Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm-08: 120 NBT v 140 Partition

My son has shot a cow and a 6 pt bull using the 120 B-Tip in his 7-08. Both were right at 325 yds. Both were one-shot through-and-through, DRT kills. I don't worry about that bullet anymore.

That's good info - what MV are you running in your son's gun?

I used to shoot NBT's in my 7mm-08 ahead of Varget @ 2810 fps. Had a LOT of trouble losing deer in these thickets in Alabama due to lack of blood trail on non pass throughs. Kills the fool out of them but hard to follow. I switched to the Partition and that solved that. Front end comes apart and kills, back end punches through and gives a blood trail as advertised for years.

I think a lot of what we believe is all mental.

Certainly, there are a pile of different bullet types and designs that have purpose, but not for killing elk. The two noslers that you are looking at both fill the bill for toppling the great wapiti, it just comes down to which one prints the tiny groups in your particular gun and mentally gives you the confidents to make the shot. If you believe you need more weight to your bullet to get the 'job' done, then that 140 gr. npt will perform flawlessly. But along those same lines, some believe a 7mm mag launching 175 gr. npt is the bomb, literally and figuratively, for killing elk.

So where does that leave the 120 gr. nbt? Different bullet design then the partition, for sure, but when is an elk not dead enough with one shot through the vitals with a 120 gr. nbt? I've personally seen it happen with one of those little bullets and that elk could not have gotten any more deader right where it stood. All from a 708 with a 24 inch pipe at status quo speeds.

I'd load a 140 Partition or AB and shoot everything with it!

Never seen a std 7-08 deliver 3100....
My 24" 7-08 will do 2975 with the patented load of 44grs of r15. I might get 3050 if I really stepped on it but why...

"I'm a one-load kind of guy so I'd like the flexibility to hunt whatever with the load I choose."

That's pretty much the way I go with my rifles. I don't shoot a 7MM-08 but I do shoot three rifles in 7x57 which is for all practical purposes the same thing. Load developement is ongoing for all three rifles although I may relegate the custom FN Mauser to strictly Winchester 145 gr. Power Points. The gun is sub-MOA with that load. For splits and grins, I thought I'd load up some duplication loads of the original 7x57 ammo. Velocity was right at 2300 FPS in the M70 Featherweight and Ruger #1A. The Mauser shot that load at 2410 FPS and will show pressure signs from loads that work jusr fine in the other two rifles.
With that said, I haven't decided which bullet to use. I got into a very good highly smokin' deal at a gun show and brought home more Nosler .270 and 7MM bullets plus 6 boxes of Barnes TSX 120 gr and 6 boxes of Barnes TSX 140 gr. 7MM bullets Partitions in .270 and 7MM for $10 a box, all unopened. The Noslers were $10 a box and the Barnes $15. The guy was getting out of reloading and shooting due to health problems and needed money to pay doctor bills. All I'll say is I did not quibble on the prices. Just laid my money down and ran like hell before he changed his mind.
I may save the Barnes for my .280 Rem. but am giving serious thought toward the 150 gr. Partition for the 7x57.
I did have a bad experience shooting a deer with the 140 gr. Ballistic tip as the deer was never recovered. In fairness to Nosler though, there were early BT's that were made when they came out in 100 bullet count boxes. One thing is for sure. Shooting that load at the range produces some very fine groups. The M70 just thrives on that load.
I guess if I had to choose between the 120 gr. BT and the 140 gr. PT, I would go with the 140 gr. bullet, especially if elk is on the menu.
Paul B.

After reading some of Dogzappers words on the 120gr NBT I though I'd give them a try in my 7mm-08 NULA. Powder choice is RL15, Lapua cases and CCI primers

All went very well until I went and pulled the trigger on an empty case!! Damn it all...............

The first two groups were fine, I only wonder where that last shot would have landed in that last group??

Didn't get a chance to chronograph the loads. I think I'll load up some more @44.5 and check them for FPS.

BTW....That was the first mistake I've EVER made when reloading. <grin> Thats what I get for interruptions under pressure!

100, 200 & 300 yard berms just for kicks....


Groupage...3/10ths, 4/10ths and ??


Shootin' Iron............

Sorry for the delay. 49 grains of H414 is getting 3086 fps. I developed this load when he was 12 and first got the rifle. The accuracy has been very good, typically all touching. The book shows that 50.5 gr @ 3180 fps is max and I originally planned to increase the load as he got older, but when the time came, I decided the extra 100 fps wasn't going to be noticeable anyway and just left it.

I ran my load over the chronograph yesterday and my load of 44.5gr of RL15 and the 120gr NBT in the 7mm-08 clocked a three shot average of 2986fps @ 10'

They grouped just under .50" and I called it good.

Sounds about right!

I'm wondering how many arks Dogzapper has filled now with the 120gr NBT?

My 22" 7-08 gets ~3150 with Big Game. Kills 'em like they stepped on a high tension wire.

Mine is 22" and 2986fps.

I'm working up a load using Big Game.
What's your charge weight?

Thanks,

P

3190 fps. is at or close to the top end in the .280, let alone a 7-08.
The 120 gr. BT has Nosler's heavy jacket. That means that even if it looses it's core, the jacket alone accounts for 60% of the bullet's weight. Being a BT, it will probably shoot like a match bullet.
The Partition, however, can't be beat for penetration and punching through heavy bone. It also opens very well at low remaining velocities like 1800 fps. I've seen it do both quite well.
If I were going elk hunting with my 7-08, I'd load it with either the 150-160 gr. Partition or some other premium designed for maximum penetration. But if the 120 gr. BT's were what I happen to have, I would loose any sleep worrying about using them on an elk. E

just loaded up some 120 TTSX with 50g Big Game and are only chrono'ed at 3065fps out of a 22" tube.....3150 is cruising...what charge weight?

I loaded some 140 NPs last night for a trip to the range today.
47.0 gr Big Game, Remington brass, CCI primers, .012 off the lands.
I'll take the chrony and see how they print.

P

Update:
The partitions shot like crap. 47.0 grains Big Game, 0.015 off the lands, minute of grapefruit (and a big grapefruit at that).


P

Your rifle isn't mine, work up, etc, etc...

I'm right at Nosler's accuracy point for that bullet and Big Game, 50grs. Bullet is .02 off. Brass life is decent, not great, as this is a pretty stiff load, but for the performance I get, I'll trade a little brass life. This out of 22" Savage 11.5 twist barrel, which might account for some of the bonus speed. IIRC the top end of Nosler's data was 52 grains, but don't hold me to that, since I don't have that info in front of me right now.

There was a huge thread about this combination a while back.