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jigman · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 82 Location: Seattle, WA

Would the 150gr, BST weatherby factory ammo be adequate for deer & elk?
I'd like to use one bullet/load for both

What about Barnes-X too?

I am assuming the weatherby's with spire points would not be good-though they are the cheapest.

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

Are you new to hunting or the 7mm WM?

jigman · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 82 Location: Seattle, WA

just new to the &mm Wm

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

If you use a similar train of thought as for the 7mm remington magnum, you should be safe as far as predicting the capabilities of the 7mm WM. The rounds are similiar. I think the 7mmWM has about 120 FPS more then the 7mm Rm.

The barnes reloading manual has 150gr barnes-X bullets ripping out at 3190 FPS. I have never used Barnes but a guy at work uses them on his 300 Weath. M. and swears by them. He hunts elk, deer, moose and bear. On a down note, he does say that the bullets tend to clog the barrel. The copper is kind of soft and fouls the barrel easy. The ballistic coefficient of Barnes bullets is very good too, but they are pricie.

jigman · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 82 Location: Seattle, WA

What would be wrong with loading a nosler partition with IMR 7828 at 76.5 grams w/fed 215 primer @3390FPS for deer & elk? Or, would a 160 gr spitzer with H4831 & H1000 be better. Don't know much about Hornady SP's which could be a compromise with a 154 gr and IMR7828 @ 74.5 grams & 3250 FPS

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

You can't just pick a bullet, powder charge/ make, primer make, cartridge case make the round and load it into your rifle thinking it will work great. When reloading you have to work up the round. Starting from the lowest charge for the round you want to make. Work it up a 1/2 gr making 5 rounds of each charge till you get to the safe maximum. Then go to the range and see which round gives the tightest group and if you have a chrony..the best velocity. Then you calculate the energy using a formula. This way you have the most accrurate and hardest hitting round for your rifle.

Or if you know anyone who has the exact same rifle, you can see what round they have developed. If you're interested in reloading and the theory behind developing a round for your rifle let me know and i can go into detail more. There's no point in telling you things you may already know . Reloading is a cool hobby!

jigman · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 82 Location: Seattle, WA

No, I know mothing about reloading! But, with the purchaes of the weatherby 7mm wm I am highly motivated to get into it and learn. Tell me all you know brother. I'm bidding on items on ebay as we speak. Such as, Press, dies etc.
Ammo for this jewel is $$$$$$. Think i will buy 2-3 boxes of weatherrby ammo. probably 150 NP or some such and get the brass to get me started. Lets' get started.

147 Grain · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 385 Location: Utah

While 7mm Mag 150-gr. Ballistic Silvertips will do a superb job on light-skinned deer, heavy-boned elk are another story and require a tougher bullet like the 150-gr. AccuBond or Partition.

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

Ok cool. Before you start spending cash, give me a day to get a list up of the basic things you will need. I'm going out to my shop to see if i have any old targets to show you how the bullet pattern tightens up. Reloading for your 7mm will save you a bit of money, but the best thing is you get to "Tune" your ammo to your rifle.

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

The following pics are an example of how the group pattern tightens up. This is my midland rifle (parker hale) in 270 WIN with a 4x tasco scope. Shot at 100 yards, sitting. 5 shot group. The powder i used was IMR 4831 (a slow burning powder) worked up in .5 gr increments. The bullets were Speer 150gr spitzers. CCI primers, winchester brass.

The starting load was 51GR up to 55GR as per the speer reloading manual. I got up to 52.5 before my group started to open up. I never Chrony the velocity because i was creating this as a predator round and not a hunting round.

The pics are as follows. (note the coin is a canadian dime i used for size reference)
1) 51gr of 4831 (yes i know the group would have been a bit tighter if i didn't have a bit of a breathing problem but this series of groups was shot near the end of the day and i had already shot 180 rounds before this 20. kind of tiring to hold it together for that many accruate shots ::-k )

2) 51.5 gr of 4831. The group tightened up a bit.

