Using cast in Tikka 7-08

[wendyj]

I shoot a lot of Barnes bullets and Noslers out to around 300 yards. I'm going to hunt in some 150 yard areas this year and was thinking of buying a mold and trying some cast in it. I've reloaded every bullet that's ever been fired through it and run the 120s close to 2900 fps. I'm not looking for a light load but a gas checked bullet I can stay in the 2000 fps range. Anyone got any experience with the 7-08 and cast.

[Texas by God]

Being a Tikka nut myself I'll bet it will shoot the Lee design just fine for little cash outlay. My T3 25-06 did great with cast; my T3 8x57mm is proving to be brilliant with cast. Dive in, it'll be great!

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[richhodg66]

I am about to embark on deer hunting with a 7x57 Mauser using cast. My practice bullet is the "soup can" from Midsouth. Shoouts pretty well with ten grains or Green Dot or 700X.

I plan to use the 287308 which has been hollow pointed. I have not tried a lot of these yet, but using the load data for the RCBS heavy 7mm, around 1700-1800 FPS, accuracy looks promising for the kind of deer hunting I do. I never take shots as far away as 150 yards though.

I've done in quite a few bambis with .30 caliber cast, I don't think 7mm will be too much different.

[Camba]

I have a T/C Encore rifle in 7mm-08 and I second Richhodg66 on the Lee soup can 135gr boolits.
My best load so far is 28.2gr of LVR powder with CCI-200 primers. I did not measure the group but it is roughly 0.5 to 0.6" at 50 yards. The chronographed speed is 2022 FPS in my gun.
Camba

[wendyj]

Keeping velocities close to 3000 better to my liking. Could use those in Tikka 7 mag also.

[richhodg66]

3000 fps?

[Texas by God]

3000 fps?What he said. If cast worked well at 3000 fps jacketed bullets might not exist. Please explain what you mean, Camba?

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[MT Gianni]

I have a T/C Encore rifle in 7mm-08 and I second Richhodg66 on the Lee soup can 135gr boolits.
My best load so far is 28.2gr of LVR powder with CCI-200 primers. I did not measure the group but it is roughly 0.5 to 0.6" at 50 yards. The chronographed speed is 3022 FPS in my gun.
Camba

I don't quite get to that loading with LVR in the 7/30 waters and a 135 gr cast and was a lot closer to 2500 fps. Following with interest.

[wendyj]

I'd like to know more about the 300 fps cast myself. I'm thinking closer to 2200 or so maybe 2500. The 3000 is better than hot rod 120 grain Barnes now. Even with a gas check and good alloy I would have to see more proof of those velocities. I can live with 2500 fps in the 7-08. The 7 mm mag has proved to me that bullet size and higher velocities make explosive kill shots.

[Camba]

That was a typo. The right number is 2022 fps.
I wish I would have proof read it before hit sent. I stand corrected.

Camba


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[Camba]

I edited my post to reflect the corrected velocity of 2022 fps instead of the wrong 3022 fps that was stated before.
Camba


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[Texas by God]

Had me scared, thanks Camba. 2500 fps will flatten your trajectory but might not give the accuracy you want. 2000 will probably kill them fine. Please share your progress, wendyJ.

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[Shopdog]

Wendy,my EDC is a stainless 24" R700 SPS 7-08,which has never seen a JB.Weaver mounts with two scopes,two loads. The lower vel is a little over 2000fps and wears a 1-4X20. The harder hitting load is 25-2600 with a 4-12X40.

I have two moulds. A RCBS 145 that's new and never dropped a bullet because.... the Lee 130 ( not soupcan) has worked so well. I nose bump a .001,with a custom H&I .The top punch comes all the way down to the driving band. Only the nose and GC area gets "sized". The body of bullet is as cast. Lube is 1-1 BW/Vaseline on the low vel,3-1 on the hotter load,and in both,only the little area above GC gets lubed.... by hand. IMR 4198 is a tackdriver in the low velocity. Heavy doses of Varget get the job done in the hot load. Won't post groups. My requirements are different than most..... the load/s have to stand up in day to day conditions. These are hunting and personal protection loads so,there ain't no "foulers",haha. Further,the heavy load has to perform in what seems like daily wind here.

The lower node load sees no changes to account for weather or time of year.Just a solid load. The upper node can,if it's extreme weather need a click or two up/down on powder. Alloy is "usually" old WW's,water dropped. Have harder metal available,and can get more velocity out of the Varget but ..... just not a lot of need.The Varget load is a hammer with the swaged,razor sharp meplat. The size of which is adj.... Accuracy work says,10-20% of bullet diameter. Violent expansion says 30+%..... Have,some pretty serious hollow pointing tooling but gets a touch involved trying to communicate with written word. Can't post pics on this site.