Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm-08 on Whitetail

I have loaded for two 7mm-08 rifles, both with Remington factory chambers. Neither one had what I considered sufficient neck clearance with necked down 308 brass. Do assemble a couple of dummy rounds with the exact batch of brass so you can check things out.

I haven't tried military brass but almost all my 7-08 ammo is head-stamped "Lapua 308Win". I sized about 3/4 of the neck then went in on the sizing die by 1/2 turns until the bolt handle engaging into battery felt "right". I know there's going to be some brass moving about when I fire the necked-down 308's so I want the case-head firm against the bolt face.

i also have used Lapua 308 brass and necked brass down too 7mm-08,then fire formed this brass, then turned the necks , once i did this i had some very good accurate brass did this around 20 years out of my custom 7mm-08 rifle, i shot 5 shot under a 1/2 inch at 100 yards all day long some were even 2`s and 3`s if i really got fussy with my Lapua brass.good luck and have fun,Pete53

I've only killed one critter with a little Kimber 84M 7mm/08 (only one I've ever had) and that was a Texas Dall ( about the size of an East Tx WT) right at 200yds. I used the old Hornady Light Magnum 139 SST and it was "hot"! hard bolt lift, very flattened primers, but bug hole groups! ha Ram made a death run downhill, maybe 50 yds. All I found was fragments against the far inside ribs. This was around 2000 I think? Not sure, but I've read where they toughened the SST up a bit. I used the 139 Hornady IL over 55gr IMR 4831 in my first .280 (Ruger 77) I killed my longest shot deer in East Tx, 276 long steps, drt, wadded up against the far hide, high lung shot. Hogs, no problem, great bullet. I liked the 150 partition in my 7mm Rem Mag for WT, no meat damage! Good luck Shaman!

I like H4350 and 139-145gr stuff if using cup/cores in the 7mm-08. Much like the .308/150gr options, it's hard to go wrong with a 7mm-08 load in the 140gr range. The Hornady American Whitetail ammo is great, as is 140gr Federal Fusion.

If a guy wants to get sporty, the 120TTSX at 3,000fps+ is also a great route. You're basically neck and neck with a lot of .270win factory 130gr loads. The 7mm-08 is near the middle of the sweet spot when it comes to modern deer rifle chamberings. It's a proven winner. There will always be a couple in my safe.

I haven't tried the 120 TTSX in my 7-08, but it would probably do well. I can attest to what the 120 NBT can do at 3K fps. And, it's hard to beat Big Game, per Pharmseller's reports. It meters great, burns clean, produces top velocities and stellar accuracy.

I do like H-4350, have a big jug. But in this round, I'm sticking with BG.

DF

Sums it up nicely.

I have two 7mm-08 rifles, the first is a Remington 700 VS and is singularly the most accurate rifle I have owned. When Remington offered the Model Seven Synthetic Stainless in 1995, I bought the first 7-08 to appear at Huntington's in Oroville, CA.
The Model Seven demonstrates the best accuracy using resized LC 308 military brass. It is my unscientific theory the thicker necks better support the cartridge in the chamber throat, I have not experienced sticky extraction issues. I got less accuracy when the case necks were turned.
I suggest and echo the previous post which recommends H 414 (aka. Win 760). Those powders, along with the Nosler 150g. BT have proven deadly to the black tails hunted each fall. I went to the 150g. bullets due to published reports about bullet disintegration using the early version Ballistic Tips and loaded a bunch. Most have passed through on heart/lung shots but a couple of bucks had bullet fragments present when bone was hit and only one of about twenty was recovered. Now 120-140 grain BTs are likely more than sufficient, though maybe not as accurate.
The 700VS also demonstrates exceptional accuracy using most any bullet and H 414.
Love the 7mm-08 and I wager you will too.

My other 7-08 fav is the 140 SGK HPBT. It's amazingly accurate and has pretty good terminal performance. Lung shot WT's die quickly, good exits, good blood flow. I don't generally shoot shoulders, so don't know how they'd do thru a lot of bone. I know what the 120 NBT will do, even hitting bone. They exit and they kill. The SGK is a bit more expansive, but does hold together pretty well.

DF

Keep 'em coming, guys. Only a few more posts and there'll be 100 on this thread, which may be enough to convince shaman that the 7mm-08 really does work on whitetails..

Oh, I'd say it's gone further than that. I contacted the LGS-- the rifle is due any minute. I'm leaving puddles.

I was jiggling the numbers, trying to figure out what I wanted for my starting load. MAX for Varget is 43.5 with that bullet. I was thinking of 42. That's about 96% of MAX. That might give me aroun 2777 fps velocity or thereabouts. For grins, I looked at the MAX Varget load for 270 WIN for comparison-- within a hair. I took pernicious glee in that thought.

Now you have to remember that I believe every man deserves one chambering that they can irrationally and whole-heartedly abhor for no good reason. 270 WIN is my choice. It's from way too many trips to the barbershop at a young and impressionable age. Similarly, I've think we should all have a round that they worship with similar zeal. 35 Whelen has been that for me. I keep one by my chair and I frequently pick it up and roll it around between my fingers to find solace and enlightenment. I've never bought into the whole thing about 270 WIN being gay, but I do see how Ingwe, et al came up with the idea.

9,600 posts & you need help with that question?

I placed the order for the 139 grain Hornady's back on page 2. I'm just a humble servant of Allah on this one.

Tell Rick, the next time you talk to him, that if he's willing to spring for the rifles, I'm willing to do a Shamanic Deer Rifle Thread once a month, featuring a new chambering.

But seriously folks . . . Thanks all for you input. I'll let y'all know how this turns out.

It is harder to find a bullet that won't work well on deer in the 7mm-08.

Here are excellent choices.....

Nosler 120-140 Accubonds/Ballistic Tips/Partitions
Hornady 139-154 Interlocks/SSTs/ELDXs/Interbonds
Sierra 120-140 Gamekings/Pro Hunters
Barnes 120-140 TTSX/TSX
Federal 120-140 Fusions
Speer 120-140 Gold Dots

There are others but any of the above are more than adequate for deer.

That sorta conjures up memories of yesteryear here on the Fire, when Swampman500 took a rather strong position against the 7-08 being an adequate WT round. As some may recall, he's the one who shot dinks from his golf cart, or so it was rumored...

I just so happen to have a picture of him on maneuvers with the CSA, down in FL. I figured the Yanks finally caught him. He may be languishing away in a Yankee POW camp at some undisclosed location....

DF

Clearly exposing himself as a fool.

Holy crap. I couldn't believe the question was even posted, let alone the number of replies.

Can't wait for the OP to ask about the 6.5 Creedmoor for 100 yard whitetails

He didn't seem to be easily dissuaded by logic or by efforts of a number of Fire contributors to shed light on that subject.

Best I can figure, his marksmanship made the 7-08 look bad, at least from his perspective.

I would think that could make any round look less than stellar, especially when one won't or can't admit the obvious..

DF

That one would go a hundred pages...

DF

Guys!

I'd already bought the rifle. I was convinced a long time ago that 7mm-08 would work on whitetail. I don't see what the big stink is about. I ordered the bullets on page 2. I've already drunk the KookAid.

Y'all are swinging kinda wild here.