years ago I had a 7-08 I shot 140gr. ballistic tips. today when in applicable I use sierra game king BTHP they are fantastic! I have some 140gr in that bullet for my 7mm mauser but I haven't shot a deer with one yet but I promise you they will work well,,,,,,,,,,

 

I like the Serria Gameking BTSP 130 gr. in my Rem. 700 chambered in Win. .270. IF I wind up reloading I may go with a 140gr Gameking.

 

I have been shooting the 120 gr Nos BT. The jackets on the 120 gr BT is thicker than the jacket on the 140 gr making for a great bullet. You can't go wrong with the 120 gr or the 140 gr. I use Varget powder exclusively in both my 7-08 Rem 700's.

 

Actually, that's not quite correct. The jacket for the 120 gr. BT is the same as the 140 gr. BT, just trimmed back to be the proper length for the 120 gr. bullet. It's only thicker for that reason. Section a 120 gr. bullet and a140 gr. bullet and you can see they're the same except for length. So, yes they're the same yet they're not the same.
Paul B.

 

Did a BLR 7mm-08 for a few seasons. Settled on the 150 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at around 2600 fps from that short barrel, highest velocity with accuracy was H414 or Win 760. Accuracy was very good, and the bullet gave awesome expansion and penetration at woods ranges. With the 140 gr bullets, the Ballistic Tip over expanded with limited penetration on close range strikes, and the Nosler Partition didn't seem to expand much resulting in runners that made it 50 yards or so.

I'm back to the 150 gr Nosler Partition but this is with a 7mm WSM BLR which is running 500 fps hotter.

 

The only deer I have taken with my 7-08 was with a factory Winchester 140gr round (60 yds front shoulder, quartering to me. Bullet never came out, but dropped the buck in his tracks. I was not reloading yet at that time. Since then, I have tried the Hornady 154gr Inter lock bullet with IMR 4895 and Varget. They both shot decent. I have settled on the 130gr Speer HotCor flat base bullet over a max charge of Varget though (supposed to be about 3,000 fps). It is plenty accurate and I like a faster, smaller bullet for the 7-08. I'm using the 154s in my 7mm mag now.

 

I have had profound terminal effects with the Hornady GMX bullets. I've used them in .270 W and 7 mm mag. My Marlin X7 is 1/2 moa at 100 yards with off the shelf ammo. The Hornady Superformance GMX. I hear the SST is good to but why change if it works, right.

 

Last time I checked deer weren't wearing armour plate.

The 7mm-08 has limited powder space for its calibre so the lighter to mid weight bullets work best. IMHO 120gn to 140gn are adequate for all but the largest deer (think Elk).

Personally I prefer using good old Sierra Pro Hunters (soft point, flat base) in 140gn for mature Red deer. Bang ... flop.

 

I have a Savage bolt action in 7mm08 and it absolutely loves the 139g Hornady SuperPerformance SST. It is my most accurate rifle that I have ever owned, well my son owns it now. It still resides in my safe, so I still claim it right now.

 

I came into a deal on a bunch of 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips for my 708. I worked up a load with H4895 that shoots great.


Ive killed a bunch of deer with NBT’s in other cals and have never been disappointed in performance so I figure these will be much the same.


Lots of really good 7mm bullets available.

 

120 gr nosler BT with a heavy dose of varget is a sure killer out of my remington model 700 in 7mm08.

 

140 gr Sierra Gameking over 44gr IMR4350 shoots very consistent .2-.3 (3 shot groups@ 100) in my x7. 1" entrance 2" exit and blood trails that are EASILY seen. 2550 fps 18" barrel. 48 gr is also very accurate & about 2850 fps in my gun. It is a compressed load.

 

Although I’ve had excellent performance from the Sierra and Nosler bullets, and IMR4350, several years ago I bought a significant quantity of Hornady 139gr BTSP Interlock blems. Over 47.0gr of Reloader17 I get 3,000fps an$ as good of accuracy as Rifle is capable of.
However, the rifles favored load is a 150gr bullet over 45.0gr of H4350 or Reloader17 for 2,800+FPS.
Ive had both 120gr and 150gr Nosler Bt’s separate and fail to penetrate. But, deer do die quickly.

 

Yes, this is an "Old topic" but a good read none the less.

I've never owned a 7-08, but I do own a few .308's
Considering these two cartridges are nearly ballistic twins, I'm positive what's worked well for one would apply to the other.

Please remember deer are neither thick skinned nor do they have claws or sharp teeth.

For the most part, all of the standard softpoint ammunition choices for the 7-08 above 120gr in weight will be sufficient for deer. I know more than a few old coots which will purchase whatever 140gr bullet is on sale (Winchester Power Point, Remington Cor-Lok , Federal Powershok) and they dont have any problems tagging out their deer quota.

However, I will pay a bit more for my bullets if they are more accurate in my rifle.
In this case, my Ruger M77 MkII prefers the 150gr .308 Hornady SST and my T/C Encore loves the Federal Fusion 150gr.
Both of these bullets have served me well without failure and I keep a supply of this ammo readily on hand.

For an inexpensive bullet, i would choose the Hornady American Hunter line which is a spire point sp.

Determine what your gun likes, and if you do your part you will soon have venison.

 

I'm a 7-08 fan here with a Thompson Center Encore, Ruger no.1, and Rem model 7. The lighter bullets of 120 gr to 140 gr are all I need for big WI whitetails. Personally, I like a Sierra 120 gr Prohunter best of all. I have seen this bullet go tip to tail on a mature whitetail doe and found a the bullet between the hind quarters after skinning. I took a 13 year old kid deer hunting for the first time with a Rem 700 Classic in 7-08 that his father bought him. I loaded up some Sierra 120's for him with a moderate load of Reloader 15. Second day of the season this kid shot a huge 8 point through the shoulders at 75 yards. Performance was excellent.

 

Hornady 162. Mighty Fine......

 

i have two 7mm08's...
one stays sighted in with 120 gr sierra pro hunters, the other with 140gr.
the deer i hunt don't seem to notice the difference.

 

I bought a NEF 7mm-08 a couple years ago for my daughter to test the waters on hunting. She shoots it fine - Winchester 140s and Hornady 139s.

I put the Hornadys through my chrony, they're an honest 2900 fps.

I expect I'll be getting her a 'real' gun this summer, in one of the 7mm (7-08, 7x57, or 280 Rem) and will probably load them up with 160 gr. Where we hunt, shots are pretty short, and I've become not much of a fan of using standard cup-and-core bullets where impact velocity is greater than about 2700 fps. I'll look at Speer GS 160 and Norma Oryx 156 first, looking for good groups between 2600 and 2700 fps.

 

Killed a bunch of deer with a Marlin XS7 7MM-08, with 139 gr. Hornady Interlocks, over IMR 4895, bought some 140 gr. Partitions, on a "going out of business sale", haven't killed anything yet with them, but, they shoot to almost the same point of aim as the Hornadys, do like the 7MM-08.