7mm rem and 180 bergers...again

[shawnb]

My testing yesterday retumbo and 180 with 210M primers.
I was at 2950 with 69gr. But es was around 35 with 3 shots. 68.5 averaged 2935 with es at 40 and 68 averaged right at 2900 with a 60 fps es with 4 shot! So it looks like the more i push it the ES might start coming down. But i then tried some 168 loads that showed promise with 70gr h1000. It grouped 2.5" at 400 and single digit es/sd with an average of 2975.

I think ill still try going up with retumbo to see where it ends up with the 180's and if its not good ill settle on the 168 loads.

PS- that 168 load was 2.5" horizontal and hardly any vertical on roughly 5 mph wind.

 

[brentc]

My testing yesterday retumbo and 180 with 210M primers.
I was at 2950 with 69gr. But es was around 35 with 3 shots. 68.5 averaged 2935 with es at 40 and 68 averaged right at 2900 with a 60 fps es with 4 shot! So it looks like the more i push it the ES might start coming down. But i then tried some 168 loads that showed promise with 70gr h1000. It grouped 2.5" at 400 and single digit es/sd with an average of 2975.

I think ill still try going up with retumbo to see where it ends up with the 180's and if its not good ill settle on the 168 loads.

PS- that 168 load was 2.5" horizontal and hardly any vertical on roughly 5 mph wind.

Did you figure out a load yet? I shot a bit today and settled on two loads. I've found that my barrel has picked up some speed now that I've put a few rounds through it. The first load is 68.8 grains of H1000 with a CCI 250. Velocity is 2956. The next load is 70.0 grains of Retumbo with a CCI 200 for 3035 fps out of a 28" tube. When I had this barrel chambered I had it reamed to a 168 loaded with the top of the boat tail seated to the bottom of the neck so it will probably be a little different for your chamber and barrel velocity wise. The gun prefers 180s over 168s, as do I since my primary use for this gun is hunting.

The H1000 carries a single digit ES with 3 of 4 shots duplicating. The Retumbo load is around 25 for ES. Both loads produced 1.5" groups at 325 yards off the bipod. Neither load produced excess pressure according to bolt lift and pressure signs. The POI between the two loads is nearly identical. I could almost interchange them to 350. I need to stretch them out a little to see how they compare at longer range.

I really need to bed this rifle into a stock. I have it in an aluminum blocked M40 style B&C with a Manner's MCS-T on the way in a couple weeks. I really feel it still has something to prove. Once the Manners comes in, I'll bed it up and get back at it. At least I have a good idea of what too expect from this 7mm when it's all said and done.

 

[shawnb]

The 180s would shoot with a hot load of retumbo but with norma brass in alberta for 2.50 a piece. Its not worth pushing. So i stuck with the 168 load and am in the process of playing with seating depth. I did shoot a gopher sitting on top of the snow at 420yrds the other day. That was with.005 jam. So that one looks like a winner to me. With the jam it boosted speed to 2990, still with single es/sd.

 

[shawnb]

My primary use for this gun is also hunting. I shot a big cow moose last year with the 180s (one shot flop) and there was so much damage i decided to see if the 168s would shoot so i could have a little less meat damage and still kill quickly.

 

[TMR]

Brent,

Judging by how you have your throat setup, you could run another grain of powder and still be pretty safe. ES should come down as its getting close to max. Retumbo doesn't ever seem to be as low ES as H1000, but once you get closer to max pressure, it does drop a little more and tends to shoot even tighter.

 

[brentc]

Brent,

Judging by how you have your throat setup, you could run another grain of powder and still be pretty safe. ES should come down as its getting close to max. Retumbo doesn't ever seem to be as low ES as H1000, but once you get closer to max pressure, it does drop a little more and tends to shoot even tighter.

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping you'd chime in. I'll give it a try.

 

[shawnb]

hey brent how did you make out with your loads? the 168s for me shot extremely well but i ran out and cant find any locally.

i tried 180s again for something to do. apparently i dont like sticking with one load haha...
and 69gr h1000 fed 210m just shot through the chrony at some gophers showed 3 shots all at 2915. i loaded 2 more just to see if i was reading it right an those 2 both read 2918.
so ill have to head to the range and test.

 

[brentc]

hey brent how did you make out with your loads? the 168s for me shot extremely well but i ran out and cant find any locally.

i tried 180s again for something to do. apparently i dont like sticking with one load haha...
and 69gr h1000 fed 210m just shot through the chrony at some gophers showed 3 shots all at 2915. i loaded 2 more just to see if i was reading it right an those 2 both read 2918.
so ill have to head to the range and test.

My 7mm has been getting some treatment for the last couple weeks. Getting the barrel threaded for a suppressor, and waiting for my Manner's MCS T to show up so I can get it bedded up. I've got some Retumbo/180 combos loaded up to see what they'll do when it's all done.

 

[shawnb]

That should look pretty nice when its done. Well keep us posted about your progress with retumbo. I got my speeds up to 2975 pretty easy but i just couldnt get rid of the high ES. They seem to hold pretty good with h1000 at around 2900.

 

[brentc]

That should look pretty nice when its done. Well keep us posted about your progress with retumbo. I got my speeds up to 2975 pretty easy but i just couldnt get rid of the high ES. They seem to hold pretty good with h1000 at around 2900.

I agree. The H1000 ES is pretty dang good.

 

[shawnb]

Ya and its funny how a little seating depth change changed my es to. 5 thou off the lands with 5 shots showed 7 fps diff and when seated with jam or 10 thou jump it went up to 15-20 fps difference.