Decisions, decisions.
 

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Loading up some new rounds for my sons 7-08 (X-bolt Hunter). He used the 120 BTs on his last deer and there was an extensive amount of meat damage, although the deer dropped where it stood. Those loads were with 38.5 grains of H4895 and they were quite accurate. He will be hunting whitetail and partnering on a cow moose tag as well.

I'm leaning towards the 140 PTs for deer and 150s for the moose. Burn up the 115s and 120s for coyotes. Thoughts?

SS


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Any of the three on the right! With the 140 partition being as close to perfect as you could get.

Meat damage is caused by high velocity causing fragmenting to your quick expanding bullet choice. Your three options are to increase bullet construction, going to a heavier bullet which will have better penetration and will be going slower so will be less explody, or you can lower the load to reduce the muzzle velocity. I would suggest the first two choices, as shooting less power is the least effective outcome.

For bullet construction you could try going to an Accubond if you want to match the loading characteristics of the ballistic tip you had, or similar Bonded bullet, or copper bullets.

140 Accubond would be my choice.

the work's already been done; run the 120 btips and place your shots a little better, they will take down what ever you point them at.

He did a good shot (high shoulder) and the deer did drop right there, however the entire front shoulder was bloodshot. It may have been better if he double lunged it I suppose. That said, I have zero confidence in a 120 BT being the best choice for a cow moose.

Stick a 140 Partition in the lungs and get out the skinning knives!:)
Cat

I was using reduced loads with the 120s as he was just getting started with big game hunting and he was a youth. I read that the 120 BTs did well on deer and I thought I would load them lighter and still keep a relatively flat trajectory. In retrospect, they probably weren't ideal for the situation at hand.

I haven't used the Accubonds in the past, but would consider them for the future. I was really hoping to use up what I have in stock already though...

SS

Partition
 

Use the partitions, forget about the Ballistic Tips for the big stuff.

Partitions. No doubt about it.

140 Partitions

Keep things simple 140gr Partition for all big game.

for the sext shot tell him to keep it out of the meat. otherwise it sounds like it worked perfectly


but i guess if you're really bored i've had good luck with partitions

A high shoulder shot will usually cause the bloodshot meat with virtually any bullet you use but one through both lungs will cause minimal meat damage and result in a dead animal. While the 120 BT may not be the best choice for a cow moose I have killed one with that bullet starting out at about3100 fps and taking out both lungs at about 200 yards. My choice was the 145 Speer SPBT with H 4350 as it is a perfect fit for the 7mm08.

This, like it was made for this calibre. 140gr partitions that is.

Partitions for moose, not really needed for the deer but will kill them just fine.

Shot a few truck loads of them with 125 gr partitions from a couple of 260's and a swede.

The 140gr Partitions for all around use would be my choice as well...pretty hard to beat

Newby question. Would you go 130 or 150 grain partition in a 270win?

270
 

130

Out of that pile I'd load the 140 Partitions and never look back.

150

Load them both up and see which shoots tighter groups. I have found some guns really are finicky on bullet selection.

I shoot 130 if they shoot well in the rifle. If I want a heavier bullet , I step up in caliber

nothing wrong with the 150 .. especially if in bear country

I was going to shoot the fast 150gr'ers out of my 30/06, but looking back at the few critters I was lucky to harvest with the heavier, slower 180 gr'ers made me go back to them.

Sure the lighter bullets travel faster, expand good and have less drop, lots of advantages with them.

Yes the heavy weigths are slower, lots of drop, but they offer that punch with in there limits.

Same can be said for all calibers.

New & Old school clash at times as we all ponder what we choose to do.

Does the old saying stand out,,, "No replacement for displacement." Or do we go with the new saying,,, "Fast as azz since speed rules."

Internal ballistics vers Exterior ballistics and now we're not going to sleep tonight. LOL.

What ever trajectory you choose will get it done my friend.

Old school came to me years ago, so change isn't going to happen.

I shoot heavy arrows, so the bullets follow this same idea. At least for me.

A bit of over harvest is a good thing, it allows for some lee-way, Hyper Shock, and a fraction more of Wack.
Who doesn't like to hear that sound when we get it right.

The far off distant Wack puts a smile on most folks face.
The best hit is the one that is accurate out of the Firearm,,, that's what really counts.

Happy Harvesting

Don

Hard to argue with this. In my opinion load him up with one bullet, 140gr NP, and practice with this.

the bull and cow moose in we are finishing cutting tomorrow would beg to differ, both with zero meat damage since we don't eat lungs, but what ever floats your boat.

I have shot moose with muzzle loaders any of those bullets is going to pack more of a punch and the muzzle loaders worked fine.

120g bt is a suberb bullet in the 7-08 dont overthink it shoulder shots will wreck meat no matter what magic pill you choose. Nothing wrong with your other options fine choices as well but for me if i ran out of 120bt id go for 140bt's

I don't mean to highjack the thread however I recently purchased a 7mm-08 and I was looking for 140Gr partitions at cabelas for loading. I had a few service awards at work and pick up a couple hundred in gift cards for cabelas with them. However I couldn't find them in store and settled with 140Gr accubonds. I checked online when I got home and the website says they are no longer available.

Any idea where to pick some up?

Will probably blow the rest of the gift cards on 140 Gr accubonds and pick up 140gr partitions elsewhere because the one load I worked up seemed so darn accurate!

You can overthink bullet selection all you want but bullet placement trumps them all. It's often all about luck.