7mm08 Projectiles - who's using what?

Hoping to get the forum's wisdom again.

Had a very accurate load for my 7mm08 using 140gr Sierra HPBT projectiles, but discovered that they were absolutely disintegrating on impact. One was between the eyes head-on on a small-medium pig, so I can sort of understand that, but the other came apart on a slight quartering away shot on a second equally sized pig. On the quartering away pig the projectile only hit a rib, then completely minced all the internal organs and didn't even nick the opposite side of the body cavity. Projectiles would have been travelling roughly 2500f/s on impact.

While both pigs were very dead as a result, I'm not happy with the bullet performance - these weren't giant pigs, and the projectiles utterly disintegrated after hitting moderate and no real amounts of bone respectively. I certainly wouldn't be happy hunting red deer with it.

After finding this out, I saw that others like the ELD-M's and X's... but they don't make them in 140gr, so no luck there. If I was rolling in cash I'd shoot Accubonds, but seeing as I'd like to tune my loads and practice a lot, this gets pretty expensive. I do have a box of Nosler Ballistic Tip, but haven't tried it yet.

So, what are you using as a 140gr, .284 projectile?

Hard to go past a sierra gameking or Speer soft point.

If you are shooting within normal hunting distances then these bullets will serve you well. The 140gr NBT is good too but they just cost more.

We use Nosler 120 or 140 B Tips awesome bullets.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

Hi canross,

I'm using Hornady 162gr ELD-M. Been very good for me.

Joel

Nosler Ballistic Tips in 120g, 140g and 150 g

150ELDx, or Speer hotcore 145gn or 140 gn Nosler partitions are excellent but they are a bit spendie

I've used two main loads over the past 10 years.

140gr BT - devastating. End of discussion.
162gr Amax - equally as good, just longer legs.

Running the 162eldx in my 22invh tikka, looking to chop it to 18" and will keep the 162s. They go so well

I've recently been loading the Nosler 140gr BT (P/N: 28140) but similar to your recent experience with the pigs I had two deer with what sounds like the same kind of explosive results. Other people tell me they're not having the same outcomes with these BT's so I'd be very interested to hear your results if you went down that road.

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Originally Posted by 25 /08 IMP

We use Nosler 120 or 140 B Tips awesome bullets.

Sent from my CPH1903 using Tapatalk

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What he said. I have been using 140gn Bt's for years . From red stags to bull thar they dump animals . Extremely accurate too.

@canross what distances are you shooting too?

When i first started hunting and handloading i loaded a 130gr Speer at a pedestrian 2800 fps.

At that stage i never used dial up scopes or shot at animals further than 300 yards. Everything i fired those rounds at fell over quick smart and i often recovered a nicely mushroomed projectile from just inside the skin on the offside shoulder.

The Speers and the Sierra gamekings or prohunters are some great performing bullets and generally always easy to get to shoot. They may not have fancy coloured plastic tips or outlandish marketing but they work great. They are also well priced.

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Originally Posted by canross

Hoping to get the forum's wisdom again.

Had a very accurate load for my 7mm08 using 140gr Sierra HPBT projectiles, but discovered that they were absolutely disintegrating on impact. One was between the eyes head-on on a small-medium pig, so I can sort of understand that, but the other came apart on a slight quartering away shot on a second equally sized pig. On the quartering away pig the projectile only hit a rib, then completely minced all the internal organs and didn't even nick the opposite side of the body cavity. Projectiles would have been travelling roughly 2500f/s on impact.

While both pigs were very dead as a result, I'm not happy with the bullet performance - these weren't giant pigs, and the projectiles utterly disintegrated after hitting moderate and no real amounts of bone respectively. I certainly wouldn't be happy hunting red deer with it.

After finding this out, I saw that others like the ELD-M's and X's... but they don't make them in 140gr, so no luck there. If I was rolling in cash I'd shoot Accubonds, but seeing as I'd like to tune my loads and practice a lot, this gets pretty expensive. I do have a box of Nosler Ballistic Tip, but haven't tried it yet.

So, what are you using as a 140gr, .284 projectile?

