This......if running a short action, stick to a short freebore and use 160tmk or 162 eld bullets.
Would you experienced saum guys recommend building on a short action if I already have the bolt head or would you recommend just building on a long action and selling the bolt face?
I run a short action with 180s and have no problems reaching 2900+ with H4831sc
24" barrel
24" barrel
Not sure I understand this question? Do you have a short action/w mag bolt face? Or do you just have a bolt?
I have a short action with the mag bolt face and standard bolt face. Currently not using the magnum bolt for anything but want to get into a 7 saum
Well if you don’t want to buy another action then the short will work, 180s are pushing so personally I’d stick to 168s or that range of bullets. If you wanna run 180 or heavier I’d get yourself a long action if it were me.
180gr ELD-M loaded to 2.95 with a milled feed ramp in my Bat VR work very well.
If you already have the action and stock I would be tempted to stick with what you have got or stick with the barrel you have on that rifle and buy a second rifle. Always nice to have more than one in the safe.
If you already have the action and stock I would be tempted to stick with what you have got or stick with the barrel you have on that rifle and buy a second rifle. Always nice to have more than one in the safe.
Looking for opinions on powder choice for a recent 7 SAUM build. Was leaning towards either 4831SC or N565, don’t have either in my inventory. Only have 50 rounds through the barrel at this point, and loads have consisted of the following.
Impact NBK short action
20” Benchmark CF 1:8.4
ADG brass (virgin)
175 gr ELD-X at 2.950"
N165……..mainly loaded with 58.5 gr for barrel break-in.
WLR primers, and have shot a few 210M and BR-2’s.
Ran a small ladder with WLR primers to see where I ran into pressure. 60 gr (2700 fps) produced a heavy bolt and ejector swipe.
59.4 gr using the BR-2 is showing promise and averaged 2616 fps with single digit ES & SD’s.
Any help is appreciated and also open to suggestions.
Impact NBK short action
20” Benchmark CF 1:8.4
ADG brass (virgin)
175 gr ELD-X at 2.950"
N165……..mainly loaded with 58.5 gr for barrel break-in.
WLR primers, and have shot a few 210M and BR-2’s.
Ran a small ladder with WLR primers to see where I ran into pressure. 60 gr (2700 fps) produced a heavy bolt and ejector swipe.
59.4 gr using the BR-2 is showing promise and averaged 2616 fps with single digit ES & SD’s.
Any help is appreciated and also open to suggestions.
N560 will also do quite well especially out of a short barrel.
If you’re coal limited to short action at 2.950 I would seriously consider the 162 ELDM.
The 162 will come out faster, with less recoil and more optimized burn rate out of a 20in barrel by using a faster powder. The BCs are also pretty close.
This might help you get started. QL shows bit more speed out of a 20in barrel with N560, both in the 162 and 175.
Just for reference, QL shows 62.3K PSI at 60gr for N165 so it does sounds right that you'd get heavy bolt and ejector swipe.
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All be it with a 26” barrel my 7 SAUM runs really well on N560 with both a 180 and 162gr ELD-M. The recoil with the 162gr bullet is noticeably less but the BC of the 180’s is just too good to give up on when pushing distance. The 175gr ELD-X is a very long bullet yet the BC advantage versus the 162’s is minimal.
I'll add 7828ssc if you can find any. Not sure about grabd, but hunter and magnum in ramshot will work. Imr and h of 4831have good case fill, but will yield slower velocities than magnum, 560 or 7828ssc will.
