Hello, glad to be here... 7mm 08 ammo pick

L

Ladymulerider

Inactive
Hi, new here, I have a youth size for the short LOP, WBY Vanguard S2, 7mm 08. It is under a Leupold 2x7x33 glass. I live in the south, will be primarily whitetail hunting. Has anyone ran one of these to say in factory ammo what they found it likes the best? Appreciate the info... Thank y'all..
 
Ladymulerider,
Welcome to the forum!

I'm shooting a 7mm-08AI, and reload. Hence i don't buy and "factory" ammo.
However that doesn't mean i haven't in the past.

My preferences are usually towards Hornady and Federal.
From Hornady something with their 139gr. SST.
Federal i'd be looking in the Premium line with the 140gr. Nosler Ballistic Tip.

Although she reloads, you may want to compare notes with Wendyj. She's shooting a Tikka in 7mm-08.

As always, have fun, be safe, don't be afraid to ask questions.

Std7mag
 
I have a similar short barrel (20")Vanguard 7mm08 with a full size stock. Mine works well with Hornady 139 grain BTSP/spire point and Nosler 140 grain Ballistic Tip handloads. Does pretty well with Hornady "American Whitetail" and Winchester 140 "Silvertip" (the plastic tipped current production).
Any of these options are readily available and a good match for whitetails of any size.
 
Welcome to the playpen!

I'd figure most any of the standard bullets of 139/140 grains would work just fine. Depends on what your rifle "likes" as to group size. :)
 
My Weatherby S2 7-08 had some issues with accuracy that I won't get into, but of all the factory loads I tried the Rem 140gr Core-Lokt was the most consistent. For our smaller southern deer the 7-08 is a great choice and any 139/140 bullet will do nicely. For cost and availability I'd give the Hornady American Whitetail 139 Interlock a try first. If that doesn't work try the Remington then the Winchester last.

For handloads load some 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips to 2800fps it's a milder soft recoil load that is very very deadly on deer. It's hands down the most effective load that me and several friends of mine has ever used.
 
Good morning and welcome!

My deer rifle of choice is also the 7mm-08. It's "practically perfect in almost every way." My particular stick is a Ruger American, full size. Inexpensive, utilitarian, very light weight and straight forward.

The first ammo I tried was the Hornady 139 grain SSTs. I really wanted them to work, because I have a 280 Rem that shoots them perfectly. But they were 2 MOA at best out of the 7mm-08. So I stepped over to the Federal Premium with the Nosler Ballistic Tips, and I had slightly better but pretty much the same to results. So, hoping vainly that the 3rd time would be the charm, I tried the Federal Fusion with which I've had great success in other rifles. No dice!

So, on the brink of despair, I took a friends advice and tried Winchester Ballistic Silvertips. They are spot on! the first group I tested was 4 shots, 3 of which touched and one was about 0.070" apart from the others. I killed 3 deer with them last year. And of the three, they took a combined total of 1 step. Indeed, I've now begun hand loading and looking for something in that speed range (2750 at the muzzle) with a better bonded bullet to minimize meat loss. (The Win Ballistic Silvertips is the Combined Technologies Nosler Ballistic Tip with the black oxide coating and grey tip rather than the caliber specific colored tips from the standard Nosler line. Nosler Ballistic tips are known for superb accuracy and asinine fragmentation for a hunting bullet...)

But the first three attempts made me a little worried and a little curious. So I started paying attention to velocities and decided that the faster it was, 2800 and faster at the muzzle, the more scattered it was.

But your rifle will be different, so all of this is to say, try a broad range of options, because I think when you find the right one, the 7mm-08 is wonderfully balanced hunting rifle with a lot of underrated capabilities. For comfort of carry and pleasure to shoot, I prefer it over the slightly more capable 280 Rem.

I like to joke that if Jack O'Connor had put his hands on a 7mm-08, no one would have ever heard of the 270 Win. ;)

Good luck and happy shooting!
 
Welcome to the TFL!

Like others have stated whatever ammo shoots best in your rifle. I'd probably start with something like Federal Power Shock in the blue box, Remington Corelokt plain green and yellow box, or Winchester Power Point white box. One of those will group well enough to kill piles of deer without breaking the bank.
 
