7mm-08 for the wife's hunting

[Osprey78]

So we went to our local gun shop yesterday. I want my wife to get her own rifle instead of her busting mine up (wood stock etc), plus she was in a car accident a couple of years ago and still has some pretty sore soft tissue injuries, so the less recoil would be good for her.

I was thinking the 7mm-08 for her due to it's reduced recoil, weight and length and proven capability to put animals down.

We found one that fit her, a new Remington 700 youth in 7mm-08. I am still thinking of putting it on layaway or something as the funds for it just are not there right now. Kids in daycare for the past 4 years killed our bank account.

Anyway, i know there are probably a few threads on here about it, but the search function would not let me look for it.

I was thinking a 140 or 150 grain bullet for deer, elk.

Anyone have good recipes and what would be better in that cartridge? PT, AccuBond, or ?

Thanks guys.

 

[Silentstalker]

I load the 120 gr. BT with Varget and it shoots amazing. This load is for everything up to mule deer. My other load is 139 gr. Interbond with Varget and we hope to use that on elk. As soon as I run out of those I will be switching to the 140 gr. AccuBond. In our Savage they all shoot way under MOA without much effort.

 

[Anonymous]

My son has one and my wife likes it better than the .270. The 7-08 kills all out of proportion to what the paper ballistics would suggest. I've shot the 140s and 120s and I thinking I'm going to lean toward 120s on deer and caribou. So many of the 140s are simply too tough to expand well at 7-08 speeds and the short barrel doesn't help.

I've got 120TSX and 120BT on tap to try this spring and should get 3000fps, even in a short barrel.

I've tended to say the 7-08 is a good gun for ladies and youth but that doesn't do it justice...it's just a good gun period

 

[gerry]

That sounds like a good plan. Those Remington 700 youth rifles are good guns and if it fits her right then that would be the one to get. I would lean to having a good cup and core bullet like the Hornady spire point, Speer spitzer, or Nosler ballistic tip around 140 gr for practice and most hunting and try and pair it with a tougher bullet around 140-150 gr such as the Partition or Barnes TTSX for elk and moose.

 

[SJB358]

If it were mine, I'd load up some RL17 and whatever 140-150 you like. I run the 150 PT/BT from my son's 7x57 with excellent speeds. 140's did just as well. The 7-08 is just about the same thing. Really is an awesome little platform. I love the mild recoil..

 

[6mm Remington]

I agree completely with Scotty. The 140's or 150's in either AccuBond or Partition flavor will work very well for what you have planned. Both open easily at lower velocities and yet penetrate and hold together very well.

 

[JD338]

The 7mm-08 is an excellent round. Load it up with a 150 gr PT for deep penetration and the 150 gr ABLR for long range and don't look back. RL19 and Hunter would be two powders to look at.

JD338

 

[DrMike]

Solid plan. The 7-08 is a great cartridge. One of my hunting buddies used a 7-08 exclusively, shooting 145 grain Grand Slams. It accounted for lots and lots of deer (mulies and whitetail) and moose. The only time I got him on elk, he missed (bad angle and spooked elk). Still, I had no doubt that the cartridge was more than adequate. Recoil is not excessive and 140-150 grain bullets kill quite efficiently.

 

[PJGunner]

The only suggestion I would make is put a Pachmeyr Decelerator recoil pad on the gun. If the length of pull on the unaltered gun is good, have a competent gunsmith cut the stock and fit the pad. It'll really make a 7x57/7-08 very gentle on the shoulder.
Paul N.

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

The only suggestion I would make is put a Pachmeyr Decelerator recoil pad on the gun. If the length of pull on the unaltered gun is good, have a competent gunsmith cut the stock and fit the pad. It'll really make a 7x57/7-08 very gentle on the shoulder.
Paul N.

+1

This will help even with lighter recoiling guns.

 

[gerry]

Normally I would agree about putting a Decelerator on it but if the Rem 700 Youth has as good of a recoil pad as the SPS and CDL it won't need to be changed, my examples of both are very good as is.

 

[DrMike]

The pad Remington is putting on their rifles, including the youth models, is very good. These were the original LimbSaver pad, I believe. I like them, and I like the idea that Winchester (Pachmayr Decelerator) and Remington (LimbSaver) are putting good pads on their rifles.

 

[gerry]

The pad Remington is putting on their rifles, including the youth models, is very good. These were the original LimbSaver pad, I believe. I like them, and I like the idea that Winchester (Pachmayr Decelerator) and Remington (LimbSaver) are putting good pads on their rifles.

Those are some good pads on both Remington and Winchester you would think others would follow the same trend as well. Tikka and Ruger come to mind quickly on needing to upgrade.

 

[DrMike]

It has been my practise for many years to put a good pad on every rifle I obtain (LimbSaver, Decelerator and a Kick-Eze on one rifle). I no longer have to do that with newer Winchesters or Remingtons. I still factor in $45 or so on other rifles to allow for a grind to fit pad.

 

[Osprey78]

Thanks for the input guys. I was actually very impressed with the pad on the Remington, very soft almost better than the one on my Savage which is nice too.

 

[jimbires]

from my experience RL17 will get you the most velocity . I use RL17 with a 140 berger hunting vld getting around 3075 FPS with a 24" bbl . I use IMR4064 with a hornady 139 BTSP in my main whitetail hunting rifle . in Denise's 7-08 I use a slightly reduced load of H4895 with a 120 gr ballistic tip . all of these shoot under an inch at 100 yards . I find the 7-08 easy to load for , most anything seems to shoot well .

 

[Osprey78]

The only down side to RL powders is they are extremely scarce around these parts. That said, I don't even know where to begin getting Ramshot powders here. Hodgdon and IMR powders are usually the best best in these parts.

 

[pharmseller]

I load 140 NAB with Varget and Big Game. I used 140 Partitions a couple of years ago with great success on a mulie buck and a bull elk. I switched to NAB because they're easier to load.

47.5 grains Big Game. MV is around 2825. 42 grains Varget gives 2750. Accubonds open up well at associated velocities. 6 mulies and an antelope so far.



P

 

[257 Ackley]

Any of the powders in the H4895, Varget, R15 burn rates will work with the 140 grain bullets. I would go to H4350 or H414 for the 150's. I use R15 for the lighter and H414 for the others.

You may want to find some 120 BT's to have her start with. There will be less recoil and the 120 is a heck of a bullet using the same jacket as the 140 BT. Once she is comfortable with them you can go up in weight. You can always go back to the lighter bullet if she can't take the additional recoil.

 

[Gunner46]

I've been playing with my 7-08 since the weather turned above 40. Varget, RL-15 and RL-19 have all done very well with 140 NBT/AB's. All are in the 3/4", or better range. RL-19 outraces the others, by far, but it takes a careful hand on the powder thrower is get it all in.

I have used 150 gr NBT's for the past 15yrs, for whitetails in NC, and pigs in FL, with RL-15 @ 2650. 100% first shot kills. The pigs dropped right nicely, but the whitetails all ran a good bit, thus my reasoning to go to a bit faster expanding bullet.