Thread: Model 7 7mm08 150gn eldx load development

Originally Posted by dannyb

So an interesting quandary has arisen......
It has been suggested that in the short barrel I may see better velocity with ADI2206h, I have access to about half a bottle but there is no load data that I'm aware of ?
I was thinking I might load a ladder up starting at 38gn going up to 39.5gn as a bit of a test....anyone else got any data or able to feed that into quick load for projected results ?

Had a quick look at 308win data for same weight pills and that would suggest a starting load of 40gn and max of 45.5 would it be safe to assume similar with the 708 ?

Greetings @dannyb,
First and most important no it is not safe to use .308W data for the 7mm-08. Pressure will be much higher. I did a quick check on data for AR2206H 40.5 grains with 150 grain HPBT. Using a reduction of 30 or 25 fps per inch of barrel shortening suggests that AR2206H will come up short at 2,500 and 2,535 fps respectively. Lastly using the 30 fps per inch reduction suggests a velocity of 2,520 fps for your 45.5 grain load of AR2209. You are getting about 50 fps more than that. The Hodgdon data pressure is expressed in CUP (copper units of pressure) which suggests that the data was worked up in the 1990's. About 2002 the speed of AR2209 was increased hence your higher velocity and pressure. I reported on this some time back chronographing different lots of AR2209 in my 6.5x55. This would suggest that your additional 50 fps of velocity would put you about 1 grain over book max for the later AR2209. It looks like a good load none the less.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings @dannyb,
First and most important no it is not safe to use .308W data for the 7mm-08. Pressure will be much higher. I did a quick check on data for AR2206H 40.5 grains with 150 grain HPBT. Using a reduction of 30 or 25 fps per inch of barrel shortening suggests that AR2206H will come up short at 2,500 and 2,535 fps respectively. Lastly using the 30 fps per inch reduction suggests a velocity of 2,520 fps for your 45.5 grain load of AR2209. You are getting about 50 fps more than that. The Hodgdon data pressure is expressed in CUP (copper units of pressure) which suggests that the data was worked up in the 1990's. About 2002 the speed of AR2209 was increased hence your higher velocity and pressure. I reported on this some time back chronographing different lots of AR2209 in my 6.5x55. This would suggest that your additional 50 fps of velocity would put you about 1 grain over book max for the later AR2209. It looks like a good load none the less.
Regards Grandpamac.

Was hoping you'd chime in thanks you have re-enforced what I probably already knew subconsciously....

Originally Posted by dannyb

Was hoping you'd chime in thanks you have re-enforced what I probably already knew subconsciously....

Greetings again @dannyb,
After my post I did what I should have done earlier and went back over earlier data. It appears that Hodgdon/ ADI have dropped their max load of AR2209 with the 150 grain projectile from 48.5 grains to 45.5 grains likely in responce to the increased powder speed. I also spotted that you are using Federal cases. These weigh around 179 grains compared with 164 grains to 169 grains for just about everything else. This results in reduced case capacity together with increased pressure and velocity. The extra 10 to 15 grains of case weight works out to about 1.1 to 1.7 less grains of case capacity. I loaded some rounds in different capacity .308W cases a while back to get a better idea of velocity impact but have yet to shoot them. Go shoot some deer with those loads and the Federal cases might look a bit better.
Regards Grandpamac.

Originally Posted by grandpamac

Greetings again @dannyb,
After my post I did what I should have done earlier and went back over earlier data. It appears that Hodgdon/ ADI have dropped their max load of AR2209 with the 150 grain projectile from 48.5 grains to 45.5 grains likely in responce to the increased powder speed. I also spotted that you are using Federal cases. These weigh around 179 grains compared with 164 grains to 169 grains for just about everything else. This results in reduced case capacity together with increased pressure and velocity. The extra 10 to 15 grains of case weight works out to about 1.1 to 1.7 less grains of case capacity. I loaded some rounds in different capacity .308W cases a while back to get a better idea of velocity impact but have yet to shoot them. Go shoot some deer with those loads and the Federal cases might look a bit better.
Regards Grandpamac.

I was happy with every other aspect of the federal cases the neck tension felt consistent when seating, just the primer pockets felt like there was quite a variance in pressure required to seat the primers using an rcbs hand primer....

Originally Posted by dannyb

I was happy with every other aspect of the federal cases the neck tension felt consistent when seating, just the primer pockets felt like there was quite a variance in pressure required to seat the primers using an rcbs hand primer....

Ive personally had rubbish experience with federal brass, as you mentioned sloppy primer pockets varying throughout the same lot of brass. Made the switch to starline in 7mm08 and have had awesome results