[madgunsmith]

Glad tidings, folks:

Sierra has just introduced a new Match King bullet. It is a 175 grain 7mm.

It has a sectional density of 0.310 and a ballistics coefficient of .602!!

When I get an opportunity, I am going to load up a mess of these bullets for my 1908 Brazilian Mauser.

Mad

 

[madgunsmith]

The 7mm-08 is a fine cartridge for folks who have never heard of the 7mm Mauser.

All kidding aside, I'm sure that IMR-4350 would work with the 175 grain bullet. Let me check later tonight when I can consult my manuals.

A friend of mine loves the 7mm-08 and he always loads his ammo with IMR-4350. ( My buddy buys new Ruger M77s and then he casts aside the new barrel the same way that a dentist disgards a rotting tooth. Then my friend will install a Douglas Premium Air Guage bbl on his new Ruger. And he has several such Rugers in 7mm-08.)

The very first 7mm bullet ever weighed 173 grains. It was a long round-nosed bullet with a cupro-nickel jacket. I love the idea of a 175 grain bullet in 7mm.

By the way, if anyone has an old Mauser in 7mm Mauser a mild, accurate, soft shooting load for the 7mm Mauser is 43 grains of IMR-4350 with the 160 Sierra boat tailed bullet. This is a starting load and will give you the same velocity as the original 1892 military load. This load will shoot to the same point of aim as the sights on your 1895 Chilean Mauser. The muzzle velocity of this load in an 1895 Mauser is 2325 fps.



Mad.

 

[madgunsmith]

Thank you, Mel.

The funny thing is that Charles Newton was a frustrated lawyer. He was a lawyer by trade and yet he still designed cartridges and rifles.

Now, I am not a gun designer or a cartridge designer, but I feel a strange kinship with ol' Charlie Newton. I mean he also loved the 6.5mm.

I really want to go to see where his factory once stood in Buffalo, New York. When I do go, I plan on taking pictures.

Mad

 

[madgunsmith]

In a magnum caliber, that bullet would be a awesome performer.

It would be a serious 1000 yard performer.

mad

 

[madgunsmith]

It is the length of the bullet that matters and not its weight.

The original 7mm Mauser round of 1892 used a 1 in 9" twist. I would imagine that 1 in 9 would stabilize the new Sierra.

I looked in the Lyman Manual last night and there was a load in 7mm-08 for the 175 grain Speer bullet. This load used 44.8 grains of IMR-4350 to produce about 2500 fps in the 7mm-08.

Take note that the Sierra bullet has a longer bearing surface and 44.8 grains of IMR-4350 would likely be too hot a load. The starting load was 39 point something grains of IMR-4350 and if one carefully worked up the load from there, one could develop a proper load for this bullet with IMR-4350.

Tomorrow when I am not so tired, I will post something about Elmer Keith and the balance point phenomenon and IMR powders

Actually 175 grains is not overly heavy for 7mm. I seem to recall that several years ago Barnes had a 7mm that weighed over 190 grains in 7mm. I'd have to check that one though.

Another thing: You might want to phone the Sierra help line and talk to one of their technicians. They would have the definite answers to all of these questions.

Mad.

 

[madgunsmith]

I doubt it.

Not enough case capacity. But you would be able to get there using a 280 Remington, .284 Winchester or a 7x64mm.

Mad

 

[madgunsmith]

Well, I didn't say it was impossible, but I should have said that I doubted it was possible with a normal length bbl.

I really don't like the idea of pushing a cartridge too far. I get scared when it comes to relatively small cased rounds. I am too much of a chicken to really load them up.

I do like the idea of the .284 Winchester for use with the new Sierra bullet. We'd have a short fat case and it would be wonderful.

And in all honesty I never liked the 7mm-08. I didn't like it when it came out in 1980 either. I always preferred the original 7mm. Paul Mauser's 7x57mm is the original 7mm and it will always be my favourite lucky no 7.

The 7x57mm is actually the father of the .30-06 but most people don't know that. During the Spanish-American War, the Spaniards defended San Juan Hill using 1893 Mausers in 7x57mm. So effective was the Mauser and the 7x57, that Teddy Roosevelt tried to get the US Army to adopt the Mauser.

The Army Ordnance Corps didn't like the idea of adopting a German rifle, so they copied the Mauser and that's where the Springfield rifle came from. The original .30-03 was merely a 7mm Mauser lengthened and necked up to .30 cal. The .30-06 was just the .30-03 with a slightly longer neck and a spitzer bullet. The Springfield Rifle was such a copy of the Mauser that Deutsche Waffen und Munitionfabrik successfully sued the US govt for patent infringement. And the US had to pay the Germans royalties.

Anyway, the entire .30-06 family ( every round that has a .473" casehead diameter) owes its existence to Paul Mauser's 7mm. And that is just one of the reasons why I love the 7x57mm

Mad

 

[madgunsmith]

I don't know what ballistic model they used to calculate their ballistic coefficients. The problem with ballistic coefficients is that most manufacturers do not use the same set of ballistic tables.

I say contact Hornady and ask them.

Mad