7mm Cartridge Guide

[lapua338]

Guys,

My FAC is due for renewal very soon and I was considering a variation at the same time.

Does anyone have opinions and/or experience with the variety of 7mm cartridges, for example, the 7mm-08 Remington for long-range target shooting?

They seem to offer good ballistic performance and a variety of bullet choice for handloading. I was reading the following article on 6mmBR.com which aroused my interest.

http://www.6mmbr.com/7mm284.html

[Ovenpaa]

I shoot a 7mm SAUM derivative with 180 Berger bullets, it is stunningly accurate but requires a fair amount of case preparation. Plus side is it works nicely at 1200. Downside is brass and bullets are pricey and barrel life is limited.

The .284 Win and .284 Shehane are both becoming increasingly popular and it is certainly worth looking at the 7mm-08 as it means you can use .308 brass necked down which gives you quality brass at a very good price that is easy to prepare.

The article mentions the 7mm WSM and Vince B posts on this forum and has extensive experience with 7mm's

Will this be for competition use or for general long range shooting?

[lapua338]

Hi ovenpaa,

Just general shooting really to complement my existing .308.

I was unsure which way to go... I have two spare slots for a 6.5mm and 7.5mm from my existing FAC. I was considering retaining the 6.5mm and maybe changing the 7.5mm because I can't seem to find a nice model ZfK55 or another K31. I thought about replacing this calibre for another .308/7.62mm if I couldn't find something suitable. At least with the (easy) 0.308 option I can go down the TRG22 route for F-Class/FTR-type shooting, which I've always fancied anyway. Plus, the .308 is a versatile all-rounder and is simple to reload. Although, it does consume a lot of powder if I'm reloading a large number of cases.

At the end of the day, I simply want to renew my certificate and keep the two spare slots from my existing FAC.

[Sim G]

My RPA Interceptor is in 7mm-08 and I fell in love with the cartridge. I'm currently using 168 SMK's and 162 A maxes, but mine does have a 1 in 8.5" twist...... the slight loss in velocity over .308 doesn't seem to effect long range performance as grain for grain bullets, the 7mm give much more.

I do have some 150gn SMK's on order and I'm curious if it gives anything different.

7mm-08 tends to be regarded as a "hunting" round in the UK, but it actually started it's life as an accuracy cartridge. (As an aside, I've also used other UK "hunting" rounds for target such as .243 and .22-250, on the whole, target shooters really don't know what they're missing out on conforming to the norm.....)

[The Gun Pimp]

I must admit, the 7-08 is one 7mm I haven't really played with - though I know a few who have but, say ten years ago, the choice of 7mm bullets was very limited.

Like that 6mmBR articles says, it will offer a superior ballistic performance with the same weight of bullet to the 308 BUT - the 7mm bullets are long and, if you want the 7-08 to load in a 308 length mag. then you could be compromising powder capacity.

Personally, I like the 260 Rem as an alternative to the 308 but try a 7-08 and let us know how you get on.

Cheers
Vince

[R.G.C]

I must admit, the 7-08 is one 7mm I haven't really played with - though I know a few who have but, say ten years ago, the choice of 7mm bullets was very limited.

Like that 6mmBR articles says, it will offer a superior ballistic performance with the same weight of bullet to the 308 BUT - the 7mm bullets are long and, if you want the 7-08 to load in a 308 length mag. then you could be compromising powder capacity.

Personally, I like the 260 Rem as an alternative to the 308 but try a 7-08 and let us know how you get on.

Cheers
Vince

Hi,all,
Late Laurie Ingram developped the .264 Inch, which is a .260 Remingto, with shorter neck. Shoulder angle remains same, and neck is shortened 3,5mm.

We were both convainced of short necks superiority in temps of concentricity; constant neck tension and better leak control, not to forget also icreased powder capacity.

Cases were .308 fire-formed…unlimited supply and formed beautifully…

Woody Rod now uses the round with success (see the pic as heading of his psots).

Laurie was thinking of the same approach for the 7mm, to create a .284 Inch, for which I am having a reamer made by Triebel. It is a 7-08 with a 3,7mm shorter neck.

-Keeping the same shoulder angle allow to use standard .260 Rem or 7-08 dies.

R.G.C