Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting 7mm08 ballistic tips

I have shot several truck loads of mule deer bucks and a truck load and a half of elk with 140 grain ballistic tips shot out of a 7mm mag at 3,200 fps. They shoot and kill AWESOME! I have shot thousands of 139 grain Hornadys as well. I am sure they perform even better at 7mm-08 velocities. My absolute favorite bullet in the 7mm-08 is the 120 grain Hornady flat base hollow point. My Rem 700 with a 22 inch barrel launches them at 3,100 fps. I have shot deer from 60-550 yards with this bullet and haven't been able to recover a bullet yet. I have loaned this rifle out several times and everyone punches tags with it. They can't believe how well it kills and how light the recoil is. Of course, it only weighs about 7.5 lbs. all up. No buck has gone more than a step or two. Big exit holes and tons of damage inside.

I took the rifle on my latest trip to Texas with Toby Truby hog hunting. I don't know how many pigs I killed with it, but only one bullet didn't exit on a 190ish lb. boar hog I shot at around 300 yards. I hit him square in the shoulder and he had a really thick grissle shield. We dug around in him for quite a while and couldn't find the bullet. He was dead at the shot and went nose over tail. There was a lot of internal damage. I have several thousand of the 120's, so I haven't used much else. If it ain't broke... ;o) This is no doubt my favorite rifle. Flinch

Flinch,

That is very interesting experience with the Hornady 120 HP's. I would not have thought it was such a reliable round on penetration.

Have you shot deer through the shoulders with it, or do you generally slip it behind the shoulder?

Any other experiences you can relate? I haven't tried them, and am looking for something affordable to run in a few 7-08's.

How has accuracy been for you with them? Are they finicky, or pretty easy to get to shoot?

Thanks,

DJ

Care to expound?

I know why you're sniffing around the 7-08 threads...nice snag on the McMillan clad Model 7 - I was within an eyelash on it, and only hesitated because of the short barrel - let me know if you have much muzzle blast - I bet it's not bad, but I'm so 7-08 poor right now that I left a really sweet deal for you to snag...grin.

Hope you enjoy it - it should be a dandy.

DJ

DJ...

Think a few folks noticed that too...

I'm not really asking Jeff why as in I'm not going to use that bullet. I'm asking why he doesn't recommend it for curiousity really.

I'm gonna run 139 IL's in it or 140 BT's. Hopefully it likes 414 or RL-19...

I imagine the muzzle blast is no more than my M7 in .260. I notice no difference in 20" vs. 22" in the .260.

Thanks for your kind consideration on letting me snag it...grin...

I always try to break the shoulders. I am fond of crunching bone. I am not a lung shooter, due to the 30-75 yard sprint they always due when hit in such a way. Bust the landing gear and they are down right now.

Accuracy with the 120's is right on par with the best bullets. My rifle shoots in the 3/4-1" range. I have shot some half inch groups, but 3/4" is the norm.

I also do a lot of long range shooting with them at prairie dogs and rock chucks. I shoot the rifle a lot and it flat out shoots all the time. Love the rifle and the bullets. Flinch

That's what I wanted to hear...grin.

I'm gonna find some and give them a whirl.

DJ

Crazy thing, yes the 120 HPs and SPs shoot well, shot from 1/2-5/8" in 7mm BR custom rifle, killed 2 deer with SPs and 1 with HP, had exits on an SP and HP. Funny thing I shot a 1/2" and a 5/8" group at 200 yds, using my former 700V, cut to 21", and in a VLS stock, only mod, trigger lowered and pressure pad removed, bbl floating.....that was with a Leupy on 14x and using 100 Hornadys....likely moving around 3,300, they SMOKE in a 7/08 with a full charge of Varget.

Flinch, nope, cannot argue with success. It was said early BTs had failures and Noz beefed up the jackets, I don't know but obviously they worked on a couple of elk for you What size truck do you have? Mini or full size? Just Kidding.

My 7/08s were clocking 3050-3100 in 2 700s both cut at 21". Blast a little loud but they shot well, 2900-2950 w/139-140gr handloads, had a 20" Win M70, ltd. run gun, syn/matte carbine, shot 2850 w/139s. I think a custom rifle would do well to use a 22-23, just for balance and blast, I don't like tubes any longer typically, esp. for field carry. Varget and IMR4064 were my go to powders for all bullets, I 4895 did well with 120/130s and I believe IMR4320 warrants load research....not so common but the burn rate seems to be right where you want to be. Never much luck with I 4350 but alot of guys use H 4350 SC w/good results using 140s. RL15 seems to be a fav with 120s, seen great data on RL19 w/140s. H380 did really well using 150 and 168 SMKs, but H414 was never consistent for accuracy for me as Varget and 4064. 2015BR did fairly well with 100s and I shot some heavier bullets with 2495. Never clocked them. It seems I tried H335 w/120s w/fair results but pressure seems to jump fast as you add more.

All said and done, I could be happy with Varget and 4064 for most anything in a 7/08. It's a good round, very versatile.

