browning blr 81 7mm-08

[Thebear_78]

Just picked up a browning BLR 81 in 7mm-08. It should make a dandy rifle fo my boy to take hunting in a couple of yearsl. he is left eye dominent and I figured he should be able to shoot a lever gun either hand. The 7mm-08 should be plenty of gun for deer and caribou and in a pinch will do find on a moose. Now I just need to find a good load for it. I was thinking the 140gr NBT for deer and a 150 Partition for moose. Any suggestions for 7mm-08 loads?

 

[Powerstroke]

Great choice on caliber for the youngster - actualy a great gun for anyone to have in their safe.

If it's anything like most 7-08's it will probably shoot what ever you send down the tube fairly well.
That is one rifle in my safe that is not picky. IMR-4350 with 120's - 150's work great as well as Viht N-140 with the
120's - 140's

Looking forward to seeing how your load developement turns out.

 

[DrMike]

One of my hunting partners has used a 7mm 08 A bolt to take tons of deer (mulies and whitetails) and moose. He shoots a 145 grain Speer from it, though I don't know the specifics of his charge. I would think that the 140 BT or AB would be great bullet for deer and caribou. At reasonable ranges, and if he is careful about his shots, the 150 PT will be a good bullet for moose. The BLR can be scary accurate.

 

[257 Ackley]

My younger son (left-handed, right minded as he says) harvested his first buck with a BLR in Northern Minnesota. I load the 140 grain Swift A-frame (similar to the Partition) wiith R15 at 40.7 grains, which will shoot uder MOA in his BLR. He shoots the Nosler 120 grain BT for all of his whitetail deer hunting now behind a load of R15 at 43 grains with Federal 210M primers. It is flat shooting and hammers every deer he has shot in the last 3 years.

 

[JD338]

I always had good luck loading the 140 gr PT with RL 19.

JD338

 

[YoteSmoker]

I have found 2 excellent shooting loads for two 7mm08s with deer and elk in mind: 140 AccuBond with 46 grains IMR4350 and 140 TTSX with 42 grains Varget. I like your idea of the 150 Partition for moose/elk. The 120 Ballistic Tip I hear is a great deer bullet. If I was looking for just one bullet from deer to moose, I'd give a lot of thought to the 140 TSX/e-Tip/GMX.

A little overkill I know, but I hunted coyotes in the evening yesterday with my 7mm08 and 140 TTSX. Unfortunately, I didn't call one in, but it sure would have been fun! I think that 120 Ballistic tip would be ideal for coyote-deer in this cartridge.

 

[Thebear_78]

I tried shooting it today with some remington 140gr green box ammo. Not terribly impressive. got about 3" groups at 50 yards and 7-8" groups at 100 yards. The crown looks good and everything appears to be tight. Not sure why it shot so poorly. I guess it was kinda cold and I was in a hurry to get some shooting in before dark but I expected a lot better than this.

 

[rick smith]

I have loaded for a number of BLRs 308, 358, 7/08, 257 and 22/250. Currently I am working on one in 308 and 7/08. The 7/08 has shot every load into less than 2" at 100 yards. Best load was less than an inch. Best load used the 140gr NBT with RL-15. I plan to return to the best load and shoot four to five groups and then decide if I am satisfied with the load.Rick.

 

[Thebear_78]

I'm really not expecting too much for accuracy of this rifle. Sub moa would be great, but I would be perfectly happy with 1.5-2" groups.

 

[FOTIS]

Mine did 3/4" at 100 yds with IMR 4064 and the 139 Hornady at 2700+ fps

 

[SJB358]

The Brownings are TOUGH to cope with the trigger unless you are really on your A game. I know my 358 BLR really tests me at the bench, it is a shooter, but the trigger could use some more help. Scotty

 

[Thebear_78]

I tried a few more things, I even removed the forend and tried shooting it with barrel completely free floated. I could havr tried recrowning it or a few other things but the brownings are kind of a pain to work on. They don't fit in the lath very well, have lots of metal swinging around to unbalance them in the lathe and the triggers are pretty tricky. I wasn't willing to invest the time into this little guy so I sent him down the road.

Traded it for a leupold vxIII 3.5-10x50 Illuminated reticle. It will make a nice scope for my 300 RUM.