N560 working very well with the 160 in this cartridge. Old RCBS Chargemaster and x2 ADG brass. 100-125FPS faster than H4831SC. No pressure on any loads at 45F approx 2500' DA. Primers were CCI BR2
162 ELDM 2.945in 62.5gr 2995 FPS SD 7 ES 18 1/2 moa 5 shots
162 ELDM 2.945in 63.0gr 3025 FPS SD 4.8 ES 12
160 TMK 2.945in 62.5gr 3003 FPS SD 4.3 ES 12 0.30 moa 5 shots
160 TMK 2.945in 63.0gr 3024 FPS SD 7 ES 19 0.20 moa 5 shots
160 TMK 2.945in 63.5gr 3050 FPS - no groups.
166 ATIPs 2.985in (single feed) - 61.5gr 2925 FPS - no groups.
Most likely just settle for the 62.5 160 TMK load as it's only going to get warmer and 3000FPS is more than enough for this 24in build.
Quickload gives me 63K PSI for this load at 100F which sounds about right
162 ELDM 2.945in 62.5gr 2995 FPS SD 7 ES 18 1/2 moa 5 shots
162 ELDM 2.945in 63.0gr 3025 FPS SD 4.8 ES 12
160 TMK 2.945in 62.5gr 3003 FPS SD 4.3 ES 12 0.30 moa 5 shots
160 TMK 2.945in 63.0gr 3024 FPS SD 7 ES 19 0.20 moa 5 shots
160 TMK 2.945in 63.5gr 3050 FPS - no groups.
166 ATIPs 2.985in (single feed) - 61.5gr 2925 FPS - no groups.
Most likely just settle for the 62.5 160 TMK load as it's only going to get warmer and 3000FPS is more than enough for this 24in build.
Quickload gives me 63K PSI for this load at 100F which sounds about right
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Leaning toward N560 for the increased velocity potential. Had any issues with temp stability?
Freeze some and put in baggie, have them with ice inside a hydro flask. Throw some inside a glove with hand warmers. Then have some at ambient temp.
N560 is a reputation for being pretty temp sensitive. If a guy develops a load in 30-40° range, I think you'd be safe through hunting season, but I don't know about the dead heat of summer, or frigid winter temps.
N560 is a reputation for being pretty temp sensitive. If a guy develops a load in 30-40° range, I think you'd be safe through hunting season, but I don't know about the dead heat of summer, or frigid winter temps.
Are you annealing your brass, and If so how often?I just knocked the primers out on some ADG that has 19 firings.
My 338 edge ADG brass survived some thermonuclear loads and still holds primers.
I haven’t seen steelhead around in some time, but I would anneal every time
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Anneal brass everytime
Especially if you have an annealing machine
Why would you not
Especially if you have an annealing machine
Why would you not
I've got some 338 rum adg from likely their first run, it's a 28in barrel, but I never had pressure till almost 2900 w/ 300 Bergers. Their old brass was stout as F. I think their newer stuff is a bit softer, but a lil more consistent.
My 7SAUM, 22” 8.5 twist barrel, ADG brass, F215M
N560, 175 elite hunter, 2.99” COAL
60.0 2804
60.5 2832
61.0 2865
61.5 2885
62.0 2915
63.0 2971
R23, 168 ABLR, 2.95” COAL
58.7 2825
59.0 2847
59.3 2860
59.6 2876
N560, 175 elite hunter, 2.99” COAL
60.0 2804
60.5 2832
61.0 2865
61.5 2885
62.0 2915
63.0 2971
R23, 168 ABLR, 2.95” COAL
58.7 2825
59.0 2847
59.3 2860
59.6 2876
There seemed to be. Case and primer look ok but I’m not going that high for a hunting load.
I've got a long freebore 22in barrel coming, plan to run 175-180 Bergers mid 2800s suppressed with rl23.
how much freebore will it be for those bullets? i added .100 to my 6.5prc using 144's.
It 0.220, touch with a 175eh is about 3.160, this will be on a medium length action.
So you are running a
230 or 288 freebore
And out of curiosity why do you want it that long for 144s?
