Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Which 7mm-08 Bullet for Elk?

I would think most hunting bullets out of a 7 08 that are classified for 700 pound animals would work at 80 to 300 yards.
Terminal Ballistic Research web sight would be a good source to learn about the differences on post mortum.

In my experience I have found Nosler Parts to be very accurate in older barrels, I have been told they "slug" the barrel better than most.

I have also found some of my stuff does not like boat tails as well as flat bases.

I also tried re-loading ttsx 130's in the 300 savage. I had the devil of a time in not crushing shoulders and finding a crimp on the deep cannulures.

Just like bow hunting.....finding the broad head your bow likes is paramount. Just like which bullet is most accurate in a hunting rifle.

Just like the Chef Justin Wilson would say when asked what kind of wine to cook with. "Cook with the wine you LIKE."

Zing!!

+1.

Any one of the above and a bunch more. Let your rifle pick.

LMAO. Nice...

Can't go wrong with an Accubond for your hunting

LMAO... yep.

They were first introduced in the mid to later 80's and the flyers touted the tip not bending and the long range accuracy. I was a kid in school and not a reloader yet but read everything I could find. A friend had problems with them on an elk in the mid 90's and when he called Nosler they told him it was an accuracy bullet not a big game bullet. The solid base was a very good bullet, we used them, and the BT did not really replace it. When the BT got real popular they cut the box size to 50, to help meet demand, the price got a little higher, and then they dropped the solid base. They were still making them for someones factory loads a few years ago as I saw them sold as overrun.

From the Nosler website:
Then, in the early 80's, Nosler® set out to design a bullet that would combine the accuracy of a match bullet, the reliable expansion and penetration of the Solid Base®, and the ability to resist recoil-induced deformation in the magazine. The result was the Nosler® Ballistic Tip®. This hyper accurate bullet with the colorful, color-coded polymer tip quickly gained favor with deer, sheep, caribou and antelope hunters.

My wife will be shooting an elk this year with a 140 grain E-Tip. I worked up a mild, very accurate load for her Tikka at about 2,700 which is just about perfect for her -

Thats not what they told Wayne. But maybe he was splitting hairs with the elk part. JB says elk and bigger was why they toughened them up.

I'm finding this topic very interesting as while I don't have a 7-08, I do have a couple of 7x57s I run in the 7-08's velocity range. I usually use a .35 Whelen for elk but would like to try the 7x57. I'm thinking 150 gr. Partitions or Accubonds if I can get the accuracy I want. So far not much cooperation from the M70 FWT. Oh well, I have till next January to find a load for the hunt.
Paul B.

Have you tried a 160 gr bullet in the 7mm Mauser? That's what mine shoots very well,matter of fact it's a Sierra GK 160 gr. With IMR-4350 in the 22" barrel it's getting 2710 fps.

Used the 150 Ballistic Tip on a good sized bull last year in my 7-08. Bullet angled from middle ribs through vitals and was under the offside scapula. That's something like 32+" of elk. Bull motored 50 yards and was dead when I got to him. He was an older bull in the 7-9 year old range.

I believe a Partition would have made it through the scapula, but may or may not have exited. Either way the result would have been the same. A dead elk.

I've only taken two elk with Ballistic Tips, but they've always performed as advertised. If I were confined the rest of my hunting career to using ballistic tips I wouldn't worry one bit.

And yes, the bull was taken in the heart of grizzly country, and no I have always and only had one log-in name (grin).

I would use partitions myself. They may not always be the absolute best choice, but are always a very good choice. It is considered trite by some but if you have enough gun and a good bullet you will never wish for less. If something goes wrong with an elk, and your follow up shot is at the backside, you will not wish you had a little gun and a lightweight bullet.

Partitions are my favorite bullet... but in my particular 7-08 they didn't shoot very well, hence the use of the NBT's.

Personally I don't consider the 7-08 a "little gun"... load it with a 160 NP or NAB and it'll do everything and perhaps even a bit more than a 30-06 with a 180.

But if you hit an elk right the first time there won't be any follow-up in the backside.

OK, so let me ask one question here; WHERE IS the "cutoff" point when a size as in diameter/bullet weight increase actually DOES make a difference?

My one and only 7/08 has a 22" custom tube, weighs 6.25 with steel Talley QDs and Leupy VXII 2x7. I bought this, built by Brno284 who posts here for my birthday in 2013 and have only shot Federal Fusion 140s to date.

Brno284, built this for his personal sheep shooter and it is a work of art. he has been a guide in BC and up north, spent some 20 years as a BC CO and has hunted a lot. He told me that he felt it was too little whern he encountered a Grizzly in northern BC and, all in all, I feel much better with something larger.

So, last season, I went to the Kootenays for a few days of pounding rain and I took it, my new custom .280 Rem. which goes just over 7 lbs. on an HVA with Fwt. Kreiger and also my second Dakota 76, my 2014 birthday present, it is a .338WM.

Now, I have seen enough game killed and shot a few myself to know that any of these WILL humanely kill any animal in BC, BUT, I just cannot see a 7/08 being equal to my .30-06 loads, with the 180NP at 2800 fps-mv.

However, this could well be my essentially curmudgeonly character and since I am gettin' so bloody old, I could be wrong!

Dewey, the 160 from a 7-08 will out-penetrate a 180 of same construction from a 30-06... I'm struggling to understand how that is a bad thing.

The 7x57 and 7-08 are two peas in a pod and I doubt anyone would seriously question the 7x57's world-wide game-taking-ability.

I'd not hesitate to tackle a grizzly with any of the above, and would include a 260/6.5x55 with a good 140...

Cartridges are more alike than different.

This was a 7-08 thread and I should not have said that, after all it duplicates the 7x57. Some may not know it but Bell used a 7x57........ elephant........... Is it even freaking possible for some to write something about either caliber and not wast 500 words with that line. JB excepted, I do not remember him ever going there.

I've never used that analogy and would love you to point out where I just did.

What's your elk hunting background?