. Above 140's, use a medium burn rate like R-16, and
H-4350.

[GitU1]

My 7mm-08 is the AI version with a 20 inch barrel. While I have taken multiple deer and antelope with it, I put it together years ago for shooting in long range matches (300/600 and 1000) yards. I got very good results from the rifle using 140 grain bullets and Varget powder.

[wbm]

Sir. Right handed persons do not throw stones.

Barnes TSX 140 gr, and AA-4064, with a Winchester standard primer.
With 140 gr. bullets or less, powders in the R-15, 4064's, and Varget
work the best. Above 140's, use a medium burn rate like R-16, and
H-4350.

+1!

[Robinhood]

Sir. Right handed persons do not throw stones.

Awesome!

[Kylongrifle]

My Remington 700 likes the 139gr Hornady SST and IMR 4064.