Can't see needing anything more than 120gr BT clipping along at 3000fps they work and have never let me down
Texas last week killed 2 large Axis and a hog recoved a 120gr BT from one of the Axis(1st I've been able to catch ever) just under hide on off side
Shot was 121 yds and bullet weighted 84 gr after recovery

I agree. One of my 7mm-08's loves the 120 as does my daughters. My main 7mm-08 unfortunately loves the 140 BT but that's ok it works well too.

awsome bud. when you get a chance could you please post a pic of the recovered bullet sitting base down? did the lead separate from the jacket? did the pictured projectile bust shoulders or behind the shoulder?
thanks,
Big Ed

The only one I've seen recovered was from a Texas whitetail buck taken north of Abilene, where they get bigger-bodied than South Texas whitetails, more like axis. The buck was angling away at around 120 yards, and the bullet hit the middle of the right ribs, ending up in the left shoulder. He went 20-30 feet before falling, and the bullet looked like yours.

The axis buck I killed last year with Ingwe was taken with that same combo and bullet looked exactly like that as well. Axis didn't take a step.

Through the neck shot dropped in it's tracks not my preferred shot but had a volleyball sized opening to shoot through and that's what was presented no separation of core

Over the years, I have bugged NOsler about making a 7mm 120g accubond.

120 NBT out of a 7-08 is a deadly WT slayer.

Not hearsay. BTDT.

I even have used factory ammo.

Go figure.

DF

Good stuff as always Cap'n Dan,


FWIW,

140 grain Accubonds in the 7mm-08 is my "go to" and has been for a number of years.

ya!

GWB

JB has written, IIRC, that Nosler doesn’t make a NAB when they already have a tough hunting NBT of the same weight and caliber. Think I wrote that right.

I’ve used the 120 NBT on enough game to not really want or need a 120 NAB, at least in my 7-08.

DF

I caught one on a large 8 point on an angling shot that went in thru the ribs and was against the offside shoulder when I started dressing it. Was only the base which weighed around 40 grains if I remember correctly. Not impressive but it got the job done. I have killed a bunch with this bullet but this was the biggest deer Ive shot with them and I had also raised the velocity of the load from 2850 to 3020 by switching from Varget to CFE223. I hunt in a thick area so it may have possibly caught a branch going in but either way I have went heavier for this year.

My friend Dirtfarmer is spot-on.

The 120Ballistic is one heck of a tough bullet. I've killed bull moose, a good number of mature bull elk, big-honking Northern Alberta whitetail & mules and quite a few American pronghorn with the 120. Maybe thirty++ kills in all and though the 7-08 Ackley (7SGLC) and my .270 Ackley Improved

Every single one of my 120Ballistic kills have been one-shot kills. The only 120s I've ever recovered were from two very-mature 6X6 bull elk … one at 375-ish in the vertical spine and one dead-center through the shoulders at 450-ish.

The two recovered bullets are around here somewhere in this mess. If memory serves, the bullets opened to .750"-.800" and both expanded bullets weighed about 100-grains.

I've told the story multiple times, in this forum, about how the 120Ballistic came to be. So I won't bore you.

Trust me, the 120Ballistic is all the 7mm bullet I've used for many, many years and it's always proved to be all the danged bullet I'll ever need … or use.

God Bless,

Steve

Whereabouts??? Our Ranch is 60 miles north of Abilene. Definitely bigger body whitetails here.

My Model 7 Custom Shop Mannlicher in 7-08 prefers the 140 grain BT. Killed a bunch of deer & tons of hogs with that combo here at the Ranch.

Fortunately all my 7MM-08's really like the 120's so thats all I use. No complaints with performance so far, now critters on the other hand don't much care for them:)

Congrats to you success, those axis deer are cool looking animals.

chlinstructor,

On the Nail Ranch, just west of Albany.

The 140 BT is a good bullet too, as is the 150!

Thanks. Nice place. I’ve been there too.

By an odd stroke of fate, hunted the next-door Stastny's Cook Ranch about two months later! But for pigs, not deer.

Killed some pigs on the Merrick Davis Ranch, which is just across the road from the Stastny’s Cook Ranch. Also hunted the Lambshead, Watt Mathews place, and the largest Albany area Ranch and the Hendricks Ranch just west of Albany over towards Haskell. Some outstanding bucks in that country and tons of hogs.

We border the Swenson Ranch west of there in Stonewall County.

I've always used the 140s. I know the 120 is beefed up a little. Has anybody noticed any difference in the end result?

Yep, the 120 penetrates deeper … noticeably.

