7mm-08 elk load

[30338]

I'd still shoot the 140 VLD in it. Or Maybe the 150 ballistic tip.

 

[Shrek]

I've been looking at my Remington 700 and thinking that no matter how good I can make it shoot and how great the 7-08 is I just don't love it. I think I'm going to sell it and get something new . This load thread is killing the last bit of love for the rifle so forget about it.

 

[jack88]

In no particular order:
140 accubond
139 BTSP
150 Swift Sc II
140 Berger

I use Varget for all of those, usually 41 grains.

 

[pyroducksx3]

I've been looking at my Remington 700 and thinking that no matter how good I can make it shoot and how great the 7-08 is I just don't love it. I think I'm going to sell it and get something new . This load thread is killing the last bit of love for the rifle so forget about it

Luke gave away stuff he doesnt love anymore, I bet it made him feel good inside. I call dibs on the 7-08.

 

[Rucker61]

I've been looking at my Remington 700 and thinking that no matter how good I can make it shoot and how great the 7-08 is I just don't love it. I think I'm going to sell it and get something new . This load thread is killing the last bit of love for the rifle so forget about it.

What if you Ackley Improved it?

 

[luke moffat]

I can't see the need for bonded bullets and the cost of Barnes bullets is ridiculous and not going to happen. I think an inexpensive traditional bullet will do just fine and the 154 sst with its secant ogive has pretty decent bc's. I'll order some to try today.

Have you actually killed much with Barnes bullets? I used them all last year for Becca and I and that accounts for a couple mountain goat, a dall sheep, a couple caribou, a deer, and a couple moose all were using either 130 or 160 TTSX. Seemed to do much better than the SSTs I used on a Sitka deer that simply came apart. Now the deer did die after hitting it a 3rd time, but its roughly 1/5 or less the weight of a elk.

Given all the money you paid to build a rifle you can't even shoot due to lack of components I would think buying some bonded or copper bullets would be chump change. Too much focus is given to the BC of a bullet which doesn't really matter that much if its .450 or .550 inside 500 yards anyways. Get a stout bullet designed to hold together and rock on. Bergers aren't exactly cheap either. My first choice would be the Scirocco as they are just mean bullets and you'll like the BC on them and then Accubonds. I wish you the best on your quest for elk as I have never taken one myself either, so perhaps I should just shut my trap. Just giving my advice on what I know works here in Alaska based on a couple animals I see tipped over annually (usually between 15-20 of a variety of species) and SSTs would be way down on the list as far as bullets to choose. The difference in $$$ between 500 SSTs and 500 SSIIs or Accubonds is roughly $150. Why not set yourself up for better success by choosing a more premium bullet?

Not sure why you don't think a 7-08 is a good round. If it had been more popular in ALaska 20 years ago I am sure my dad would have bought me one of those instead of a 308 and likely still would have taken just as much game with it.

 

[Shrek]

First , I love the 7-08 . Second , I think barnes bullets kill fine but no better than an interbond or accubond at much less cost. I just don't like Remington. The 7-08 falls between where I want to be . I want a 6.5 saum and a big 300 or 338 really long range rifle. My main rifle is my 7mm wsm for any western elk hunt. As for cost , I'm poor. No , really ! I drive a truck as an owner operator doing local port work and I have a kid in college. I may have a really nice pack and a couple of nice enough rifles but it comes at the cost of stripping out the rest of my life . My ride is a '99 ford ranger with over 200,000 miles that is dented up and rusty because it came from the north east. I live in a dump in the hood with real gansters as neighbors. But I don't punch a clock and I'm going hunting out west for four or five weeks this fall and my kid is on the deans list for the first two semesters of college. I got better things to do with $150 than buy bullets that I don't need to do the job.
So , I will sell the 7-08 sooner or later and use the money to buy an action I want to build my 6.5 saum on. Until then I'll shoot it with my 140vld load .

 

[30338]

Son on the dean's list is so much more important than all the other stuff. Congrats on raising a good one.

