Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm-08 and Hornady 180 ELD

In my 8.6 twist Steyr a 180 ELD-M, with all the load parameters the same except bullet and charge weight (QuickLoad) and on a node for a 20" barrel (1.196 mS) is 40.12 gns H-4350 at 2331 ft/s @ 53,344 psi.

OR 1.095 mS node, 41.50 gns H-4350 2425 ft/s @ 63,473 psi.

2600 ft/s will run 78,448 psi with 44.80 H-4350

I'm going to give the 180's another try in the 7-08 shorty fieldcraft today. I'll probably try Staball 6.5 and rl16. They kiss at about 2.96" but my mag box is about 3.00". I'm hoping to hit 2500 fps from the 18.5" tube before pressures shut me down. My fieldcraft has an 8.5 twist instead of the advertised 8 twist. I'm not sure why its an 8.5, maybe it was an early one.

I took a cow elk a month ago with the 150 eldx in this fieldcraft. It worked but took a second shot. Quartering away the 150 hit the backup the ribs heading diagnol towards the off shoulder. Large entrance, minimal penetration. The offside lung looked untouched. The elk didn't even act hit just kept running until the 2nd shot hit base of the neck area. Then she went right down. MV with the 150 was 2650 and range was around 180 yards.

I'm thinking the longer 180 at a big slower speed will penetrate better. Hopefully they shoot.

Bb

If you want penetration try 140gr Trophy Bonded Tipped. They will do the job. You could try the 160gr version but it migt not expand.

Just chronied up to 46g of staball 6.5 under a 180g eld m seated at 2.95". The 2 at 46g averaged 2560 fps from my 18.5" barrel. It was starting to get a bit of stiff bolt lift.

Now I'll load some at 45, 45.5, and 46g and see how they shoot. If I can get a consistent 3/4 moa with 180g eldms at 2550fps I'll call that good. Should be a good all around load in that little rifle.

Bb

Not trying to be argumentative, but if I feel the need for a bullet that heavy, I’ll also feel the need for a different chambering. My 7mm-08 loads stop at 140 grains with most being 120 grains, either Ballistic Tips or TTSX’s. To me, ain’t no sense trying to make it what it ain’t. But, to each his own.

If you want to maximize the rifle's ability to cut the wind, then the 180 ELD trumps any BT or TTSX you can find.

7mm-08 is way better with 120gr

If I go past the 120’s, it’s either the 139 gr Hornady SP or the 140 gr. Nosler Partition. As Mule Deer said, and I’m trying to quote accurately, “very few big Game animals that I would hesitate to shoot with a 7mm-08 and a 140 gr Nosler Partition”!

I put elk and deer in the freezer with that combo.



P

I asked about that bullet for my Tikka 7-08 last March. I had some promising groups in the beginning but just could not get them to repeat after trying different powders and seating depths so decided just to stay with the 162 ELd X that shoot so well for me

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...-eld-in-7-08-with-9-5-twist#Post14638191

I wasn't feeling great this week and didn't make it out to the range to do any testing. I'll have to wait to see how staball does accuracy wise.

My interest in going heavy isn't only about BC although high bc is the primary motivator. I'm also interested in more consistent impact velocities and staying in the ideal performance window over different ranged. I think that eldm type bullets will prove like amaxes to perform well at lower impact velocities so I'm ok with dropping a bit under the 1800fps impact I use as a limit for most bullets.

I took a buck this year at about 450 with the 108 eldm from a 6 Creedmoor and the bullet performance was great at that impact speed. My mv was 2920 so at 450 I wasn't moving too fast, about 2300. I would almost be reluctant to use that bullet on game much closer than 450 because it really opened up at 450 to about .5" and weight retention was 74g IIRC.

I was not impressed with the 150 eldm on my elk with a sedate mv of 2650 at a range of 180 yards. Not much penetration with a large entrance wound. I have no doubt that a 180 at a little less speed would have dug deeper.

A 180 started at a sedate 2500 is still doing about 1700 at 1000. My experience with elds on game is a bit limited but with amaxes they seemed to perform best with impact speeds of around 2300 down to 1600 or so depending on which specific one. They are typically a soft bullet.. A high bc bullet started at moderate speeds has less of a spread in downrange speed and stays in its performance window longer. BC is the gift that keeps giving and its worth pursuing if you hunt windy wide open country.

