Another trip to the Range

[highoctane]

The Lord provided an absolutely stunning day. High 80 degrees, slight wind and low humidity. Couldn't have asked for a better day.

I made it back to the range today to test and Chrono some loads in 3 of my rifles. 280 Rem, 308 and 7-08 Had some really good success today in all 3 but the one that I was pleased with the most was my 280. While the accuracy was just under an inch the velocity averaged 2920 with a 154 gr SST bullet. That should perform quite admirably on any white-tail or hog. I could possibly get it to shoot a little better but this level of accuracy and velocity is well within my realm of satisfaction.

I also had several 7-08 loads that went 2890 with a 139 SST bullet with really good accuracy

 

[JD338]

That’ll work
Nice shooting.

JD338

 

[NYDAN]

That will put the hurt on a whitetail or hog. Good shooting.

 

[jimbires]

a guy can do a lot of hunting with a rifle and load combo, that shoots at MOA .

 

[highoctane]

a guy can do a lot of hunting with a rifle and load combo, that shoots at MOA .

You "ain't" just whistling dixie with that statement!

 

[JD338]

a guy can do a lot of hunting with a rifle and load combo, that shoots at MOA .

Truer words have never been spoken

JD338

 

[Aussie Wanderer]

Make room in the freezer

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Don't you just love them good days at the range? You certainly had one.

 

[highoctane]

Don't you just love them good days at the range? You certainly had one.

Blind squirrel finds a nut every now and again! LOL

 

[Aussie Wanderer]

I have had really good success with the 139sst in my 7mm08 both in terms of accuracy and in the field. There has only been once where I was a little "concerned" and that was a shot on a fallow doe at maybe 30 yards that hit the shoulder blade and blew up/fragmented causing enormous damage, though the deer dropped on the spot. Dead deer so no real biggie, and can't honestly say that any other cup and core bullet would have performed any differently under the circumstances.

 

[highoctane]

I have had really good success with the 139sst in my 7mm08 both in terms of accuracy and in the field. There has only been once where I was a little "concerned" and that was a shot on a fallow doe at maybe 30 yards that hit the shoulder blade and blew up/fragmented causing enormous damage, though the deer dropped on the spot. Dead deer so no real biggie, and can't honestly say that any other cup and core bullet would have performed any differently under the circumstances.

I've used the 154 gr SST in my 280 for several years and have had really good success with it. I've tried the 139 SST in my 7-08 several times but could never find the accuracy I wanted. I decided that I was going to find a seating depth and powder charge that would work.

Enter H-414, I have 8-10 lbs of the stuff. I loaded up several charges with different seating depths and viola, I found what it liked. The bullet wanted a good "jump" and a healthy dollop of H 414. It rewarded me with 3/4 inch group and almost 2900 fps, 2890 to be exact. I did have a couple other charges that gave me a little above 2900 but accuracy wasn't as good.

 

[JMRhino]

@highoctane - Get fling any of those new NOS 150 BTs?

I had great weather here too in VA, so I went to the farm on Sunday to clear some fallen trees and test some new loads in the Tikka 7-08 and Rem 700 LTR in .308 Win. For the past few years, I have favored going with the light for caliber coppers out of my 16" barrels rifles to try and exploit the velocity advantage and they have performed extremely well but I wanted to experiment with heavier projectiles just to see what they could do. I believe that I obtained some good data on Sunday and also learned what didn't work well and needs further tinkering. The Tikka 7-08 Bondstrike loads with two different powders shot pretty consistent groups and seemed to be somewhat forgiving. The velocities weren't high, but where I expected them. I think that I like the 47.8 Hunter loads in the Tikka 7-08 and the 46.8 CFE 223 loads in the .308 the most. It's kind of interesting that the max CFE 223 load dropped in velocity a tad. I didn't get any significant pressure signs in any load even near the top.

These are my more encouraging loads:
1. Tikka 7-08 (16" suppressed barrel):

- 165gn Norma Bondstrike w/ Ramshot Hunter and RL-19​

2. Remington 700 LTR (16" suppressed barrel):

- 165gn NOS AccuBond w/ CFE 223​

​

My .308 did NOT like the Big Game loads with 165 NOS Acc nor did it do well with the Barnes TTSX 130s with TAC (think 2" - 2.5" groups). Speeds were amazing though. They averaged 3150fps out of a 16" barrel. Oddly that load works great in Bergara B-14 Carbon in .308. Needs more tweaking maybe with some CFE 223 or BL-C2 perhaps. I can't tinker with the seating depth too much as I am already significantly compressed and my box mag is pretty tight.

 

[highoctane]

@JMRhino , yea, I flung a few of them. I tried a different seating depth from the previous range trip. Decent but nothing like the previous seating depths. Going back to 2.825 for the 308 win BT's

 

[JMRhino]

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@highoctane - Get fling any of those new NOS 150 BTs?

I had great weather here too in VA, so I went to the farm on Sunday to clear some fallen trees and test some new loads in the Tikka 7-08 and Rem 700 LTR in .308 Win. For the past few years, I have favored going with the light for caliber coppers out of my 16" barrels rifles to try and exploit the velocity advantage and they have performed extremely well but I wanted to experiment with heavier projectiles just to see what they could do. I believe that I obtained some good data on Sunday and also learned what didn't work well and needs further tinkering. The Tikka 7-08 Bondstrike loads with two different powders shot pretty consistent groups and seemed to be somewhat forgiving. The velocities weren't high, but where I expected them. I think that I like the 47.8 Hunter loads in the Tikka 7-08 and the 46.8 CFE 223 loads in the .308 the most. It's kind of interesting that the max CFE 223 load dropped in velocity a tad. I didn't get any significant pressure signs in any load even near the top.

These are my more encouraging loads:
1. Tikka 7-08 (16" suppressed barrel):

- 165gn Norma Bondstrike w/ Ramshot Hunter and RL-19​

2. Remington 700 LTR (16" suppressed barrel):

- 165gn NOS AccuBond w/ CFE 223​

​

My .308 did NOT like the Big Game loads with 165 NOS Acc nor did it do well with the Barnes TTSX 130s with TAC (think 2" - 2.5" groups). Speeds were amazing though. They averaged 3150fps out of a 16" barrel. Oddly that load works great in Bergara B-14 Carbon in .308. Needs more tweaking maybe with some CFE 223 or BL-C2 perhaps. I can't tinker with the seating depth too much as I am already significantly compressed and my box mag is pretty tight.

These are some of my Rem 700 LTR groups with Barnes 130gn and TAC. Again, I'm pleased with the velocities but still have some work t do. My Bergara loves that specific recipe. My LTR traditionally seems to prefer 165gn-175gn range. The group on the left is actually a 5 shot group but one fell off the edge of target onto the backer...