With the 156s in a .188 freebore mine were jumping a 100 thou in a short action
out of uncertainty as my max would've been 2.830". compared to other 144's the lapua's are shorter. the .100" added was for the fmj ogive measurements. reality is it'll be between .060 and .085 from ogive. i don't know for certain what McGowen used initially, probably 1 with a removable reamer/throater? it just gave me options on various weight bullets and styles. i have a few mags that get me to 2.870"
So at a dilemma, bought some H1000 and Ramshot Grand to try in my long throated 7 SAUM with 180gr ELDM. Going to be loading them at ~3.100" in a Tikka w/ LA bolt stop. Can't find any reloading data on the Grand so I contacted Hodgdon and they informed me that it hasn't been tested yet and didn't have a date for when they would get around to it.
So without wanting to wait I'm was planning on extrapolating load data for other loads and start low and watch for pressure. My question is has anyone tried Grand yet? I included a text document with load data from other powders for direct comparison.
So without wanting to wait I'm was planning on extrapolating load data for other loads and start low and watch for pressure. My question is has anyone tried Grand yet? I included a text document with load data from other powders for direct comparison.
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Never shot the the 7mm nossler bullets
But shoot them in a 6.5 mm
Jumping those 90 thousandths.
Nossler bullets can be tuff to shoot accurately, very sensitive
If Berger would make a bonded hunting bullet I don’t think we’d have to look else where.
Got rid of all my 175 Bergers after they didn’t open up on my elk.
Just my 2 cents
Testing R26 in my 20” barreled 300 WSM with 180 and 200 Accubonds, 200 Partitions, and 190 and 210 ABLR’s. So far I can get to 2800 with the 210’s, but it’s a 1.5” group. In my rifle, the best I’ve done is backing down to 2700 fps and running them .10” off. I have not length tested the 190’s yet, but loaded these test groups .1 off since the 210 likes it. I need to test further to see if the groups hold up or I got lucky. I got everything to shoot around 1 moa except the Partitions, but I’m looking for a consistent 3/4”. This barrel coppers up in the last 6” worse than any custom barrel I have; not sure if that’s hurting my groups yet though, just a bitch to clean.
Here’s the 190’s .1” off. Different charges of R26.
Not terrible, but just kind of meh. I can still hit an elk at 500 with it, especially if the .66” group can be replicated, but for the money, I had higher expectations. My cheap Aero 6.5 fluted barrel on my Solus shoots a lot better and cost 80% less and doesn’t copper up at all.
Good luck with your load development!
Yeah so far I’m at around .8-1 groups, not something that I deem “good enough”
Would like to be .5-.7
I hear ya! It’s supposed to be a long range bullet capable of expanding down to 1300 fps, but being bonded, hold up at speed. But ya need to be able to get them to group if you want to make hits a long range. I was disappointed the Partitions didn’t group, they are a consistent 3/4” grouper in my win mag. I need to jump test the 200 AB, it, like the ABLR groups around 1”, but I haven’t jump tested it yet. I tried 175 custom coms and still just under an inch. My SD’s are single digit most of the time, so it’s not that.
I played with the 168 Nosler ABLR in 7 SAUM a little bit, didn't get great results.
I tried H4350 and .090 tho jump.
Never did get to go elk hunting that year, so went back to the 180 ELD-M
I tried H4350 and .090 tho jump.
Never did get to go elk hunting that year, so went back to the 180 ELD-M
That’d the crazy thing to me, my whole series of powder tests varying from X to Y all threw single digits sd’s, and so far can’t get shit go group.
This is what this barrel is capable of with 180 ELDMs
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Definetly got better results with a big jump think this is .070 off (roughly). I know it’s only 3 shots. But if I can replicate it multiple times I’ll be happy with it.
I had a couple others that were stellar until I had a flyer (it was me)
Need to clean barrel and retest a couple loads and I’ll be done I hope.
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A 180 eldm will crush an elk. I've killed a few cow elk with the 108eh and 109 eldm in 6cm, they didn't move more than 25' and were dead with bullet put where they are supposed to be.
Ensuring the tips are open wirh a wire drill bit is pretty essential with Berger bullets used on game.
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