30calyooper
Well-Known Member
Excellent - thank you! I'll test in my rifle and see how it works for me!
R26 in the 7 wsm
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30calyooper
Well-Known Member
Excellent - thank you! Will also test these with the accubond...sounds like a good load for deer & pronghorn, especially with Nosler BT's for the latter. In my experience the NBT gives great performance on speedy goats, where bonded bullets are simply not needed.
Varmint Hunter
Well-Known Member
I killed **** near everything with the 160gr Accubond which shot very well from my rifle out to 400yds. (our farthest backboard)
However, I used the 162gr A-Max (apparently the same as the current 162gr ELD-M) for shooting speedgoats and it was a good choice. A 450 yd shot resulted in a bang-flop.
However, I used the 162gr A-Max (apparently the same as the current 162gr ELD-M) for shooting speedgoats and it was a good choice. A 450 yd shot resulted in a bang-flop.
30calyooper
Well-Known Member
Nicely done! I have not played with the accubonds in 7mm magnums a great deal, at least not on game yet. My pet load for my fiance's 7mm-08 is a 150 LRAB, velocity at 2650-2700 which is mild enough recoil for her to handle as she is relatively new to rifle hunting. I've taken speedgoats out to 600+ with a 150 Nosler BT in 300 WSM, 300 WinMag and loaded same for my nephew who dropped a goat at 439 with his '06...and I have to say that the critters are so lightly built that I'm hesitant to use a "harder" pill on them. Also had great results on deer and goats with the 140 NBT from my 7mm RemMag - clean bang-flop kills out to 500+ yds, reinforcing my belief in the NBT.
In my Kimber Montana 8400 with 24" custom barrel and 71.5 gr RL26 with 150 gr. Hammer I get 3350's with .5 to MOA depending how cold my hands are. I actually plan to shoot heavier bullets but do not want to change anything until after a sheep hunt next month.
30calyooper
Well-Known Member
Excellent! May I ask what brass and primer you have used when getting these results, and of course any pressure warnings? For now I'll be experimenting with the 150 bullet weight to see what my rifle likes best, so I'll certainly take a look at the Hammer. I have a pile of cheap cup-and-core bullets just to practice and run phase one testing with, but your info just saved me a lot of time cleaning the bore!
Good luck on the sheep hunt! Here or abroad?
30calyooper
Well-Known Member
I also have a sidebar question for everyone following this string - any advice on comparing the 7mm WSM to the 7mm RemMag? I've had good success with the Rem Mag in the past on pronghorn, deer and elk, and I've run into the usual things - pressure spikes etc. Best results with it have come with the 140's and the 175's, while everything else just seems to give better accuracy toward the lower end of the velocity/pressure spectrum - probably the main reason I'm getting into the 7mm WSM in the first place. Not knocking the RemMag but the WSM sounds like it's more flexible and considerably more efficient, with greater potential for longer range work as a result.
For the record I have not gotten into the 7mm heavyweights like 7 STW, 7 RUM etc. and really don't intend to...just don't see significant advantages there over the 300's, and several of them seem to burn a lot more fuel for somewhat marginal returns over the performance of the 7 RemMag & WSM. Again not knocking these choices...just being practical on my budget.
For the record I have not gotten into the 7mm heavyweights like 7 STW, 7 RUM etc. and really don't intend to...just don't see significant advantages there over the 300's, and several of them seem to burn a lot more fuel for somewhat marginal returns over the performance of the 7 RemMag & WSM. Again not knocking these choices...just being practical on my budget.
Brass is Win - I have stock piled several hundred for the 2 Kimber Montana 8400 that I own - this one with a custom barrel and brake. Brass life looks like 4 to maybe 5 reloads. 3350 fps is prob pushing max. Either 71.5 or 71.8 is prob going to be ideal, more than that I start to get just the slightest ejector smudge but with no change in bolt lift effort or primers. I have only used Fed 215's but want to try at least one or two other mag primers. I know that others have reported good results with Fed 210's and they may be a viable option - prob with a slight decrease in vel. The bullets and bore are boron coated. This Feb I am scheduled for an Afgan Urial and Sind Ibex hunt. I have really been impressed with RL26 and am anxious to try it in several other 7mm's I have, specifically 7STW and 28Nosler but since I shoot without gloves I have limited my range time to temps above 20F, otherwise I just get too cold after an hour or so ... just not as resistant to the cold as I used to be.
30calyooper
Well-Known Member
Good info - thanks again! I have win brass as well and will be happy with 4-5 loads from each. I plan on using the 215 Match primers as the consistency is worth it when compared to most other options.
You nailed it on what I was looking for in regards to pressure - I look for ejector marks and that 'sticky bolt' as the onset of maxing out pressure for any given bolt action rifle. From experience, either/both are often accompanied by the first signs of slightly more difficult extraction but that's not as reliable...temperature issues can skew that in a hurry, and some of my rifles just don't play nice with some brands of brass.
As for other magnum primers - again from experience - the Winchester mag primers will often produce very respectable velocities, in fact often the highest...but with it can come a lot more deviation in velocity and pressure spikes. By comparison Remingtons yield somewhat lower velocities but seem less spiky. The standard grade Fed 215 is actually a pretty reasonable compromise, and the CCI's have never seemed problematic. I'm also a fan of the Fed 210 Match primers for calibers like 308, 270 and 6.5 Creedmoor, but the usual caveats apply - anytime you plan on shooting at temps below 20 degrees F or have a powder charge over 60 grains, standard primers (non-magnum that is) can become a source of inconsistency. Actually tested this shooting an '06 load with a standard primer in winter when the temps were single digits and found that the extreme spread and standard deviation were both A LOT bigger than when I had tested that load at about 45-50 degrees. Cannot absolutely nail it down to whether it was more the primer or the powder used in that load, but every other factor was kept the same, as I simply tested the same loaded batch on different dates.
The hunt sounds awesome!
