7mm, Am I too hot?

[Bigsmooth35]

I am getting ready to go to Montana for mule deer and elk, so I loaded up the 160 gr. Accubonds that worked well last year. The only question I have am I too hot? Last year I shot the 160's with 63 gr. of 4831 ( I had been loading 150 gr. partitions up until this and stayed with the same powder charge). Now this year I loaded it up with 62 gr. of 4831 according to my dad's old speer reloading manual this is the max. Now I read another post where people are saying even this is too much. AmI going to hurt my barrel or anything by shooting this load? Also this load groups very very well.

[James B]

In my Speer Manual you are a grain over Max. If you are getting pressure signs, I would back off a bit.

[mossy33oak]

is your bolt handle hard to lift? hows your primer look? you should not have a completely flattened primer (there should still be a slight roll at the edge)

[eldeguello]

ORIGINAL: Bigsmooth35

I am getting ready to go to Montana for mule deer and elk, so I loaded up the 160 gr. Accubonds that worked well last year. The only question I have am I too hot? Last year I shot the 160's with 63 gr. of 4831 ( I had been loading 150 gr. partitions up until this and stayed with the same powder charge). Now this year I loaded it up with 62 gr. of 4831 according to my dad's old speer reloading manual this is the max. Now I read another post where people are saying even this is too much. AmI going to hurt my barrel or anything by shooting this load? Also this load groups very very well.

You used 4831? Which 4831, Hodgdon's or IMR? It DOES make a difference, sinceH4831 is quite a bit slower than IMR 4831......

I'm looking at a Hodgdon manual right now, and it gives 66 grains of H4831 as the max load with 160-grain bullets in the 7mm Rem. Mag. C.U.P. is shown as 50,600 and MV of 3028 FPS. Starting load is shown as 61 grains at 48,200 C.U.P. and a MV of 2872 FPS - this is a good 280 Rem. equivalent load level.