7mm-08 - which bullet weight? 140s or 150s?

[Steve P]

I just picked up my new 7mm-08 rifle and am looking at load data thru all of my resources.  I had planned on using 139-140 grain bullets @ 2900-3000fps until I looked into my bullet drawer and found out most of my good stuff was in the 150 grain boxes.  I had very few left in the 139-140s and most of my suppliers are out of stock.  This got me to thinking....which weight would really be better in 7mm-08.  Suddenly 150s @ 2700-2850 did not look all that bad to me........

I tried to use my ballistics calculator and it went belly up on me.  Anyone have a good ballistic calculator they could run a couple of quick comparisons for me?

Nosler 140BT or AB vs Nosler 150BT or AB
Nosler 140Part vs Nosler 150Part.

1.5" sight height.  50 yard increments to 500 yards.   Zero at 200 yards. 

I am thinking the 150 will have similar drop as the 140 at 500, and will probably have retained more energy.   Am I correct?

Steve

[John R.]

I've tried just about all the bullet weights in the 7mm/08, and I keep coming back to the 140's. They will do all that needs doing for deer. Right now I'm shooting the 140 Accubond at 2850 fps.

[Graybeard]

I've always used 139/140 personally but with bear on the agenda I might step up a notch and use premium bullets. Nosler makes PTs in 140, 150 and 160 grain weight all of which would work fine. They also make the AB in 140 and 160 grain weight and both would be excellent. Hornady makes their IB in 139 and 154 grain weight. That Hornady 154 IB would be a really fine choice.

[JustaShooter]

I ran the 140 and 150 Nosler partition at your max velocities and they are close enough to not make any real difference:

Bullet    Muzzle    Range   Drop      Velocity   Energy
140Part    3000fps   500       -40.0"     1994.7    1236.6
150Part    2850fps   500       -44.0"    1918.6    1225.8

I used an on-line ballistics calculator: http://www.jbmballistics.com/calculations/calculations.html if you need to run any other numbers.

Just a Shooter

[burntmuch]

Ive had descent success with 139s hornady SSTs Good enough to hunt with. Under 2 inches at 100 yards. Not great I know. I just picked up some 150 Noslers partitions. Hoping my model 7 likes them a little better.  

[John R.]

3000 fps is pushing it out of a 22" bbl., and you definitly won't get that out of a 20" bbl.

[Steve P]

Thanks for the replies.

Yesterday was my B-day and my happy B-Day suprise to myself was a box from a well known supplier.  Had my new brass, base, rings, and trigger in it.  Put my 7-08 together last night while the Yankees were beating the Phillies.  Will pull out the rock chucker tonight and size up some new brass and then run it thru the gammut of trimming, deburring, primer pockets, etc.  By tomorrow I hope to either pull out some 150 Noslers from the drawer, or see if one of the local stores has some 140s on the shelf.  Per the ballistic info above, either bullet should match my ballistiplex crosshairs very nicely.

Thanks again,

Steve

[preventec47]

For deer you need to rethink your whole outlook.  Why not 120 gr ? 
That is what I use in 7mm rem Mag .  Sierra ProHunter to be specific.   
There is no deer that will be immune to that.
You will be pleasantly surprised at the mild recoil and fall in love with
your gun again..   
A deer has the same internal structure as a human of the same weight.
Do you think 120gr at above 25 or 2600 fps wont do the job ?
I'm taling several hundred yards perhaps.   Take a vacation and
get some 120 grains.  There are other brands as well in 120 gr
284 cal.  Nosler is one.  I like em too cuz thay are boattail but
I feel the prohunters are much tougher.

[necchi]

I'll be watching this thread. I'll be loading 7-08 myself soon, I can add a little about bullet and deer though.

My son got his deer this year with the 7-08 using winchester factory using 140gr Nosler ballistic silver tip @ 2770 muzzle.
He hit the deer twice @ 300yrds, first time in the shoulder that did little more damage than knock it down. The second shot was a luck, a neck shot that knicked the artery. The near neck meat was tossed, but the opposite side was still good. The N BL-Silvertip was a nice flat trajectory, but the 300yrd energy was a little less than I'd hoped for. As the gun I'm loading for will be a deer gun, I'll be trying Barnes 140 TSX and Nosler 150 Accubond. It'll be a bunch of shooting , but I gotta dial either one of those into reasonable 200yrd moa.

I think the Nosler balistic tip would be a great varment bullet and perhaps out too 200 for deer, but that 300 yrd shot leaves me wanting more.