PICKED UP A STEVENS MODEL 200 IN 7MM-08. I HAVE LOADED FOR ALL MY RIFLES with success but for some reason i cant find an oal that is accurate in this rifle. the book says max is 2.800 and my gauge says that my rifle max is 2.910. i am kind of scared to go over what the book says so i haven't. i have always found that longer is better but that does not seem to be the case here. has anyone had this problem where shorter OAL could be better? i am loading hornady 140 SST over 41 grains of IMR 4064. thought i would ask for advise before i wasted a lot of loading components.

Ignore the book concerning OAL. Chase the lands for best accuracy in most instances. I suspect that your 200 has a magazine box that is 2.82± so that will be the limiting factor unless you want to load it like a single shot.

Ya, try about 45 grs. IMR4350 with a 140 gr. Nosler TSX bullet. Forget O.A.L. and give it a try. . . . . .BUT, every gun is different and result will vary. Mine shoots the about load at 3/8" at 100.

Pressure will be higher the closer you get to the lands. May want to back down in charge and work back up if you move the bullet out very much.

good luck,

Try the TSX or TTSX or MRX. They like a lot of jump so no OAL issues and no mag bos lenght issues.

I would try a box of federal 150 gr Hot Core ammo. If you fail to get 1 moa groups with these then I would be tweaking the rifle. Check Screw tension, bedding, crown, and so on. I have seen 4 differant rifles shoot 1 moa with this ammo. 3 Model 70's and 1 Ruger. Groups opened up with any other ammo tested. Bedding and re-crown resulted in sub 1/2 MOA groups in two of the M 70's. Never did find a better load for them than the Federal 150 gr.

If that combination is the only one you've tried, I'd try something else first before spending too much time chasing the OAL. Most folks here consider OAL secondary to the gun's preferred bullet and powder combination. Sort of a fine tuning adjustment. So if none of the OALs you've tried with this bullet and powder work, try different charge weights, then try different powders, and then try different bullets. (I'm assuming you prefer the 140 SST to other bullets. If you prefer to try different bullets, then change that before the powder.)

LWD

IIRC the savage/stevens short action has about a 3" inside mag. They are more of an intermediate action rather than a true short action.

i finally got this rifle to shoot real good groups. i had to change bullets,powder and primers. this is the first time i have had to do this to get good groups.

quote:

Originally posted by reservecop:
i finally got this rifle to shoot real good groups. i had to change bullets,powder and primers. this is the first time i have had to do this to get good groups.

Then you've been very lucky in the past. It's not uncommon to experiment before finding the load your rifle will shoot best.

i really don't think i have been that lucky, i have just been loading for higher quality firearms in the past.

For some reason Savage put a twist of 11.5-1 in the Stevens 7-08 barrels. Best accuracy should be with 140 grain bullets and under. Mine won't even shoot the 139 Hornady worth a darn.

ended up getting a .558" group using 140gr. Remington accutip. trying to find time to chronograph this load. i expect around 2700fps.