Blessings,

Steve

I've shot several animals with the 120 BT, and it was always effective. Dropped a 10 point whitetail last year, which only ran about 30 yards, and a good axis deer, which dropped in his tracks. A few years ago I did win big pig at the Campfire Hog Hunt, killing a 190 lb boar That boar did catch the bullet but I did not think to retrieve it. All bullets were launched with 50 grains of Big Game, which is max but safe in my rifle.

I did catch a 120gr TTSX in a boar a few years ago, but he was laying with his back toward me, kicking from the first shot. He kicked too long and I spined him. We found that bullet in the bottom of the chest.

How deep is deep enough? Would a pass through qualify?

Never tested the 120 ballistic tips vs the 140 gr Accubonds in ballistic gelatin or on wet newspaper, but I'd bet I've killed over 100 critters with the 140 grain Accubonds, out of a 7mm-08,and have yet to not have a pass through or recover a bullet. I loaded Ballistic tips for years, and as luck or bullet construction would have it, many times the bullet would lodge under the hide on the offside. Where I hunt, I want two leaky holes and a blood trail a blind man can wade in. Now admittedly I don't kill elk and moose, but on game 300 lbs. and under, to date, at the distances I shoot, that is the case 100% of the time, I get those two leaky holes with the 140 gr. Accubonds.













a two-fer (one 140 gr. accubond passed through both hoglets)









Just Sayin!



GWB

A few rifles chambered for 7mm-08








ya!

GWB

This was exactly my wife's experience this past year on a pretty nice 10 pointer. About the same velocity as you, shot tight behind onside shoulder, took out top of the heart, busted offside shoulder, no exit, and we recovered the jacket absent the core. Jacket weighed 46 grains. Deer was shot at about 140 yards and ran into a brushy wooded area. Almost no blood, like a couple of tiny specks, but he only went probably 40-50 yards total so we found him fairly easily. I was ok with the performance, the deer only ran a short distance, but the wife was not happy with the lack of exit and and no blood, so I've worked her up a good load with 120 gr TTSX for next season. I'd use them again. They work, well enough.

It has been my bullet of choice fo over 15 years

I like 140 NAB in the 7RM, have 150’s to try.

Have been working on loads for my bud to take to Africa for PG, loading 160 NAB over RL-26.

120 NBT is a great 7-08 bullet.

DF

I've long lost count of the number of creatures the 7mm 120 grain Ballistic Tip has disposed of for me. Most have been with mild-mannered cartridges like the 7-30 Waters and the 7mm Bullberry. The photo below is of a brute that I took in moonlight from 190 yards, my longest "night" shot to date. The MV of the load was 2651 fps. I usually don't care to show blood or gore in a picture, but I made an exception with this one as it shows that the Nosler managed to exit this rather large target.




It's been rare for me to recover one of the 120 grain Nosler BTs, but when I do, they often look like this one, which was removed from the shoulder of a large boar taken with a slight quartering presentation. (And before anyone asks, yes, the blue-tipped bullets are indeed 7mm/120 BTs. They were an overrun for another manufacturer and sold as "seconds" through Shooter's Pro Shop.)

I love to look at blood and gore...

Big ole hog. Looks like that bullet took him out.

DF

That recovered bullet actually came from this hog. In the photo from the previous post, that bullet exited and was not recovered.

Not a 7mm-08 but I use the 120 BT in my 7x57 at the same 3000 fps as the OP. Took 1 six pt Whitetail and two pigs down near Crystal City a couple of years back. All were one shot kills.

The Whack-Master lives!

Good to see ya' posting BT.

ya!

GWB

Bobby probably knows as much about fine scopes in dim light as anyone.

And not from what he read on line.

Hmmm...

Maybe from experience killing a bunch of hogs at night.

Ha! Ya reckon..?

DF

You can say that again DF.

140 AB, 225 yards, 7mm-08, one shot, exited.









P

I bought a thousand of them.








P

I've always liked that photo. Tells a story.

IIRC, one poster said something about the old bearded guy, probably the guide...

Didn't you provide a rather curt reply...?



DF

Is KMA more appropriate than GFY?

I never get tired of that pic. Dad was 77 at the time, his biggest bull. He turns 81 in July. Parkinson’s has robbed his hunting career but he’s doing well.

I was in charge of arranging the hunt, and we all tagged out. My dad won the dollar for first and biggest, which he cherished. Oh, and he used my handloads.





P

The best to your Dad, his smile tells the story. I know that is a real family memory.

You done good.

DF

Pharmseller, that photo of you with your father is a true family keepsake. You fellas were making memories that will last a lifetime.
Blessings to you and your family.

Nice!
I like the 150 BT, but seriously doubt that any animal would know the difference.

No doubt.

