drakehammer
Beginner
- May 23, 2015
- 163
- 0
Hey folks been a little while since Ive posted here. I love my 7mm08s. For the last 6 years or so, until this year, I have used the Nosler 120gr BT with RL-15 running a spicy 3100+ fps as my go to whitetail load in all of my 7mm08s. It just plain shoots great. My daughter and I have taken many deer with this combination, none of which were small, and all were between 35-110 yards. Every deer dropped at the shot and never took another step. The results are really spectacular in this respect. However, in well over a dozen nice whitetail bucks during this time, we have never had an exit wound.
In my pursuit to improve on what would otherwise be considered perfection, I decided to try the opposite end of the spectrum and loaded 168gr Berger Classic Hunters this year. I wanted to see the results for myself. (I plan to do the same next year with 120gr Barnes TTSXs.) I found a load using a stiff charge of RL-19 that shoots reasonably well...nothing to write home about. I mention this only to say my goal was to get the velocity up over 2600 fps as much as possible. No pressure signs. Prior to killing with it, my expectations were to see the devastating hydrostatic shock and internal devastation as advertised on the intergoogle. All the wound pics I’ve seen have been pretty nasty.
So far this season, my daughter and I have taken 4 really nice bucks with this 168gr Berger CH/7mm08 combo. My first buck was a severely quartering away shot at 100 yards. The buck had my widest rack to date, a tall 21” wide 7 point. I took the only shot presented to me. I put the bullet about 3/4 way back on the ribcage headed to the off side shoulder. The deer dropped in his tracks, kicked for a few sevonds, drug himself about 5 yards and expired within 20-30 seconds. Upon inspection, the POI matched the POA and there was a tiny exit hole 1/4 way up the ribcage on the opposite side. Dark red blood out the exit hole assumed to be liver destruction. Bright red blood out of the mouth and nose from lungs. Based on this I assume the bullet came apart and destroyed the internals and the exit wound was most likely shrapnel. I don’t know for sure because I took the deer to the processor.
The second and third bucks I shot on two different hunts with the Berger 168gr CH were both quartering slightly toward me at 85 yards. The shots were essentially identical with identical results. Wide open shots with no rush. Just wasn’t interested in risking a missed neck shot with that much bone in the air. Both deer were head down grazing quartering to me. Both times I put the crosshairs high on the shoulder expecting a bang flop. Not sure what happened on the first buck but the bullet hit a little farther back than I wanted. The deer ran out of sight. I got down from my stand to find a massive bright red blood trail from POI to where he piled up about 50 yards away. Upon inspection I found a baseball size exit hole on the offside about mid-ribcage but no gut shot. On the other deer, the bullet hit top forward tip of the shoulder blade. The deer ran 40 yards with the same massive blood trail before he piled up. Upon inspection I found a golf ball sized exit hole about mid ribcage with a little gut shot.
Finally, my daughter shot a nice 9 point buck the night before last at about 50 yards. He was facing nearly head on toward her and she shot him nearly square in the chest. The bullet slipped in about 1 inch off center between the shoulder blade and midpoint of the chest. The buck ran and didn’t bleed very well for the first 25 yards or so. Then the bright red bleeding really turned on and we found him piled up about 25 yards later. I found a very small exit wound well back on the offside ribcage and smelled a bit of gut. Shrapnel or whole bullet IDK.
