Last year I picked up a winchester Model 70 featherweight in 7mm-08 for my girl friend.
She ended up shooting a .243 this fall which had a shorter stock for her. (We have now got a
shorter stock coming for her.)I took it out before the season to see how my loads were doing
as she was going to let me hunt with it. Now, I have been reloading for over 20 years and in
that time have never had a problem getting a rifle to shoot an inch or better at 100yds. Until
now. I have used 10 different bullets, over 3 different powders and still do not have a group
that I feel this rifle should be capeable of that is useable on Elk. Every time I shoot a poor
group I take out some 115 speer HP's and they go in to as little as .277" for 3 shots @ 100.
Any bullet I feel is suitable for Elk shoots, at best into about 1 3/8" and have had some go as
large as 5". I have bedded the recoil lug, floated the barrel, replaced the scope, took the
trigger down to 3 1/2 pounds scrubbed it's bore till I'm blue in the face, seated the bullets
in/out. Of the 10 bullet I have used only 2 have shot under an inch, the 115 Speer HP and the
130 Speer Sp. neither will I use for Elk. The best I have at this time is 154 Hornadys with
50.5 gr. RL-19, Fed. 210 and Win. brass. I scratch my head and wonder "Is it the crown?" but
if it were then why will the 115 speers shoot so well? Then I wonder "Is it the twist?"
Winchester shows that they use a 1 in 10" twist, but surelythey ment for a featherweight to
shoot big game. I have not tried other brass or primers but probably will after my Elk hunt this
month.
Does anyone here have any thing to add? something I have overlooked? It just about has me
beat. Every big game rifle I have ever loaded for will shoot well with midweight to heavy
bullets and Hodgdon/IMR 4350 or Hodgdon/IMR 4831. I have never really had to look much
further. Anything you can add would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, John.

Try RL15, W760, or H414 with the 154 Hornady and I think you will be pleased.

I have had excellent results using Hornady 139gr. SP (not SPBT) over 40gr. of IMR4895, CCI200 primers and Federal Brass.
I actually get a little tighter groups using Nosler 140BT's but not everyone is a fan of Ballistic Tips.
I get 3 shot groups around .5" @ 100ys out of my 7mm-08 Browning Stainless Stalker w/ BOSS.
I have taken numerous deer and two nice bull caribou using this round and would not hesitate on using it on elk if I could get a broadside shot.

Try a lighter weight Barnes X. 130 gr. would be my choice. They will work great for elk in a 7mm-08, and they don't need the added bullet weight for penetration. Try them seated .050 off the lands, and make sure you use a copper cleaner to get all traces of fouling out of the barrel before you shoot.

Maybe your M70 likes lighter bullets? And shooting elk with light bullets doesn't work too good, unless they are an X.

What about soft loads in the 7-08? I wonder what can be accomplished. Does the 7-08 do OK with less than full-power?

I'd be interested in approaching 30-30 energies/ballistics with the 7-08. That way I'd have 2 leverguns in 1 (a 22" BLR).

Any experience with this idea would be much appreciated. If I can't make the 7-08 perform like a 30-30 I'll just get a 30-30 instead.

For me Varget was great! Very accurate and consistent! Do a search, there is a good website dedicated to the 7mm-08. Good shoot'n!

Something is wrong that is for sure! I never had come across a 7-08 that did not shoot 1/2 moa or better with hand loads. Maybe the action needs truing? I would have a gunsmith check the gun out. It might be something minor. The barrel seems like it wants to shoot the light weight bullets so this is puzzling. How far are you seating the bullets. I have found 10 or 15 thousands off the lands works most of the time. Those 115grn bullets may be well off the lands, Maybe try to experiment with different seating depths could help.

Just curious why would you want the 7/08 to preform like a 30/30.

Now that you have free floated the barrel - do this - glass bed the forend tip (1 1/2"). The reason I say this is that your rifle will shoot some loads well - but not that many - and it should do a whole lot better across the bullet weight spectrum. The barrel vibration is probably why - by securing the forend tip of the barrel you will dampen the impact of the vibration. I'm a firm believer in this process - especially with rifles that seem to be too finicky and with feather weight barrels. Good Luck. Make sure that the barrel is not contacting the stock anywhere between the bedded tip and the barrel chamber.

owensby,

Good question:
If it's possible to have an accurate 7-08 load that approaches a 30-30 I would have 2 great rifles in one. The near 30-30 would be something my wife could enjoy at the range and even hunt small deer with. The 7-08 would be great for me because it's a great round, with plenty reach and punch for most American game.

Because it's based on the 308 it should be a better candidate for this purpose. Because the 270 is based on the 30-06 I think it's probably too big to download that far.

BTW, I'd be getting this in a Browning BLR. Please let me know if the above makes any sense or if it's delusional gibberish. Thanks.

