8mm Rem Mag & Range Report - part two

[bullet]

Good luck with it Mike. Sounds like you have a new found favorite. Good luck with them 250's! Those should be some real penetrators!

Thanks Scotty, and you know by now that any rifle and cartridge in my hand that I am using for load work with the intent to hunt with is my favorite. Yes, they have all been my favorite. I have been the kind of person who derives his ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of rifles designs, cartridges and different types of game hunted. I am an eclectic type of reloader, shooter and hunter, I love it all and they all are my favorites.

I think you are right about the 250's being great penetrating bullets, and it will be interesting to see just how fast the 8mm Rem Mag will drive them and of course accuracy being the controlling factor.

 

[DrMike]

250s? Did I miss something on this thread? I found some 225 grain bullets for the big eight (for manufacture many years ago), and Woodleigh makes a 250 grain RN which they propel to 2700 plus fps.

 

[bullet]

250s? Did I miss something on this thread? I found some 225 grain bullets for the big eight (for manufacture many years ago), and Woodleigh makes a 250 grain RN which they propel to 2700 plus fps.

I don't know, but I will be trying some 250gr Barnes that I found a guy had in Alaska and I have some 250gr Hawk RT bullets coming and will in the near future try the Woodleigh Weldcore 250gr bullets. Outside of that you did not miss much :mrgreen:

 

[bullet]

Quick Load, indicates that I can get 2800fps Plus with a 250gr Woodleigh Weldcore RN and if so, we are talking very, very serious stuff. I am liking this Big 8 much more than I thought I would, because from 200gr bullets to 250gr bullets it is like owning a 300Rum and 340Wby all wrapped up in one rifle and cartridge.

 

[sask boy]

Mike with all that load development for your big 8 you will know it inside out.
I am a Nosler fan but in my 375 that I shot for many years I used the 235gr. speers and it was just the bullet for my rifle.
I am enjoying all info you are providing it is very interesting.

Blessings,
Dan

 

[OU812]

Good info dchamp. I too have an 8mm mag and the 200 TSX shoot very, very accurate for me with RL-22 but 2980 was max speed with the best accuracy. Magnum gave good speed 3060 but not quite as accurate.

I'll bet those 220 sierras do very well in a longer range water jug test.


Bill

 

[boomer68]

She is gonna be a beast with those 250gr bullets. I am thinking RL25 should work very well.

 

[bullet]

Mike with all that load development for your big 8 you will know it inside out.
I am a Nosler fan but in my 375 that I shot for many years I used the 235gr. speers and it was just the bullet for my rifle.
I am enjoying all info you are providing it is very interesting.

Blessings,
Dan

Thanks and for bring to mind, which I actually did think about the 200gr Speer Hot Core. Depending on how things go, I will try at the end of things to work that bullet for a short try, especially to compare with accuracy along with the 200gr Partition.

 

[bullet]

She is gonna be a beast with those 250gr bullets. I am thinking RL25 should work very well.

RL-25 sets number 4 in my powder list for trials with Q/L saying the following three from number 1 on down, should produce better velocities - Magnumn, MRP, IMR7828 and if my load work through the years has taught me anything is that IMR7828 is going to win the accuracy contest among these four powders, but Magnum might surprise me.

 

[OU812]

I do have a fondness for 7828 as it has worked so well for me. One thing I will say about Magnum besides it's metering ability, it has given me the most consistent velocity readings of any powder I have ever tried, often times 2 of the 3 or all 3 readings being duplicates.

Magnum was a beast in my 338 Lapua with any 225 or 250 grain bullet. Super accurate and often gave one of the if not the highest velocity.


Bill

 

[dchamp]

I'm interested the your results with IMR7828 as I don't have much experience with it. Here is part of my finish up with the 200gr tsx and since I had a few primed cases left over I loaded some 250gr Woodleighs. I had bought a box of Dbl-Tap 250gr Wooedleighs advertised at 2800fps w/a 26" barrel but my 24" barrel only chronographed 2605fps. With QL's estimated 2712fps I loaded 77.0gr's of MRP and chronographed 2645fps and a .875" group.

