7-08 Youth Load

Good evening -

I've attempted to call Hodgdon several times and have always been put on extended hold until the music times out and hangs up.
I want to make sure I'm reading the reduced recoil load instructions correct with H4895 & the 60% rule. Their data sheet they show on their site doesn't appear to be much of a reduced load for the 7-08 ?

They first state this can only be accomplished where H4895 is recommended for that load. The Sierra Manual shows a max of 42.0 grains with their 100gr Varminter bullet.
Would 25.2 grains be their lowest load recomendation?

Any other recomendations for this round? I'd like to spend some time over the extended weekend with my Son getting some trigger time with his new Remington.

PS,
I haven't tried 25 grain reduced load, but I have gone down to 29-31. I settled on 30. Crony was 1750 avg. I used Varget and 140 grain abonds.
Russ

In general I've found all of the "Garand" extruded powders to be quite consistent with reduced loads.

I've used light bullet (110 gr. "carbine" bullet) reduced loads in various .30 cal rounds with IMR 4895, IMR 4064, Viht N140 and IMR 4064 reduced up to 30% with fine results.

You might also reference cast bullet data for IMR 4759. I've used that one for a .308 win 150 gr load at 1800 fps that was a peach to shoot and accurate as well. Lyman lists 15.3-23.5 gr of IMR 4759 at 1529-2189 fps with max pressure at 36900 CUP with a 135 gr cast. You should be able to safely substitute a 139 gr Hor SP at the low end of that charge rate for a very low recoil load.

Another option is to pick up a pound of Trail Boss. Follow these instructions:

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Trail%20Boss ... %20R&P.pdf

and you should be fine.

As for the 60% rule, it's not clearly spelled out by Hodgdon, but I believe the whole "60%" thing is for cast bullets, not jacketed:

For years H4895 has been the top choice of cast bullet shooters. For this type of shooting, loads are reduced even more than the
hunting loads listed here. To create this type of target and plinking loads, we recommend our 60% rule with H4895: Refer
to our latest reloading manual or the Reloading Data Center found on this website; take the maximum H4895 charge listed
for any given cartridge and multiply it by 60%. The shooter can create a 1500 to 2100 f/s load, depending on the bullet
weight shown. This works ONLY where H4895 is listed. DO NOT use H4895 in a cartridge where it has not been shown.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't go down to 60% with a jacketed bullet, without asking Hodgdon. But, with Trail Boss, you would be able to go down to something like 1500fps and very light recoil.

In anything but a featherweight rifle, the 7-08 with 120g bullets is already a pretty light recoiling rifle. Even just using a starting book charge of 42.5g of Varget and the 120g BTip it's a pussycat.

If he's recoil sensitive, or still growing into the rifle, I'd be more tempted to find a nice heavy laminate replacement stock than go much below 42.6g of Varget.

I've been using 120 grain Ballistic Tips for over a decade in my Rem Model 7 lightweight bolt rifle chambered for 7mm-08. The recoil is so nominal that I've watched deer tip over thru the scope when hunting. My rifle grouped best using near max loads of IMR 4064. The recoil of these bullets is really minimal and I would heartily recommend it for your son.

Powerstroke

Take a look at the 120 grain loads in Hornady's #8 manual. They all start at 2600 fps. Not sure how light you want to go, but these loads should be a good place to start.

JohnB

I'm using 39.0 gr of H4895 , with a 120 nosler B-tip , CCI 200 primer . according to quickload this gives 2700 FPS ,and it has 10.25 ft lbs of recoil in a 7.5 lbs rifle . I have not done any load work up except trying a few different powder amounts . I'll play with seating depth to see if I can improve it . this target is 100 yds . I was doing bbl break in and load development at the same time .

That isn't a subtle statement on elected officials by using that target is it? :lol:
(just couldn't resist, sorry)

Some of the manuals, Sierra comes to mind, publish a reduced load at the bottom of the page.
Dewey

I got interrupted during my other post , dang telephone .

the load I mentioned above puts the 7-08 in around the same recoil as a 243 using ammo in the 95 or 100 gr range . I think that 7-08 load will not have a problem hunting deer sized game .

something to keep in mind if this is going to be used for hunting , don't load it too light , you need velocity to make the bullet expand properly . also watch for high pressure when using reduced loads . you can get detonation that will raise pressures and can be very dangerous . also hang fires can happen with reduced loads . if you encounter either of these stop shooting that load .

I've worked with a few new young shooters . I think the bang is just about as bad as the recoil . I get them to wear ear plugs under a set of muffs , it's amazing how this helps tame the beast .

rifle fit is another issue , the butt on the bicep will hurt . adding a thicker recoil pad only makes the rifle longer , which makes it harder to get it on the shoulder . good luck on this I enjoy working with youngsters . Jim

Jim, you're spot-on with the noise comments. I've seen kids (and adults) develop a flinch just from shooting a loud firearm (even with very little recoil). It's common for me to recommend folks double up on hearing protection. I always wear plugs and muffs when I'm at the bench, for sure. One time I forgot my earmuffs - some little elf in my house played "pilot" with them and didn't put them back in my box - and I noticed I had a little bit of trigger panic when I was shooting my bow later that same week. I spent a bunch of time dry firing my favorite rifle to get settled back into place.