7mm-08

Europe

Handloader
Jun 18, 2014
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Scotty, and others ( I know Scotty has one of these but I am sure others also do )

My granddaughters Elk hunt is coming up later this year. She will be hunting Elk on an Indian Reservation in Arizona and the Elk there can be fairly large. I see Northfork, Nosler, and Swift all offer 175 gr bullets. Do you feel this bullet weight is necessary ? I was thinking more along the lines of 150/160 ? Your thoughts please

Also while I have your attention, many years ago my husband felt the A Frame was the better of the two Swift bullets. Do you or have you used the Scirocco successfully ?
 
Europe":1ixt5huy said:
Scotty, and others ( I know Scotty has one of these but I am sure others also do )

My granddaughters Elk hunt is coming up later this year. She will be hunting Elk on an Indian Reservation in Arizona and the Elk there can be fairly large. I see Northfork, Nosler, and Swift all offer 175 gr bullets. Do you feel this bullet weight is necessary ? I was thinking more along the lines of 150/160 ? Your thoughts please

Also while I have your attention, many years ago my husband felt the A Frame was the better of the two Swift bullets. Do you or have you used the Scirocco successfully ?

My preference is for the 140-150 grain bullets max in the 7-08. There is no elk tough enough to shrug off an AccuBond/Partition or similar placed in the running gear of any bull elk. I don't see elk getting blown over with the the 7-08 but then again, I don't see it with 338's and 35's either.

And as far as the Scirocco, I love them. My opinion they are wicked bullets that expand well, hang together great and penetrate very well. If you like them, I'd run them. The 150 Scirocco has really been excellent for us in elk camp.
 
A premium 140 grain bullet will be adequate if you don't insist on shots beyond 350-400 yards. I would have no problem hunting with a 140 grain AccuBond or Partition, or a 140 grain A-Frame launched from a 7mm-08. Granted, I don't own a 7mm-08. I do own a 7X57, a .284 Winchester and a couple of .280 Remingtons, all of which are loaded with 140 grain bullets on occasion. I have taken game with the Scirocco and with the A-Frame. Either has worked well for me.
 
Scotty, Dr Mike,

Thank you

my son has some 150 gr Scirocco he thought would work and was going to load them up for her but I ask him to wait until I ran it by you fellows. I will give him the green light
 
My son has pole-axed a number of caribou with the 7-08 and plain old lead core 140gr bullets- including a couple of nice sized bulls. I liked it so much, I shot a couple with his rifle. Ranges were 80-240 yards.

I'd have no reservations at all about hunting elk with a 7-08 loaded with 140gr Partitions or Accubonds.

I just don't think the 7-08 works that well with the 160-175 gr bullets. Most are made for far faster cartridges than the unassuming 7-08 these days.
 
My 7mm-08 did best with 140gr. Partitions at about 2900 fps, it only had a 20" barrel, so I never tried anything heavier than a 150.

I think the Scirocco should work fine, he should be able to get around 2800 fps, depending on the barrel length.

Good luck to them.
 
A 140 TTSX or Nosler E-tip at 2700 fps or thereabouts will do very nicely with minimal recoil.
My daughter has been shooting these loads since she was 12 Years old. She is 16 now 5'1" and 110 lbs. A dainty lil girl like her mom
 
BTW Varget is your huckleberry!

Code:
Cartridge          : 7 mm-08 Rem.
Bullet             : .284, 140, Nosler E-Tip  59955
Useable Case Capaci: 45.849 grain H2O = 2.977 cm³
Cartridge O.A.L. L6: 2.800 inch = 71.12 mm
Barrel Length      : 22.0 inch = 558.8 mm
Powder             : Hodgdon VARGET

Predicted data by increasing and decreasing the given charge,
incremented in steps of 2.0% of nominal charge.
CAUTION: Figures exceed maximum and minimum recommended loads !

Step    Fill. Charge   Vel.  Energy   Pmax   Pmuz  Prop.Burnt B_Time
 %       %    Grains   fps   ft.lbs    psi    psi      %        ms

-20.0   78    32.00   2181    1479   29314   6769     90.0    1.465
-18.0   80    32.80   2232    1549   31138   6980     91.1    1.431
-16.0   82    33.60   2282    1619   33066   7186     92.1    1.396
-14.0   84    34.40   2333    1692   35117   7387     93.1    1.363
-12.0   86    35.20   2383    1766   37270   7583     94.0    1.331
-10.0   88    36.00   2434    1841   39532   7772     94.8    1.295
-08.0   90    36.80   2484    1918   41924   7954     95.6    1.260
-06.0   92    37.60   2534    1996   44459   8128     96.4    1.226
-04.0   94    38.40   2584    2076   47146   8295     97.0    1.194
-02.0   96    39.20   2634    2157   49994   8453     97.6    1.162
+00.0   98    40.00   2684    2239   53016   8601     98.2    1.132  ! Near Maximum !
+02.0  100    40.80   2734    2323   56224   8740     98.6    1.103  ! Near Maximum !
+04.0  102    41.60   2783    2408   59630   8869     99.0    1.074  !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
+06.0  104    42.40   2832    2494   63251   8987     99.4    1.047  !DANGEROUS LOAD-DO NOT USE!
 
