Thread: Reloading advice for Winchester Model 70 7mm-08

One day or another it was bound to happen and here I am going down the reloading rabbit hole.
One of my mates has a good setup he is kindly letting me use so I don't need to buy much gear up front. Just some dies as he doesn't shoot 7mm-08.

I saw this recent post where there was some good advice about that particular rifle having a short throat length and therefore suiting shorter projectiles. If anyone has any reloading wisdom to share for a Winchester Model 70 in 7mm-08 I would be much appreciative. It's a post 2008 model with a 22" barrel.

Just try a std well proven load with your pill wt with at mag, seated just off the lands or salami coal length.
Eg. 140 gn pill, 2208 at 42-43.5 gns etc


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Greetings @Fatberg,
Welcome to handloading. How much of a rabbit hole handloading is is what you make it. The 7mm-08 came out around 45 years back when the high BC super pointed projectiles did not exist. Consequently the long projectiles we have today need to be seated deep into the case to go in the mag. In line with KISS principals to make things easy for yourself it is best to start with the shorter projectiles like the Hornady 139 grain Interlok or the 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. AR2208 is a good powder to start with and max loads I have seen are 43.5 grains for the Hornady and 42 grains for the Nosler. If your friend has a chronograph joy. You can load a couple of start loads with the projectiles seated to the same OAL as the factory loads and chronograph them to validate the data. You should expect your velocities to be about 50 fps less than the Hornady/ ADI data and 100 fps less than the Nosler with its 26" barrel. If the velocity checks out then you can up the charge to halfway between the start and max loads or 40 grains for the Nosler and 41.5 grains for the Hornady and load up some for a check zero. Spring is upon us and the rest of the rabbit hole can wait. PM me if you wish.
Regards Grandpamac.

Buy some 139 grain Hornady interlocks, load it with 50 grains of AR2209 which will get you between 2800 and 2900 fps depending on your rifle, and the accuracy will be good enough for government work, or even better. Then go forth into the world with confidence.
Use Privi brass. Any old primer will do. Seat the bullet just off touching the lands.

This is all that anyone will need from a 7mm08 for general purpose deer to tahr hunting. It is an excellent bullet.

You may well get an extra 40-50fps using AR2209.
But AR2208 is a more versatile powder. I use it for both 30.06 and 223.

You can make some of the gear if your so inclined.

DIY thread.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....g-tools-98589/

Greetings,



These are a selection of 7mm projectiles from my shelves.
From the top
139 grain Hornady Interlock.
139 grain Hornady SST.
145 grain Speer Hot Core.
150 grain Remington Core Locked.
162 grain Hornady AMax.

You can see how much deeper the longer projectiles need to be seated if they need to fit in a short mag. Only the 139 grain Interlock, 145 grain Hot Core and the 150 grain Core Locked existed when the 7mm-08 appeared.

GPM.

Thanks all for the advice. @grandpamac that's useful to know about projectile lengths. I may have done a mischief by already buying a packet of 139 grain Hornady SSTs. When I'm at my mate's place tomorrow I'll do a measure up and see how things compare to OAL. FWIW I'm pretty sure there's a bit of extra length in the internal mag of my rifle. I think it's a standard action length so potentially manufactured to accomodate longer cartridges than 7mm-08.

I think you deserve a decent mod 70 with wood, they just look the bees knees

Originally Posted by SmokeyJason

I think you deserve a decent mod 70 with wood, they just look the bees knees

Maybe one day. Or I could get an aftermarket wooden stock for this.
I also have an Extreme Weather SS version of the Model 70 too. I like them.

The 139 grain Hornady SSTs worked out fine for length.
Made 4x 5 round loads to test starting pretty light, 39gr, 39.3gr, 39.6gr, 40gr. Bit wet today so gave the range a miss but hopefully I'll get there in a few weeks.