You thoughts using 120 grain Sierra on whitetail

[wareagleguy]

I have used Sierra for some time and love them.  I have a 7mm-08 and thinking of using 120 grains bullets (Sierra).  I tried some Hornady 120 HP one year and did kill a deer but the bullet just didn't hold up well so I stopped.  I would like to have a lighter bullet but don't want to loose a deer doing it.

[Graybeard]

Not that it is a whole lotta my business really but what are your reasons for wanting the lighter bullets?

I just don't care to drop below 139/140 grains in the 7-08. They work to perfection. Nothing but one shot kills over a period of over 25 years use of them. I've used factory ammo from Remington and Hornady and component bullets from Remington, Hornady and Nosler all with equal success.

I reserve the lighter bullets for slower cartridges than the 7-08. In them I use the Sierra 130 SSP. Again mostly one shot kills.

[wareagleguy]

Thanks GB for the reply.
 
I'm just testing really.  I have tried several different bullets over the years myself.  I too have reservations on using a 120 bullet.   My thinking on this is that the 120 might give me a little extra distance.  Also, I want to reduce recoil as much as possible without adding weight to the rifle.

[Graybeard]

Actually you're unlikely to reap either benefit you seek. Go to the reloading manuals and pull data for velocities you can reasonably expect from both. Plug those numbers along with the bullet BCs into a ballistics program and check the difference. You'll very quickly realize that it really makes no real world difference in either recoil or trajectory.

More to the point as regards trajectory. The .257 Whby. is about the flattest shooting cartridge in exixitence. Take the absolute BEST case example for it. Now use the data for the Hornady Light magnum or for that matter your choice of 7-08 140 grain loads and plug them in. What you will find is that sighted in so that both are dead on at 200 yards the difference at 100 is gonna be well under an inch and at 300 the difference might be 3" at most. Even if you compute max point blank range given a 6" or 8" kill zone (meaning it never rises or falls more than 3" or 4") you'll see at best you gain 50 yards in these extreme examples.

How do I know? Well just recently I've gone thru the very exercise I just suggested to you. I've long wanted to buy a .257 Whby. rifle. I was on the verge of doing so this year. Not that I really need an excuse to buy a gun but my excuse was for a pronghorn hunt I hope to make in the not too far distant future. I figured that super fast bugger would really give me an edge. Yeah right. Even using the max point blank range comparing the two with BTs in the Whby. and the Hornady light mag I gained as best I recall not much more than 4" at 400 yards. I can't even SEE 4" at 400 yards.

So real world folks seeking faster for flatter are mostly kidding themselves. Do the same comparison with some super flat round using bullets of same weight with very pointy noses and flat or round noses. To 250 yards (a long shot for most of us) there is no real world difference. Only out there at 300 and mostly over do you actually see measureable differences and even then until 400-500 it has little bearing on whether you can or can't make the shot.

If you can move a bullet at 2600-2800 fps you have about 95-98% of the flattness of trajectory of the super magnums. It's really all in the minds of the magazine writers that you need a magnum or that having it is a real honest improvement for real world hunting.

[longwinters]

I loaded up 120 ballistic tips for my youngest son, with lite loads, for his 7m08 last year.  He took an 8 pt buck and an antelope.  I did this to try to lessen the recoil since he is fairly recoil sensative.  Neither animal went more than 60 yds with complete pass-throughs.  The whitetail was about 70 yds and the antelope 225yds.  Exit holes on each about the size of a silver dollar.  

But this year he is moving up to 139-140 gn bullets with a little hotter load, still on the powder lite side, but he will be around 2500fps.  The only reason I can see using "light for the caliber" bullets is the reason I did it - with lite loads.  These bullets are not ment for fast velocities and big game.

Long

[SLAVAGE]

i all so shoot the 120 nos. bt in 120 i loaded it max  for hogs but am thinking of usen it for doe but havent made my mind up yet about it i might have to toss the barrel in the back pack with a few shells just in case now that i am thinking about it  got to love the new quick release forearm

dave

[TNrifleman]

Amen to what Graybeard said.  It is refreshing to read some common sense about calibers and bullet selection. It seems that so much of what is currently being written  seems to lack sound experience and judgement.

[Graybeard]

The 120 BT is a find choice for lower velocity as it was mentioned in loading for a new shooter concerned with recoil. I've used it from the 7-30 Waters in a 14" barrel with complete satisfaction.

I'd sure not wanna use it loaded to the max in a 7-08 on hogs UNLESS you use it for head or neck shots ONLY. Your gun, your game, your choice.

