Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm-08 - 120gr. vs. 140gr. re-visited

Per Stick, the 162 Amax @ 2700 fps is a hoot. You wanna hit things far away, there's your huckleberry.

I will confirm that and a more confounding bullet I have never seen. There is one, and only one, load in which acceptable accuracy is obtained with this bullet.

Thanks Joe, that rang a bell, used that bullet for 'plinking' in my old 7TCU in college, talk about penetration and good expansion/retention. Maybe not highly accurate or great BC, but it did great in Creosote I dug one out of

Jeff, if I ran a 7/08 or larger, and wanted the ultimate, the 162 is one of the kings for LR hunting IMO. Great BC and expands well at LR. There may be a few say Bergers that might rival it, but I would not want anything heavier, as mv is killed in the 708.

2700 seems about tops in a std. bbl w/a 708, though some guys are pushing hard w/RL17 and adding perhaps 100 fps. I'd not look for more than 2750 w/o pressure, assuming RL17, in a hunting length bbl....22-23" or so.

The Irony of hearing guys talk about the 'Slowness' of the 140s in a 7/08 where most get anywhere from 2800-2950, is that 2700 is a common speed for a 140 in a 6.5x55 and nobody complains about it???

Both in similar hunting bullets have a good b.c. to boot, no doubt the higher b.c. of the 140gr 6.5mm is offset by the slightly lowered speed in the lower expansion ratio round, using faster twist and longer bearing surface/higher frictioned bullets.

SO, to say most typical hunting ranges any 140 would that be used in either 6.5x55 or similar, and a 7/08 or similar 7mm, they seem more similar than different.

65: I watched a pal drop a big mule deer buck like sash weights at about 400 yards with a "slow" 140 gr Solid Base doing about 2850 from a 7x57....

There are no flies on the 7x57, nor the 7/08 with a 140 at those velocities.I'd gladly hunt anywhere with that combo..

I just chronographed some loads in two different 7mm-08's I play with a lot. I shot 120 grain Hornady HP's behind a published load of H4895 in the 22" barrel for 3,020 fps average (factory Remington). I shot the same load in another factory 700 with a 24" barrel and it averaged 3,150 fps. I have shot dozens of deer and pigs with this load and probably a few hundred prairie dogs. I am still on the same brass I have used for years.

I worked up another load with H414 and 120 grain Nosler ballistic tips. The 24" barreled 700 LOVES this bullet and tosses them out of the 24" barrel at just under 3,200 fps. Again, this is published data.

All the different 140 grain Ballistic tip and Hornady loads were around 2,850-2900 fps. I like the 120's and have killed stuff out to 550 yards with them with complete pass throughs on deer and hogs. Up close, they still hold together and exit. It's a great round and a guy could rule the world with one. Flinch

Which has also been said about the 7x57 for a little while....

Hmmm...what is a 7x57? Never heard of one. Is that some kind of new binocular device? Flinch

It's just some POS obsolete classless goofy-looking cartridge.........

7x57 = A hoary old obsolete, underpowered, game crippling, third rate caliber cousin to the 6.5 Carcano that wants to be a .280 Ackley Improved when it grows up.




Now Patiently waiting for the Poohbah's head to explode

Kind of like the .270 and 6mm Remington Flinch

Yes, except older, goofier-looking, more classless, and POS-ier......

Only took 12 pages for the Gauntlet to be thrown.....

I would like to try a 7-08 sometime. I think I would,depending on the accuracy, run a 140 Partition or AB and go kill schit.

You mean that Ole Fossil Round will kill? That far? Must be those Modern Solid base boolits.....sure miss 'em. The 120s were what I stuffed in a 7TCU (good for 2400mv) when it really needed a little boost for expansion, though admit I knocked off a buck one evening using a fireforming load about 2,000 mv w/140BT, exited w/enough internal damage combined to produce a blood trail. Not a DRT as the buck either stepped or I hit a limb...he was just behind a small tree at 30 paces and it hit far back broadside, though squeezed at the neck/shoulder juncture.

That kill proved to me that a 7/08 rifle at 2900 w/that bullet would kill around 525 yds, esp. w/shot placement.

Flinch, your doing fine. My experience using the Hornady 120 HP and SP on deer was lackluster fired from a 7BR rifle, mv 2878. Killed a few deer out to around 150 yds. Dropped one w/a 130 BTSP at 2670 mv in the same rifle, a running shot at 200 yds, it seemed to do more damage.

Shot placement (how much or if bone it) and impact speed I think affected terminal effects seemingly more using the lighter bullets. Granted the 120 BT is an entirely different beast in construction. I did speak to a guy at the range who's brother ALWAYS used 120 HP factory 7/08, broadside lungs, he said his brother always collected, most ran 60 yds or less he advised. Distance as typical here often were woods ranges.

I have a hunch the 85 BTHP Sierra in a 243 would about equal a 120 HP/708 load on deer, using lung shots. Having seen my son make some devastating kills on deer years back from 250-300 yds using my former Low Wall 1885, it was surprisingly wicked. You would have sworn a 270/130 load hit those deer when looking at them post mortem.

JB, was that reference about our POTUS? His voters thought he could RULE the WORLD with their man, LOL.

Yep, the 7x57, 6.5x55, and 270...small bore sensations that have killed all manner all around the globe in the hands of a good injun. The 7/08 is following their track record no doubt, probably just used more often w/lighter faster bullets of more recent designs.

JB, didn't JOC's wife use the Rigby in a M70 Fwt as her mainstay other than for elephants? Seems I recall 145 Speers and 140/160 Noslers?? And I think even JOC commented on the effectiveness of the round.

Jeff doesn't know about anything invented before 2005....