Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7-08 Bullet for antelope

NBTs tend to do a number on them. Fairly rapid expansion. Saw two killed in one day last fall with them in .277". Worked great.

DDP, I see you are from WA. How much shooting at 300 yards have you done in a windy area like Wyoming or west Texas? I was championing the 120 BT years ago here, when most of its fans todays were telling me it was too fragile - they hadn't tried it.

I am just saying if you are used to 80 yard shots on calm days in the big woods, you need to select your bullets for the 300 yards on the plains AFTER you have shot there, not from your living room based on calculated ballistics tables.

Wow some people really know how to ruin an interesting topic!!!

If you reload, 160 grain Partitins are flat shooting enough, penetrate and expand well and if you run into something really big, you don't have to resight or rethink trajectory.

Wayne

Hey DDP-
It sounds like you better move to another state because the wind never blows and you can't see past 300 yards anyplace in the state of Washington!!!!!

The 120 is actually tougher than the 140, I saw two sectioned and did myself afterwards. The jacket on the 120 is heavier all the way. Prolly 20%. Easily seen. I can't vouch for them myself on game, yet but too many guys "I" trust say they flat work to dismiss them.
Dave

Lee's geography is worse than his knowlege of ballistics. If you can't shoot in the wind, or past 200 yards... you can't hunt anywhere in the state east of about Cle Elum. Furthermore all of eastern Washington could easily be mistaken for Wyoming... it's the same freaking terrain.

The 120 NBT is an awesome bullet, my rifle prefers the 140s... so that's what I shoot. If all I had from now untill the end of time was the 120 NBT and my .280AI... I'd be more than satisfied and never feel undergunned for anything short of big bears. Period. ~JT

"DWS" (darn well said) JT

Dober

I don't know why the suggestion that shooters actually TRY different bullets at long range and in the expected hunting conditions is so scary to some people. It doesn't matter if DDP is from eastern WA or Oregon or Wyoming, because the person asking for and receiving the advice is from Missouri.

Apparently it does matter where I'm from... you're the one that brought it up. Nobody is challenging the suggestion of trying different loads... what they're challenging is:
A) Your total lack of credibility.
B) Your logic behind shooting a 160 grain bullet at a 100 pound critter, and using 'wind drift' to back it up.

It's like putting 'the Fridge' in to score a touchdown from the 1 yard line. Was it effective? Yeah, most of the time. Was it neccessary? Hell no, you've got Walter Payton for Christ's sake!! Because you probably don't understand football any better than ballistics or geography... I'll explain the analogy.
160 Sierra = Unneccessary... 120 NBT = Sweetness.

While I'm at it here's another football reference for you... Lee24, you've been sacked on this board more times than Dave Kreig... you Seahawk fans should appreciate that.

Oh, and I bet he ain't hunting Antelope in Missouri... again with the poor geography! ~JT

DDP, why do those who use 7mm-08s and 7x57s in target matches from 300 to 600 yards shoot the 160-gr Sierra Gameking instead of the 120-gr BT or TSX?

They don't... they shoot Berger 168s, or Wildcat 175 ULR RBBTs, or 162 A-Max. The BC on those is in the .650 class. You can't overcome the advantages of 400 fps in 400 yards in this battle. Again... the difference is 1.5" AT 400 YARDS. I didn't make it up... just told you how it is. I've never heard of anyone shooting a GAME KING in a 300-600 yard match... but then again I've never heard half the crap you've spewed over the last couple of months. ~JT

They don't----you are wasting your time with him.

Not wasting my time... I love to make football analogies. I was wondering how I could dominate the local benchrest compititions... now I've got it! Shoot a 7x57 and a Game King, watch out baby... I'm gonna shoot some screamers now. Thanks Lee!!

And before the 162-gr A-Max, Berger and other 168-gr 7mm bullets came on the market, lots of state matches were run and records set with 160-gr Sierra Gameking bullets. Many shooters still use them because you have to really have a good rifle to shoot a heavier bullet better in any caliber, and heavier bullets have to be more mass concentric to shoot well at higher rates of twists necessary to stabilize them.

Besides, the GK is a lot less expensive than Bergers, and most shooters aren't good enough to take advantage of the difference in the smaller groups in a position match, much less in a hunting situation.

Personally, I would shoot the 120 BT or 154 SST out of my 7mm-08 because they shoot so well that I have no need to waste money experimenting with the TSX or any other bullets I haven't tried. The 160 GK shoots very well, and I recommend people who haven't tried it or the 154s do so. Whenever I do, the velocity worshippers or BC worshippers or SD worshippers invariably yowl about all bullets which don't generate the extreme numbers they worship.

Someone mentioned on this thread that the 120 BT is tougher than the 140 BT because the jacket is thicker. That's true and here's a picture of them to prove it:



I loaded the 120's in my son's 7mm-08 to use on whitetail, but haven't had a chance to go to the range with them yet.

Lee ---- I have never seen a Gameking being used at a match. Your Google skills are slipping. I will be at the Missouri State Championships IBS 1K in early September and will make sure and ask if anybody has ever used a Gameking to shoot a match with lol.

It is very evident that you know very little about this sport so just keep Googling.

Everyone on the board knows that Lee24 is from the plant Google!!

Whatever "deer bullet" your seven shoots best is your "speed goat bullet".

When MD did his Handloader article on the 7x57 he didn't include loading info on bullets under 140 grains - particularly given the discussions of the "120 Trinity" here at the campfire. I asked him if that was an accident. He said, no, he had never shot a 120 grain bullet out of a 7mm of any kind.

Even cited wind drift as a primary reason.

Tho Lee24 may not be the most popular of posters (heck I even gently rib him now and again) he is not on an island re the wind drift issue.

Any game bullet in the boiler room will take a speed goat. Even they cannot outrun a speeding bullet and a steaming locomotive will flatten them whether or not they are wearing a red cape and/or are costumed with big "S" on their chest.

Of course the 7mm 120 gr BT has a nominal BC of .417 while the 257 100 gr BT has a nominal BC of .393. So far as I know, no sane authority has ever dissed the 100gr 25 cal BT as an antelope bullet.

All goes back to "shoot what your gun likes" and worry about taking care of the meat.

GE

Popcorn time.