I am starting a load for my 7mm-08.
139gr Hornady Interlock with Hodgdon Varget powder.
Hornady's website lists the maximum at 41.5gr while Hodgdon lists it at 43.5gr.
I would take Hodgdon's to be more accurate, but please give me your personal experiences and what you have found the sweet spot to be.
Both in charge and overall length.
I do intend to work up safely.

Seldom do different manuals agree on max loads. It is always necessary to experiment and find out what actually works in your gun. A chronograph can be a big help.

Why would you think the Hodgdon to be more accurate.

I been reloading for 55 years have a dozen or more manuals and or load books.

The have even differed between editions.

The advise to start low work up to an acceptable load goes a long ways.

I have found being on the more conservative side is a lot more prudent.

Karoo I have a couple 7mm-08 rifles and they both shoot sub 1" groups with 139 gr Hornady bullets. I would suggest adjusting your seating die to seat the 139 gr about .010"off the rifling. Assuming that length will function through your magazine work up to the load most accurate in YOUR rifle. If that OAL will not function through your magazine adjust the die to seat the bullet deep enough to function and work up. Varget is a good powder but if you can obtain some StaBall 6.5 powder is the very best I have used both accuracy and velocity wise. Hope that helps

quote:

Originally posted by Karoo:
I am starting a load for my 7mm-08.
139gr Hornady Interlock with Hodgdon Varget powder.
Hornady's website lists the maximum at 41.5gr while Hodgdon lists it at 43.5gr.
I would take Hodgdon's to be more accurate, but please give me your personal experiences and what you have found the sweet spot to be.
Both in charge and overall length.
I do intend to work up safely.

The guys at Hornady are on record saying that usually accuracy increases is better at lower pressures, and also that lower pressures increase barrel life.
Furthermore the situations where that axtra 200ft/s is important in a hunting rifle are few and far between.

In a situation like this, unless there was a very pressing need for those last few ft/s I would just go with the lower maximum as my top end.

Thanks Snowman and others for the info.
I assumed that the powder manufacturer would be in a better position to determine the safety level than would the bullet manufacturer, but definitely no real information either way.
Your tips are helpful.

The issue is complex.

Lot of bullets. Lot of powder. Is the chamber size near minimum or on the larger side.

Is the particular barrel prone to pressure excursions…

It goes on to more minimal differences.

I don’t think any one group is more accurate in their reporting, but rather it’s the collection of variables that make the minimum and maximum what they are.

Lots of long range competitive shooters don’t agree with “lower equals more accurate”. The best I’ve heard is each rifle is its own behaving item.

Some powders are much cleaner burning as you get up in pressure.

My personal experience with varget is that it’s never been the most accurate powder in any of my rifles, but it’s always been consistently good. One .308 likes considerably more powder to get best results, another wants its ammo at a certain velocity, and a third does shoot best with minimum loads.

Thanks for the explanation.
This confusion on my part probably stems from us having only one powder manufacturer in South Africa, namely Somchem.
(Only in the last few years have we had access to international powders.)
As a result there is only one listed maximum per powder and the assumption that any higher charge is dangerous.
Seeing more than one maximum listed is therefore initially confusing.
Off the internet I received a recommendation for the 120 Barnes TTSX bullet with Varget powder. After working up, it turns out that my Sako rifle absolutely loves the exact charge and COL of the recommended charge, namely 43.0 gr and almost touching the lands. 0.5" groups.

Hornady brass is thicker than the one the other guys used.