7mm-08 load advice

G

Goose71

Member
I bought a new savage 11 7-08 for my 10 year old son. He shot his first buck last year with a 243 not much for a blood trail. So I shot factory loads for break in and for the brass. Looking for some interest in a 120 nosler or a Sierra to reload the 7-08. Also how is the takedown performance of your suggested load.
Thanks enjoy your Sunday
 
43.0 grains of Varget behind a 120 pill is devastating and accurate too. The 7mm-08 is my favorite cartridge. I hunt deer, black bear and wild boar with it and it has never failed me yet. For the bigger animals I like a heavier Nosler Partition bullet, but for deer that load crashes them to the ground right now.
 
I tried Nosler' BT 120gr with Varget in my 7x57.So far I've only loaded this bullet using the Nosler maunuals starting load.Shot great but I havent tried it on deer or anything.Like msinc I would go with a heavier bullet for the big boys but I cant see it failing on deer size critters.
 
I use Hodgdon's H-4895 youth load with the 120 gr. Nosler for my petite 12 year old daughter. She can't comfortably tolerate full power load recoil yet.
 
I run a 120gr Sierra pro hunter in my wife's 7mm08. Loaded with 44gr of rl15. She took her first deer shooting that load last year. Performance was up to par for me. Quartering to, pass thru at about 80yds. The jacket wad just under the off side hide.
 
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I had good luck with a max load of IMR4350 with a 145 grain Speer Btsp. The 130 grain Speer Btsp worked just as good on deer and hogs with Varget. I'm now using RL-15 and a Hornady 162 grain Amax. It works really good at longer ranges. For the younger hunters the 130 would b perfect. Good expansion - no blow ups- drops deer hard.
 
For me I did not like the sierra 120 (prohunter) I switched to the hornady 139 sp and have never looked back. Varget is my powder of choice because I have a bunch of it, but every powder that I have tried has shot the 139's great.
 
There's such a noticeable recoil difference between the .243 and 7mm-08 that I'd either use the reduced load Roger suggested or try different bullets in the .243 like the Barnes TSX 85 gr.
 
My 120g nosler HBT loads, use for any 120g.
44g BLC2,
49g CFE,
47g imr4320,
43.5 w748
48g H380
IMR 4007 ssc.
Ran from 2800 to 3000 fps depending on load.
You can go under these since they are just midline loads out of the books.
 
I load 120 gr Nosler Bt reduced loads in a factory Rem700 varmint 708 for my 9 yr old son. 34-35 grains of H4895 gets about 2400 ft/sec. Very low recoil and great on deer and hogs. Sighted in 1.5" high at 100 you're good out to 200yds which is farther than kids should shoot anyway. I try to keep shots inside 100.
 
I don't think I need reduced recoil loads. Yes my son is 10 yrs old he's 5'6" 140 lbs shoes size is men's 12. He can take the recoil I believe he's just timid. With his 243 maybe I used a bad choice of bullet. It was an 85gr Sierra hp. The bullet blew up in the deer and no blood trail. I traded in his tikka 243 for a sav 7-08 I have my own 243 if need be. I have been reading a lot about the 7-08 for all kinds or hunting. I never had a 7-08 so I'm looking for the load advice for you re loaders that use that caliber before I get into to much bullets laying around. I got the same savage in 243 and 7-08.
 
For a 120 grain load I use the Nosler BT and Big Game, Varget, or RL 15, For a 139 0r 140 grain load I use Big Game or H4350. The Hornady 139/46.0 H4350 has shot well in several rifles.
 
With most any 7mm two bullets will cover every critter in NA and just about everywhere else to.Bullets between 120-150 up to medium size game and 160-175 for the bigun's.
 
My wife uses a Remington model 7 in 7mm-08. She prefers Hornady 139 SST and 47 grains of Imr-4350. She has used that to harvest antelope, deer and elk. That load is only a couple of hundred FPS slower than a .270 with the same grain weight bullet.
 
I've only loaded for one 7-08 in browning blr, a buddy bought for his son. We ran factory corelocts (140)'s for break in and we were less then impressed with the groups proving to be a 3" gun no matter who was behind the trigger.
I took the once fired brass and started work up with the 120gr Nos BT, and IMR-4320 with Cci 200 primers. These were loaded to fit the blr mag so I never measured OAL.
44.5 grs produced a load that went from 1"-1.5"@100 no matter who was behind the trigger. Mild recoil and a good hunting load for Muleys and Wt deer.
The 120 gr BT is supposedly drawn on the 140 gr BT jacket, so it proves to be quite a stout bullet.
They harvested one doe with that combo I wasn't there to see it.
 
I also have the Savage 11 in 7mm-08 for my daughters and wife. From the time they have been able to pull the trigger, the Hornady 139 Interlocks over Varget has got it done with very little meat damage. Mild recoil, and 4 mule deer and an elk in the freezer. We won't be changing anytime soon.
 
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I have the exact same gun and use that same bullet/powder combo. My experiences are the same. No need to look for anything else.
 
I have taken a ton of deer with a ton of different 7-08 loads using 3 different 7-08s.

Truth is, they all worked well, and NONE shot poorly.

I started with Win 760 IIRC. 145 Speers I think. Maybe some WINNY 150 PPs. But quickly graduated to 140 gr. Partitions over 46 gr. IMR 4350. This remained my go to load for years. It is what I used in a Savage 16 FSS and what I still load for said rifle. For last 5-6 yrs. I have used 120 TSXs over 44 gr. R-15 in a Finnlight. It has also been superb.

I still have a healthy pile of 120 TSX and TTSX here. But when they run out, I may just revert back to my roots, as I still have 145 Speers and probably 500 Winny 150 gr. PowerPoints. I don't think the deer will know the difference.

7-08s ain't picky, and premium bullets not needed to kill deer with aplomb IME. That said, I know many like the NBTs for deer, but I do not. Kills fine, just makes an unecessary mess. For LR exclusively, I could maybe like it. On closer up shots, it's a no-go in my book......

 
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