I am convinced that folks who preach the need for magnums and tout their great superiority over '06 based rounds or even .308 based rounds either are someone's payroll and are told what to say, have precious little experience or have been brainwashed by those who are in one of the above categories. I've been hunting one thing or another for over 50 years now. I've taken a lot of game that qualifies as "big" game. Now the western variety but various exotics, hogs and white tail deer. Ain't run into one yet that was possessed of super powers. Put a bullet in the boiler room and they die real quick.

[huntsman]

As long as you don't push them over about 2800 fps velocity and can get the accuracy you need out of your rifle, there is no reason a .284 120gr Sierra flat-based or boattail shouldn't perform superbly on medium game.

[rpseven]

I guess I will put my 2 cents in. I just got my barrel back from BB and I called sierra about some loads and told them what I would be shooting (whitetails) and he recommended go with the 140gr. or 150gr. I shoot a 7mm Remington mag.

[smoky]

I just tried that very bullet in my 7-08 as I have had good results with the 140 grain Sierra Pro Hunter.  I shot it pretty near max load and varied the seating depth.  Result was virtually the same 1" group I've been getting with the 140 grain.  I have an order from Grafs on the way which includes that same bullet in 150 grains.  I'll be interested to see if it shoots right in there with these two.

Smoky

[Fire Fox]

If you want to use the 120 for some special reason then the Hornady 120 gr single shot pistol bullet would be my choice. I have used it on hogs and deer side shots with great results. I am using it out of an Encore pistol in 7-08 and so far had complete penetration on hogs and deer. This bullet has the interlock ring and stays together very well. It is great for reduced loads in the 7-08 from 2000 fps to 2800 fps. I am getting about 2735 fps from it in my pistol.  Hope this helps.

[Lloyd Smale]

actually the 120 bt 7mm bullet according to nosler is construted a bit stouter then most of there ballistic tips. they did that because its a popular bullet with handgun siloutte shooters to make it a bit better at knocking down steal. Ive used it on long distance whitetails quite a few times and about allways got an exit wound even at 7mag velocitys. It holds together at 7mag levels as well as the 150 bt has for me. If a gun shoots it well i wouldnt be a bit conserned about it for whitetail.

[Thebear_78]

A buddy of mine killed a decent sized Bull moose two years ago with the 7mm-08 and 120gr Barnes TSX.   I would look really hard at the 120 TSX and TTSX for a lighter big game bullet in the 7mm-08.   I have a light weight 280 rem that I'm building for a sheep rifle, haven't decided wether to go 280 AI or not yet, but the 120gr TTSX is on the short list of bullets to try in it.

The moose was about 40 yards away. Looking at the picture, I was uphill from the moose shooting through the little clearing you see on the right. Due to it's location, the only clear shot was on the shoulder. I stood on a fallen tree to get high enough to shoot over the alders.

The moose was standing broadside to me. The first bullet passed through both shoulder blades, and clipped the spine. The bullet was found just inside the hide on the far side when we were skinning the moose in the field.

A follow-up shot was taken at 10 yards, or so, after the animal was on the ground (it dropped immediately after the first shot). I approached from behind, and shot behind the shoulder. It was a pretty steep angle. The second bullet broke a rib, traveled through the chest cavity and into the neck a good distance. The moose expired quickly. We found the second bullet in the upper part of the neck meat when we were trimming and processing it at home.

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[YRUpunting?]

OK this is impressive.  As of 12/11/12 this thread had been dead for over 8 years and it was resurrected on 12/12/12!!

[hoghunting]

As far as the recommendation for the 120 gr Hornady Single Shot Pistol bullets, good luck finding them as they went out of production about 8 years ago. That was the most accurate bullet in my 14" Contender 7-30 Waters and I wish I could find them.

[rugerfan.64]

Years ago when my daughter and son started hunting with me I consulted with Sierra about their 130 ssp bullet and 7mm-08, Paul Box and I concluded that it would work perfectly at about 2500 fps. My daughter started out with that rifle and load. She killed a bunch of deer with that set up. My son is working on finishing up those loads that I had loaded up for them. He is 19 now,lol. I told him that was the last of those bullets and when he shot all them up it'd be time for him to start in on the 140 Sierra prohunters I have loaded for him. He shot 2 deer dead in their tracks so far this season. Speer makes a 130 gr btsp and that may be an option. I used a starting load of Varget way back when. Oh yeah, my son and daughter can both ring the steel at 300 with that rifle. Good luck.

[deerandduck]

I shoot those 120 gr Sierra bullets in my 7mm-08 Tikka.  The reason... when I called the Sierra guys and asked them about a good bullet for AL whitetails (100-150 lbs), they recommended them.  I run them about 2750 + fps and have killed many whitetails with no problems.  Also very accurate.  I also use those 140 gr Sierra in my other 7mm-08 just to be different.  I have not noticed any difference.
Best of luck,
Deerandduck