Load for antelope - 7mm-08

C

cooter64

New member
Hi all and happy 4th of July!
My daughter and I have a Wyoming antelope hunt scheduled for next year. I am getting ready to start working up some loads and would like to hear your load recommendations and about your experiences with those loads. We will be zeroed at 200 yards and comfortable shooting to 300 (slightly more). We are both shooting Tikka T3x's in 7mm-08. I have a variety of bullets on hand including Hornady interlock/sst (139 grn), Nosler accubond/ballistic tip/partion (140 grn), Sierra Gameking SBT (140/150 grn). I also have a decent variety of powders. Right now we are limited to mag length for COAL (2.78) until we get new mags and bolt stops from MT. Tactical. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated. Have a great holiday and thanks in advance!
 
I'm shooting nosler and Speer hot cor 140-145 for deer here. The 120 grain Barnes ttsx is giving me less than 1/2 inch groups at 200 yards. I bought it for same reason. Planning Antelope hunt this fall. The 120 is going with me.
 
I do like Barnes TTX, they shoot well in my 30-06 and 300 WSM. I did take a cow elk with Barnes. Really don't know if it was the bullet or if she fell in fear. She was on a dead run at me until she saw me at 30'. I raised the scope and had to wait, all I could see was brown. To this day I claim it was in self defense LOL! I'll give the Barnes 120 a try. What powder are you using?
Thanks!
 
Haven’t hunted antelope, but haven’t used any bullet besides TTSX for big game in several years. The accuracy is plenty good and their performance on game has been nothing short of astounding.
I’m a fan of light and fast. I always choose the lightest TTSX made for the caliber. However, if I were hunting open plains where long shots in wind were likely, I would bump it up a size or two. You just have to be careful, as the TTSX is long for its weight and the heavier versions may not stabilize.

7mm-08 is my favorite cartridge. I load the 110gr TTSX with RL-17 and Win748.
 
Just my 2¢ but I have found the TTX do not expand very well in the antelope, does great on larger deer and elk but had very little luck on the antelope. Now I was using a 30-06 168 gr bullet as my Tikka loves bullets in the 165 grain and higher.
 
If a Barnes bullet doesn't expand, it ain't going fast enough. It takes speed to open those fellers up.

If I was shooting antelope with a 06 and using a Barnes copper bullet, I would use the 130s and speed.

The 120s will do good in a 7-08.
 
I agree with you about a little heavier bullet.It is open space and usually breezy.
I'd think something 140 to 150 gr. with a good BC.
I generally use a Ballistic Tip.

Nothing wrong with a Hornady SST or Interbond SBT. Speer used to make a nice145 gr boat tail. Sierras are fine,too.

Pronghorn is a lightly constructed animal.You don't want a hard bullet.

Your 7-08 isn't going to splatter it. Nice choice. They are excellent eating.IMO,get them skinned and below 40 deg f the day you shoot them.

I've shot a few at longer ranges but most inside 300 yds.
I don't move around.I get to my stand before light .I let them do the moving.
Its easy to run them out of the country moving around.

I'd guess RE-19 would be one powder to look at.I don't load 7-08 now,but I used to.
 
I been helping a friend develop a load for his 7mm08 and we have had solid results with the Nosler Hunting Ballistic tips 120g variety over Varget using CCI primers and Hornady brass. with his 22" barrel we are seeing 3000-3100 FPS and good 0.75-1.0 MOA groupings. This is out of a factory Rueger American Stainless Steel. Nothing done to it....yet ( I am showing him the value of even adding a inexpensive after market laminate stock from Boyds.) The 7mm08 has proven itself fun to develop loads for. So many options. The Hornady SST 139g look to be a very promising bullet for many style of game and worth a look see. RE-19 would be good for the heavier bullets. Lighter stuff I think would see better success with slightly faster burning powders. IMR 8028 XBR comes to mind.
 
You will get a lot more meat damage with an SST than with a better constructed bullet.

That is the only reason I don't use them any more.
 
I've had excellent results with Nosler BT 140 grain bullets in my 7mm08 20" carbine. Pushing it a bit faster from a longer barrel won't change that performance since I've run it up to 2850fps in a modern 7x57 with similar effect.
Another good choice is the Hornady 139 SP. It'll work at whatever velocity you can manage with the 7mm08. I used it for years in a 7mmRem mag but it's really a varmint bullet at those velocities.
 
My Model 7 loves Sierra 140 BTSP; very accurate and does the job. Several powders work well, including 760 and 4064
 
I've been using 42 grains of imr 4350 seated at 2.80 in my Tikka. I can't recall the chronograph off hand but I think in the 2800 fps range. I'll try a few today and recheck. I had posted the picture of a 200 yard group in a thread a month or so ago and forum won't let me upload it again for some reason. I tried extending I've oal out farthest and groups were not as good. The 2.80 at the crimp groove made all the difference in accuracy.
 
As others have suggested, careful bullet selection is recommended for 7mm cartridges given the wide range of velocities among the many cartridges. Antelope are fairly small and not especially tough, so bullets of lighter weight and construction are usually recommended, especially for the 7mm-08 and it's less than magnum screaming velocities.

