162 ELD-M 7mm-08 Tikka

[Ram94]

Hi,

I have a 7mm-08 Tikka Superlite that I recently picked up and am thinking about working up a load with 162gr ELD-M as they look to hold energy down range nicely.

Has anyone here done this? What kind of accuracy and velocities are you seeing? Details please!

Thanks in advance.


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[wildwilderness]

I have a Barrett field craft 7-08. I was testing RL 17 and got to 2700fps which is great! That’s with a 21” barrel and COL about 2.975” I haven’t done accuracy yet but hope it’s there at that speed. The ladder was good. In the Tikka you can easily modify the bolt stop and get a standard magazine and seat Bullets out as far as you want!

 

[Ram94]

That sounds awesome! You’ll hold over 1500ft/lbs at 500 yards with that load. Hopefully you can find an accuracy node.


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[MuleyFever]

@Jon Boy has been working with this combo I believe. Maybe he will chime in.

 

[Ram94]

I had spoken with JonBoy about it already, and it sounds like he’s had good results with it. Thinking I’ll follow his lead on it but I’m curious other people experiences as well.


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[Newtosavage]

I shot a lot of powders under 162 ELD-X's in my Tikka. RL-17 was "supposed" to be the best, but it wasn't. I ended up with IMR 8208 XBR, and it shot lights-out with that combo. Day in and day out, it shot 1/2-3/4 MOA from a cold barrel. No exaggeration.

 

[Ram94]

I shot a lot of powders under 162 ELD-X's in my Tikka. RL-17 was "supposed" to be the best, but it wasn't. I ended up with IMR 8208 XBR, and it shot lights-out with that combo. Day in and day out, it shot 1/2-3/4 MOA from a cold barrel. No exaggeration.

Did you ever shoot that load over a chrony? That’s one powder that doesnt get much attention but it is listed as highest velocity in the Lee manual. Interesting


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[Newtosavage]

Did you ever shoot that load over a chrony? That’s one powder that doesnt get much attention but it is listed as highest velocity in the Lee manual. Interesting


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That's what got my attention. I shoot all my loads over a chrony. 40g of 8208 under 162 ELD-X in my Tikka gave me 2670 on average. I chased 2700 with other powders, but none were as accurate or as temp insensitive as 8208 so I quit looking.

 

[GLB]

I have a great load with the 162 Amax (I bought a 1000 of these before they were replaced and still have a good stock) My rifle is a custom Remington 7mm08 with a 22” barrel setting in a Manners stock. The rifle load combo is extremely accurate. I consistently get less than 1/2 moa over many groups. I think the 162 ELD m is almost the same bullet.
162 Amax
44.8 H4350
CCI 200
2.830 OAL
2650 FPS

 

[tunafed]

I've been working on the same combo in my T3 lite. So far Staball 6.5 seems to have some promise. Hit a pretty good node from 46.9 and 47.8 between 2749 and 2766. Went up as high as 48.4 without pressure in my rifle. Hodgdon data has a max of 47.8. Got it kinda narrowed down at 47.1 grains and .040 off the lands. 5 shots groups on 2 different occasions of ~.75 moa at 100 and 500 yards. Velocity is 2750'ish with an ES of 12 over 20 shots so far. Temperature was mid 50's when I worked it up. I took a transfer from CA to NV since and haven't had a chance to play with seating depth a little and check over a bigger sample. I would also like to get a better idea of the temp sensitivity as well.

H4350 showed promise as well until I ran out of it. Between 45.5 and 46.1 (hodgdon's max is 45) I had a node right at 2700 fps. Just didn't have enough powder left to run any seating depth tests. I went up as high as 47 without pressure in my rifle.

Lapua brass and federal 215M primers (what I had on hand when I started load development) shot over a prochrono digital. The loaded rounds do not fit in the short action mag fyi.

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[Ram94]

I have seen mixed reviews on Staball regarding temperature sensitivity. If it turns out to be a non issue for you then that is a deadly load though!

 

[PurpleDriver]

Ram, I’ve been shooting the 162 Amax and ELDx through a Rem 700 Mtn with a 22” factory tube. I am running low on my remaining Amax so I bought a box of ELD to test out. They shot nearly identical in my rifle load combo. Long story to get to your question.

H100V 44.0gr
avg 2650
ES 5 SD 2

H414 43.0gr
avg 2652
ES 16 SD 6

both loads have shot well and powder change was due to availability. Shot at sea level and CBTO in my gun was 3.090” on my calipers. I’m shooting in a factory chamber and with a factory box magazine, so I can’t load long. The 162 really hammers Whitetails and pigs, but no experience on anything else.

 

[tunafed]

I have seen mixed reviews on Staball regarding temperature sensitivity. If it turns out to be a non issue for you then that is a deadly load though!

I've seen the same reviews as well. Living in the desert it is a thought in the back of my mind working up loads. I don't expect Varget/H4350 stability but if it is somewhere on the better side between those and say RL17 I think it might work for me. Especially since the powder charge I am working is a good bit away from pressure signs. If not I am sure there is a load to be had with H4350 or even Varget that I have on hand.

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[PurpleDriver]

If you look at the Hodgdon load data for Staball they also list a pressure of 59k at their max load vs 47k for all the other powders. Not sure why it proofed at such a high pressure.

 

[tunafed]

If you look at the Hodgdon load data for Staball they also list a pressure of 59k at their max load vs 47k for all the other powders. Not sure why it proofed at such a high pressure.

CUP vs PSI if you look at the some of the IMR powders they list around 59k psi as well. Not sure why they chose to list differently however.

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[PurpleDriver]

CUP vs PSI if you look at the some of the IMR powders they list around 59k psi as well. Not sure why they chose to list differently however.

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I didn’t see that! Great catch.
Also confused why they’d use different measurements in same data set.

 

[Newtosavage]

I have seen mixed reviews on Staball regarding temperature sensitivity. If it turns out to be a non issue for you then that is a deadly load though!

I tried StaBall and all I got were early pressure signs at barely higher velocities than I'm getting from 8208 with zero pressure signs. Accuracy was just okay, and just for some loads. I gave the 3/4 full bottle back to the person who loaned it to me.

 

[J_Jacobson196]

I have a Tikka T3 7mm08 cut down to 18". Shoots 0.5moa groups using 162gr ELDMs, Peterson Brass, FED210M and 2208 (Varget). I get about 2530fps running a very mild load. When it was at 22" I ran it at 2680fps. Both loads I have taken game to 500m with no problems, and shot steel to 1000m.

 

[brn2hnt]

I shot 162 ELD-x out of my Tikka 7RM. Barrel twist was not fast enough and bullets were unstable. Didn't really show up until about 600 yards, but once I got there it would deviate off the chart pretty badly. Ended up switching to Berger 168 hybrid hunters (or something like that, it's their shorter bullet to fit SAAMI spec guns)

I would check the actual twist rate of your barrel, not the published one, and proceed from there.

Though with 7mm-08 ranges you'd probably be just fine.

 

[Lou400a]

162 eldx w/imr 4451 in my 17" t3x 7mm-08 got better velocity than xbr 8208