Newtosavage
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2015
- Messages
- 2,918
After picking up a minty Stevens 200 in 7mm-08 the other day, I started researching loads. There were many reports of these rifles having the slower 1:11.5" twist barrels and short throats, so I checked mine and sure enough both are true in my gun (not sure the age of the rifle, but the new Savage website shows 1:9.5" twist in the newer 7mm-08's).
I was a suspicious when the 139 grain SST's shot great but some 160-grain Accubonds were just awful. A look at the stability calculator indicates why that's the case. The 160's are just too unstable in that twist. Since this is going to be my primary deer rifle, I wasn't too concerned as I am more than happy to lob 120 and 139/140 grainers at our Southern whitetails.
If you have one of these older Savage/Stevens in 7mm-08, you owe it to yourself to try the 139 grain Hornady SST Interlocks. They are superb. This is a group from yesterday's range trip and it's a very common group for this rifle and that particular load - [ 139 grain SST over 47 grains of H4350 (compressed), seated at the cannelure (2.80") for 2760 fps.]. Interesting thing about these SST's is that they are the only bullet I've ever used that gives me greater velocities than the published load data.
Another lighter recoil load I've found uses the 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter bullet over 39 grains of H4895. That gives me 2840 fps. out of my 22" barrel. Because of the shape of the 120 grain Sierra, I can't even load it to book lengths in my rifle, due to the short throat. 2.77" meets the lands.
Both of these groups shoot under an inch and follow the same POI to 200 yards. At 300, the SST's impact a few inches higher than the Sierra's, but they are still very close.
I will eventually try the 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip / RL 15 combination that everyone raves about in the 7mm-08, but for now I am pretty pleased using my "budget" bullets.
I was a suspicious when the 139 grain SST's shot great but some 160-grain Accubonds were just awful. A look at the stability calculator indicates why that's the case. The 160's are just too unstable in that twist. Since this is going to be my primary deer rifle, I wasn't too concerned as I am more than happy to lob 120 and 139/140 grainers at our Southern whitetails.
If you have one of these older Savage/Stevens in 7mm-08, you owe it to yourself to try the 139 grain Hornady SST Interlocks. They are superb. This is a group from yesterday's range trip and it's a very common group for this rifle and that particular load - [ 139 grain SST over 47 grains of H4350 (compressed), seated at the cannelure (2.80") for 2760 fps.]. Interesting thing about these SST's is that they are the only bullet I've ever used that gives me greater velocities than the published load data.
Another lighter recoil load I've found uses the 120 grain Sierra Pro Hunter bullet over 39 grains of H4895. That gives me 2840 fps. out of my 22" barrel. Because of the shape of the 120 grain Sierra, I can't even load it to book lengths in my rifle, due to the short throat. 2.77" meets the lands.
Both of these groups shoot under an inch and follow the same POI to 200 yards. At 300, the SST's impact a few inches higher than the Sierra's, but they are still very close.
I will eventually try the 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip / RL 15 combination that everyone raves about in the 7mm-08, but for now I am pretty pleased using my "budget" bullets.
