T/C carbine for High Power

Mike 3-4 · Post by **Mike 3-4** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:26 am

I have in the past shot small bore rifle with a T/C carbine. Can anyone tell me if the 7-30 Waters will take down rams at 500meters using 140grn bullets at 2500fps or should I look into a 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser barrel if it meets the pressure requirements.

Bob Mc Alice · Post by **Bob Mc Alice** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:25 am

Mike 3-4, welcome to the forum. We have a couple of guys here in CO that knock down rams with the 7BR and 175 MK's. Your 7-30 Waters and 140's might give you some trouble on the rams. Bench testing on the targets will prove it out. I suggest you develop a load using the 168 or 175gr. bullets. Save the 140's or even go to 120's for CPT. Unfortunately, recoil with these heavy bullets in the light TC carbine will be a factor. Are you shooting the Contender carbine or the heavier Encore rifle? http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

Mike 3-4 · Post by **Mike 3-4** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:04 pm

Bob,Thanks for your reply,I had been shooting the older carbine in small bore with a 21" bull barrel and Leupold 6.5-20xEFR scope and enjoyed the results so much I thought perhaps there might be a cartridge in that carbine that would get me into high power? Are you suggesting the 7-30 Waters with 168gr SMK could work on rams with a 2200fps velocity?

Bob Mc Alice · Post by **Bob Mc Alice** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:05 pm

A look at the load chart provided shows very similar powder charge weights and velocities for the 168 Sierra MK in both the 7BR & the 7-30 Waters. H4895 was the powder I was comparing. The Waters delivers about the same velocities. Yes, I think it should perform every bit as good as the 7BR. I had a Super 14 in 7-30. With the 140 Sierra spitzer and a 7x Burris, this gun could hit water filled pop cans off the bench at 300 yds. all the time. Sold it off to support the rifle addiction.

Steve Tapp · Post by **Steve Tapp** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:47 pm

Wow, this topic really hits home. I am planning to try 7m/m TCU 23" G-2 on a contender frame with e.a.browns thumbhole stock this month at Benton. to see if it will slam rams @ 500. It will be old pistol load that did the job at Yuma in a 15" bullberry freestyle any sight. 130 MK over 26.5gr AA2460. When I showed Jim Henry the fired cases he examined the frame for streching because you could see the rimfire firing pin indentation on the back of the case. Jim found the frame to have no evident streching and I am still using it. Now that does not happen when that load is fired from the 23" rifle barrel. It also worked good in a 10" factory barrel out to 200M. But it has monster recoil & muzzle flash.

Mike 3-4 · Post by **Mike 3-4** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 12:17 am

Bob: Sure appreciate your advice here. I happen to use Varget in every thing including my Wheaties in the morning. What is your opinion about Varget vs. H4895. The velocity & CUP between H4895 & VARGET are pretty close but I notice BL-C 2 is about 100fps faster. I tend to like Extreme Powders in Arizona's extreme weather. My carbine by the way weighs in at 8.5 lbs. with added barrel weights. My 45-70 load is 55grn of Varget with a 300grn bullet so I can only assume a 168grn is doable for 10 rounds?

Bob Mc Alice · Post by **Bob Mc Alice** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:46 am

Mike, I happen to like Varget sprinkled on top of my mashed potatoes.

I got to test Varget back in 1994 , a year before it hit the shelves in the US. My neighbor in Cortez ,CO was M.L. "Mick" McPherson who writes for Precision Shooting. He was given a case by Hodgdon for his evaluation. He swore me to secrecy and gave me two cans to test ,also. All I had to do was test it in my own guns and report back to him accuracy and velocity results. I really like it and burn more of this propellent than any other. Both Varget and H4895 are made by the same Australian company, ADI. They have nearly the same burn and physical properties. Test them both with the 168's. One thing though, you will probably have to shim the rear of the scope base (one piece?)or the ring bottom in order for the scope to compensate for all that drop at rams.

If you can handle your carbine with the .45/70

, the 168's should feel like squib loads!

Ramslammer · Post by **Ramslammer** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:48 am

G'Day All
I've got a 7 TCU on a Sako 75, 23" barrel made by Bear Tobler and it brings Rams down with 162 a max or 168SMK 90% of the time. I've stood the buggers with everything so I'm not displeased with the odd stander. The 7/30 should be more than good enough with either of these bullets. Just get them going as fast as you can.
Juddy