7mm-08 and Barnes TSX/TTSX projectiles

If the hunting requirement for the 7mm-8 was moved from deer to moose and sticking to shots of 200/250 yards maximum with factory ammunition would you advocate for a 140g cup and core bullet like the SST, a Federal loaded Nosler Partition or a Bonded bullet like the Fed Trophy Bonded or Remington Accutip?

Thanks

Out of those four, for moose, Partition. Then your bonded bullets.
 
If I was buying a factory load for moose for my 7.08 there would be two (somewhat expensive, but it's for hunting, not plinking) options that I would choose.

Federal Vital Shock loaded with 140 grain Nosler Partitions would be right up there.

If I figured I would be stretching my shot beyond 200 yards (not likely but) then I would be looking at Nosler's own Trophy Grade loaded with 140 grain Accubond's.

Most of the other "non-mono" factory loads out there are designed for deer or other thinner skinned game.

Moose are not super hard to kill but are a little tougher than deer. And depending on where you are hunting them you want them to go down before they can wander into a swamp/bog - so something stout enough to put them down in short order is always "better".
 
Homogenous bullets are not required or in my opinion even recommended at the velocities that these small cartridges produce. I have had a bad experience of a TTSX pin holing at about 70 yds from a 260 Rem, so needless to say I won't be using them in any cartridges that produce less than 3200 fps at the muzzle. I hate chasing wounded animals around for hours............I load 140 gn Sierras in my 7-08 and 150 gn Nosler BTs in my 308s........of course I don't hunt with either gun so it really is irrelevant I guess.........but I would hunt with either cartridge and the loads I have assembled, with no qualms what so ever............I personally believe that the use of homogenous and super premium bullets in cartridges with a muzzle velocity in the moderate range, as these cartridges are, is a waste of money.
 
Having used a 7mm-08 in several rifles with barrels from 20" to 26", and a penchant for stiff loads, I would recommend against any monometal as the little 08 doesn't drive them hard enough unless your intended target is within 15'. Like a chronograph.

Cup and core bullets are where the little 7mm-08 shine. Even though I am a hardcore advocate of the Partition and Accubond, for this little sweetheart I loaded 130 grain Speer soft points for deer and they worked great.

I would use a lead core, be it bonded, a locked core, or standard cup and core for this chambering for all hunting. It just won't push a hunting bullet to the 3,000+ at the target to expand reliably with a monometal.

Homogenous bullets are not required or in my opinion even recommended at the velocities that these small cartridges produce. I have had a bad experience of a TTSX pin holing at about 70 yds from a 260 Rem, so needless to say I won't be using them in any cartridges that produce less than 3200 fps at the muzzle. I hate chasing wounded animals around for hours............I load 140 gn Sierras in my 7-08 and 150 gn Nosler BTs in my 308s........of course I don't hunt with either gun so it really is irrelevant I guess.........but I would hunt with either cartridge and the loads I have assembled, with no qualms what so ever............I personally believe that the use of homogenous and super premium bullets in cartridges with a muzzle velocity in the moderate range, as these cartridges are, is a waste of money.


Yup.
 
Swift Scirocco 150gr make for a nice 7mm bullet!

I to had a couple TTSX fail to expand, one in 280, and another in 30-06 under 100yds..
 
Just make sure you can put it in the right spot.

I (somewhat) screwed up on my buck this year. I shot him at 15 yds with a 139gr GMX out on my 7mm rem mag and I hit him in the shoulder on the front side and it never exited. No blood trail, but he ran 50yds and piled up where I could see him. Lucky he didn't hit the bush.
 
The 120 grain Barnes TTSX has a Ballistic Coefficient of .373
Their loading charts suggest a number of loads that exceed 3000 fps.
Using the Sierra Suite I6, you should be able to keep your velocity above 2000 fps to 450 yards.
Using 2200 fps for a measure of safety would be roughly 400 yards.
 
Sure - make me famous :)

Of course just my opinion and I'm just a crusty old &)%$ that is resistant to change.
 
plain old C&C bullets work great in a 7-08, I tried 140 tsx's and didn't see any advantage with them.
 
I've talked to a number of hunters over the last year or two who have made the switch to mono bullets like TSX and a few of them not only made the switch to them because they could use a lighter grain bullet because of greater weight retention (up to 99%) and of course the additional velocity that comes with reloading using lighter grained bullets but also because there will not be the undesired affects of lead that may contaminate part of the meat of animals you shoot.

