Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm-08, 120 or 140

120 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip, 120 gr. Barnes TTSX. Or a 140 gr. Nosler Partition. My Cooper shoots all three equally well. All three will do whatever needs doing with a 7mm-08. And you might want to try some Reloader 15 if you can find it. H4895 works pretty well too.

My fave are the 140 NAB and 120 TTSX in that order, but vanilla cup core work great.

Think 139 SP or 130 Speer. Avoid any other bullet besides Barnes and NBT in 120s, as the Vmax for instance is varmint built...

For the money, less recoil - blacktails would drop just fine with a plain Speer 130.

The 150 NBT is my favorite deer bullet in all my 7-08s....

120 gr. Ballistic Tips have worked well for me on Blacktail. I think I would use a 140gr. something or other if I moved the 7mm-08 to larger animals.

A guy sent me three boxes of 140 grain Noslers. Wow! it says 3000 fps on them. That's approaching 7 Mag ballistics. I'll keep them but think I am also going to go with the Barnes 120's at 3000 fps for Blacktails and use the 140's for bigger stuff. Thanks for every ones input. My Granddaughter and I both thank you.

If the "3000 fps" on those 140 gr. Nosler's is not wishful thinking, I would be very cautious. I have had five 7mm-08's and have never safely seen 3000 fps. with 140 gr. bullets of any kind. At least not from a 22" barrel.

Hey Doug, I'm kinda thinking the same as you. Seems awful hot for an 08. Anybody else out there ever try these? Most of the 140's say 2800-2850 fps.

I need to chrono my 140 Barnes TTSX, but with a max load of H414 and 22" inch barrel I would be happy with 2800fps.

emailed Hornady and questioned them about this ammo. I think it is one of their new super performance loads using advanced powder etc. Will let you know what they say when they get back to me.

My bad. I thought you were talking about handloads. 3000 fps. may be possible in some of Hornady's Light Magnum or Superperformance factory loadings. They use some kind of ju-ju to get higher velocity than us handloaders can or should attempt.

With 2000MR or Big Game you can get a little over 2900 fps with a 140 gr bullet in a 22" barreled 7-08. But you'd have to be 1.5-2 grains over max to reach 3000 fps, and I sure wouldn't do it.

Hornady says their 139 interlocks at 3000 fps will not raise pressures due to development of new powders etc. Claim perfectly safe to shoot in any 7mm-08. That a pretty hefty load with that kind of speed. Should drop a pig in his tracks. Going to have Granddaughter use 120 Barns at 3000 for Blacktail. Going to be interesting to see where they both hit on target. If close, switch from 120 to 139 if she runs into a pig but I doubt this will happen. Its their new supershell line.

Nice buck!
Don't have a 708, but if I did that's the load I would run if it shot well.

The 120's have been more accurate in my rem 700 ss sps. Both the NBT and TTSX work well, with the NBT showing slightly better accuracy for me. I have used the NBT at 2600-3100fps muzzle velocity and never stopped one in a deer or antelope out to 300 yards. I have switched to the ttsx now that I am shooting them with ramshot big game as I started seeing the NBT's show signs of coming apart on close shots over 3100 fps muzzle velocity. Now getting right about 3175 fps with 3/4" groups at 100. Dropping back to 3000 fps gave slightly better accuracy, but I like the speed with the Barnes.

Wow!!! at 3175 you're getting 7 mag performance. How is the recoil? My Granddaughter will be using mine and I think I will stick with the 120's for local Blacktails and maybe switch to the 139's when we go up north for the bigger hybreds. To me its all about how they group. I have to have a rifle that groups or I have no faith in it. This is what happens when we get into our advanced age group.

Most people on here are getting 3100-3150 fairly easy with 120g out of the 7mm-08. Mine does it without pressure signs with CFE223 and Big Game (22" barrel).

Cal,

What's your Big Game load?