Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 7mm-08 on Whitetail

Never mind me ! I missread a post .

7mm-08 is a heck of a versatile cartridge

Could just buy a couple boxes of Hornady American Whitetail ammo with the 139, sight it in, and go kill deer....

This

That's very close to what I did a few years ago, during another buying panic. 7mm-08 brass had just about disappeared, but I found Hornady American Whitetal 139's for around $20 a box on a website, so bought five boxes. Shot great in my rifle, and of course killed great, including the first deer taken by the daughter of a good friend of mine, on a hunt with me. And after it was all used up, I had 100 pieces of excellent brass....

Well. . . see I have this deal with my sons and their friends.

They all can shoot at the farm, but I get all the brass. My sons call it "The Brass Tax."

As a result, I get a lot of fresh, 1-fired stuff. One of their friends has a 308 Mossberg Patriot and he regularly comes down with Hornady ammo and blasts away. When I checked, I had enough for at least a season or two. They also have a friend that has an FN FAL.

It's good being the patriarch.

My go to is a 140 grain ballistic tip with a slowly worked up to bit over max load of H414 for 2850 fps. Gun is a a early Model Seven with 18" barrel. Hotter I push them tighter it groups. Honest sub 3/8" groups.

Anyways it is hell of whitetails. Load and gun has taken about 30 most have been bang flop nearly all have dropped within sight. Nothing has gone more than 100 yards.Have taken deer from 25 to 325 yards.

I like the high lung shot. Behind the shoulder about 2/3 s the way up. All the after shot runners have been heart shots. High lung seems to shock the spine and drop them then massive blood lose from liquefied lungs keeps them from getting up.

As for the ballistic tip being fragile. I try and keep it off bone. But it will punch through both shoulders if need be. Most bone I ever pushed them through was on a doe looking at me about 90 yards. She spooked and turned as the trigger broke. Instead of base of the neck bullet enter point of the shoulder. Missed the shoulder blade but clipped every rib and exited the joint of the hip right through the ball and socket. Of course fair amount of lead in the exit but it did exit. From all I heard of the ballistic tip I was very surprised.

A boys and girls rifle. LOL!

.

There's truth there. Around these parts 270 WIN in generally seen in the hands of wives. 7mm-08 just plain ain't seen much.

We'll see. As the Mooselette matures, this may end up being her rifle. Right now, she'd got a Savage 340 in 30-30 set aside, but that could change. Right now, Grandpa's gonna have a new pony in the stable.

Of course you bought your supplies yesterday, so I’m too late. 🤭

With time as a motivating factor, I was gonna suggest....




In particular, that you proceed over to our decrepit Bass Preaux Shop & fetch some Federal Fusion ammo in whatever weight (120 / 140) they’ve got on the shelf.

I’ve never not seen it shoot exceptionally well in several different rifles + chamberings, and it wouldn’t be loaded fast enough to stress those bullets when they met a deer. 2 shots to find zero, then head to the field.

I, too, have been intrigued ‘bout dem Icon rifles. Lemme know what you think of it. You’ll, no doubt, be mounting a 1.332 - 57.951 x 83mm scope on it, with the illuminated Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Reticle atop such a rifle. The Killing Fields of Neave deserve no less. 😆


Good Hunting,

FC

Like JB mentioned, the Nosler Ballistic Tip isn't the cheapest, but I have had nothing but good luck with the 140 grainer out of the 7/08. I started out back in 1998, with BL-C2. Later, I switched to Varget. Accuracy was always good, and easily obtainable. I've also dabbled with the 130 grain Speer, both Hot Cor and Boat Tail, and the 140 grain Sierra BTHP Gameking. Always pleased with the 7mm/08.

Any details on accuracy, terminal performance, etc., between those bullets?

Have you tried Big Game?

DF

Herr Challenged! The time really has slipped away! We need to make another pilgrammage to Gus' soon.

As you can see, I leverage my sons' friends as ammo testers. Meanwhile, I am keeping up my streek of nary a single factory round lobbed at a deer in 20+ years. It's closer to 30 in reality, but that would be counting the years I loaded up, but didn't see anything.

