7mm/08 Load

The following load works great in a Savage I built earlier this year using a factory 22" sporter barrel. Fully prepped RP brass, BR-2 primer, Nosler 120 grain BT pushed by 42.5 grains of Varget. I'm seating the Nosler .012" OTL. Chrono velocity is 2957 fps with groups of five into .632" at 100 yards. I've glass bedded the walnut stock I bought from Brownell's and floated the barrel. It's scoped with a Mueller 4.5X14 APV in Weaver 4X4 rings on a one piece EGW picatinney base. This charge is mid-range in the books so I would recommend working up to it in your rifle.

I've recently started reloading.My first load for my Weatherby markv in 7mm08 worked out pretty good.But I did have help from a veteran reloader.
I used Winchester brass,Herters hollowpoint 139gr bullets,With 43.5gr of 4007ssc,Federal Match magnum primers.It produced 3/4" groups at 100yds.I'm hoping it will be a good load for deer,I think it will be.

42 grs of 4320 (work up for your rifle) & Nos partition 140 gr.
Here's a moose in AK, my wife took with the load & a ruger international I barreled for her, to match mine in that caliber. Greg
http://onfinite.com/libraries/1511141/5f4.jpg

First post here guys. I am working up loads for my 7mm-08 right now. Starting with W-760 and 140 gr. Ballistic Tips. I also have a can of Varget if the 760 fails me, however, I am hearing good things with this load data so will keep tweaking it.

Hope that you got all of the tweaking done before Deer Season come in. My 7mm 08 is very accurate with Nosler Ballistic Tips in 140 Gr and Varget.

What is all the hoopla with the 7mm-08 ?

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Originally Posted by 303tom

What is all the hoopla with the 7mm-08 ?

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Seriously!
The 7mm-08 is a best kept secret.
It will kill deer just as fast as anything else out there, and using the Nosler 140 Balistic Tip in front of 42.0 grains of Varget powder I get 2670 FPS out of a 20" Remington Model seven barrel.

With this particular rifle and load I have made several violent one shot kills.
The 7-08 has it all, killing power, short action, flatter shooting, and light easy to carry rifles that are fast handling. Did I mention that the accuracy ain't all that bad either.

One last thing that I had to learn the hard way so all you "Nosler Ballistic Tip" bullet users listen up. The 140 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet is not recommended for frontal chest shots which I found out the the hard way a couple of years back. I had a less than 50 yard, frontal chest, you can not miss shot but the buck spun and ran without much more than one silver doller patch of blood. I have switched to using the Nosler 140 Accubond bullet with the same powder charge. The very next year a deer coming head on out of the swamp was taken with one 140 Accubond to the chest and thats all that was needed.
End of sermon!

Tinbullet said, "One last thing that I had to learn the hard way so all you "Nosler Ballistic Tip" bullet users listen up. The 140 grain Nosler ballistic tip bullet is not recommended for frontal chest shots which I found out the the hard way a couple of years back. I had a less than 50 yard, frontal chest, you can not miss shot but the buck spun and ran without much more than one silver doller patch of blood. I have switched to using the Nosler 140 Accubond bullet with the same powder charge. The very next year a deer coming head on out of the swamp was taken with one 140 Accubond to the chest and thats all that was needed.
End of sermon!"

I'll second that comment. When I shot a ecent sized Mule Deer just behaind the shoulder from a 7x57 Mauser shooting the 140 gr. Nosler ballisitc Tip, the bullet hit a rib and literally blew up. When I huried up the hill to pick up the trail, I twisted my knee on some loose rock, ripped the cartilige clean out and have walked with a bit of limp ever since. it's been 7 years now and I still have pain. Unable to walk at the time, the deer sadly was never recovered. I haven't used ballistic Tips on any game animal since.

For the record, my handload was not one of the wimpy loads found in the manuals but a stiff load of W760 that delivered an honest 2800 FPS with that bullet. I do believe that's in the 7-08's speed range. I did load up to 2880 FPS but bolt lift was showing signs of being a bit sticky. That load might be OK during hunting season but I do my load work up during the summer when it's between 100 to110 plus degrees in the shade. Looking at my notes, it was 110 the day I worked up those loads.

Recently, I bought some of the Barnes TSX bullets for the 7x57, the 120 gr. and 140 gr. weights.
If they prove to be as accurate as they have been in my .257 Roberts and .35 Whelen, then I just might go with those on a permanent basis. One bullet that has worked well for me on deer is the 140 gr. Sierra Pro-hunter. Another is their sadly long gone 170 gr. round nose. When my little supply runs out, then they'll be all gone.

That's the big drawback to the 7-08. Most guns, if not all have magazines too short to properly use longer and heavier bullets. The would take up too much powder space. Guess that's why I went to the 7x57 when I had my custom Mauser built up.
Paul B.

In 2008 I shot and killed two Quebec Caribou with the 140Ballistic Tip over 42.5/Varget. This load chronoed over my Oehler 35P @ 2893 w/28fps ES. In 2010 I shot and killed a 340lb Russian Boar at 82yds with the Nosler 175Partition over 47.0/RL19. This load chronoed @ 2654fps with 17fps ES. The hog was a broadside shot I hit half way up the body, which does the spine and it fell over. I was in line with but over both lungs....as they lay very low in the body. In the heat of the moment I forgot and center punched the critter. Both the Caribou wandered around for about 5 or 7 seconds before tipping over, after broadside lung shots. Range on the Caribou was 185yds and 220yds. The barrel is a 26" PacNor Stainless Steel Super Match #3 contour, w/1:10" twist. I might play with other cartridges and calibers, but when I shove off to go Elk hunting this fall, the 7mm/08 will be with me. Some years past, I had one of the Ruger 77 7x57 rifles. I always had a semi often feeding problem. I finally went to the Ruger #1 in 7x57.