Not to be snarky nor to take away anything that any of the folks that have posted here in regards to their choice of bullet for the 7mm-08, but the pix of the recovered bullet illustrated so well by friend BT, is exactly the reason I do not use 120 gr. Ballistic Tips. I do not want to recover the bullet. Whether I shoot broadside, or end to end, I want the bullet to exit and make leaky holes coming and going. I mainly shoot hogs, but it holds true on many game animals. You hit a hog high on the shoulder with many bullets and if it does not put him down for good, he runs immediately or gets up and runs. With many bullets on hogs, you have a small entry wound that seals up immediately with fat from the "shield". If there is no exit, there is no blood trail. If there is no blood trail and you've got a small clearing of say 20' across, which of the 360 degrees of the compass do you start out tracking. You may have a general direction to start, should you be able to get back on target from the recoil, but if no, then here one is screwed and tattooed.




175 yds. to target, +/- 20' opening in the scrum.





same stand, different opening, 175 yds.

ya!

GWB
.

I fine this thread quite interesting.
I no longer own any 7MM rifles, but I have owned and used several in the past, and I am thinking about one or 2 in my future. I never killed anything with any bullet lighter then the 129 grain Hornady from my other 7s, and I found I liked the 150, 154, 160 and 175 grain bullets best. I got to a point that I only used 3 before I got beaten out of my last 7MM by my brother-in-law. I used the 154 Hornady SP, the 160 grain Nosler Partition and the 175 grain Nosler partition. Deer, elk, antelope and also farm and ranch animals. The heavier bullets gave me the exits in a pretty straight line far better then the lighter ones did. In moast cases that's also what I have seen in the field hunting with the many men and women I have been with in the last 1/2 century who used the 7MMs too.

Here in Mid Wyoming the 7MM Rem Mag is by far the most popular 7, with the 7-08 in 2nd place and the 7X57 in 3rd place. I have owned 7X57, 7Rem Mag and 7 Weatherby mags in the past and when I had them (15-35 years ago) I was not happy with the results I go from the lighter bullets.

But I am always looking for new info, and the light BT and some of the Barnes offerings make me re-think the idea of lighter and faster. I have to admit, the results you folks are getting is enough to make me re-think it.

I have my eyes open for a Browning BLR take-down rifle in 7-08, and I have decided if I ever make myself an AR10 style rifle I will do it in the 7-08. So this info may be valuable to me sometime in my future.

Since time immemorial up until recently, the 140 grain bullet has been my bullet of choice in the 7-08, 7x 57, 7mag and 7 STW, at first the Ballistic Tip, an occasional TSX in my Browning Micro Medallion. I have a custom Sako, and a 98 Mauser in 7 x 57 that like the 150 gr. Ballistic tips the best. Last few years I've switched to the 160 gr. Partition in the 7 mag. Have had excellent results with that. Gave the 7STW to my son.

ya!

GWB

Geedubya brings up a very good point regarding hogs. Larger hogs generally do not bleed much from the entrance. Having an exit certainly helps if tracking is needed.

But even with an exit, there are times you won't get much of a blood trail -- if you get one at all. The layers of fat, the gristle plate (on boars) and the heavy hide that is often coated in mud can effectively seal the wound enough that not much blood gets to the ground. It's a different ballgame altogether with hogs, no doubt about that -- especially when you consider that if a hog runs after a hit, it will head for the thickest, thorniest spot it can find.

Yeah, gotta hit those hogs right to stop them. Shoulder, neck, head. About anywhere else, they gonna run.

But they’ll die and you won’t have drag’em off.

DF

A number of years ago the best advice I got from a friend was to purchase a 7mm-08 and get on the 24 hcf.

Second best advice came from reading about Steve's long ago hunting experiences using 120 gr. nbt's.

I have a mushroomed 120 gr. nbt recovered from an elk that looks similar to the one dvdegeorge recovered.

I am a believer in both the cartridge and the bullet. That little 7mm pill is all I use because my gun loves them and they are built extremely tough.

Good post and spot on. Hogs run into the thickest nastiest stuff they can find when hit. I’ve lost very few using a 140 gr Partition in a 7-08 And 7x57.

You probably hitting them right or they’d still run.

DF

DF-

This is the shot I prefer: low through the chest and through the heart (this one was with the 120 grain BT at 2651 fps MV and a 165 yard shot). A center-lung shot is my #2 preference. While I have taken head and neck shots in the past, it's not something I often do as even now I still want to view the bullet's path (and shooting through brains or heavy vertebrate doesn't tell you much).

I haven't been able to get out into the woods and actually hunt hogs for years. My shots are taken from a couple of rests here at the house, so I have a bit of an advantage there in terms of a solid platform to shoot from. I may hurry at times or sometimes even be forced to use one of the fence posts if the target is about to disappear, but that's not the same as being in the field and having to make a truly difficult shot.

