7-08 reloading data

My Remington XP-100 7-08 handgun has been very forgiving and is accurate w/ a number of loads, all using W/W brass and Remington 9 1/2 primers. Here's what I've got so far:
140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, 44.0 gr Varget
130 gr Speer BTSP, 45.0 gr Varget
120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, 44.0 gr H4895.
All loads are sub MOA at 100 yds. The bullets are seated 0.035" off the lands. Reloader 15 was also an accurate powder in my gun, but lagged behind the others in velocity. In my experience, changing primers doesn't usually have a big effect on accuracy, but altering seating depth can. Don't forget to check for other potential areas that can rob accuracy, including: bedding issues, loose scope/rings/base/action screws; faulty scope; damaged crown. While these are top end loads, they're safe in MY gun. Take the appropriate safety precautions using similar loads in YOUR gun. Good luck and keep us updated.

Very thorough and nicely done, TOTH.

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Thoroughly cleaned the barrel

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Did you use copper solvent? A lot of people seem to leave out this step when it is one of the biggest robbers of accuracy.

I wish I had time to load my own. Respect.

I've been shooting the Barnes TSX 120 gr. out of mine, and I absolutely love it.

On a few of the rifles that I've had barrel work performed on, the gunsmiths have re-crowned the barrel and the results have been outstanding. Any imperfection in the machining at the muzzle end will screw up accuracy, whether this happened at the factory or possibly a dropped or mishandled gun. If you have a rifle that refuses to shoot and you've done everything else,try recrowning.
I have a Ruger 77/22 all weather in 17 Mach 2 that I had the barrel fluted to lighten it up. The smith recrowned it on his own. It will literally put consecutive shots thru the original hole at fifty yards. It shot ok before the work, but not like that.
On reloading, if you don't then you should. It's very rewarding to improve the accuracy with custom loads to fit the gun. You usually can't buy them as good as you can make em.

I'm sure it's just a typo, but I'd check that load for Trail Boss. I don't have my Nosler book in front of me right now, but the Hodgdon web site only shows one load for Trail Boss w/ the 7-08 and it's a reduced load. Trail Boss Load Data I bet you meant a different powder.

What powders have you tried thus far? What powders do you have available to use?

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120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip, 44.0 gr H4895

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This is my main load.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes. I'm hoping to try out either my 130 gr Speer BTSP or 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip load on an AR doe Sat!

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But by the same token, how would letting copper get to a really high stage of buildup not affect accuracy? I guess my conclusion is that there has to be a point of diminishing returns in terms of copper fouling, unless I'm just thinking about it in the wrong manner.

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No, you are thinking about it correctly. I just dont use the super aggressive cleaners and solvents. I use the foam cleaner and a nylon brush. That seems to take the right amount of copper out while not stripping it completely. Generally, it clean the barrels of my guns somewhere around 500 rds. Its not an exact number and will depend on the gun, you can tell when the accuracy drops a little. Its a hard thing to quantify, if had a lot of guns it would be harder, but I sold most of the guns that just sat. I really only shoot 3 rifles and one pistol for the most part so its easy to see when its not me missing anymore. And when I talk about accuracy falling off, that is all end user defined. Im talking sub moa rifles and the pistol just follows the trends.