I have been working up some loads for my wife's 7mm-08. it is a Rem. Mod. 7..I'm trying 140gr. TSX for the first time in her rifle and I have been useing Varget. My manual starts around 42gr and maxes at 44.6 I started at 42.5 and worked up to 44.o in .5gr increments all was going well, I shot each loading, 5 rds each, checked for any signs of hi pressure, on the batch that was 44.0 I shot 2 and they looked good,primers just a little flat and no sticky bolt, the third one blasted me in the face, the bolt opened easily but the primer was bolwn out and lots of soot on the bolt face. I quit there. and took the rest apart the charge was perfect and everything else look good..The case heads had expanded .006 just ahead of the groove. Any idead??

When on the edge,a little chamber heat,and pop.If you mike the first two,you might see a trend.Add to that,copper bullets are more sticky,too.

I fear that your loads were too high. Hodgon website indicates 45 gr. as max for a Nosler BT 120 gr. and 42.2 as max for a SFT (?) SP 140 gr. For what it's worth, I had roughly the same results with Quickload 3.2. I checked your load of 44 gr with it; the result is a presumed pressure of over 68.000 psi (!).

My Barnes #3 manual shows a maximum of 40.5 gr. of varget for a 140 gr. X bullet.

"You can hunt longer with the wind at your back" BEARS?

quote:

Originally posted by downwindtracker2:
When on the edge,a little chamber heat,and pop.If you mike the first two,you might see a trend.Add to that,copper bullets are more sticky,too.