 

[bullet]

I do have a fondness for 7828 as it has worked so well for me. One thing I will say about Magnum besides it's metering ability, it has given me the most consistent velocity readings of any powder I have ever tried, often times 2 of the 3 or all 3 readings being duplicates.

Magnum was a beast in my 338 Lapua with any 225 or 250 grain bullet. Super accurate and often gave one of the if not the highest velocity.


Bill

I am all for it doing well because I do love loads that exhibit low extreme spread and low deviation.

 

[bullet]

dechamp, your pictures did not show up :mrgreen: Actually, if my gun is any indicator of being able to at least be 2750fps, it is what it has already done that exceeds or matches published data with the 200gr and 220gr. I am optimistic that my rifle will exceed your velocities, but I have been wrong before and we will see.

 

[dchamp]

Well Bullet, I had a hard time trying to reduce the view size, format and upload of my little spreadsheet. Before I try doing anymore I think I'll try -edgeamicating- myself somemore before trying to upload anymore....woooooh :lol:

As for your test tomorrow, Good Luck & Good Shootun!!!!! :grin:

 

[bullet]

Well Bullet, I had a hard time trying to reduce the view size, format and upload of my little spreadsheet. Before I try doing anymore I think I'll try -edgeamicating- myself somemore before trying to upload anymore....woooooh :lol:

As for your test tomorrow, Good Luck & Good Shootun!!!!! :grin:

Thanks for trying to add to the info on this thread and trying to give help and suggestions. I hope it goes well with the rest of my testing but however it turns out it will be fun trying. Thanks again and stay tune to this thread and see how it turns out.

 

[bullet]

Hey dechamp, I see you spread sheet now.

Today was an interesting morning but you talk about hot and humid. Once again to remind everyone, this is an out of the box rifle with no glass bedding or pillar bedding and this rifle uses a pressure point up close to the end of the fore end. No, I do not have any intention of changing it at the moment. But today was a very good day of discovery. First, 200gr Accubonds give me great velocities but the accuracy is very poor. I have tried now different loads with RL-25, RL-22, MRP, Magnum and IMR7828 and the groups are embarrassing to say the least. My rifle simply does not like them. I have 100 200gr Accubonds left and will trade them for some 200gr Partitions if someone is willing to do so, and if you are willing please pm me about trading.

Magnum powder preformed well, my barrel did not get as hot to the touch as with the other powders and accuracy was fair to good but average velocities were 2951fps with the 220gr and that was disappointing. Now IMR7828 did very well in velocity with the 220gr SBT and accuracy was good and this was with one grain under book max. I am very please with this powder and the Sierra SBT. I will be soon testing 250gr bullets and also some 200gr (forgive me for even using these words and don't remind me of my dislike for terminal results I get with the :mrgreen: - Barnes TSX).


220gr SBT, 83.0grs IMR7828, Rem brass, Rem 9 1/2M primers, 3016fps, OAL 3.600" .964 minus first round which was first round out of a clean barrel. After ten shots this group should tighten up a little more once the barrel is fouled good.

 

[DrMike]

That load would stomp about anything you could wish to hunt in NA, Mike. Fine shooting.

 

[bullet]

You know Mike, I think you hit the nail on the head, it surely will. I know some will think because the bullet came apart at 25yds after entering the fifth jug but when hunting lion in Africa we would use a bullet that would come violently apart after entering so as to shut down the big cat as quick as possible and I have done this also to black bear watching them die where I killed them with a 165gr HPBT. So the 220gr Sierra will do fine for most things I hunt. I can't wait for my 250gr bullets to make it here, that will be cool just to see how it does.

 

[DrMike]

I've used a lot of Sierra Game King bullets in a variety of cartridges over the years, and they have all worked quite well. In some instances, they worked more effectively than did "premium" bullets because of the "splat" factor.

 

[bullet]

This is a very consistent load, low deviation and is very accuracy under an inch at 100yds. This load has a muzzzle energy of 4,443.3ft pounds and still has 2,000.8ft pounds at 596yds. With a 2.4" sight in at 100yds it has a drop of 6" at 330yds. This is a very good long range load especially since the BC is .521 with the 220gr Sierra SBT.

I will try the Accubonds one more time and set them just off the lands for a final test.