Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Reduced load for 7mm08

We have a model syn. stock youth gun that my 9 yr.old newphew is going to use for deer in WV this year. I have some 139gr. bullets that I was going to try to work up a light load for him with.Anybody have any sugestions where to start. Thanks, Dave

Best place to start would be at the Hodgdon web site and look for Youth Loads. They list two loads for the 7-08 (with other bullets than yours).

Look into 120 gr bullets too. I think Nosler makes partitions in that loading. My son, who is 9 shoots a Browning Micro Medallion A Bolt. I am loading 46 grains of IMR 4350 under a 120 gr TSX. The recoil is very manageable (he is very small framed), but noticeable for him. Range sessions usually consist of 6 rounds being fired. He quits when he is ready. He killed his first deer with it last season.

The 120 gr. Ballistic Tip should be more than enough for whitetail deer in that cartridge. It's what I'm working with in the 7mm-08 I just bought for my son. Look at the picture of sectioned 140 and 120 gr. Ballistic Tips below. They're both made from the same cups, so the shorter 120 gr. bullet ends up with a thicker jacket, which can be clearly seen:



Credit for the picture goes to bluedot who posts on the Nosler forums.

I got into the 110-gr plinking loads and then the 120-gr loads with my children, even though factory 140-gr loads didn't faze my son at any age. I found that the 120-gr Remington HP and the Ballistic Tips shot well and killed deer at .257 Roberts velocities just like... well, like a 120-gr bullet out of a .257 Roberts. Some loads:

16.0 gr IMR-4227 1,600 fps
13.0 gr Red Dot 1,600 fps
30.0 gr H-4895 2,300 fps
34.0 gr H-4895 2,450 fps
36.0 gr H-4895 2,600 fps
40.0 gr H-4895 2,750 fps

That 36.0 gr load is accurate, low recoil, and a killer

I've been following Seafire's postings concerning Blue Dot for a couple of years now. I've worked up to a 21 gr. charge of it under a Sierra 140 gr spitzer at a little over 2100 fps. Shoots at just under an inch at 100 yards and is a powder puff on the shoulder. I'd like to suggest a bullet designed for the 7-30 waters with a charge somewhere 18-21 grains for starters.

Seafire did a series of posting over on AR and the 7-57 was one of them. Some careful interpolation got me to the load I settled on. These loads aren't for everyone, but I've had zero problems with them in 223, 243,7-08, and will soon trying some in an '06.

120's for sure.
Load the starting loads from the manual with Varget, and dont look back.
You should get 2500 to 2600fps.
All the 100yd deer medicine anyone could ask for.

You are going to be hunting at close range anyway, because a little chap isn't able to make good shots beyond 50 yards, so I second the suggestion of using something like the Single Shot Pistol bullets from Hornady which are made lower velocities. If you are going to load up above 2,500 fps MV, then the BT or Remington HP 120s will do great.

i started my ex Gf's son with 100 gr hornadys loaded down for range work and for deer season heworked up to a middle of the road 139 Gr interlock load at about 2400 FPS iirc and it was easy for him to shoot 10-15 rds with no ill effect at the range, recoil was nil

I used reduced loads for my son which he shot for several months before deer season, I switched to almost full power loads and just did not tell him. He shot a doe and all he had to say was, 'that was loud'. Didn't even notice the extra kick. That was in a .243 win.

in any 308 sized cases, max load with Blue Dot is 22.5 grains... with a 120 or 139, or 140 grain bullet you will find it will not only be very accurate but will also have minimal recoil...

30 grains of IMR 4198 or RL 7 will also be very accurate and low recoiling rounds... Hodgdon's H 4895 loads will be inconsistent in accuracy and MV you will find out if you test them...

25 grains of SR 4759 are also a very good choice....

any powder that will give an MV of 2250 fps, when zeroed 3.5 inches high at 100 yds, will be dead on at 200 yds, and will be 3.5 inches low at about 250 yds...

Since ANY deer is 14 to 16 inches from backbone to breast bone, 2250 fps MV will be a dead on deer load out to 250 yds easily...

add a mil dot reticle scope, and you can stretch that out even farther..... and either the hornady 139 gr SP or the 120 and 140 Nosler Ballistic Tips will open up all the way out to 300 yds or more.. and will penetrate quite deeply... deeper than a partition will at that MV....

With the above loads you are also reducing recoil 50% or more... while still having a 250 yd deer load...