7mm-08 deer loads

[bobinpa]

As the title says, what are you guys running? 120gr class bullets or 140gr class bullets?? Just looking for some ideas. I've always had great results with Nosler ballistic tips from various guns and calibers and I recently picked up a 7-08 so I thought I'd work something up.

 

[dennisinaz]

Hornady 139s

 

[Tommie]

The 140 class bullets are tailor made for the 7-08.

 

[Field_2_Fork]

Following.

The other day I loaded up some 120 TTSX in a Sako A7 that I bought for my wife. Did a seating depth test with IMR 4895, some promising groups but I was surprised at the hard kick! The load may have been on the hot side as the primers were a tad flattened, but wow. Hoping I can find something a lot friendlier for my wife to shoot.

I traded away her Tikka M695 .243 compact, she won't be happy with a hard hitting rifle.

 

[john 800]

At the velocity a 7-08 runs one bullet I would look at is the 145 speer btsp, simple, cheap, effective if you do t push em fast

 

[AckleymanII]

We have "Hunt Clubs" here in the South, The family and friends runs this:

130g speer btsp
42g of IMR 4895
Rem case
Rem 9 1/2
Touch the lands
3000 fps
tiny groups

Deer flop, near and far!

Now, find some bullets!

I wish I had 10 boxes of the BTSP and 10 boxes of the Hot core flat base for hogs.

 

[XTR]

140s . I run them at about 2900 with Power Pro 2000MR

 

[bobinpa]

Thanks guys. I assume the common 308 powders will also work well.?.? Like Varget, 4064 or RL 15 & 17??

 

[Adam in WI]

Don't forget H414/760. Like RL17 it really gets the 140 and heavier slugs moving for 7-08. Don't overthink bullets either, the '08 isn't putting a lot of stress them.

 

[potatojudge]

Just about anything from 120-160 grains. One of my rifles likes the 140 ballistic tip, the other the 160 partition, and neither has failed me on game. The 120 ballistic tip has an excellent reputation as a goldilocks bullet as well, but they're also great performers at low velocity so I reserve my supply for the 7-30 Contenders.

 

[Coonman300]

This load works great for me.

 

[std7mag]

After putting about 6,000+ rounds through my 7mm-08 turned 7mm-08AI i've seen the following.
Rifle was a Stevens 200 with 22" sporter barrel.
Bullets shot was everything from 120gr Hornady HP Varmint through 160gr Sierra HPBT GameKing.

H414, the 4350s, PP2000MR all gave good accuracy with 120-140gr bullets. Accuracy node was 2,832fps with PP2000MR. ES-6. SD-2. That with 140gr bullet.
H414, the 4350s right at the same velocity wise.
BigGame powder in my friends 7mm-08 with 22" barrel giving him 2,847 fps.

Speed king for me with 140gr bullet was RL17. 2,916fps accuracy node.

I tried IMR 4895, RL16. As mentioned before, recoil was increased.

For deer hunting it's hard to beat the 140gr Ballistic Tip! Just flat performs!
My longest deer harvest was with 140gr Berger VLD. 413 yards. Performed exactly as Berger advertizes.

For my daughter, who is recoil shy, i used a 120gr Ballistic Tip & PP2000MR.

One note. I've found the VLD like to be really close to the lands on my rifles (0.005" off). Increasing felt recoil.
The Ballistic Tips at 0.030" off seem to produce much less recoil.

Oh, and the 160gr HPBT GameKing ends up being WAY inside the case! If you throat reame and have the magazine clearance, it becomes more viable. RL19 produced the best groups with this bullet.

 

[HandgunHTR]

My go-to 7-08 load is a Nosler Accubond sitting on top of a healthy charge of H4350. It kills very effectively and is super accurate.
For my 7-08AI, I have stepped up to a 150 grain Accubond LR, but the powder is the same.

 

[5spd]

120g nosler hunting bt, slams antelope, whitetail, mulies right down

 

[XTR]

Mine has a 25” barrel so I‘m probably getting 80 FPS on a 22. It’s been a long time since I worked up the load. I should take it out and actually test it again.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Been using a 140gr Ballistic Tip sitting on top of 39gr of IMR 3031 since day one back in the late 80s.

Don't judge, that's the only suitable powder I had at the time.
The load lopes along at 2675 and is deadly accurate.

It's killed a lot of critters over the years.

I took that load to 1k a couple weeks ago. The only issue I ran into was Nosler's BC numbers were waaaay, way off.

I'm getting ready to try a 162 ELDM on top of Staball for a target velocity of 2820.
Should be murder on steel plates at 1k.

 

[ATFIV]

IMR 4064 works really well with 140 class in 7mm-08

 

[DumpHollow]

The 7-08 became my go to PA deer cartridge as soon as Remington introduced the caliber. I've had a number of them over the years. I have only used 139-140 grain bullets for my hunting purpose, those being Nosler, Sierra and Hornady. Win 760 and IMR-4350 have been the most accurate powders, typically producing velocities 2750 to 2825 fps, depending on the rifle. I found that 760 worked better for me with Rem 9-1/2M's.
I had a Sako AII that was sub-MOA at 2825 fps with 760. I hunted enough with that rifle to wear the blue off of the floor plate. My current favorite 7-08 deer rifle is an H-S Precision SPL.

I tried some RL-16 last year and went back to IMR-4350. I couldn't get the velocity or accuracy with RL-16.

 

[wkdickinson]

About 25 years ago I bought a new Remington Mountain rifle in 7mm-08. After shooting enough factory ammo to have enough brass for reloading, I worked up a load using a 160gr Sierra GameKing (hollow point) with Varget & 210M primers (.75 moa, 5-shot groups at 100 yds.). I know, 160gr seems to heavy for a 7mm-08. Between my son and I, that rifle and load has probably killed over 30 Michigan whitetails, some out to 250 yds. Of those, I can only recall 2 not dropping right where they stood and those only ran maybe 20 yds. None, that I can recall ever had the bullet exit, so all of the energy was expended inside them, causing devastating damage.

 

[mmcu]

The 120 grain Sierra Pro-Hunter and 40 grains of H-4895 have worked well for me on south Texas whitetails and hogs. It's not fast or flashy, but is quite accurate and fills the freezer on a regular basis.