Reloder 17 and the 7MM WSM?

[bwaites]

58 and 60 grains of RE17 both shot sub 2" at 200 yards.

58 grains

60 grains

62 and 64 grains of RE25 both shot sub 2" at 200 yards.

62 grains

64 grains

I didn't notice any real pressure signs at the range, but closer inspection when I got home showed that both 60 grains of RE17 and 64 grains of RE25 had very slight cratering of the primers. No sticky bolt lift, however, with either.

BUT......

My best group of the day was a my sighter group to get my scope aligned for 200 yards, (I usually keep my zero at 400). The top right shot is the first sighter, the bottom right is the second, and the touching group is actually 6 consecutive shots. Total of eight rounds.

The load is H1000 at 65 grains, loaded at 3.020, about 15/1000ths off the lands.

I'm done, I'll shoot up the rest of the RE17 and RE25 at 400-500 yards for fun, but H1000 just became the "Go To" powder for me and the 180 Bergers.

Bill

 

[jmason]

hey Bill, how fast are you pushing those 180's?

 

[bwaites]

The drops for the H1000 at 800, 900, and 1000 yards are consistent with 2925-2950 FPS.

I haven't shot the others out to any distance.

Unfortunately, I don't have a chrono, it's the next purchase for me, I've had to accumulate everything from scratch.

Bill

 

[LRangepro]

I dont have a 7WSM but I do have a 300WSM and a 280 Ackley. For the sake of this topic, I'll talk only about the 280 AI. I've been shooting 168 Bergers with Reloader 17 with great results. I have gone just above 3100fps with the 168 VLDs and not much pressure and it shot really well. The load that shoots best is back at about 3050fps and it shoots better than any other powder I've used. Sub 2" groups at 500 yards and I've shot a few under an inch when its calm and cool. (no mirage) 100 yard groups are pretty much just a single hole but I dont burn too much powder at 100yds. No pressure to speak of. I think I've got 7 loads on a batch of Remington brass and they are still good. No marks on the brass at all, just a very slight flat on the primer tops, thats it. I think I can go higher but my brass is so free of pressure signs that I started to worry I had really hard brass or something. It sizes fine so I dont think thats the case.

I dont think its magic powder but it works well. The burn rate is faster than the powder you'd normally use but the pressure curve doesnt spike so you can push it up there without issue. If you have a shorter barrel, its easy to see the benefits of a slightly faster powder.

I have yet to do much testing with the 180s over my chronograph but they shoot too and I think I can get 3000 or at least close. The powder works well in my WSM but I havent used it as much yet. Vit. 560 is hard to beat in that case but RL17 might do it.