Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 7-08 penetration question

--- For close to 30 years now my main rifles for buck hunting have been .308. Short action carbines ,bolt action. Perfect for Northeast Woods. I had a chance to buy one of it's sons- a Remington Model 7 ss 7-08 fairly cheap. I often said-- What will a 7-08 do that a .308 can't ? --- The last two bucks I've shot with a rifle has been with that 7-08
----- Hornady SST. The first buck double lunged @ 30 yds. ran 40 yds and flopped . I always check the blood trail to see the results of the shot. Very very little blood and found a very small exit hole opposite the entrance. The second buck was shot a week ago in Vermont. At 50 yds. I took him at the base of the neck. Never took a step. Small entrance wound as expected . No exit . SST smashed the neck bone turned down to the opposite side top shoulder through the cartilage and the copper mushroom was found just under the hide. I find so far that the son is following in the footsteps of his father. I'm sure a different type projo. would result in more of an exit wound. --- Web

No worries. I never sensed any disrespect.

My wife shoots the 7-08 with 139 gr interlock off the shelf American Whitetail from Hornady.

So far:
- big mulie @200 yards, stumbled a step or 2 and tipped over. Pass through
- Big antelope at 110, stumbled and tipped over, pass through
- doe antelope at 170, fell on the spot (don't remember if it was a pass through)
- doe antelope at 185 quartering to, found the bullet in the back hip, nicely mushroomed. Antelope sort of stood there frozen and she put another in broadside that passed through
- doe antelope at 120, yanked the first shot, gut shot, antelope stood frozen. Second one through both shoulder blades, thing tipped up and over backwards.

I'd say they work fine.

Where was the bullet found? Under the skin on the far side? Deer and elk have amazingly elastic hides. It's not uncommon for a bullet to exit the ribs, then when it hits the far side skin, the skin stretches way out and stops it. I've had that happen many times on elk with a 270 or 30-06.

I agree to an extent with the high velocity theory but really how fast was the 140 gr factory load travelling? We do not know the gun specifics either but guessing 2800 fps or so which is not real "high" velocity. I also go heavy for caliber and my favorite in the 7-08 is a 154.

I would chalk it up to a fluke and as many others have said, the vast majority of the time, that 140 goes in and out

My question is;

How do you hit a deer that far back, from a "measured 20 yards" ?

In my experience, the dense "squishy guts", stop more bullets than thin flesh &/or even bone !

I wasn't the one who shot. However, it is my seat and I walked off 20 strides of one yard approximately each to the place where she received the bullet. We never found the bullet but then did not look very hard. Assume it was in the gut pile. My conclusion about the shooting was I wasn't the one who fired so I can't say about that. But, I think the round may have been too fast for the distance. Heck, at that range a rock may have been equally effective!

Must have been a really tough liver.

Cut right in two.

My fingers are crossed for the day I get to recover a TSX. Damn things just pass right through.

Then there were two.

I've shot a few Deer with TTSX were you had to spend a little time looking for the exit. It was there, but very small and very neat.

The ol' reliable Nosler Partition may be the perfect deer bullet.

Why, there has never been a case of a Partition not working perfectly on Deer?

Yeah, there was always a dead deer at the end of the run from Partitions. The problem being that only the folded over back half of the bullet made the exit and there wasn't much of a blood trail to follow. 7mm-08, .308, 7mm RM and .300 WM Partitions all did the same thing.

If I had to bet the farm on the performance of one particular bullet, it would be a partition, followed closely by an accubond. They've been kicking ass for over 65 years.

i'd be right with ya on those 2 raider. i judge all my game bullets on the partition/accubond.
Big Ed

Only used Partitions in a 22-250 & a 6mm. Never had a lack of blood trail from either. Most trails were as good as any other soft point I used.

Also only needed a blood trail on a few as most were DRT.

Only pic I ever took of a blood trail. 6mm with a 95 grain Partition. 25 yard shot, maybe a fuzz less. High lungs as he stepped forward at the shot. Would have been another high shoulder DRT if he had stood still.

beautiful 10gauge. i love it when the leaves turn colors in the fall..........................and red is my fav color.
Big Ed

Oh I realize that writing something disparaging against a Partition is tantamount to criticizing mothers and apple pie, but all I know is what I've seen. Absolute mush for lung tissue with a Partition, but to many where is the blood trail scenarios at last light or even good light. One of the first ones with a .300 WM 180 grain NP was real typical. About a 60 yard broadside on a 200# dressed 8 point. At the shot off he went like nothing was wrong. I thought that I might have gotten brush deflection and missed the shot completely, but the cross hairs looked perfect when the shot broke. No blood that I could find and rather dejected I fanned out in the direction he had run. About 80 yards up ahead I saw what looked like a branch, but it turned out to be his right antler. Another 10 point scuffed up leaves from a 140 NP 7mm-08, but did all his bleeding inside and that lung tissue strained through my fingers. A NP isn't a bad bullet and I'd use it before I'd use another TSX, all I'm saying is that in my experience regular cup and core Core-Lokt and Interlock bullets have given me a more dependable blood trail with much larger diameter exit wounds.