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The Sierra GK bullets in this weight range are more than likely designed for American White-tail deer (about the size of our Sika), from what you are saying the bullet is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Pigs even small ones are a much tougher animal.
To get a tougher bullet you will need to either go to a premium bullet (Pricey) or go up in weight.
As mentioned above I reckon the 145 Speer Hotcore (not the BTSP) would be the first one I would try you will only loose 25-50 FPS depending on barrel length and have a bullet that holds together well but still opens up well.

Hornady 139gn SST. Cheap enough, but may lead you to the same internal nuking you don't want.

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Originally Posted by planenutz

I've recently been loading the Nosler 140gr BT (P/N: 28140) but similar to your recent experience with the pigs I had two deer with what sounds like the same kind of explosive results. Other people tell me they're not having the same outcomes with these BT's so I'd be very interested to hear your results if you went down that road.

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Yeah most 140 grain bullet behave the same way, unless you go to bonded or partition but they are more costly.

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Originally Posted by winaa

The Sierra GK bullets in this weight range are more than likely designed for American White-tail deer (about the size of our Sika), from what you are saying the bullet is doing exactly what it was designed to do. Pigs even small ones are a much tougher animal.
To get a tougher bullet you will need to either go to a premium bullet (Pricey) or go up in weight.
As mentioned above I reckon the 145 Speer Hotcore (not the BTSP) would be the first one I would try you will only loose 25-50 FPS depending on barrel length and have a bullet that holds together well but still opens up well.

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He was using the 140gr Hollow point Game king, these have a large hollow point with petels designed to fragment. Go to a soft point game king or prohunter and you will be well served. US Whitetail get alot bigger than our Sika too.

I realize that I have used the same bullet, and it worked well for me but i don't shoot pigs with it. The standard Gameking is no tougher and the prohunter maybe slightly. I have sectioned the sierra bullets and the jacket thickness is pretty much the same https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....ectiles-59385/.
But the Speer I recommended is much tougher.
As to the deer yeah I stand corrected the US deer are bigger than our little Stewart Island one's, but still a pig is a tougher animal.

I have used the Sierra 140 Game King for years, never had any reason to doubt what they can do, never failed me on deer, pigs or tahr Have also loaded some 139 SST's and they shoot pretty much the same, but yet to take anything with them. Have some 150 Remington Corlokt that a young fella has been using, but haven't heard the results yet.

When I had a 708 I used the Hornady 139 gr SP with good results, I also tried the Barnes XLC 140 gr and even at about 2700 fps they opened up well. Most the time these were shot at bush hunting ranges so still had a bit of speed behind them. I have loaded for other people the 150 gr ELDX at around 2700 fps and these work well too.

162 ELDM. Very accurate and deadly.

Nosler B/tips 140gn with 2208

Federal Fusion 140 is solid performer and good value. You can buy them as a component.

Following this with great interest
I have an 18 inch 708 and shoot out to 300...mostly but occasionally a little further on red deer.
Have only used factory rem 120 and federal 140 or 150 gr.
Be interested to find a handhold to improve accuracy and knockdown between 100 and 300m
Hope that's not a hijack
B

I use 120 gr Sierras in my Kimber 7mm-08 and my mates 7mm-08 shooting Fallow to some big ass red stags with great success.

Another good one is 120 gr BT’s

I have been using 139 Hornady’s in the 284 and they have been excellent. Just got a short barrel 7mm08 and have a box of 120 and 140BTs to try out. I wanted 150BTs for the 284 but they seem hard to find so I’m going to swap onto the 140BTs in that also.

Those 145gr speer HCSP are legit. Shot a 80-90lb sow quartering away inside 100m and found my projectile mushroomed on the opposite side.
Another vote for 162eldm if you can get them shooting. Not expensive, work much better at a slower MV and have been devastating on all animals i shot with them(yearling fallow upto rutting red and sika stags)

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Originally Posted by joelhenton

Hi canross,

I'm using Hornady 162gr ELD-M. Been very good for me.

Joel

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Interesting to see the use of 162gr projectiles in the 7mm08 – what’s the muzzle velocity on them? Do you push it out range-wise at all? A heavier bullet will definitely have less wind drift, but I would have thought the slower speed would impact it at distance? Possibly the higher ballistic coefficient negates that?