3) 52 gr of 4831 notice how the group came right into "focus". There are five rounds there, the edges of the holes touch each other. This is the ideal load for accuracy in my midland using the above component combination.

I ran out of pic posting space so my next post will describe and show the 4th grouping.

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

Groupings cont. This grouping is 52.5 gr of IMR 4831. Notice how the grouping is starting to open up and the "flyers" are back? Shooting any farther then this would be a waste of bullets so at this point i "unloaded" the other groups to save bullets/ powder etc.

The first step you should do is pick a bulllet you would like to shoot. Then go out and buy a reloading manual form that bullet manufactuer. I would suggest a Nosler or a Hornady. Those manuals do have general instructions and info to help a new reloader. For reloading equipment i think best value/quality is RCBS. LEE is cheap and i would stay away from it. If you like PM me and i'll give you my email address and i can send you more info/ answer some of your questions etc..or we can post in the forum but i'm not sure if the moderators would like us to take up that much space. Let me know.

jigman · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 82 Location: Seattle, WA

okay-Excellent- I have some bids going on with ebay on RCBS presses.
Lost a bid yesterday for a couple 7mm wm dies that I bid almost 9.00 for.
I think ebay is the way to go , we'll see. But I think the bullet I'd like to shoot this year is the 160 Nosler partition. Just seems to have the versatility I want for a one bullet does all. Last year, with the 270WSM I used 130 gr. bst's on deer and 140 gr. failsafes on elk. That made thing complicated. This year I want one bullet for both. This way I can dial in my gun and myself-and get real good.
I also bid on a weatherby reloading manual

fuzzybear · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1317 Location: Bend, Oregon

30-338
Any input to the topic of reloading is welcomed in the reloading forum.
You and jigman can take up all the time you need. It's all about helping out the next person.
Setting up links to refer to can also be of assistance.
Fuzzybear.

fuzzybear · Joined: 31 Mar 2004 Posts: 1317 Location: Bend, Oregon

I see that it has been moved to reloading.
Take all the time you need.

30-338 · Joined: 27 Mar 2005 Posts: 77 Location: Western Canada

Ah! The post has moved..cool! I was wondering about continuing to write in that post..we were going outside of / changing the scope of that post. Thanks for allowing me to ramble on in here. I agree, we may as well continue posting, maybe the info will be usefull to others or other members may have some input to add.

Jigman
You want to jump right into reloading which is neat. But i got to recommend you do one very first thing...Cancel all the ebay bids. Including the weatherby reloading manual. You have to get to know some basics first, then you'll have a better idea of what you'll need and what to look for in those items.

The main point here is you're putting a controlled explosive device beside your head. You want everything to be done right and not rush. If you're not methodical and carefull, it's really easy to make a serious mistake and get hurt or do some damage. If you reload with equipment that isn't a good quality or maybe a little worn out, you won't be getting the full benefit of tuning your round. I'm sure you already know this but i wanted to mention it anyways.

You want to shoot Nosler 160Gr partition or "CT" partiton bullets..sounds good! I would recomend you go to your gun store and buy the Nosler reloading guide fifth edition. Don't bother with older editions you always want to stay current. As new editions come out for the bullet manufacturer you like to use, buy them..sometimes there are changes you need to know.

After you get the Nosler Reloading Guide, read the the first 70 or so pages. This part goes all through making cartridges and the basic theory behind reloading. When you see the equipment they're using, you can decide on want you want to get. Reloading seems to be one of these hobbies where there is no shortage of equipment to buy. But there is a basic list of equipment you'll need to do some "effective" reloading.

This is where reading the manual comes in. You can get a good idea of what's involved and the basic equipment you'll need. From there you can determine if you want to push ahead with the time consuming hobby it is and the initial expense of the equipment you'll need. If you decide it's not for you then all you've spent is the 20 or so dollars for the manual, (no loss it will still have interesting facts about bullets and cartridges etc.). Which is better then spending a few hundred and then deciding reloading's not for you.

So go out and get that reloading guide, have a read, then we'll go from there..Sound good?