"I might play with other cartridges and calibers, but when I shove off to go Elk hunting this fall, the 7mm/08 will be with me. Some years past, I had one of the Ruger 77 7x57 rifles. I always had a semi often feeding problem. I finally went to the Ruger #1 in 7x57."

I'm surprised your Ruger M77 gave feeding problems. I never had any feeding problems in the one I had. I'd probably still have it but this fellow wanted it real bad and I just could not turn down the offer. I have the Ruger #1A in 7x57 but when I got it, I learned it had a 2" throat and accuracy was non-existant. I sent it back to Ruger with a copy of what my gunsmith determined from a chamber cast and Ruger put a new barrel on the gun. Accuracy is now more than satisfactory.
Paul B.

Like I said I think that the 7-08 is a great cartridge & rifle combo and Ballistic tips are wicked killers. You just have to be mindfull of shot placement. By the the way we call our model 7 "The PITBULL"

We have two Remington model 7's in 7mm-08. Both rifles get Barnes 120 gr. TSX over 44 grs. of RL-15 in Winchester cases wirh Federal LR match primers. These are early rifles with the 18 1/2" barrels, and this has been a very effective load in these guns.

I have experienced good accuracy and performance from the 140 Nosler Ballistic Tip in 7mm-08, but my Savage 200 groups even tighter with the 140 gr Combined Technology Ballistic Silvertip. That bullet over a max charge of RL-15 as listed in the Nosler load data bang-flops the deer bigtime. I call it the buck hammer. Factory Winchester Supreme Loads with the same bullet shoot well for me too.

In fact, I started with those factory loads, then ordered the bullets and loaded my own to duplicate the facotry load. I was planning to use Win 760 for a true exact copy of the factory load, but I got the same accuracy from the RL-15 I already had on hand, so I just stuck with it.

So during a week moment last fall I bought a couple of boxes of Sierra 100 grain boat tail hollow point bullets. I loaded some at 2.743 O.A.L. over 44.0 grains of IMR4064. This load yielded 2865 fps and went boom when I pulled the trigger. Then we loaded 42.0 grs of H335. The velocity rose to 2900 fps and went kaboom when I pulled the trigger. The accuracy was great at 50 yds one day and and inch and a halfish at 100 yds. on differrent day. Not sure what to use this on? Texas deer maybe, hogs, or coyote.

"The velocity rose to 2900 fps and went kaboom when I pulled the trigger."

H335 has a tendency to do that. When I got my first .308 back in 1973, H335 was cheap and according to the loading manuals I had at the time would give some of the highest velocity. The muzzle blast from the 20" barrel of tht Remington 660 was something else. Sounded more like a detonation than a normal gunshot for one thing. The flash from the muzzle looked liked a three foot wide strobe light and was bright enough that at high noon in the middle of August was something to behold. I wish i still had the data for that load, but all my loading notes disappeared when we moved from Nevada to Arizona. I can say one thing about tht load though. I took down a deer a year for me every years from 1973 to 1978. We moved in 1979 well before the deer season that year so could not hunt.
I'd be careful with H335 though as it can get a bit nasty in a hurry when getting near max pressures. Just ask me how I know.
A powder I heard was quite good for the 7MM-08 was W760. I use it these days in one .308 and the 7x57 with good velocity and accuracy in the 7x57. The .308 is something else. I got into the rifle cheap (Ruger M77 RSI) as the previous owner said it was the most inaccurate rifle he ever saw. he wasn't kidding. Two yearsof experimenting with various powders, bullets and weird incantations finally showed that a stiff charge of W760 and the 165 gr. Speer Hot-Core as the only load that one trick pony would shoot well. I finally got it down to a consistant 1.25" grouper at 2550 FPS. Kills deer out to 250 yard just fine.
Paul B.

Tin, the 7MM is an awsome caliber, very versitile. Those 100 grainers are perfect preditor rounds. Whitetail though, IMHO, develop 140-154gr load using projectiles that have a short O.A.L. i.e. speer GSor DC, hornady SP,or nosler partitions. The shorter bullet length will allow more case capacity. Stay away from "ballistic tips" those are for quarry less than 100 lbs. and again just MHO.

"Stay away from "ballistic tips" those are for quarry less than 100 lbs. and again just MHO."

I'm inclined to agree with with you on the ballisic Tips. I've only used the 140 gr. BT on one deer and I lost it. However, to be fair to Nosler, I was using the early version when they were still being sold in 100 count boxes. The deer was shot and I think it hit a rib as I heard a sound like a sharp stick breaking and at the hit the deer left the herd and headed down into a gully. As I went up the hill to reach the gully, my right foot turned on some loose rock while my carcass twisted to the left and something in my right knee let go. All I can say at this point is walking at the time was no loger an option and my hunting partners felt it was more important to get me to a doctor than finding that deer. Two things remain from that hunt7 yeras ago. One, i no longer trust the Nosler BT on deer and two, I'll walk with a limp the rest of my life.
For the record, the cartridge was the 7x57 mauser, the 7mm-08's older brother and the bullet was the 140 gr. Nosler BT loaded to a velocity of 2800 FPS.
Paul B.

I use the 140gr winchester/Nosler Combined technology silver tip, over a max charge of RL-15 as listed on the Nosler website data. Very accurate (.75") at 100yds in my Savage 200. Using the regular 140 gr ballistic tip the groups open up to 1 1/2", so I stick with the silvertips.

I have found some pieces of jacket in the deer on the offside near the exit, but have never recovered the actual bullet because they stay together well enough to pass through, even when shot from as close as 35 yards.

Deer hit in the heart lung area with this load drop where they are standing. In fact I call it the deer hammer becuase of the way they drop. That's been my experience with these bullets in 7mm-08.