DJ, I think a 130 Speer is an often overlooked bullet in 7/08 and allows speeds approaching a 270. The BT version is perhaps better on very long shots, but the Flat Base I believe is a Hot Core mfg. bullet, and seemed to shoot more accurate. Likely will give better penetration if you get a "Tx Heart Shot" or have to bust alot of bone, or if 'Hogzilla' comes out!

What, ME expound?

I killed a half-dozen deer with a 150 Partition from my 7mm-08, 20" barrel. On a couple of them the damage was pretty unimpressive. One in particular put me off that bullet forevermore- from a 7mm-08, for deer anyway. They always exited, but, didn't show me the kind of mayhem internally that I'd like to see.

I don't shoot bone on purpose- so who knows, they might be the bee's knee's for shoulder shooters.

My rifle didn't like 140's at ALL so that's why I ran the 150's. And my MV was not real high, roughly 2600 fps. And our deer are typically small. So, YMMV.

I plan on running 140 AB's this year if I hunt the 7-08 (different rifle).

Bullet exited, And the deer died. What more do you need out of a bullet?

I have shot exactly three deer with my 7mm-08. One with a 140 Ballistic Tip and Varget. Result= Bang Flop

Two with a 139 Hornady SP and IMR 4064. Result= Bang Flop.

I say, shoot whatever shoots best in your rifle and have complete confidence in your deer rifle.

FH

Look forward to hearing how it works for you. Will try to be genuinely happy for you instead of kicking myself for not snagging it....grin.

I'm running a couple of 7-08's, and just want to play with some bullets. Should be fun.

DJ

That 130 Hot Core from Speer is another one I want to play with.

Funny about the HP's exiting - anything special in their design to toughen them?

DJ

DJ,

To make both our lives easier, why don't you choose half and I'll take the other half.

I picked up some old standby 139 IL's to try to find a workable load for this fall as I won't have serious time to "tinker".

I'll get on my half after hunting season...grin...

DJ, I shot the HP broadside around 115 yds, traveled about 60, but from a 7BR, load was not checked on Chrony and I don't think it was a top end load, as those had used 2015BR, and I was out, making do with IMR4895 and I doubt my speeds were in the 2800 mv range of the AA2015 loads, likely 2600-2700. The 2 SP 120s, Hornadys, were both broadside into shoulder on one at 50yds, went about 70, stopped in hide offside, and other one was behind shoulder thru lungs at 75 paces, and it traveled about 50. So lung shot traveled less.....guess taking out both lungs well did it, as the HP one. Hard to draw any trends on 3 kills.

Funny thing, this never happened before or since, the deer I hit in the shoulder, it reminded me of a Mulie a buddy hit I witnessed, it facing him in the neck with 210 Pt/338 WM at close range, raised up on hind legs and stiffened, fell over.

Well, my shoulder hit deer raised it's front legs up, deer then standing nearly vertical jumped/more like SHOT STRAIGHT UP around 10 feet UP, and came down taking off.....dead in a few seconds.

The 130 Sierra Matchking would be interesting to try but as many caution, those HPs are sometime iffy on reliably expanding, as they can close up. The 120 HPs, not sure they will penetrate more, but I bet the SPs initiate faster expansion due to the more blunt and exposed tip, is my thinking. The only guy I ran into using those was a man with a Micro-Medallion or BLR, I do know it was a Browning, and he shot factory 120 RP HPs, they are loaded with Hornady's, and he had all deer fall within 40-50 yds, and even showed me a recovered bullet. Out of the factory 7/08 ammo, I believe they clock around 3,000, he seldom or ever had exits. That is a consideration if you are in dark woods where you can want for a nice blood trail if they travel at all, esp. if it's been raining and the blood drops disappear....from any entrance hole. My 7BR simply shot slower than a 7/08 and less violent expansion often means more penetration.

The 120 Vmax is a great varmint bullet, but is one that I would really avoid on deer, it's a WHOLE lot different than a B tip.

DJ, those TX deer often are not that large in many parts, and I doubt you'd get any trouble out of those Hornady 120s should you want to use them, often you can see where deer fall in Tx as well. If you do your part, those deer won't likely travel far. I'd use them again, but would opt likely for either a 120 BT or TSX if wanting the best 120 for deer, or use 130-140.

Used a 7mm-08 with the 140NBT for about 10years, but had it re- barreled to a .308W which may or may not have been that bright. Not the re-barrel, but the caliber. Shot about 12 or 15 deer with it. My cousin is a .300WM freak and always had a hard time believing how quickly the 7mm-08 with that bullet did its work. Even after he used it once with the same result he couldn't be convinced. Only one deer took two shots and that was my fault with the first. With that one exception most were shoulders and a couple lungs hits.

A couple deer were at the 200yd range and one was at 335. One deer made it about 80yds the rest probably didn't make it that far combined. With my limited experience with the 7mm-08 and NBTs, I think it is a great combination of cartridge and bullet for whitetails.

Addition: After thinking about it, I forgot to add before using the 7mm-08 I used a .280AI with the 140NBT on quite a few deer. Up close results may have been a little more dramatic due to the fact they were the early NBT that many say were more fragile, but that may be my mind playing tricks. All I know is that they worked. Overall pretty much the same results.