So those are our 168gr Berger Classic Hunter results out of the 7mm08s. I have mixed thoughts on this combo. First to appease everyone, yes we easily recovered every deer so every shot was a booming success story. But 3 of 4 runners is not what I’m not used to. Not a single bang flop. Out of all the deer I have killed over the last 40 years, all have been DRT except for 3 prior to this year’s experiment, and most had fair to giant exit wounds. So I don’t think I witnessed much of the hydrostatic shock phenomenon that Berger claims, but yes I accomplished part of what I set out to see. I’m pleased with the blood trails, I’m pretty sure most of those were made from bleeding out of the mouth and nose, which might be exactly the same if I ever got a runner with the 120gr NBTs. But who knows. May be just as many questions now as there were before. Maybe these heavy-for-cartridge 168gr Berger CHs need more velocity and would be better suited to my 7 Rem Mag or 7 STW. Terminal ballistics are a complex subject. Just rambling on the keyboard.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
In my pursuit to improve on what would otherwise be considered perfection, I decided to try the opposite end of the spectrum and loaded 168gr Berger Classic Hunters this year. I wanted to see the results for myself. (I plan to do the same next year with 120gr Barnes TTSXs.) I found a load using a stiff charge of RL-19 that shoots reasonably well...nothing to write home about. I mention this only to say my goal was to get the velocity up over 2600 fps as much as possible. No pressure signs. Prior to killing with it, my expectations were to see the devastating hydrostatic shock and internal devastation as advertised on the intergoogle. All the wound pics I’ve seen have been pretty nasty.
So far this season, my daughter and I have taken 4 really nice bucks with this 168gr Berger CH/7mm08 combo. My first buck was a severely quartering away shot at 100 yards. The buck had my widest rack to date, a tall 21” wide 7 point. I took the only shot presented to me. I put the bullet about 3/4 way back on the ribcage headed to the off side shoulder. The deer dropped in his tracks, kicked for a few sevonds, drug himself about 5 yards and expired within 20-30 seconds. Upon inspection, the POI matched the POA and there was a tiny exit hole 1/4 way up the ribcage on the opposite side. Dark red blood out the exit hole assumed to be liver destruction. Bright red blood out of the mouth and nose from lungs. Based on this I assume the bullet came apart and destroyed the internals and the exit wound was most likely shrapnel. I don’t know for sure because I took the deer to the processor.
The second and third bucks I shot on two different hunts with the Berger 168gr CH were both quartering slightly toward me at 85 yards. The shots were essentially identical with identical results. Wide open shots with no rush. Just wasn’t interested in risking a missed neck shot with that much bone in the air. Both deer were head down grazing quartering to me. Both times I put the crosshairs high on the shoulder expecting a bang flop. Not sure what happened on the first buck but the bullet hit a little farther back than I wanted. The deer ran out of sight. I got down from my stand to find a massive bright red blood trail from POI to where he piled up about 50 yards away. Upon inspection I found a baseball size exit hole on the offside about mid-ribcage but no gut shot. On the other deer, the bullet hit top forward tip of the shoulder blade. The deer ran 40 yards with the same massive blood trail before he piled up. Upon inspection I found a golf ball sized exit hole about mid ribcage with a little gut shot.
Finally, my daughter shot a nice 9 point buck the night before last at about 50 yards. He was facing nearly head on toward her and she shot him nearly square in the chest. The bullet slipped in about 1 inch off center between the shoulder blade and midpoint of the chest. The buck ran and didn’t bleed very well for the first 25 yards or so. Then the bright red bleeding really turned on and we found him piled up about 25 yards later. I found a very small exit wound well back on the offside ribcage and smelled a bit of gut. Shrapnel or whole bullet IDK.
So those are our 168gr Berger Classic Hunter results out of the 7mm08s. I have mixed thoughts on this combo. First to appease everyone, yes we easily recovered every deer so every shot was a booming success story. But 3 of 4 runners is not what I’m not used to. Not a single bang flop. Out of all the deer I have killed over the last 40 years, all have been DRT except for 3 prior to this year’s experiment, and most had fair to giant exit wounds. So I don’t think I witnessed much of the hydrostatic shock phenomenon that Berger claims, but yes I accomplished part of what I set out to see. I’m pleased with the blood trails, I’m pretty sure most of those were made from bleeding out of the mouth and nose, which might be exactly the same if I ever got a runner with the 120gr NBTs. But who knows. May be just as many questions now as there were before. Maybe these heavy-for-cartridge 168gr Berger CHs need more velocity and would be better suited to my 7 Rem Mag or 7 STW. Terminal ballistics are a complex subject. Just rambling on the keyboard.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A classic combo with a wonderful success record... And if you're looking for something with a little less recoil, build a Nosler 
