47 gr. of Ramshot Big Game with 140 gr. Sierra too hot in 7mm-08?

Roger London

New member
I got this load from load data.com and also found it referenced in an issue of American Rifleman. Reduced it by 5% and worked up to it in half grain increments and got good groups at 47 gr.with no pressure signs. I could lift the bolt easily with my pinky. Got to look at a Sierra manual today it's max recommended charge is 42.7 grains! I'm almost 5 grains over. Ramshot allows a heavier max charge for the 160 gr. Sierra than Sierra does for a 140. I'm confused! This load doesn't seem hot at all by outward signs, but according to Sierra's data I'm way over. I don't know what to do. Should I pull the bullets and start over? 47 seems in line with the max for Big Game with other 140 grain jacketed bullets.
 
Last edited:
I am running 47.8gr ramshot with a 139gr SPBT bullet. There are a lot of factors to what could add up to being over max. Primer, lot# of powder, tightness of both barrel and chamber, distance to the lands, bullet design, and a host of other things. Flat base bullet tend to have a higher charge than BT because of the longer bearing surface. If you don't see any pressure or sticky bolt lift you should be good. If you are concerned about it I would measure the amount of case head expansion.
 
I cross referenced Sierra's data against the powder manufacturer's and wherever they overlapped for the same Sierra bullet, Sierra is always 1 to 3 grains less. I don't know who to go with. I'm going to pull these bullets though, and use their data until I find some more reliable sources that specifically list Sierra bullets and Ramshot powders.
 
I always cross reference from several sources, & even then usually have a bit of daylight above my final charge weight.

Much of the time similar bullets can be substituted, though not always. One must pay attention. There was just a detailed article about pressure differences with different bullets of the same weight in Handloader magazine. Some one may expect, others not so obvious. Some of the pressure differences were MUCH different than other bullets of the same weight. These were lead core to lead core, not all copper bullets mixed in.

Just another reason to not be starting at max & go slowly when substituting components.
 
ALL manuals are just guidelines to get you started.Since chambers vary max's vary so you are probably fine but do what you are comfortable with.
 
Back
Top