GAP 7 WSM, 180 ELD-M's and R26 seem to be nirvana.

[MShort]

The rifle is a GAP 7wsm, surgeon action with integral 20moa rail and integral recoil lug, Bartlein 1:9 26" mtu, McMillan A5, Timney 510, Kahles k624i. To say it is accurate seems to be an understatement. I have yet to try any load with the 180 eld-m or 162 Amax that went over 3/4" even with my magnetospeed attached. Sans magnetospeed everything with the 180 eld-m's and 7828 or R26 has gone sub 1/2" or better



Loaded an old virgin can is 7828 I found so loaded from 63-65gr. No pressure whatsoever. 65gr shot into .352". Average velocity of 2975 with sd of 7.4. I am going to try to work up to about 67gr to see if speed or accuracy improves.



R26 again stole the show. I loaded 65-68 gr and only at 68 did I find the slightest ejector mark but I had to really look for it. The 68gr averaged 3080fps with sd of 7.2 and .329" group.


Going to back it down to 66gr as that was averaging 3020 fps, sd of 4.8 and several groups hovering around the .2 arena and the bolt still cycles like the glass. The group shown goes .123"



Everything was loaded to an oal of 2.94" to feed from my accurate mags. Jump for the 180 eld-m is exactly .035 in my gun. Nothing went over 3/4" even with the magnetospeed hooked up and without it was sub 1/2". I may play with seating on the 66gr load but clearly the weak link is me for groups. I don't see any reason to try to push the gun over 3k with that bullet and it's accuracy as more speed opened them up.

 

[MachoKing]

Reloder 26 is magical. I have an OCW loaded up for it in my .260 with the 135 gr Berger classic hunter and I already use it in my 7RM. I need to get better at shooting so I can shoot groups like that!

 

[MShort]

In all honesty this was likely just blind luck and rarely goes this easy for me.

My selected charge range was simply a shot in the dark based on Alliants posted data for R26 and a 175 Speer SP. I started 10% under their max and worked up in 1/2 grain increments as I knew I would likely max out a few grains under that data due to the increased weight and length of the 180 ELD-M.

The 2.94" OAL was just a length that I knew would feed from my mags with a small safety margin built in for oh shits that invariably occur at the worst time.

Thank you for the compliment on the groups. I consider myself a somewhat above average rifle shooter but have no illusions about being better then that. The truth is this is mostly due to the hardware used. GAP rifles just shoot stupid well and Kahles optics are superb as most know.

In a 12.3lb rifle even a 180gr bullet at 3100fps is very shootable as recoil isn't much at all. My buddies 10 year old shoots it without complaint.