I just annealled 50 rounds of FC brass and put it in the corn cob for a final cleaning. It'll be all ready when the dies show up next week. I figure I'll at least have everything lubed, sized, and primed before the rifle arrives.

Scope? I've got another one of those Bushnell Banner 3-9X40's to throw on it. I can see through it 10 minutes before legal hunting, and that's about all I need.

I'm off to the farm soon with 7 boxes of 30-30 ammo to test loads for the Marline 336 and the Savage 340-- insurance policy just in case this 7mm-08 doesn't pan out.

Write soon. Write often.

Put on a blindfold in the 7mm bullet section at your local gun shop.

Pick a box off the shelf.

Remove blindfold, make sure you got a 7mm box in the 120-160 gr range and pay for them.

Go home and load them up with Varget, RL15, H4350, Big Game, Hunter, MR200, or any of another dozen powders.

Kill a whitetail.

Report results here in great detail.

I've got a good friend who has been using 43gr 748 with a 140gr CT BT Combined Technology Ballistic Tip from a 20" bbl model 7 for years and it stomps these VA whitetails. Not sure if he uses a WLR or a WLRM but one or the other.

Good luck and shoot straight y'all.

Capacity is also an issue. GI brass is heavier than commercial brass so you have to cut your loads by 1-2 grains to keep pressures safe. In 308 and 30-06, I reserve it for anything that's not going to get anywhere near a max load.


Okie John

The first brass I used in my 7-08 was FC 308 sized in Hornady dies to 7-08. They worked without turning the necks having just .002 clearance but these cases are some 12 grains heavier than the next 7-08 brass I came up with which was the Hornady American Whitetail ammo using the 139 gr. Hornady SP. I retired the 308 cases but am now thinking about annealing them and putting them back in the rotation. The Hornady brass developed neck splits in just a few loadings. Like three. After that I ordered some Winchester new brass which annoyingly had several new pieces of brass that came with neck splits! So now I anneal after three firings.

My brother’s nephew killed his first buck this morning using my 7mm-08 handloads. The shot was 430 yards. Out here we count mule deer antlers just by the points on one side, so it was a nice 3-point.

150 eldx
46.2 grains Big Game
Winchester Large Rifle Magnum primer
BTO 2.153”
2792 FPS

Hornady factory ammo chronographed 2750 FPS, so you might want to buy a box and try it. I switched from the 140 NP a few years ago and haven’t looked back.

Start low and work up.





P

I use 140 Accubonds over Ramshot BG in my M70 7mm08. I like using one load for everything in my rifles, and the AB shoots well and I’d be comfortable using it for anything in North America up to and including elk.

Been shooting the 708 since 1984. (I currently have 3)
I also have been using the Hornady 139 interlock since then. (i prefer the flat base version)
I have never tried another bullet, this has always performed flawlessly for me. (0-300 yds)

Accuracy with the Ballistic Tips and the Gameking was always under an inch at 100. The Speers tended to hover around an inch. My last dabbling with the 7mm/08 was with a Tikka Superlite. I threw together 50 rounds with 140 grain Partitions in new Winchester brass. They were more like 1.25" or so, but no biggie, I put them together for whitetails.

On game performance I can only speak as to whitetail deer. I have recovered the jacket from one 140 grain "Ballistic Silvertip" which I believe to me a lubaloy coated BT, and one of the 130 grain Speer Hot Cors. It was fully expanded and intact, against the hide on the far side of a doe, that I would have guessed to be 110 pounds or so, in weight. The BST jacket was recovered against the off side hide of a buck that weighed 205. All the others, 15 or so, here complete pass throughs. Most were DRT's (I shoot for the front axle). The last one pushed it's nose for about 20 yards. It was shot with one of the Partitions.

I'd be perfectly happy to use a 7mm/08 with any of the bullets I mentioned on whitetails.

Oh, and I have not had the opportunity to load any Big Game for the 7mm/08, but I would be more than happy to do so and would start with the loads that I believe it was Pharmseller has listed.