Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm08 120g Loads For Deer

I'm thinking the "bullet moving so fast it doesn't have time to expand" myth was cropping up.

prolly so. doesn't make sense to me really. if any thing the faster the bullet is moving should initiate expansion all the more with a bt/accubond/sst plastic tip type bullet.

Yep.

A simple thought experiment should dispel the myth. Consider a soft bullet that blows up too easily at 308 Winchester velocity. Cure the problem by loading it in a 30-378 Weatherby? No, I don't think so.

Shoulder shot no problem, complete pass through

I don't know about it being a myth. In my experience, especially on shots within 100 yards with my 270 and 130gr bt....it really needs to hit something substantial, behind the shoulder shots have never left squat for a blood trail and exit holes the size of the entry holes. If I'm not mistaken, nosler suggests to not load any ballistic tips over 3000fps. Maybe they do better past 100 or so yards on soft tissue. I always shoot for shoulder with a bt. I almost left a nice 8pt out in the woods that I shot while he was chasing a doe, due to him running, i shot him little further back than i normally would, bullet went in exactly where you would want a well placed arrow to go, took me 45 minutes to find him after he went out of sight, great shot...just no blood and small exit. I was coming to the conclusion that I missed. Son shot a doe behind the shoulder with his 708 and a 120bt this season, same thing. No blood. I lucked up and found her the next morning in some brush about 125 yards away. Is almost as if you are going to shoot them with a bt with a lung shot, you better hope you watch them fall before they get out of sight. It will kill a whitetail all day long, its just become a recovery issue. Just my experience, if you are a lung shooter I believe a soft point is a better choice, especially at closer rangers. BT is a great bullet as long as you do your part. Its my go-to hunting bullet over hear in Ga. I also think they are more forgiving that other bullets on marginal shots, which can happen due to whatever factors.

Yikes.

They must be shootin' solids if they "ain't" getting expansion.

Out of my Tikka 7mm-08, 22" barrel. All four groups are using 120 gr. NBT, cci 200, and RL15. COAL=2.800"Distance is 100 yds.

Group 1 is 44.0 gr. RL 15
Group 2 is 44.3 gr. RL 15
Group A is 44.6 gr. RL15
Group B is 44.9 gr RL 15

What's your velocity?


P

Pharmseller,

I honestly don't know. Nosler has the max load for 120 gr. nbt @ 44 gr. RL15 running at 3118 fps out of a 26" wiseman.

I have never seen a Barnes of any flavor not expand in a deer.I have killed a bunch with them and somewhere just past 100 have been killed with Barnes that I loaded. I have examined all but a few. All of them showed solid evidence of expansion. The vast majority, perhaps 90 per cent were one shot kills and the few that required a second shot were plain and simple bad first shots. The Xs and XLCs I killed deer with did exactly what I expected and were all one shot kills.

I have seen caliber size in and caliber size out holes in the hide But they have always been associated with a normal internal wound channel for an expanding bullet, and sometimes really massive damage.

I have seen poor to non-existent blood trails. That doesn't surprise me at all. I frequently shoot to take out the heart or the great vessels just above the heart. It doesn't take much thinking to figure out that reducing blood pressure to zero instantly does nothing to improve the probability of blood coming out. I have not seen that poor blood trails are associated with the monos any more than cup and core bullets. One deer I shot with a mono was shot through both scapula low on the blade. The hole was big enough all the way through that I could have run a shovel handle through easily and that deer left blood for three jumps and then not another drop until it tipped over. One of the first deerI shot with a TSX I shot at a fairly steep quartering away angle. I put the bullet through just above the heart. The heart was not penetrated but it did rupture and exposed all for chambers and valves as nicely as the most skilled surgeon could have. That deer hit the ground, jumped up and ran 50-80 feet, fell and jumped up and ran right back to exactly where it was hit and went down for good. Not a drop of blood other than where it lay. If you turn off the pump the only possibility is a very low pressure leak, and that just isn't going to be as predictable as a pressurized leak. It's why bow hunters prefer double lung shots, once the chest pressurizes blood trails tend to be pretty gruesome.

48 grains Of Rel 19 and 120 gr Ballistic Tip

When is Nosler going to make us a 120 Accubond?

No need to. The 120 NBT is good enough.

Seems I remember JB writing about that. When the NBT is a tough bullet, they don't offer a NAB in that same weight..

The 120 NBT is a tough bullet and seems to be very popular in the 7mm-08.

Here's the gun I mentioned in an earlier post. It's a Bobby Hart built 7-08 with Rem Sporter contour in a glassed, pillared and free floated Hunter's Edge with Timney 501. It shoots sub inch with factory 120 NBT's and I've been using them for deer hunting. Maybe one of these days, as time allows, I'll start working on loads.

DF

280 Ackley Improved
120 Nosler Ballistic Tip
61.5 gr H4350SC
3350 fps

280 Ackley Improved
140 Accubond
63 gr VV N165
3200 fps

Heap big medicine

What’s my point? Couldn’t help myself.

DF

I used 47/Varget under 120s, 3050-3100 in 21" OEM 700s. Partial sized RP brass......as always, when I post a load, it was safe in MY firearm.

On that 280, my first rifle was a 7RM, I ran Speer 115s at 3375. You'd thought you were shooting a 220 Swift, but the recoil was not light after a dozen or so rounds.

I'd personally want to run at least a 140 and likely a 150 in a 280 class round, to make use of the BC. A light mono if accuracy might also be chosen if not shooting LR.

I get 3126 out of my T3 with 51.5 gr Big Game and Winchester Large Rifle Magnum primers. Groups just under 0.5". Close to max, start low.





P