My friends Randy and John both shoot 7-08s. Both of them get amazing accuracy and good performance on deer with the Hornady 154 grain spire point. Several big Nevada Mule Deer and one Oregon elk have been killed by them and they have nothing bad to say about the bullet.
 
I had some 140 Remington cor loks I bought to zero mine in and keep the brass to reload for mine. The cor loks shot around and an inch or so. Should be good enough for anything we have here in the south. I reload all mine now so I haven’t used the other factory ammo everyone else has listed.
 
Wendyj said:
I had some 140 Remington cor loks I bought to zero mine in and keep the brass to reload for mine. The cor loks shot around and an inch or so. Should be good enough for anything we have here in the south. I reload all mine now so I haven’t used the other factory ammo everyone else has listed.
Click to expand...



Hello Wendyj!

May I ask what powder and bullets you’ve found to work well? And your purpose (hunting/target shooting) for context?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
This is my hunting rifle. I am using IMR 4350 powder that has worked accuracy best for me so far. I've been using 120 NBT's and 162 Hornady ELDx which may be overkill but I had to try them. Other bullet that is coming in to itself is the 139 grain sst which is starting to get the best groups by extending the oal just a little. I am experimenting with the 120 grain Barnes TTSX right now with IMR 4350 and Varget. I will let you know how those turn out. The 162 has let me keep moa out to 500 so far but without more velocity I don't see getting much farther.
 
Wendyj said:
This is my hunting rifle. I am using IMR 4350 powder that has worked accuracy best for me so far. I've been using 120 NBT's and 162 Hornady ELDx which may be overkill but I had to try them. Other bullet that is coming in to itself is the 139 grain sst which is starting to get the best groups by extending the oal just a little. I am experimenting with the 120 grain Barnes TTSX right now with IMR 4350 and Varget. I will let you know how those turn out. The 162 has let me keep moa out to 500 so far but without more velocity I don't see getting much farther.
Click to expand...
Lot of good information there! I just picked up a pound of IMR4350, so you just affirmed that choice! :)

I've read a lot of places that 140-150 grain is the max for 7mm-08 due to head space. But your 162s clearly tell a different story. Have you had any issues with chambering them? I'd really like to try some longer bullets, but I haven't had the nerve.
 
I'm running oal at 2.80 on the eldx. I know when I tried the Combined technology bullets in 150 grain I had to back up to 2.775. The eldx has a slimmer profile than the cn nosler even though the bullet is a little longer. The 150 seated at 2.80 was jamming the ogive into the lands of my Tikka. They both work great at magazine length in my 7 mag.
 
I shoot a 150grn NBT over 45.5grn of H414, it’s under 1” and 100fps faster than the H4350 load of the same weight. The H4350 is a bit more accurate but not significantly. I’ve killed a dump truck load of deer with the 708 and about as many hogs. I shoot it out to 500 on my range and it gets boring.
 
Wendyj,
You ought to check out some videos on the tube of silhouette shooting.
People shooting "off hand" and hitting/ knocking over steel rams at 500 yards with 7mm-08.

Next Saturday is my first F Class match. 600 yards.
Watched people do 1000 with 7mm-08.
 
Good luck on that match and let me know how you do. I've shot mine out to 1000 a few times with the 140's but I have to let the barrel cool a lot between shots or the pencil barrel on the hunting rifle gets hot quick. Have never checked moa because I have only shot at 3' x 4' steel plates with 12 inch orange circle painted on it. The 7-08 isn't no slouch and BC is great. I imagine the temps will still be a little cool in your neck of the woods.
 
My Model 7 with the short barrel is decent with Rem Corelokts but prefers my 140 Sierra SPBT and Nosler BTs under Win760 even better
 
The 708 is one fantastic cartridge. It's been my experience that if you're looking for factory ammo it's just a hit and miss venture. There's a boat load of 7mm bullets available make the selection of factory ammo even more expensive/fun.
 
Alas i still have the pencil thin barrel. That and still trying to work out the bugs of learning to shoot from prone position.
I'm sure i'll place dead last. And i'm ok with that.
People up there have been super supportive! And if i can learn something, all the better!

80's yesterday and today. Dropping to 30's tomorrow afternoon.
Taking shorts, tee shirt, sunscreen, longjohns, and parka with mittens.
Gotta love central PA weather in the spring. :rolleyes:
 
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