I am also fortunate in that I have never lost a hog in several hundred kills (498 documented plus a few more that I didn't get pictures of).

I did unintentionally waste two hogs, though. Both were killed after the bullet passed through the 1st hog and not discovered until the next morning when buzzards alerted me. The first was a large sow that was about 30 yards and two full hog's length behind my target. The 140 grain Speer HC from the 6.5x55 passed through the first one and -- upon exiting -- changed course just enough that it took the 2nd sow with a clean chest shot. She went about 15 yards into the weeds and folded. The next was in moonlight when I took a medium-sized boar. A few yards behind it was a 20-25 pound piglet that was blocked from my view.I never knew it was there. It was apparently killed instantly and dropped into a shallow depression. The headlights from the old Kawasaki skimmed over the top of the depression but didn't show the hog (I drove right past it and never saw it in there).

I agree, and prefer a good exit. I've even had some exits on the shoulder not bleed, due to the shield kind of clogging things up. They will sometimes not bleed on a shot like that until they've run a ways. I like the 120TTSX best on hogs in the 7mm-08. It's a lot of gun on game for the slight bit of recoil.

Not a NBT, or 7mm, but a Cutting Edge Raptor 135 gr. out of my .308. I chest shot a young sow just to see. She went down in a heap. The Raptor is designed to spin off petals in 360* after impact, the core boring on thru. They're sorta expensive, but how many do we actually shoot at critters. For those guys in non-lead areas, these are set up to be the mono alternative to the Partition, similar idea. And, they're accurate.

You can see how the petals chewed up the spine which was not in direct line of flight. I've posted this before.

Got an exit, but didn't need a blood trail, just a 4 wheeler for a trip to the skinning shed. Young hog like this is good eating.

Varget with its low SD's is a winner in the .308 (and other rounds, too)

DF

I like the looks of those results, DF.

Try them.

DF

I'd like to and maybe will get there one day. I have several different bullets I have been wanting to give a whirl, but doing any loading or load development is growing increasingly difficult for me by the day. I have some LeHighs here for about a year now, and so far all I have done is open the box.I haven't even fired a shot at a hog since last August or September.

Sorry to hear you’re having to slow down.

Don’t let those hogs know. Slip out there when you can and whack a few more.

Keep’em guessing. And dying.

DF

I've lost a bunch that I've shot.

I'm not much of of what some call "a stunt shooter"

I almost never shoot hogs with a 22 caliber centerfire.



If I do I try for a CNS shot. I was turkey hunting and this guy and two more came in. Caught this one right on the first shot. He went down and was kicking behind some brush. Hence the second shot caught his leg. Triple deuce loaded with 50 Gr. Nosler Ballistic tips.

Shot two more. The second also with a CNS shot



the third was moving pretty good and I caught him a ways back. Saw the dust fly off the hide but he ran through the scrum. Looked for about 30 minutes finding a drop of blood about 10' from the point of impact. No recovery, no joy!

Here is one shot with a 400 Gr. Speer, 45-70 @ +/-90 yds. Not my favorite shot placement, but it was the shot I took.



Had I not known the point of impact, I'd have not found him, Hit him good and hard just above where the bullet is resting on the carcass. As I was recovering from the recoil I saw him jet toward the scrum. I did not wait as it was getting dark quick. I climbed out of the stand and with pistol in hand walked up the spot where I thought the bullet caught him. A 1" long piece of meat and no blood. At this location there are a number of trails through the brush. I started off on one just to the right of the point of impact. I went prolly 20 yds along the trail before I found the first blood. After a few more yards it was no problem following the blood. He prolly ran about 70 yds.



Exit.


My favorite shot is to draw an imaginary line between the ear and shoulder and then place a bullet about two inches below the ear on that line. They drop and paddle. Now as hogs are constantly moving and there is a moments delay between the time one's brain tells the finger to squeeze the trigger, that happens and the bullet travels to the point of impact, sometimes one is off a skosh.......





Here, I was off a bit. The ideal POI would be at the location of the corner of the front "bell" of the scope. None the less it was close enough to break the spine and he dropped at the shot.


IMHO, just about perfect shot placement.



He dropped at the shot. Spine severed. Paddled in 90 degree arc before expiring. No tracking.

ya!

GWB

You sure got some pretty toys.

DF

The better to perforate hoglets with!

Just got this in Wednesday.



Blaser R93, 7mm-08



If all works out I'll be at the "Petting Zoo come Tuesday eve, and blood it before I come back to town.

ya!


GWB

Nice addition to an already nice toy chest.

DF