7mm-08 all around hunting load

[Jon Boy]

I have a 162 eldm load with r17 hitting 2780fps and 1moa

I ran mine at 2750 with varget. Half a dozen tikkas with the exact same sub moa load. Some extended range bull kills with them. and they do great up close too unlike my 7 mag experiences.

 

[AkRyan]

How long is your barrel?

22" factory tikka

 

[Pharmseller]

Wow that’s fast.

 

[AkRyan]

Wow that’s fast.

Agreed! It's a touch hot but I'm running alpha brass and it handles it just fine. The rem brass did not like it but they had been fired 4-5 times.

 

[gobblinglawyer]

42 grains of Varget under a Nosler 140 gr. BT is some bad medicine for deer.

 

[CHWine]

I have a 35 year old 7mm08 built on a Rem 700 action. 23" Shilen barrel. I'd recommend building a rifle on a 22" barrel. The gun will already be on a short action so it will still be easy to handle.

My old time load (blacktail and pigs) is 48.5 grains H414, Fed 215 primer, and 120 BT's. If I ever went lead free I'd try Barnes 120 TTSX. Love that rifle.

 

[Pharmseller]

The 120 BT is an angry little bullet.

 

[Doc Holliday]

how many grains of big game? im currently at book max according to barnes shooting the 140 ttsx and i cant get above 2850.

Have you thought about dropping down to the 120 gr? Then you can jump straight to 3000+

I see the book max is compressed for Big Game/140gr. If you don't have any pressure signs you could push it a little hotter as long as you have room in the case and go a little bit at a time, but seems like gains would be minimal compared to dropping bullet weight.

If you can't get it done with the 120 ttsx, you maybe should be using something with more oomph than a 7-08 anyway.

 

[jpmulk]

Those of you shooting 120ttsx, to what ranges are you shooting what kinds of game? As im switching to a 7-08, it seems id want to be 140 or more grains to have the advantages of a 7-08 over a 6.5. Ya?

 

[JGRaider]

The 120BT at 2900-3100 is a game killing machine. Don't overlook it. I've killed loads of game with it and the 140 AB and partition, but as Pharm said, the 120 is indeed an "angry" bullet.

 

[hicountry1]

I load for my brother 7/08

CA mesa

120ttsx over varget.

Hammers stuff

 

[AkRyan]

Those of you shooting 120ttsx, to what ranges are you shooting what kinds of game? As im switching to a 7-08, it seems id want to be 140 or more grains to have the advantages of a 7-08 over a 6.5. Ya?

Better question is at what ranges can YOU effectively put bullets on target? Shooting monos requires speed and 90% of the 7-08 shooters will agree the 120g is a better option than the 140/145g. Even hammer bullets recommend I use the 130g hh for moose and bear in Alaska.

 

[jpmulk]

Better question is at what ranges can YOU effectively put bullets on target? Shooting monos requires speed and 90% of the 7-08 shooters will agree the 120g is a better option than the 140/145g. Even hammer bullets recommend I use the 130g hh for moose and bear in Alaska.

The point of my question was at what range are such light bullets effective on mule deer and elk sized game. Its great i can shoot 500 yards. But if the bullet doesnt have the needed weight behind it, im just wounding animals.

So to your point, monos require speed. From what i have seen on the ballistic tables, monos will only be effective for a few hundred yards before they dont have the needed speed to open. Correct?

The basis of my question is my ignorance for short actions. Ive always shot a 7 mag and never monos. There is no worries about needed energy in a 7 mag on deer and elk out to 500 yards.

 

[AkRyan]

I think you answered your own question tbh. You never have used monos and you used to shoot a magnum but now a short standard load....with no experience using monos......why are you loading them? What did you shoot in your 7mag? Go down one weight class in the same bullet and stop thinking about it. Anything going 2800fps at the muzzle should kill to 500yrds in a 7mm08 from everything I've seen.

 

[jpmulk]

I think you answered your own question tbh. You never have used monos and you used to shoot a magnum but now a short standard load....with no experience using monos......why are you loading them? What did you shoot in your 7mag? Go down one weight class in the same bullet and stop thinking about it. Anything going 2800fps at the muzzle should kill to 500yrds in a 7mm08 from everything I've seen.

Haha i just got my 7-08 this week after 6 months of waiting. Havent even shot it yet. And Im doing exactly that: shooting the same bullet one weight down. But, i keep seeing guys talking about the 120gn TTSX and am trying to understand it. Thats all.

 

[AkRyan]

Haha i just got my 7-08 this week after 6 months of waiting. Havent even shot it yet. And Im doing exactly that: shooting the same bullet one weight down. But, i keep seeing guys talking about the 120gn TTSX and am trying to understand it. Thats all.

The 120g ttsx gets 3-3150fps from the 7mm08, at that speed it just flat out performs just like shooting 140g ttsx from a 7mag. Also everyone thinks they need a bullet that will kill out to 500yrds but in reality a majority of animals are shot under 200yrds and most people couldn't hit a target at 500yrds! Then you find out the have a savage axis that came with a scope for $350 and shoot hornady whitetail ammo.

 

[Pharmseller]

Hornady ballistics calculator says if started at 3,000 fps, the bullet has 2,015 fps remaining at 425 yards. That’s at sea level. Figure 450 yards as max for good, not minimal but good, expansion.

G1 BC of .373 ain’t good.

Are you a good shot at 450 yards? That’s a loooong way to a lot of hunters.





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[Habs22]

I've been searching for 155 gr Terminal Ascents bullets for my 7mm-08 Tikka. Found 155gr TA loaded bullets avaliable for the 7mag, but not finding any component bullets. Found out about this bullet while searching to replace Partition/AB bullets.

If anyone has had a chance to play with these, I would absolutely love to hear it!!! I find these, and Nosler will be a distant memory for me, assuming the rifle likes them.

I have been using this combo for about 2 years now. Its been great! Very accurate out of my 16.5" barrel going 2625 fps. Run it through my suppressor and love it! Looking to build a second light weight rifle in this combo.

 

[waitforit]

I am running 131gr Hammer Hunters with Varget and getting great groups with velocities around 3000+ on my Remington Model 7

Almost same exact results for me in a kimber 84m hunter. Shoots 0.5moa if Im doing my job.

 

[Osteodoc08]

For whatever reason, I never could get my 7mm-08 to shoot the 140 weight class to my liking (Sub MOA for 5 shots out to 300 yards). I do run 120gr Nosler BT at 3100 FPS out of a 22" Proof barrel that is 1/2 MOA out to 300 Yards if I do my part.

If I was going to start load development again on this rifle, I'd source some 150gr ELDX and go with it. Great combination of speed, trajectory and energy downrange.