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

Take a deep breath and count 10. It was a reply to your reply to me. This is not the gun writer forum and I was not aware you are a writer. I was agreeing on the 7-08 not being a small gun, and poking fun at the writers whose articles are trite rehashed [bleep].

No deep breath needed, no 10 count required... please tell me why you are qualified to talk about elk cartridges?

You're avoiding the question...

Good question and pretty hard to tell with calibers bunched and separated by only a few thousandths;bullet weights by 10-20 or 30 grains and velocities about the same.Likely bullet construction counts for more than the difference between a jump from 7mm to 30 caliber and bullet velocity about the same.

Seems animals end up as dead with one as the other,and modern bullets level the playing field among many comparable cartridges.

OK, Brad. I have only killed a couple elk and I am not an expert nor have I said I was one. I did nothing to offend you and did not address my comment at you. I am now. You need to get over yourself and read the posts. This is not worth any more time and sorry if your feelers got ruffled.

These old-thread revivals are starting to get really confusing. Why is anybody "replying" to seattlesetters? He hasn't even logged onto the Campfire for over a year.

John it's so everyone can express a thought without appearing to talk to anyone in particular....kinda like talking out loud to ones self.

That way no one can think they are in an argument because they are talking to no one;or someone who isn't here.

John/Bob, the forum software has had some recent changes, and works differently than it used to... if you just post on "quick reply" without hitting the reply button on anothers post or using a quote to anothers post, it replies to the originator of the thread.

Quick reply used to address the person's post directly above it.

Most of us aren't used to it and it seems like we're posting to the original thread, when we're not.

Brad didn't know that....never use it. Thanks!

Brad,

Yes, thanks for the explanation. I don't use quick reply so didn't know.

By they way, I picked up a nifty little 7mm-08 off the Campfire Classifieds a couple months ago. It's a tang-safety Ruger 77 that originally was the compact (or lightweight or whatever model they called it) with a thin 20" barrel, and slimmer stock with a black forend tip.

But somebody had it rebarreled with a 22" #1 Douglas that was then nicely inletted into the stock, and with a 6x36 Leupold in the Ruger rings the whole thing weighs 7-1/2 pounds. Shoots like crazy, of course. I needed another rifle like a kick in the head, but the price was too good to pass up! Dunno what I'm gonna do with it, but might take it elk hunting next fall....

Dang, I always liked that configuration. It's an "RL". I had a couple in the Rob, but they didn't shoot too well. Probably the original owner of yours felt the same way, hence the no.1 Douglas!

Sounds like a GREAT rifle.

BTW, you should be more heavily armed for azz-shooting fleeing elk when you wound them with such a small rifle.

Thanks for the "advice"--and the reminder of the Ruger model name. I had one in .250 Savage for a while, and it shot pretty poorly, no matter what I tried.

But bought it at the Bozeman gun show for a decent price (an exception in itself, right there) and sold it for a slight profit. Apparently there's always a buyer for a light .250 Savage....

Haven't seen much discussion of the 120 NBT. My 7-08 loves 'em.

JB, am I imagining this or do I recall reading (I think you wrote it) that the 120 had a thicker jacket added because silhouette shooters wanted a bullet that knocked them over more consistently?

That's what I have been told by people who should know.

Thanks, that says something about its accuracy as well as toughness.

120 TSX's from a 7mm-08 will knock bull Elk to the ground. Post haste.

John, is your rebarreled Ruger a LA or SA?

Just got in from a road trip to Shedhorn with Dober... nice afternoon monkeypawing the wares. They have a Kimber MT in 257 Rob, but that was about it.

I'm always on the lookout for a Ruger RL in 250 Savage, and they're not easy to find. I'm kind of a sucker for the RL's, even though I never had one that shot very well.

I can't decide which I like better, the Rob or the Savage... I suppose push to shove the Roberts. Dandy, light recoiling elk rifle.

It's a short action.

I tend toward the Roberts as well, mostly because I've had better luck getting them to shoot. I know the .250 is supposed to be super-accurate, but I've probably fooled with a dozen and the only one that really shot well, with a variety of bullets, was a custom rifle built with a 1-10 Hart barrel on a 700 action.

But I keep trying....

The Mantra of the Rifle Looney...

That sounds like a catch!

As far as the OP is concerned, I'd nominate the 139 Hornady Interlock. It groups well and penetrates very nicely.

OK, I am well aware of the capabilities of the venerable 7x57, having shot and hunted with about ten different rifles so chambered since my first 50 years ago. I have four now, but, only two are operational as I am selling most of my custom projects "as is".

I used to have a 6.5x55, a Mannlicher-Schoenaur carbine, much the same ballistics as the 7x57, or, the 7/08 and have had five .280 Rems., have three now and three 7mmRMs. I have loaded for and shot a 7mmSTW some, so, all in all, I have some experience-based knowledge of 7mm hunting cartridges and I have also had about a dozen .270Wins, used a .270 Roy by Biesen and consider all of these a "wash" in most respects.

BUT, with the exception of Bob's comment, nobody has addressed my query of yesterday, WHERE is/are cutoffs for actual power increases in hunting cartridges?

Grizzlies, well, this is a genuine concern here in BC, a region that, with Alaska and the Kamchatka area of Russia, has the largest number and densest population of these bears anywhere. Grizzly issues are a REAL problem here for hunters and one which, IMO, should be a consideration when choosing an Elk cartridge.

So, again, what do you and others think is the point(s) where a genuine increase in gsme dropping/killing power exists?