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Originally Posted by planenutz

I've recently been loading the Nosler 140gr BT (P/N: 28140) but similar to your recent experience with the pigs I had two deer with what sounds like the same kind of explosive results. Other people tell me they're not having the same outcomes with these BT's so I'd be very interested to hear your results if you went down that road.

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Like you, most people have been surprised when I mentioned the projectiles blowing up. As others have said though, it’s a hollow point, so a soft point might make the difference.

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Originally Posted by GWH

@canross what distances are you shooting too?

When i first started hunting and handloading i loaded a 130gr Speer at a pedestrian 2800 fps.

At that stage i never used dial up scopes or shot at animals further than 300 yards. Everything i fired those rounds at fell over quick smart and i often recovered a nicely mushroomed projectile from just inside the skin on the offside shoulder.

The Speers and the Sierra gamekings or prohunters are some great performing bullets and generally always easy to get to shoot. They may not have fancy coloured plastic tips or outlandish marketing but they work great. They are also well priced.

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Not shooting very far – everything so far has been 200m or less. In this case these shots were at ~100m. The future will likely see me shooting further, so I'm working up loads with an eye to start stretching further on paper just to learn something new.

I’m not overly fussed on velocity aside from keeping bullets moving at the right speed to perform at the right range – most of my focus is on the load that shoots the tightest groups, which has the 140gr speer hollow points going something like ~2650fps at the muzzle and ~2450fps at 100m.

There’s a lot of love for the Sierra soft point gamekings and prohunters, so I’m thinking I’ll give them a try as well as the Nosler ballistic tips, seeing as I already have them :P

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Originally Posted by GWH

He was using the 140gr Hollow point Game king, these have a large hollow point with petels designed to fragment. Go to a soft point game king or prohunter and you will be well served. US Whitetail get alot bigger than our Sika too.

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Very good point on the hollow point vs soft point. It had slipped my mind that I had the soft point option so will have to give them a try.

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Originally Posted by Husky1600

I have used the Sierra 140 Game King for years, never had any reason to doubt what they can do, never failed me on deer, pigs or tahr Have also loaded some 139 SST's and they shoot pretty much the same, but yet to take anything with them. Have some 150 Remington Corlokt that a young fella has been using, but haven't heard the results yet.

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Another vote for the Sierras, much appreciated :)

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Originally Posted by superdiver

Those 145gr speer HCSP are legit. Shot a 80-90lb sow quartering away inside 100m and found my projectile mushroomed on the opposite side.
Another vote for 162eldm if you can get them shooting. Not expensive, work much better at a slower MV and have been devastating on all animals i shot with them(yearling fallow upto rutting red and sika stags)

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Have you found the increased ballistic coefficient of the 162 gr projectiles outweighs the reduced velocity over 140 gr projectiles?

I’ve been working on the theory that velocity of a similar 140gr projectile is preferable to increased projectile weight of a similar 160gr projectile in the 7mm08 because the case capacity and max pressure is so small that an increase in weight leads to significant decrease in velocity, with decreased bullet performance at lower velocities and a less-flat trajectory, which is a major reason why I like 7mm projectiles. I may be overthinking this though, I have been known to be wrong occasionally :P

Hi Canross,

Muzzle velocity in my Kimber Montana in 7mm-08 with 16" barrel was 2488fps when I last chrono'd it using CFE223 and the Hornady 162gr ELD-M. I think it's on the warm side, I have to seat the ELD-M projectiles rather deep to fit my Kimber magazine.

Regards,
Joel

@canross your best bet is to download a basic ballistics app and run some numbers. Often a projectile with a BC as high as the 162 ELD-M going slow will outperform a lighter projectile going faster when compared at distance due to its extra weight and superior BC carrying energy further for longer. Not always the case but often is. Just a matter of running some numbers which is super easy to do.

To answer your question on velocity with the 162 ELD-M,

The Mrs Tikka 7mm08 sends them at 2600 fps out of a 19 inch barrel with a very sensible load of 2208 (it's the Mrs rifle so wanted a nice safe, lite recoil load).

