What hunting bullet for a 7-08?

[saunaking]

Kinda surprised no one has mentioned Swift bullets. My light barreled 7-08 likes the 140 A-frame and has taken 3 elk inside of 250 yards. Expensive bullets, but they sure penetrate even on heavy shoulder hits. When you look at the cost of an elk hunt, the bullet is probably the cheapest part. Some may say that it's too light of a bullet for elk, but if you limit your shots to inside of 300 yards they are tough to beat and shoot well.

 

[stork]

I have killed about 8 wild hogs out to 500 yds with my 7-08 using the 139 hornady flate base, my rifle does not like boatails. I also have used on deer and sheep the 150 Nosler BT in the 7 mag with good one shot kill's. The 7-08 on a short action has the 2.800" mag to deal with so the heavy bullets have to be deep seated and use up the powder space. The 140-150 bullets are the balance of velocity and mass.

Ditto on the flat base 139 hornady. My 708 AI drove me crazy trying to find a bullet that would shoot under an inch @ 100, groups anywhere from 1 1/2" to 3". This from a blueprinted m700 with a 26" Schneider light varmint taper barrel. Tried everything from 120 Nostlers to 154 hornadys. I really wanted the 139 SST's to be 'The' bullet but couldn't get them under 1 1/2". Finally tried the 139 flat base Hornady's and at least they are hovering around 3/4". Still not nearly what the combo should be capable of, but I can live with it for whitetails at up to medium ranges.
Al

 

[7887mm08]

I got my first 7mm08 in 1984 (rem788) I have gotten 2 other 708's since. From day one I have shot the hornady 139 sp(bt or flat base) and have never looked elsewhere for a bullet .Excellent on whitetails and black bears. This is one amazing bullet that is a lot tougher than one would think. Like I stated, for over 30 years I have never had a reason to try or use any other bullet

 

[284winner]

All the bullets here sound like they are working and making people happy with the results. Various opinions reveal various reasons for use. I've loaded the 284 and 7 mm mag with game bullets from 130 h
- 180 and had great results in both cartridges. I've even light loaded the 7 mag to perform at 08 velocities before I even had a 284. Assuming deer is the menu game animal between 100-500 yds, don't rule out through opinions the option of the 160 nosler partition. I've killed whitetails cleanly from 50-600 yds with it and elk at those same ranges with the same results and not pushing it at Magnum velocities. Very well built bullet designed to just work. Not a match bullet and not a modern high velocity designed poly tip either but a simple big game bullet that works flawlessly on large game animals. Plus my 7mm mag shot them lights out. 284 not nearly as accurate but minute of deer at most ranges for sure.

 

[savagedasher]

120 to 140 point type depending on what the game is . Larry

 

[SHootSTraight22]

The Swift Scricco 150gr and the Grand Slam 145gr are hard to beat for terminal performance.. Check out the Matrix line of long range hunting bullets...

 

[XTR]

This is my 7-08 with a PTG DBM for AI pattern mags. Stock is is actually a 3 layer walnut laminate with 2 layers of carbon fiber (W-CF-W-CF-W) . The barrel is a fluted a #4 at 24"

 

[HTSmith]

I'm kinda scratchin' my head on how we got here based on a three year old original post. Nevertheless, XTR that is one beautiful rig! How much cost and work is involved with fitting that magazine? I've been accumulating parts for a 280 Rem sporter, but now I'm considering a "long" 7/08 based on the availability of Lapua brass.

 

[XTR]

I resurrected the thread when I found a good load with 2000MR and the 140AB.

As to the rifle. I won the bottom metal certificate from PT&G at the Bergers last yr, not sure the cost, and I really don't remember what my smith charged me to fit the bottom metal, at the same time he relieved the feed port so I could feed long 2.9## OAL rounds from AICS pattern mags w/o a front plate. I don't think it was more than a couple of hundred at most. I didn't have the time to do it so I had them bed the stock at the same time.

I think the mag well looks funny on a hunting rifle, but I love being able to drop the mag to unload. That's just awesome compares to jacking rounds into the truck bed or opening the bottom plate and dumping bullets everywhere. I also really like that PT&G version because it doesn't have the big tactical latch hanging out to release the mag. The mag release is pushed down from inside the front of the trigger guard.

 

[sbhooper]

I refuse to use target bullets on game. That being said, you cannot go wrong with a 7-08 and Nosler Partitions or
Accubonds, or the 139 Hornady Interlock I have shot the 139 Hornadys and 140 Abs on deer and antelope from my 7 mag and they do well. Many people swear by the 140 Abs and the 7-08 for elk at pretty distant ranges.

 

[Yagingaboy]

I shoot the berger 168 in my 7-08. It does very well on deer. Haven't shot an elk with it but I will. They shoot very well out to 500 yrds and I would have no problems shooting elk out to that distance.

 

[Cold Bore]

I used to use the 140 grain Ballistic Tips in mine. Had some impressive performance, along with a few less than stellar experiences. The mixed results and uncertainty led me to discontinue using them, and start looking for a better option.

Was going to switch to the 120 grain Ballistic Tip (apparently the same jacket, though a shorter bullet, resulting in a heavier, hopefully more robust jacket on the 120's), but before I could load any up, I tried a box of Federal Fusion 140 grains, and have never looked back.

The convenience of a factory loaded round, combined with excellent results (accuracy and terminal performance)? Nope, I'm not wasting my time loading for that one any more.