7mm-08 Rem with RCBS 145-284-SIL - Need help

[260 Striker]

Is the bullet nose contacting the rifling and preventing you from seating the cartridge? I size the noses of my RCBS 145 and 168 cast bullets with a .277 H&I and they slide right in. Another thing to check is how you are adjusting your FL sizing die. If you are just setting the die to touch the shell holder you should lower the ram a little and screw the FL die down another 1/8 to 1/4 turn to take all the slack out of your press. That might just bump the shoulder back enough to allow the cartridge to fully enter the chamber. Also some shell holders are thicker than others and I have found the Lyman shell holders give you a couple more thousands of sizing. Lee shell holders seem to be the thickest. At one time Redding used to offer shell holders of different thicknesses to aid in FL sizing. I have used 23.0 grains of AA5744 in my 260 and 308 Strikers and it has proven to be very accurate with the 145 and 168 CBs. Also used the same charge in a Wichita silhouette pistol in 7mm International which is about the same case capacity as the 7-08.

[UBER7MM]

Camba,

When sizing 308 down to 7-08 the case necks become thicker. Using a neck trimmer will solve your problems. Also, 308 is a bit shorter than 7-08. You might find that when using the reformed brass your seating die may need an adjustment to obtain your preferred crimp.
.
I would also recommend running the necks of your cases through an expander die, for both belling of the lip and to obtain the proper interior neck dimension. This may take two separate passes of the expander die on each piece of brass. Once to get the necks to the proper interior dimension without belling the lip. This would be prior to the neck trimming procedure. The next pass of the expander die to bell the lips to allow ease of cast boolit seating.


I hope this helps,

[Camba]

Thank you for the ideas. I will give them a try. I am using the Lee shell holders. Maybe I should try the other types. I hope I can get success doing this since getting ammunition and supplies seem to be short. I still have some 7mm08 Rem brass from ammo that I had purchased and it works great.
Camba

[eljefeoz]

Ok. I decided to load some CB's in 7mm-08 Rem and run into a few problems:
First, the 145gr RCBS boolit comes out to about 157-158gr and after adding the gas check it's just about 161gr. So far, I don't think this is the problem but I thought I should have it out in the open anyway.
1. I decided to use some 308 win cases, sized in my 7mm-08 die and seems simple.
2. I loaded a few recipes to test:
a) 161gr GC-RCBS, 17.0gr Blue dot, WLR primers, OAL = barely touching the lands.
b) 161gr GC-RCBS, 22.0gr 2400, WLR, same OAL.
c) 161gr GC RCBS, 15.0gr Unique, WLR, same OAL
3. Used regular 7mm-08 Rem brass and load the same loads as above plus one other low velocity using regular copper jacketed bullets (2,240 fps, 130gr Speer SP, 24.0gr 2400, WLR).
The velocities I've got from my boolit loads using my Chrony: a) 1,820 fps; b) 2,005 fps; c) 1,730 fps.

To start, none of the loads using the 308 win sized in the 7mm-08 Rem dies even fit the rifle chamber. The round would not go into the chamber completely. For a while I thought perhaps the boolit was too far out (which it also was). I tried the loads using the 7mm-08 brass and other than adjusting the boolit depth, they work just fine.

I need to be schooled on how to make those 308 win cases be useful for my 7mm-08. I am sure I am missing something. I trim all the cases to 2.030 or slightly less.
I will sit back and see the responses from the Cast Boolit experts.

Camba

Hi All,
Im reusrrecting this thread because i have the same problem.

Rem Mod 78 in 7mm-08
Reformado .308 shells-FLS, chamfered, neck turned- loaded with 20gr 4759
using the RCBS SIL , Im seating to mag length, and as per the Lyman book 2.750",which is a tad below the front driving band.
Feed and eject perfectly, with a smooth bolt drop.

Remington 7mm-08-once fired ( got them with the rifle)
FLS -WITH SAME Lee dies as used for the .308
TTL,annealed, mouths chamfered, neck turned.
Empties feed and eject perfect
Seated to same length with the RCBS 0.285 SIL as those in the reformed .308-bolt wont drop/close
Seated deeper, to 2.675-tight bolt closure.
Help appreciated

[marshall623]

Case length ? Also with bore riding designs and I had done this , if you pull on the lube sizer handle too hard ( more pressure than necessary) after the boolit has bottomed out it will flare out or expand the noses . I done this and it didnt take bubba power to do it either . I would check the nose dia on several boolits along with the ones that will chamber . Might be something different, but thats whats coming to mind.
Tim

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[charlie b]

I sized down 7.62x51 brass to 7mm-08 many years ago. IIRC I did neck turn them but don't remember if it was necessary or not. Only jacketed bullets in that Rem 788.

[Texas by God]

If it was me - and it is not; I would use .243 brass instead of 308 brass. You will avoid neck thickness problems that way.

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[Herb in Pa]

If it was me - and it is not; I would use .243 brass instead of 308 brass. You will avoid neck thickness problems that way.

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What Texas by God said...........no neck thickness problems when increasing the neck diameter vs decreasing it

[dale2242]

I can appreciate people trying to save money by necking brass up and down to make 7MM-08 brass.
We bought our grand daughter a 7MM-08 for the upcoming deer season.
Since I do the reloading for the family, I decided to buy new Starline 7MM-08 brass for her.
This was done for two reasons.
1. I did not want to run into any issues necking brass up or down for her rifle.
2. I wanted proper head stamped brass because her mom shoots a 243 and her dad shots a 308.

[charlie b]

I agree, now that it is popular enough to find brass for it. When it first came out it was a bit difficult to get....and once fired military brass was free for me back then.