I suggest choosing from among the following:

Hornady
139gr Interlock, BT Interlock, or SST

Nosler
120gr or 140gr Ballistic Tip

Sierra
120gr Pro-Hunter
140gr Pro-Hunter
140gr GameKing

Speer
130gr SP or SPBT
145gr SPBT

I would probably choose a few from among the above and use any that provided good accuracy.

Bullets tougher and/or heavier than those above can certainly be used, but expansion will be less and place a premium on bullet placement. If shot at long range, the bullet velocity will be considerably less and so will expansion. I suspect an antelope can cover a lot of ground with a small hole through a lung from an unexpanded 7mm bullet.
 
I've never had a 7mm-08 but have had a few 7x57's. One was a Ruger when they first came out. Couldn't get anything to shoot in that rifle so in frustration, tried 154gr Hornady RN bullet. Boy did they shoot. But truth is I really wanted either the 139 gr Hornady or the 145gr Speer to work. If I were to get a 7mm-08 today I'd still try the 139gr and 145gr bullet's. Antelope just aren't that hard to kill but I do like about middle of the road wt bullet's in any cartridge for big game.
 
I’m not sure why people think Pronghorn are so small.

While I admit, I have no personal experience with Pronghorn every website I’ve checked indicates adult doe ranging from ~75-105 and bucks up to ~140lbs, with a shoulder height of +- 3ft.

I participated in a whitetail hunting program controlled by Cornell University. We had to weigh every deer killed. Very rarely was an adult doe over 110llb and the vast majority were between 90-100. The *vast* majority of adult bucks were between 110-140lbs, with rare examples over 150lbs and exactly 1 deer in program history (out of several hundred) over 200lbs. NY is not known for small deer.

This tells me that for all intents and purposes, whitetail and pronghorn are the same size. CERTAINLY close enough that there’s not going to be any significant differences in bullet performance.

The TTSX is the best performing bullet I’ve ever used on deer sized game. It does NOT produce excessive meat damage, it expands perfectly (even from my 15” Encore in 7-08, 110gr TTSX, mv ~2,500fps) and it penetrates like nothing else I’ve seen. We had a shot taken with an 85gr TTSX in .243win on a running buck (probably shouldn’t have been but that’s another discussion) that hit the right, rear hip joint (destroying it) and penetrated all the way to just inside the front LEFT shoulder. That’s damn near 4 feet of penetration.

I shot a button buck with my Encore that probably weighed about 90lbs, from a distance of 30 yards. The lungs were obliterated and the exit wound was bigger than my thumb. A rifle would have that same velocity around 250 yards.

I shot an ~90lb doe at 175 yards with my Encore (110gr, 2500fps mv). Impact speed would have been ~2050 fps. She wheeled around and ran about 50 yards. Shot was almost dead-center lungs. Exit was thumb-sized. A rifle would have this impact velocity at ~ 390 yards.
 
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You have one choice 120 Nosler Ballistic Tip. By far the best killing bullet I've ever seen. And with ballistic gel tests that a friend of mine did from 100 to 400 yards all with 7mm bullets from 120-140 grains the top performer across all distances was the Speer 130 BTSP the next best was the 120 NBT. The worst performer will surprise you it was the 140 Sierra. It completely exploded at 100 yards and past that it didn't expand and just penciled its way through. All tests were done at velocities the 7-08 can reach at those distances.
 
If your mag length is only 2.78" something isn't right. Hodgdon shows 2.800" for a 150. That being the SAAMI max OAL. Isn't really a big deal though. It's only 20 thou.
Oh and if you have a deer load worked up for both rifles, you're done. Unless it's with a light for calibre bullet.
And get some exercise. Lotta walking carrying a rifle and spotting scope.
 
On my one and only antelope hunt my primary rifle was a .270 with the 150 gr. Sierra game King at 2880 FPS. My back up rifle was a winchester M70 Featherweight using the 140 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips at 2800 FPS. Both rifles were sighted three inches high at 100 yards and loads practice with to 400 yards. After all I'd read, antelope were supposed to he shot way out yonder. Stalk was about a half a mile and the shot was at 75 yards. Point it although I used the .270, the 7x57 loaded close to 7-08 specs would have done the job very nicely, whether at 75 yard or the more expected 400 yards.
Now I haven't killed any game with the 140 gr. Sierras, either Pro Hunter or Game King but work with the them in the .270, .308 and 30-06 over many years of hunting lead me to think they'll work just fine. I've heard lots of good things about the 120 gr. Nosler ballistic Tip but frankly have never fired one round with that bullet. I heard more good than bad for whatever that may be worth.
The only monometals I've tried have been the 7MM 140 gr. Barnes TSX and the 225 gr. 225 gr. in .35 caliber. So far the 140 gr. TSX is giving good speed but very poor accuracy. Still fighting with that one.
I agree you don't need a real tough bullet for antelope. The one I shot was jus slightly in front of the rear ribs and exited just behind the off side shoulder. About a one inch entrance and about 1.5" on the exit. Very little meat lost.
Dunno if I'll ever do another antelope hunt due to old age and bad knees but if I do, I'll take the 7x57 next time as primary, probably loaded with the 140 gr. ballistic Tip.
Paul B.
 
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