2/J try the barnes 140xlc xbt in 140 grain. Use varget powder and winchester primers. Seat the bullets .030 off. I shoot a 7mm-08ack. imp. that loves this combo. gives consistant 5 shot groups of .5moa or less. I have a 26" barrel and get velocities of 3185fps. I use 45.5grns of varget. You wont get the same velocity and you wont be able to use the same amount of powder due to your gun being a standard but you should get something that will knock an elk on his tail. If you get a load that groups pretty decent with the varget and you want the group a little tighter, try H4895. You will lose a little velocity but it should tighten your groups. And dont bed the end of your barrel. Bed the action, float the barrel and have some fun. The contour on the featherweight isnt that much lighter than a standard contour barrel. Make sure the barrel isnt touching the stock anywhere. Also make sure to bed the action all the way out to the end of the chamber. good luck and good hunting

Gonzo
According to my speer manual you can get the 160 and 175 gr bullets down to 30/30
speeds,so if your are comparing factory loads 150,170,you should be able to get the
150,170 down to comparable speeds using other manuals,the speer only give info on the
160 ,175.
In my 7/08 I want speed with accuracy,so I am using 49.9 grs of 760 and a 139 gr SST with rem 9 1/2 primers,max load so work up,this is the most accurate I have gotten so far with my rem classic,haven't tried any heavier bullets but am sure the heavy bullets would work great.
Good luck

Well, I tried for awhile to get a 154 grain Hornady to shoot out of my Remington Mtn. Rifle. I just never could get the accuracy that I wanted. My rifle loves 140 grain Nosler BT's, (or 140 grain Sierra spitzers)and Hodgdon BLC-2. Since I only hunt whitetails with it, that is plenty of bullet for them.

However, if I was faced with elk today, I would probably look to the 150 grain Nosler Partition. According to my Nosler number 4 manual, 45.5 grains of H-380 should yield in the neighborhood of 2750 fps. If my rifle didn't like that load, I would probably try the 140 grain Partition.

I have a Rem 700 Mtn rifle in the 7-08, and have taken 4 bull elk with the Barnes 140XBT. But, just like yours it took time to find the right load. It is the lightweight barrel, I think. Mine won't shoot factory loads, and wouldn't shoot less than 1-1/2" groups over 2600 fps until I bedded the barrel. (I bedded the action first thing). Bed the barrel, back your loads down to about 2500 fps and work your way up.

Hello everyone,

When I first posted this I also posted it in the "Reloading" section of this board. I did not even know that this one was getting any replys for quite some time. Anyhow I will paste my last post from the other thread for those of you who have not seen it in reloading. Rifleman1, your idea is something that has crossed my mind. I think I will first try to shim the fore end with a heavy card and if that seems to help I'll then glass it in. John.

Well now that the holidays and the hunting is over I will continue to search more for a
better load but not in as big of a rush as before. The hunting went well. Got there late on friday, had rain, snow and fog all day saturday. Sunday was still foggy when we got up at 5:30am so went back to sleep. By 7:00 things had cleared off so hurried to have breakfast and get out and glass. By 8:30 we had some Elk to stalk. My partner, who many of you may know here as Idaho Ron got the shot this day. One shot at less than 100 yards on a broadside cow. His pre-64 model 70 in 270 done quite well as it always has in the past. Lucky for him he has me for a friend, as while we were stalking this bunch of Elk I noticed that he had 2 shells in his shell holder that had no primers in them. I pointed this out to him and then he checked his gun. Sure enough, the one he had chambered had no primer either. He found a total of 4.
Have not figured this one out yet. He said that they were once fired factory brass and did not recall any primers that felt loose going in and said he remembered them being there when he
loaded his shell holder. We were wondering if the tempratures had anything to do with it.
Anyhow he got a good one in the chamber before taking a shot. She was just about 100
yards drag in the snow to the road. Loaded her whole. Too bad we could not have gotten
her before we made it to the top of the mountain. I believe his GPS said we had gained
something like 1500 feet elevation in about 1/2 mile!
The next day we found another heard. Had about the same climb but over a greater
distence. Started our stalk and was not out for long when we had a nasty wind change
our plans and later started blowing snow in our face. Ron stayed back the last 50 yards or
so as I moved along on my hands and knees. I was almost to where I wanted to take the
shot from when I figured I could no longer keep myself hidden from the 40 plus sets of
eyes. I made my way over The log in front of me and laid my day pack amoung the limbs. I
took out the early Christmas gift from my girl friend, a Leica LRF 800, which told me that
they were right at 216 yards. They were all laying in the snow covered with all the fresh
stuff that had been blowing in my face. Their rear ends all facing me so I put the cross
hairs at the bace of her neck. This was probably as dead as I have ever killed an Elk. The
bullet hit right where I had put the cross hairs. We figured that we were in for the mother
of all drags to get her out. We rolled and drug her down all the steep stuff until it became
dark. The walk out that night proved to be the crappy part. By the time we had made the
stalk, up and over the mountain and came out the next drainage, it was closer to walk
back to camp. The death march took us threw snow and darkness but we made it,
covered in snow, wet and beat down. we came back the next morning thinking we would
have a real fight to get her the rest of the way out, but over night we had got about
another foot of new snow. We quartered her up took her in quarters therw the first 100
yards or so of the really nasty stuff, then loaded our plastic kiddie sleds with 1/2 an elk
each and down the hill we went.
The skunks off her rifle now but its going to cost me, now I have to make her a set of ear
rings from the ivorys! Oh well, live and learn, but then again she's worth it! John