7mag Magic!

[john k]

Next firing on the brass will be a new load development.

How quickly did the barrel heat up on the Mark V Hunter with the thin barrel? What's your honest take on that particular rifle? If too sensitive a question because of Weatherby relationship I understand. Thanks

 

[RockyMtnMT]

How quickly did the barrel heat up on the Mark V Hunter with the thin barrel? What's your honest take on that particular rifle? If too sensitive a question because of Weatherby relationship I understand. Thanks

No worries. My first impression is like always with such thin barreled rifles. Skeptical! We have now had 3 in our hands and two are solid sub moa and the 3rd is a bit better than moa. Pretty darn good in my opinion. For an out of the box rifle, I recommend them. For production rifles I think Wby and Browning are leading the way right now. Wby comes with a better trigger.

There is no way to keep a thin barrel from heating up. They do cool down faster too! I have not noticed the Wby walking with heat like I have with others. I don't punish them much more than 3 shots with no more than aim time.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Ok, for you guys that want to give this load a go. I'll give a start load to work up from that is nice and mild. We started at 71g. I want to back that down to 68g just to take any possible issues out of it. I like to start nice and mild to feel the rifle as the ladder works up. Here is our data.

143g Hammer Hunter
ADG bright brass full length sized and chamfered
WLRM primer
COAL=3.380"
rl-26 start at 68g

Let's see how you all do!

 

[dogz]

This is the 300y group that I shot after zeroing the rifle at 100y. No dial up. From there we took it out to 870y.

How'd it do @ 870 yard? If repeatable that 300 yarder is a winner

 

[VinceMule]

RockyMt, could you tell us how much freebore is on the reamer used in that barrel, or is it SAAMI spec?

Thanks for the input, that load development of yours has the Juices flowing on this end!

We have at least a dozen Rem 700s in between, brothers, cousins, and nephews. They all shoot bug holes without exception, pillar bedded in their factory wood stocks or after market Laminate, or McMillens, barrels free floated with 6.5x20 or higher power scopes, Gentry muzzle breaks on every one of them.

The typical load we have been shooting is the 120g Nosler ballistic tips(.003 off the lands) or Barnes TTSX(.050 off the lands) Rem brass, CCI 250, 72-73g of R#22. Groups are TINY(sub 3/8"). 140g Nosler ballistic tips, Accubonds, Barnes TTSX in Rem brass, Rem 9 1/2, BT seated to be no more than .005 off the lands, and the Barnes .050 off the lands, shoots sub 3/8" in all the rifles.

So, Rocky, your hammer load is something that has to be tried! Many thanks for posting the load!

There is a trick to getting those cheap plastic Rem stocks to shoot very well.

 

[dogz]

It would be interesting to see a strain gauge graph on what you are doing, but if she's opening easy as butter like you say, it can't be much over 65K psi. It's true that the 7rem is held to 61 Kpsi, but that's a bit of a low number and most reloaders don't really hold to that. I've played with rl26 a bit in my old 7stw barrel and she was fast with it, but the accuracy simply wasn't there. It would be interesting to see what the extra boiler room of the 7stw or 7rum could do if the lowly 7rem can scream like that.

I've said this many times but I can't wait for the day when we can all get reliable pressure testing equipment at a cost that's workable and yet the machines are honest and trust worthy.

Back in the day we couldn't get a decent range finder, once we got them all those 500 yard shots we were making were suddenly 285 yards and 330 etc. You get the point.

IMO, once we get the machines all the loads that we have that "show no pressure" will all of a sudden make our underwear very tight

Until then, we can only use guess and by gollie and what we're wanting to achieve.

I still think that watching how long the primer pockets stay tight and our manuals from companies like Hodgdon who actually pressure test their loads is the best we can do.

Other than that, Powder River let er buck as to what you're comfy on.

I'll close by using my good friends mantra of "pressure equals speed and speed equals pressure". There is no free lunch my friends.

 

[dogz]

Be interesting to see what that ADG brass weighs compared to Win and Horn etc.