 

[Shrek]

Thank you 30338 , I give the lions share of the credit to his mother. After his grandmother and I got his mother straight about being a parent to him and not his friend she ran with it. I'll tell every new parent that if they get the first five years right the rest is just routine maintenance.

 

[Shrek]

The 7-08 is going to be gone sooner rather than later it looks like. I just committed to buy a m70 ss in 300wsm. It will stay a 300 wsm this year but it will be a 6.5 saum by this time next year

 

[cuerro viejo]

Good friend just got back from Africa. His daughter got a little trigger happy. 7 animals including a giraffe and kudu using 7-08 140ttsx. All one shot kills.

 

[Shrek]

Please don't get me wrong , I'm a huge fan of my 7-08's . I've had a half dozen over the last 15 years and have killed literally hundreds of deer with them and a pile of hogs. There is nothing wrong with Barnes and if I was going to Africa I might consider them for their toughness. Barnes just isn't what I would buy for a 7-08 going out west for elk and deer. As soon as I get rid of the one I have I'm sure I'll start pining for another one.

 

[pyroducksx3]

Please don't get me wrong , I'm a huge fan of my 7-08's . I've had a half dozen over the last 15 years and have killed literally hundreds of deer with them and a pile of hogs

Really, hundreds......even if you take the minimum to be hundreds, thats 200 deer. That means you have shot over 13 deer a year for the last 15 years with just a 7-08.

 

[mtswampfox]

I've told you a million times, don't exagerate......

 

[Shrek]

Crop damage shooter permits in south Georgia will rack up the totals quick. I spent more than a couple of evenings over soy and peanuts from the late eighties through the nineties. I've been shooting a 7-08 since the mid nineties so well into the hundreds. When I moved and lost access to the farms I was on I still shot an extra full Georgia limt and that went to 12 deer and you printed your own harvest record at home. I've shot a lot of deer. For strictly deer my old tang safety ruger in 6mm rem was the king but when hogs showed up I had to have more rifle so the 7-08 became the ticket. I've shot a lot of deer.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Really, hundreds......even if you take the minimum to be hundreds, thats 200 deer. That means you have shot over 13 deer a year for the last 15 years with just a 7-08.

In Texas that's a huge possibilities and the norm on most ranches enrolled in the MLD program.. Dont know any thing about Georgia.

Between three of us we shot 65 in three days, but that's with 22-250 and 223. That's pretty much a normal year on that ranch. Depending on biologist recommendations it might sway +-10

I'm a fan of barnes, but I don't see a need for them in calibers over .27 or under 3200 ft/s. I think they are awesome in 22-250, 243. 257wby.

Love the 80gr ttsx in 257wby. Honestly don't think there is a bad bullet out there, just have to match bullet to impact velocities. Bullet design is all about trade offs

 

[Shrek]

Texans42 , some of the farms I was shooting were dealing with deer densities of over 100 per square mile. If you've done it you know that on the first couple nights you can shoot a bunch and stack the deer up but by the end of summer they were gone at the first crack or any noise for that matter. The 10 doe limit , shooter permits all summer , and coyotes have cut the population drastically but in the early nineties it was crazy the numbers of deer in South Central Georgia.

 

[Rucker61]

Texans42 , some of the farms I was shooting were dealing with deer densities of over 100 per square mile. If you've done it you know that on the first couple nights you can shoot a bunch and stack the deer up but by the end of summer they were gone at the first crack or any noise for that matter. The 10 doe limit , shooter permits all summer , and coyotes have cut the population drastically but in the early nineties it was crazy the numbers of deer in South Central Georgia.

How many freezers did you own then? Man, that's a lot of meat.

 

[tstowater]

Why not 160 grain Partitions in the 7-08? Not a terribly expensive bullet and elk killer deluxe. Load it, shoot it, figure bullet flight and smile. JMO.

 

[Shrek]

How many freezers did you own then? Man, that's a lot of meat.

That's sadly funny. You couldn't do anything with them but drag them out of the field and let them lay. I had friends who soold venison and I picked up quite a few and left them with him but mostly they rotted. They've changed that now and you can donate them to food banks now.