7mm-08 for Elk, Bullet Preference

[Vmax]

I have drawn a 2016 cow elk tag for the Grizzly Unit in central Oregon. I will be taking my 12-yr-old grandson along as a mentored youth hunter. He will be shooting a Ruger American in 7mm-08. I do my own reloading and was looking for suggestions on bullets.
thanks for your suggestions.-Vmax/Madras, Oregon

 

[JD338]

Welcome to the forum Vmax.

Take a look at the 7mm 150 gr PT. It will get the job done for you.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

Welcome aboard, Vmax. As JD338 has already stated, it would be hard to beat the 150 grain Partition for cow elk. If recoil is a bit much for your grandson, I would have complete confidence in the 140 grain Partition in your 7-08. I shoot this bullet in one of my 280s, and I have no concerns tackling moose and elk within reasonable ranges with this bullet.

 

[Vmax]

DrMike & JD338, Thanks for the quick response. I am not far from the Nosler factory and already have purchased blemished 150 PT's as well as 140PT's and 140 AB's. I also have some 150 BT's which we will probably use for a cheaper practice load. Thanks again for your advice.-Vmax

 

[Finaddictions]

The Partition is probably the best choice, but with that said any of the bullets you listed would absolutely work at the modest speeds the 7-08 launches them at. The Ballistic Tip has such a thick rear jacket that I would be surprised if it didn't maintain 50-60% of its weight, which is only slightly less than either the Patition or AccuBond would retain.

 

[Vmax]

Finaddictions-Thanks for the advice.

 

[SJB358]

I'm with the others here. 140 AB, 140 Partition, 150 Partition or the 150 BT will all put elk down nicely. Hard to beat any of them.

 

[Vmax]

SJB358-Thank you sir and thank you for your service

 

[Blkram]

As mentioned above you cannot go wrong with the 150 PT, 140 PT or AB. Another bullet that will work just fine if you're not stuck on just Noslers, would be the 140 Sierra GameKing.

My wife's rifle shoots this very well over IMR 4350, and does very well with the Nosler factory ammunition with the 140 AB as well. She is somewhat sensitive to recoil as a newer shooter, but can handle both of these loads well.

Other choices could include the 139 Hornady GMX, 140 TSX or TTSX, 140 Speer Grand Slam, 140 Swift A Frames, 140 Hornady SST or 154 Interlock. At standard velocities and reasonable hunting distances, will all perform well on cow elk.

 

[Vmax]

Blkram,
Wow, lots of choices.
Thanks for all the info

 

[bruinpoint]

I realise the worthlessness of a sample of one, but FWIW I had a 150 grain BTip not exit on a nearly broadside yearling doe antelope. It hit the humerus, fragments everywhere, which I think killed her more than the bullet did. I couldn't trust that bullet on an elk, right or wrong.

On the other hand I've only caught one 140 grain AccuBond out of roughly a dozen that have killed elk, muleys, whitetail, and antelope. Interestingly, the one that stopped was on a muley. All above mentioned was with a 7mm-08.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Vmax]

Bruinpoint, Thanks for the info.
When i started reloading for the 7mm-08 I checked this website http://www.ballisticstudies.com/. The tab marked "cartridge research" has info for each caliber. Checking the 7-08 and 7mm Mauser I noticed they reported very good results with the 7mm 150 BT on deer sized game when fired from the modest velocities of 7-08/7 Mauser.
I did a little testing of my own, firing 3 150 BTs into tightly packed paper books at 100 yds. I realize this is a pretty crude test. The BT's expanded very rapidly and had an average wt loss of about a 60%. I think the penetration was about 5 inches. I concluded that this might be fine for deer but not might not be the best for elk, especially if there was a bone strike on the way into the boiler room.
I think that for my grandson's elk trip I will load some partitions or maybe an AB.
Thanks again

 

[Gunner46]

I had hunted with only one bullet for 1 1/2 decades, the 150gr BT. Granted it was for Fla pigs and eastern whitetails, but all were 100% 1st shot kills, and I was never able to recover one.

When I was planing my western hunt last year I sought advice from a friend that has dozens (yes, dozens) of elk to his credit. Uses a 7/08 and made shots out to something like 560 yds.

He told me to shoot a 140 AB and never look back. I listened.

 

[sockeye]

A few bullets not yet mentioned are the 120 TTSX or the 120 NBT. I have 2 7-08's and both are finicky. One likes heavy bullets and shoots the 162 gr. ELDX and the other shoots 120 NBT's. Neither rifle shot the 140 Partition well after extensive testing. I do hear great things about the 140 gr AccuBond and the 154 gr Hornady SP.

 

[Charlie-NY]

I think that you would get moderate expansion and particularly good weight retention from a 140 AccuBond at 7-08 velocities. That would be my choice.