That gives 8 inches of drop at 300 yards.
Very slightly more drop than a 120 grain bullet leaving the barrel at 3000fps, a bit less than 7 inches of drop at 300 yards.

The 162 ELD-M carries 1000 foot pounds of energy to nearly 800 yards with a muzzle velocity of 2600fps. It'll never shoot anything that far away though ha ha.

What kind of speeds are people getting with the lighter bullets?

To answer your question on velocity with the 162 ELD-M,

The Mrs Tikka 7mm08 sends them at 2600 fps out of a 19 inch barrel with a very sensible load of 2208 (it's the Mrs rifle so wanted a nice safe, lite recoil load).

That gives 8 inches of drop at 300 yards.
Very slightly more drop than a 120 grain vmax bullet leaving the barrel at 3000fps, a bit less than 7 inches of drop at 300 yards.

The 162 ELD-M carries 1000 foot pounds of energy to nearly 800 yards with a muzzle velocity of 2600fps. It'll never shoot anything that far away though ha ha.

What kind of speeds are people getting with the lighter bullets?

In terms of velocity, I'm getting 2750fps with the eld m out of a full length 24 barrel non suppressed. But having just changed to 2208 powder an seating them in to fit in the mag I cannot fit anymore powder in the case if I wanted to.
Before I had a dail up scope I tried the 120 bt an cranked it right up to try get as flatter shooting as possible but it resulted in a few blow ups etc so gave the idea away an went back to 140 bt which worked really well until I changed to the 110gr ttsx, this bullet for me was fairly unimpressive although I'd did have some great velocity it didnt drop the few animals I shot with it so went on to the eld m, which has been good so far, an seems to be accurate at various seating depths and charge weights.

180 eldm in mine....loaded long with good ole 2209 for 2650fps

I'm running good old 150 grain factory federal hotcors in an 18.5 barrel. They have never let me down and perform well with minimal damage out to 300 on red skins, fallow, pigs. I've also found ppu 140 print roughly the same poi
so I use those on the goats as a cheaper option. I'd be really keen to try the 162s and 140 swift A frames Ron Spommer uses on African game. Anyone here tried them?

I've put a red dot sight on my 708 and running 145gr speer btsp at ~2500. Might drop down to 7-30 waters speeds if the pill still mushrooms ok.

You guys are getting good results with 162s and 180s.

When I get bored with current setup id prolly do a 150eld x at ~2750. 150s seem a happy medium in the 'little 7 that could'

140 NBT

I think its cheaper and better to develop and verify just one load even if the bullets are more expensive.

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Originally Posted by Boxton

Following this with great interest
I have an 18 inch 708 and shoot out to 300...mostly but occasionally a little further on red deer.
Have only used factory rem 120 and federal 140 or 150 gr.
Be interested to find a handhold to improve accuracy and knockdown between 100 and 300m
Hope that's not a hijack
B

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Boxton, Try and get hold of a couple of boxes of factory Norma 140 grain, which uses the Nosler ballistic tip. That will show you if you're getting the knockdown terminal performance you want. Around 300m the 7mm08 is dropping off in velocity, specially from a short 18" barrrel, so it won't be magic. I found I could get a bit better accuracy when handloading (30mm compared to 40mm at 100m) ) but that largely depends on how much you pay for equipment.

Had a play with some Speer 130gn BTSP and gotta say they did impress me. I compared them with the 120gn Nosler bt. Both running 2208, the 120gn going at 3000fps and the 130gn at 2850fps. Both very acurrate but the Speer 130gn was shooting ragged holes and is also nearly half the price of the Nosler

Those speer are great

yep, Speer make very good projectiles, and the price is hard to beat.

I’ve tried all sorts on deer - 110 ttsx real good, 120 ttsx real good, 120 ballistic tips real good, 140 ballistic tips real good, 120 Sierra real good, 140 prohunter and gameking real good, 139 hornady real good, 162 amax real good. All good bullets and now I just use a 140 ballistic tip cause it’s good up close and out to 400 yards sweet.

It’s a deep rabbit hole to go down - but fun all the same eh!