The two 4350's Hodgdon and IMR are not the same. They are close but not a match so do your development separately if using those two powders. I would just flip a coin, heads Hodgdon, tails IMR, and stick with that powder. Either are a good choice and in non-pandemic times both would be readily available.
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7-08 Help
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Jim’s Hunt
Well-Known Member
My recommendation would be 140ish grain Accubond or ELDX bullets and powder that the rifle bullet combo likes. Used a 130 AB in 6.5 Creedmoor on a whitetail in Tx did great went about 30 yds and toed up
Johnny Huff
Active Member
From my Lyman 50th manual: Nontheless best accuracy often occurs with all bullet weights when using Hodgdon 380 powder. I shoot darts using the 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip bullets. Good hunting!!
HuntingG2003
Member
H4895 is where I would start. I load with this powder a lot for 7-08. Very versatile. Reliable results. I don't know how the others compare.
James DeTorre
Well-Known Member
120 TTSX and some Stabil, no tracking DRT.
swilk14
Active Member
I had some luck with Varget. But ran out. Than RL-15. But never the speed I wanted. I tried 150ELDX, my gun seems to like the 40 gr area..
I have H4350, but haven't tried yet. I can't find a Noler BT to save my life in these unprecedented times....
I have H4350, but haven't tried yet. I can't find a Noler BT to save my life in these unprecedented times....
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My daughter's Browning 7mm-08 shoots 46.3 grains of H4350 with 140 grain Accubonds under 1/2 MOA out to 400 yds. It's a Micro x-bolt with a 20" barrel so that's about as far as we shoot it for deer, hogs and elk. She used to use H4895 with the 120 Ballistic Tip which shot exceptional as well. 41 grains was the magic combination on that load. 0.338" groups at 100yds. Excellent deer rifle and she's killed a bull and cow elk with the 140 load as well. Velocity is 2720 fps.
300 Driver
Well-Known Member
All great info you've gotten hear. I've been shooting a rem 700 Mtn in 7-08 for couple decades now.
best load ever was 120gr Sierra SPT over varget. It's repeatable 1/4 MOA load I made.
I love the 130gr Speer for whitetail, but I load 120 VMAX and Ballistic tips at 2500 for my kids. All 1 shot kills. Low velocity performs great in the VMAX. I load 162 AMAX over StaBall for me. Have shot 120/130gr Barnes X, 140 ballistic tip/sst, 150gr ballistic tip, 168gr Berger VLD and likely some others. Only bullet to not be sub MOA was the VLD, but that is more likely due to my factory twist than anything else.
Varget was best accuracy with 120s and H414/StaBall with 162s. Used H4350 with 140gr BST according to my notes. Around .8 MOA in my gun.
Any way you go, the 7-08 is an under appreciated round and you've likely found your favorite rifle for hunting!
best load ever was 120gr Sierra SPT over varget. It's repeatable 1/4 MOA load I made.
I love the 130gr Speer for whitetail, but I load 120 VMAX and Ballistic tips at 2500 for my kids. All 1 shot kills. Low velocity performs great in the VMAX. I load 162 AMAX over StaBall for me. Have shot 120/130gr Barnes X, 140 ballistic tip/sst, 150gr ballistic tip, 168gr Berger VLD and likely some others. Only bullet to not be sub MOA was the VLD, but that is more likely due to my factory twist than anything else.
Varget was best accuracy with 120s and H414/StaBall with 162s. Used H4350 with 140gr BST according to my notes. Around .8 MOA in my gun.
Any way you go, the 7-08 is an under appreciated round and you've likely found your favorite rifle for hunting!
I've seen 120 ballistic tips and H380 do a fine job on many whitetail.
ed209clark
Well-Known Member
47.5gr of imr4350 with 140gr accubond on top 1/2 moa with rem700 in at least 3 different guns between my dad and I, complete pass threw out to 300 yards don't have exact data on FPS but it's better than I am lol.
NorthernHunter67
Well-Known Member
Hello,I've been loading 7mm-08 for 30 years it's a great cartridge to shoot. Nosler Handing Loading Data is free on their website and they use IMR 4350 plus many other powders. I've used IMR 4350 with good results and also have found H414, Varget and RL19 to be good, which I now use with Nosler 140gr and 160gr BT's and Accubonds. I've switched to using the Accubonds for Whitetail and Ballistic Tips for paper and load work up as I'm usually taking shots at less than 100 yards and have found the Ballistic Tips sometimes explode like a varmint bullet. My 7mm-08 also likes Hornady 120gr VMax/Varget and Speer 110gr HP's/RL15 . I have a good friend who has used nothing but 7mm-08 of various makes for many years taking dozens of deer and several moose all with Nosler 140gr Partitions. I find the Accubonds terminal performance as good a Partitions and they are more accurate for me.
Highlander44
Well-Known Member
Not apples to apples, but I developed a load for my Remington 700. Used 168gr Berger's, and found great accuracy nodes using H4350. Accuracy nodes using carver had a much lower velocity. Used Hornady brass, and federal gold primers
Bobcape
Well-Known Member
I have a Kimber Montana in 7mm-08. It took a little bit of trial and error to find what it likes. I've settled on 150gr ELD-X over 41.0gr of IMR4166. It groups about 3/4" at 100 yards, or maybe just a smidge better. Ringing steel out to 700 yards is pretty easy with this setup. I've only launched 3 bullets at game with this rifle. 2 elk and one mule deer. All three were good hits and 3 to 5 steps was the max. No bullets recovered. They did not explode, but penetrated well. I think my MV is right around 2,780 fps from this 22" barrel.