I shot a large mule deer 4x5 at 289 a few years back with a 208 amax launched at 2850 from a 300 wsm. It was running but I hit it right behind the shoulder nothing but ribs. Direct T bone perpendicular and nothing bullet wise hit the offside rib cage. A big bruise on the other side from energy dump but no holes. That impact was right around 2500 and the bullet still detonated. I've shot other bucks with amaxes and have usually found an impact of 2300-2400 and the bullet mushrooms well but still holds together retaining 60% plus.

Given this experience I'm guessing a 180 started at 2500 will still hold together and penetrate on anything other than real close. I also think I can trust it to expand down to 1600 but haven't jug tested that yet.

I passed on an 830 yard shot at an elk this year because I felt that was too far for my 7-08 with a 150eldx. It was broadside feeding, I had a good rest and no wind, I just felt like it was a bit beyond the limitations of the load i was shooting. If I had a 180 load that shot well I may have taken the shot. Not a huge difference on paper given there was no wind but I would have more confidence in the higher sd of a 180.

Sometimes and situations I'll go high velocities with a tougher bullet. Like using the 150 ttsx at 3400 mv on my moose. I had a lot higher chance of getting an up close shot and didn't want to detonate a heavy amax in my moose meat. The high mv allowed me to still take one at 550. It penetrated all the way through on a diagnol but appeared to have still expanded some based on the exit wound.

A 150g ttsx started at 3400 was doing about 2350 at 550. It lost around 1050 fps in 550 yards. My 7-08 starting a 180 eld at 2500 would have been doing about 2000 fps only loosing 500 fps over the same 550 yards. Higher bc bullets started at moderate speeds have more constant performance at different ranges because the impact velocities are closer across distance.

With today's range finders and dialing scopes its OK to get away from the light superfast need for speed mindset. Back when we couldn't measure range well and couldn't reliable dial speed and flat shooting was the best way to hedge your bet.

Not sure if any if this makes sense because its about 5:00 am after being awake again all night and I'm ramble typing.

Of course if I wasn't interested in shooting past 400 I'd just load partitions.

Bb

When hunting big game I would use 140gr Bullets, At 2900 FPS. The following Powders

will do that RL17, PP2000mr and Hunter. W760 is close behind. For heavy bullet RL26 is it.

Hunter didn’t get me the velocity Big Game does. I’m not quite 2900, but darn close with BG.



P

It seemed that RL17 and PP2000mr made the 2900 FPS without to much pressure. W760 was right on the border line.

Hunter did it for me but could not tell about pressure. I would hunt with either PP2000MR or RL17 .

Sounds like you are full of [bleep] about reloading as every thing else that comes out of your mouth

Rather than using a heavier match bullet to hunt with why not find a solid hunting bullet that you know will give good penetration? Why not make an effort to keep your shots under 450 yards? Under the vast majority of actual hunting conditions "it's still going 1700 fps at 1000 yards" is a meaningless statistic.

Sorry Castle I stand behind everthing I say. All velocities were taken with a Lab Rada, or a few with a MagnetoSpeed.

Shot in my Tikka T3x superlite. All were with Winchester cases and Pharmseller convinced me to change to WLRM primers.

Bullets were 140gr Nosler Partitions , 140gr Accubonds, and 140gr Trophy Bonded Tipped, Just stared using Hornady 139gr .

Like I said Rl17 and PP2000 is what worked for me. Hunter also did it but not sure I world use it.

I used to get most of my big game with a bow. I have an autoimmune disease know that makes it pretty difficult for me to walk. I still like to get out and hunt our high deserts but the shots can be long or closer and running.

I passed on an 830 yard shot this year because I wasn't confident with the 7-08 load i had. If I was carrying my 300 wsm or 28 nosler the 830 yard shot would have been pretty easy because there was no wind. I know long range isn't very popular but I've been shooting to 1000 since the mid 90's. I used to shoot a lot of rock chucks at 500 plus.

When my health was good I enjoyed bow hunting because I liked the challenge of getting close. I could shoot long but rarely did on game. Now I'm glad I learned to shoot long when I did. Its helped me still be able to have some successful hunts.

Bb

I didn't know you had mobility problems. I am certainly not as spry as I used to be either. Shooting way out there is one way to over come and I have done it but don't generally anymore. Where I last hunted elk it would have been tough to find a place open enough even for a 300 yard shot. My main angst about long range shooting is way out there bullet performance can become iffy and energy gets pretty low. Not to mention the wind. Plus the fact it can be very hard to tell if you have made a hit or not.