7 SAUM bullet recommendations

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Why not try 168g ABLR? I have had excellent results in both the 7STW & 7-08, STW is 9.25" twist and the 7-08 is 8" twist.
You could also try the Barnes TTSX…

Cheers.

Tried that and the 175gr, couldn't get either to shoot unfortunately. Barely MOA at best, meanwhile the Badlands were .2-.4 depending on the day.

 

[Rick Richard]

I am developing loads at this time for my new 7SAUM and so far these are my two favorites:
Berger 175 EH over H1000
Hammer Hunter 143 over H4350.

 

[Rick Richard]

I'm still trying to figure out which projectile I'll use in my 7 SAUM, but having good results so far with the following:

-145 Hammer HHT (H4350)
- 160 Accubond (RL23)
- 175 Berger Elite Hunter (H4831sc)

I have some 145 gr LRX loaded up and ready to test as well. All below are 4 shot groups, 100 yards. White squares are 1".

View attachment 591918View attachment 591919View attachment 591920

Mine shot the 143 HH about the same with my best group at 58.0 of H4350. The Hammer folks suggested I run it up to the next node closer to pressure since they believe it will perform better. So, sometime this week that will be my next test.

Should mention I hit slight pressure at 60.5 and heavy pressure at 61.

 

[arch408]

I have an elk hunt in December. I'm going with 160 grain Nosler Partitions.

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Mine shot the 143 HH about the same with my best group at 58.0 of H4350. The Hammer folks suggested I run it up to the next node closer to pressure since they believe it will perform better. So, sometime this week that will be my next test.

Should mention I hit slight pressure at 60.5 and heavy pressure at 61.

I've used 143 gr HH's in this rifle before. My load was 59.0 of H4350 at around 3050 out of a 22" barrel IIRC.

But my real world G7 BC was .199. That was unacceptable. The Badlands was .275, and did a great job killing my bull at 540 yards last year.

There are obviously downsides to mono bullets, but the Badlands were a good compromise.

That said I'm obviously open to giving Berger or ELD-X style bullets another shot.

I wish someone made a controlled expansion, high BC bonded bullet that shot as well as a Berger or copper solid, but I just haven't found that yet.

 

[HandgunHTR]

I would give the 160 grain Sierra TMK a try. I realize you have a preference for controlled expansion, but I like to wreak the proverbial shop, and these bullets do that.
No need for a blood trail when they don't go more than 30 yards.

 

[Rick Richard]

I've used 143 gr HH's in this rifle before. My load was 59.0 of H4350 at around 3050 out of a 22" barrel IIRC.

But my real world G7 BC was .199. That was unacceptable. The Badlands was .275, and did a great job killing my bull at 540 yards last year.

There are obviously downsides to mono bullets, but the Badlands were a good compromise.

That said I'm obviously open to giving Berger or ELD-X style bullets another shot.

I wish someone made a controlled expansion, high BC bonded bullet that shot as well as a Berger or copper solid, but I just haven't found that yet.

Curious if you brought up the BC issue with Hammer and if so what they had to say.

 

[JakeC]

Have a 7 saum and I did not experience the predicted fussiness with ABLR, I set them up to jump .1" and it wasn't hard to find accuracy. I had about 58g behind that 168, I bet there's a good h4350 load. But you're short on time, a second try might stay a nonstarter. I also use 180 eldm, it just works better than the eldx for me. It's stuffed down to 2.95" and it's pretty slow, but it shoots great. These are both on h4831 but I don't think the h4350 numbers were that bad. The BC is so high on the 180 it might not matter. Far from ideal, but they are vetted and available and you never have to worry about expanding. The 180 eldm is also substantially shorter than the 175.

My last load is a 140 absolute hammer over RL 16. I know you said you're not interested in going back, but I know for sure this bullet would sing if you want to use your h4350. The bc isn't high but I found it to be accurate, and it will travel at a speed where Bc isn't quite so relevant. It's also a really accurate bullet and load development should be close to plug and play. Just my suggestion.

 

[JakeC]

Delete, double post glitch

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Have a 7 saum and I did not experience the predicted fussiness with ABLR, I set them up to jump .1" and it wasn't hard to find accuracy. I had about 58g behind that 168, I bet there's a good h4350 load. But you're short on time, a second try might stay a nonstarter. I also use 180 eldm, it just works better than the eldx for me. It's stuffed down to 2.95" and it's pretty slow, but it shoots great. These are both on h4831 but I don't think the h4350 numbers were that bad. The BC is so high on the 180 it might not matter. Far from ideal, but they are vetted and available and you never have to worry about expanding. The 180 eldm is also substantially shorter than the 175.

My last load is a 140 absolute hammer over RL 16. I know you said you're not interested in going back, but I know for sure this bullet would sing if you want to use your h4350. The bc isn't high but I found it to be accurate, and it will travel at a speed where Bc isn't quite so relevant. It's also a really accurate bullet and load development should be close to plug and play. Just my suggestion.

Thanks man, yeah I didn't mess with seating depth much with the ABLR's so that might be with a shot. I think I had them jumping .030 when I tried them.

 

[BuckeyeRifleman]

Well I was gonna go with 175 gr Berger Elite hunters but they were out of stock literally everywhere. I'm frankly tired of using bullets that are harder to find than elk.

Against my better judgement I bought a box of 162 gr and 175 gr ELD-X's from Brownells. I know I'm not the only one with a bad ELD-X story, but there are plenty of others that swear by them. I'm gonna chance that mine was an anomaly, or perhaps even me. At the very least they are accurate, available, affordable, with a BC that reflects reality.

The copper rose bullets have my intrigue, but with a 2200 fps minimum expansion they barely got me to 600 yards. I don't want to risk being on the ragged edge of the expansion velocity, and I don't want to single load.

I'm gonna load up each with a single shot working up .5 gr at a time until I find pressure/max velocity, and then load up 5 of each and see which one shoots best and go from there.

 

[JakeC]

Thanks man, yeah I didn't mess with seating depth much with the ABLR's so that might be with a shot. I think I had them jumping .030 when I tried them.

Yeah I don't know if the jump is what made it easy, but it falls in line with Bergers recommendations for their stuff (jam, .01 off, or .1). Forgot to say I'm getting 2850 with the ablr, 2660 with the 180, and 3250 with the 140aH in 24". In a wimpy action. The ballistics on all of them are great past my current limits.

 

[Roughrice]

I have a load with 160 Gameking HPBT with Hybrid 100V that moves out at 2930 in Rem Seven with 22" barrel. It can be shot with H4350 as well but Hybrid V beat it for me in Velo.
Shoots extremely well out to 500 but with poor BC which turns some people off.
I have other loads in short action and long actions but you already said ABLR and ELDX are out.
Accubond works very well in my sons 7 SAUM as well

 

[Roughrice]

Thanks man, yeah I didn't mess with seating depth much with the ABLR's so that might be with a shot. I think I had them jumping .030 when I tried them.

I shoot 168 ABLR in a short action and jump the hell out of em at mag length and run about 2950 with N560 in 26" barrel though.