M70 7-08 120 BT

[salmonchaser]

Gotta love those featherweight, got in trouble yesterday when we were in town, stopped and looked at one in a 6.5 prc. Catherine said “ we are leaving in two weeks for Africa, you’ve got no money left, you spent the last of your tip money -again- on that 257”. The kid behind the counter, I could tell, was feeling bad for me, at 505 and 115 she can look pretty ornery. “ YOU BUY THAT DAMN RIFLE YOU WONT GET LUCKY FOR AT LEAST A WEEK” Thought the kid behind the counter was going to have a stroke…..

 

[SJB358]

Gotta love those featherweight, got in trouble yesterday when we were in town, stopped and looked at one in a 6.5 prc. Catherine said “ we are leaving in two weeks for Africa, you’ve got no money left, you spent the last of your tip money -again- on that 257”. The kid behind the counter, I could tell, was feeling bad for me, at 505 and 115 she can look pretty ornery. “ YOU BUY THAT DAMN RIFLE YOU WONT GET LUCKY FOR AT LEAST A WEEK” Thought the kid behind the counter was going to have a stroke…..

A week isn't all that long in the grand scheme of it all, and you'll have the rifle forever!

 

[DrMike]

A week isn't all that long in the grand scheme of it all, and you'll have the rifle forever!

Oh, Scotty, I spit coffee over my monitor! You must quit posting these bon mots or be prepared to purchase a new monitor and keyboard for me.

 

[hunter24605]

Oh, Scotty, I spit coffee over my monitor! You must quit posting these bon mots or be prepared to purchase a new monitor and keyboard for me.

When I read it I instinctively ducked, expecting something traveling at high speed toward my noggin. (e.g. an open hand)

 

[michsteve]

A week isn't all that long in the grand scheme of it all, and you'll have the rifle forever!

Just buy during the PMS cycle, they are already angry at you anyway.

 

[salmonchaser]

She’s 63 I’m 66, we’ve long passed that excuse.

 

[ShadeTree]

Gun broker is your friend boys. Every time I buy a gun I get on GB and rattle off a couple prices that some just recently sold for. I get a pat on the back and a "you done good hon. "

 

[SJB358]

Oh, Scotty, I spit coffee over my monitor! You must quit posting these bon mots or be prepared to purchase a new monitor and keyboard for me.

Deal….

On another note I tried the SB6.5 and Speer 130 Hot Cor. The best I can say is I think I needed a tighter choke with them on the rifle.



I have a solid node on them but for the love of God my rifle didn’t like them in any position. Close or far, same stuff.



I have a few targets like this but they all look about the same.

On a Whim I swapped to the Speer 130 grain Spitzer Boattails, everything else remained the same.



I wasnt expecting much, but when I looked I was much happier. You can see the Hot Cor group on the bottom versus the neat little triangle on the upper right. Never wouldve guess it’d be that much different but a few more groups showed about the same.



While not one holers, I can work with them. Tomorrow I’ll load some BBCs up and see if I can make them print.

 

[ShadeTree]

Your last post makes me feel better Scotty. I had the exact same experience with the 7mm 130 HC's.

Have a M788 carbine that using a generic load with Varget and 139 SST's that had worked well in 2 other 7mm-08's, it put 5 shots under 3/4" on its very first test session at the range with that combo. Couldn't beat it. Got a shooter I says to myself.

I have a box of the 130 HC's and tried that in it next. COULD NOT get it to shoot. Tried everything I knew. Gave up. I don't like rifles that are temperamental but based on your post that might not have anything to do with it.

I've had stellar results with HC's in general, both on target and in the field across a range of calibers and weights. But those 7MM 130 HC's might have something off with them in the current production mold or something. They were consistently awful in my 788.

 

[SJB358]

ST, I’d bet a buck those bullets are extremely unbalanced. It’s the only thing I could think of that makes them that horrible. Switching to a Speer 130 BTSP immediately showed the rifle wasn’t bent.

I’ve tried them in my Mashburn at 3600 and my buddy tried them in a 7 WSM. None of them ever shot worth beans.

Guess I’ll use them to fireform Mashburn cases from here on out. That’s about the only use for them I can think of.

 

[TackDriver284]

Your last post makes me feel better Scotty. I had the exact same experience with the 7mm 130 HC's.
I have a box of the 130 HC's and tried that in it next. COULD NOT get it to shoot. Tried everything I knew. Gave up. I don't like rifles that are temperamental but based on your post that might not have anything to do with it.

Yep, same here. Mine isn't a 7 08, but a 6.5 x 284 where I tried the Hot Cors with 2 different popular powders, and shot all over the map where it averaged around 1.5 inches, it was fussy indeed and gave up on it. It wasn't worth my time or worth burning up the barrel. a month later, I was bored, so I switched the Hot Cors over to the 6.5 Creed, 2 loads shot a lot better (.5 MOA roughly and .005" off the lands) than all of the loads I tried in the 6.5 x 284 combined but the horizontal plane between those two charges are not appealing and the 3rd charge was as bad as the 6.5 x 284. I loaded 6 charges of the same weight ( 40.5 grains) the other night but in deeper seating depth increments of .005" and hope something positive will come out of it.

 

[ShadeTree]

Hmmm. Hopefully it's not a new trend with the Speer's. I've used them a lot and have had good results up until these 7MM 130's.