April,

I used the 160 AB in my 7mm-08 and H414 with great success, and that case worked well with various 140's NBT, SGK using RL-15. Maybe in the middle would be good, but really IMO the difference would only be which one shoot the best. I would use the Nosler AB, or a Barnes TTSX for Elk, and never worry over it. After seeing Scotty's work on the Woodleigh's use the 140 PP, or 160 PP too!
 
April,

The 150 gr PT will offer good velocity in the 7-08 and give her plenty of penetration on a big bull elk.
Best of luck to your granddaughter this fall!

JD338
 
140 TTSX factory load out of an 18” 7/08... measly 2650fps muzzle velocity. Shattered both scapulas and exited. Bull went 30ish yards.

I’m absolutely comfortable handing that set-up to any of my kids.... to shoot anything they may draw a tag for in the great state of Colorado.... or just about anywhere else on the planet.

uDx6BL8.jpg
 
Anything over a 150 is a handicap in a 7/08. You could even go down to a 120 mono and it's lights out, period. My personal choice is the 140 AB. I understand the the weight range is pretty narrow, but that is actually what makes this cartridge so wonderful, you can't go too wrong
 
I've been using the 7mm-08 exclusively for years. I load for 4 7mm-08s, all Tikkas.

1dbcfdb4a847d61bfb675d11d4123ade.jpg


2013, 140 Partition, 68 yards, one shot, DRT.

d234a8d548f48cc829b013d92bf2f507.jpg


2015, 140 Partition, 346 yards, one shot, DRT.

cac41d8165cf42d271d01f0a7dfb17fa.jpg


My dad, 2015, 140 AccuBond, 225 yards, one shot, 90 feet.

032183d4e4b018c9c99a81ea5330a066.jpg


My nephew, 2017, 150 ELDX, 407 yards, dead on his feet after one shot, hit him again because he was still standing, 60 feet.

Not a bad sample. We've killed a truckload of deer also, farthest shot was 541 yards. If you're interested in the load I can pass it along.




P


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Good stuff Pharm!!!

Thinking in the 7/08.... it’s either the 120 TTSX.... or a good 140 (AB, Partition, TTSX) etc. if elks are on the menu.
 
Songdog":3gya02w8 said:
Good stuff Pharm!!!

Thinking in the 7/08.... it’s either the 120 TTSX.... or a good 140 (AB, Partition, TTSX) etc. if elks are on the menu.


I started experimenting with the 150 ELDX last year after two of our bucks were taken at over 500 yards, 140 Partition and 140 AccuBond. The 150 ELDX has a significantly better BC but let's face it, BC differences don't much matter inside of 500, maybe even farther. More weight means less speed so I didn't want to sacrifice too much velocity. I found that I could push the 150 ELDX to close to 2800 fps with scary good accuracy.

096b90fc488454db3a5cd7d3cddce1f2.jpg


We killed three elk in 2017 with ELDX bullets, one bull with the 150 (see above), one big cow with the 162 from a 7mm Rem Mag, and a big mature 6x6 with the same 7mm Rem Mag. The bullets performed admirable. The big bull and cow were one shot each, the 6x5 bull would have been but we teach to shoot again if they're still standing.




P
 
507ca5bb7ee87bd3f2dd2b01e0d08ede.jpg


Big cow, one shot.


2ab96171f2f2e5b55e7f446889c8dce7.jpg


Big bull.

No complaints. I take that back, I wish it hadn't been so steep.


68f10cab8156ef7c602b1ff18e0b0512.jpg




P


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Europe":1w5a45ls said:
Scotty, Dr Mike,

Thank you

my son has some 150 gr Scirocco he thought would work and was going to load them up for her but I ask him to wait until I ran it by you fellows. I will give him the green light
I think those will work just perfectly! Good bullets as others have stated although I have not used them. A good friend of mine shot a nice bull moose here in Montana with his little 7mm-08 and 140 gr. bullets. His son just recently shot a nice cow bison with it in Montana also. I believe they were down by West Yellowstone. The bison took two shots but did not go anyplace after being hit.
 
That's quite the testimant to the 7mm-08 with all those dead elk. I'm working on a load for the 140gr E-tips right now. My next stop is going to be the 162gr ELD-M. Even at 400-500yds, BC can make quite a difference if it's windy.
 
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