If I were a betting man, I'd bet it's quite a bit heavier to which would shoot those speeds (pressures) upward.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

How'd it do @ 870 yard? If repeatable that 300 yarder is a winner

It did well. We were shooting in a 5 moa left to right wind coming down the canyon. Even with that our customer, who had never shot that far in his life. held pretty close to moa. I think he had one or two shots that got away from him. I think he took 8 shots accross the canyon. The 3 shots I took to get it on the rock were pretty good. Other than the sighter, there wasn't a shot that wasn't moa of deer!

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I've said this many times but I can't wait for the day when we can all get reliable pressure testing equipment at a cost that's workable and yet the machines are honest and trust worthy.

Back in the day we couldn't get a decent range finder, once we got them all those 500 yard shots we were making were suddenly 285 yards and 330 etc. You get the point.

IMO, once we get the machines all the loads that we have that "show no pressure" will all of a sudden make our underwear very tight

Until then, we can only use guess and by gollie and what we're wanting to achieve.

I still think that watching how long the primer pockets stay tight and our manuals from companies like Hodgdon who actually pressure test their loads is the best we can do.

Other than that, Powder River let er buck as to what you're comfy on.

I'll close by using my good friends mantra of "pressure equals speed and speed equals pressure". There is no free lunch my friends.

There is some discounted lunches!

You think Hodgdon pressure tests every load they publish?

 

[RockyMtnMT]

I've said this many times but I can't wait for the day when we can all get reliable pressure testing equipment at a cost that's workable and yet the machines are honest and trust worthy.

Back in the day we couldn't get a decent range finder, once we got them all those 500 yard shots we were making were suddenly 285 yards and 330 etc. You get the point.

IMO, once we get the machines all the loads that we have that "show no pressure" will all of a sudden make our underwear very tight

Until then, we can only use guess and by gollie and what we're wanting to achieve.

I still think that watching how long the primer pockets stay tight and our manuals from companies like Hodgdon who actually pressure test their loads is the best we can do.

Other than that, Powder River let er buck as to what you're comfy on.

I'll close by using my good friends mantra of "pressure equals speed and speed equals pressure". There is no free lunch my friends.

The guys at Gordon's Reloading Tool have been doing some pressure testing with the Hammers. Initial testing sxs with various lead core bullets of similar weight, loaded to touching the lands show nearly the same initial start pressure. According to them this is unusual for a mono bullet. Once the bullet is fully engraved and heading down the barrel the pressure drops off faster than a typical cup and core. More testing to be done to try and figure out exactly how the Hammer Bullets relate to engraving pressure. I did run this load past them and the consensus is that it is stout but not alarming.

 

[Dean2]

There is some discounted lunches!

You think Hodgdon pressure tests every load they publish?

Direct from Hodgdon; yes they actually do pressure test every load they publish.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Well guys, this is the second thread from LRH I've seen quoted on FB groups today. just a fyi., take it for what it's worth to you.

 

[RockyMtnMT]

Direct from Hodgdon; yes they actually do pressure test every load they publish.

Wow! That is a monumental feat. I wonder how you see such varying results from one load data source to another with the same bullets and powder? I wonder if they re-test with each different lot of powder? Can you imagine the stack of pressure test barrels they have? How many different cartridges do they have pressure test data for? I'm sorry for all the questions. Where does Hodgdon say that they actually pressure test every load they publish?

 

[Dean2]

Wow! That is a monumental feat. I wonder how you see such varying results from one load data source to another with the same bullets and powder? I wonder if they re-test with each different lot of powder? Can you imagine the stack of pressure test barrels they have? How many different cartridges do they have pressure test data for? I'm sorry for all the questions. Where does Hodgdon say that they actually pressure test every load they publish?

Don't know if it is written. I asked the question on the phone to one of their techs a few months back. I asked the question for the same reason, huge job. Now to be clear, a lot of this has been done over years, as the CUP pressure ratings still being published attest to.