Thread: First time reloading: 7mm08

Originally Posted by raspy

I realise I'm opening myself up to flack for posting this thread, so appreciate the restraint so far.


My intention wasn't to achieve 7mmRM performance out of my 7mm-08, but because the pressure signs I was looking for never eventuated I pressed on as carefully as I thought I could.

I did some initial loading on my last 7mm08 with a friend who's an experienced reloader and we got to a shade under 40gr of IMR4064 with a similar projectile (actually the older, translucent tipped 162gr ELD-M which were giving me a different CBTO by about 0.003" for the same COL, but that's by the by) and started to see a step up of primer cratering and some clear, small ejector marks so we pulled pin. I was trying to do the same here... though this time I was doing it on my own.

It sounds like I should count my lucky stars that I didn't have a failure on those higher loads and back right off back down to be under max pressure and work for an accurate node under that? I'm happy to discard the brass from the higher loads as I would rather be on the safe side—would you advise getting rid of all the brass from over max pressure then?

Really appreciate the advice so far @Cigar and @lau lau!

Greetings @raspy,
First things first don't beat yourself up on your handloading to date. I tried some fairly hot loads early on as well. As far as the brass from your hot loads I would let the primer pockets tell you if they are fit for use. If a new primer seats with some resistance then they should be OK. There is an awful lot to learn and some of the stuff you will see on line and on Utube is unhelpful or downright dangerous. The first item to learn is that looking at primers is worthless for estimating pressure. Many on the Forum will disagree with that but there are just too many variables for reliable results. A shiny ejector mark indicates way too much pressure and the lack of one does not indicate safe pressure either. The Hodgdons data for the 7mm-08 is pretty good and loads I have chronographed are close to predicted once barrel length and powder charge have been allowed for. The need to change CBTO for different batches of the same projectile is well known. I think that your decision to retreat back to the book max or lower loads is wise. You might wish to consider dropping back to a lighter projectile if you want to increase velocity, That 150 grain Hornady ELDX looks like a good match for the 7mm-08 and I might even try them in my 7mm SAUM when they become available again. Finally the 7mm-08 does not require endlsee testing to get a decent load, Pick one from the loads you have tried and go with that for the present. You can still experiment but it is March tomorrow and you need loads for the next few months,
Regards Grandpamac.