I had never thought of that before and this was of interest to me. Have I ever never eaten larger game that wasn't shot with lead in the pills? No,,,,, and I'm been eating wild game for decades and decades from the animals that I and others have shot but I'm also a guy who tries to eat clean. I've actually gone to the trouble of having all my lead fillings removed over the last decade because blood tests showed a fairly high degree of heavy metals that were built up in my system. Hard to say if it was enough to cause a serious health issue but I'd like to hunt for a few decades more so i figured it sure couldn't hurt to have them removed. LOL

Can't honestly say where the trace amounts of lead came from in my system,,,,biting split shot on my fishing line for decade after decade? The wild game? Who knows?

Maybe it's just PLAIN silly but it has given me something to ponder. Research that I've looked at has shown that lead in your system is not good for you at all and it can be passed on from the foods we digest. Just something to think about~
 
I have actually found this attitude to be an obstacle as I recently started reloading..... I have been hunting with cup and cores for 24 years and have had great success..... I have lost minimal game and entrances / exits have been good..... I am all for upgrading and using the best, but it is very hard for me to know what "the best" is whn what I used works and there are so many conflicting reports.....

So far, I like accubonds, as I have had success at various ranges and am open to using varnegeddon type rounds on wolf and yote to save pelts as the logic and experience seems sound, but other than that I am utterly confused.....

The only rifle I have with "high velocity" potential is my .300 wm, and i am only comfortable at 300 yards at this point..... It's all I have access to practice to..... Can someone tell me why I shouldn't be using nosler partitions or regular cup and cores for everything except varmints?......
 
I had just emailed barnes about the ttsx and the reply i got was they expand down to 2000fps but 2200 is the lowest he said he would go to allow reliable expansion

In your 7mm-08:
If the velocity goes under around 2400 feet per second at impact then killing on deer will be slow with the Barnes 140 grain with too small a wound channel. It does not matter what Barnes is saying. That can mean a whitetail buck might go quite some distance with a lung shot and even a heart shot. Using them at moderate ranges (under 400 meters) in a 7mm Rem Mag works well because the velocity is needed to effect fast killing.

My grand daughter shot a big bull elk this past fall with a 7mm-08 loaded with 140 grain TSX Barnes to a max load. Distance was 35 yards facing her dead on. She shot right between the eyes dead centre and the bullet barely made it to the back of the skull after damaging the brain and killing it. No exit and the bullet was definitely not intact.
Any facing one is a tough shot, but I had read and seen about as much good news on the Barnes as most of us have read, but I would not count on these lighter ones to break bones on say a shoulder shot at an elk or moose unless you were shooting a much heavier bullet and its velocity was coming from a spicy magnum load.

Just my own opinion, plus they are over priced to boot.


I would use Speer soft point boat tails in 160 grain for everything from deer to elk, and have done so with zero problems. For moose I would switch to 160 grain Speer Hot Cor bullets for the added penetration those offer.
 
A few years ago my very good friend decided to start hunting. Lots of people told him he needed a 300WM with 180gr bullets to hunt in BC. I told him to get a 7-08 and stick a Barnes bullet and go kill deer elk and moose. He's done all now with a 7-08 and 145gr Lrx

Here's his Island Elk hunt he did last fall. Bullet went through the elk and stopped on the offside hide, just poking out. Bullet was picture perfect magazine ad looking. Shot was 175yards IIRC.

http://youtu.be/1tOXSeY_Drw

 
I have actually found this attitude to be an obstacle as I recently started reloading..... I have been hunting with cup and cores for 24 years and have had great success..... I have lost minimal game and entrances / exits have been good..... I am all for upgrading and using the best, but it is very hard for me to know what "the best" is whn what I used works and there are so many conflicting reports.....

So far, I like accubonds, as I have had success at various ranges and am open to using varnegeddon type rounds on wolf and yote to save pelts as the logic and experience seems sound, but other than that I am utterly confused.....

If you believe the glossy ads then you MUST believe that not a single game animal was successfully harvested before the advent of mono or bonded bullets.

As you note, and most of us who have been hunting since the time when a Pointed Soft Point "was a premium round" also know, if you do your part pretty much any "valid" hunting bullet will do it's job on any game that you might choose to shoot at.

I do agree that some of the higher BC, boat tailed bonded bullets allow you to "stretch your shot" to ranges that would have been "beyond ethical shooting" say 30 years back, but the Mfg's have done a good job of convincing "everyone" that you NEED such a bullet for the 50 yard shot on a White Tail.

I know that an 80 grain soft point from my 243 will take down Bambi at the typical range I hunt, yet I still shoot an SST or Ballistic Tip "because I have been convinced they are better" and I am "more confident" when shooting them - and that is a great part of the equation.

I think most of us on this board are the kind that either push the envelope or walk on the leading edge types. We sell ammo at work and I can tell you that the "overwhelming majority" of white tail hunters don't know or care anything about SST's, Mono's, Partitions, Bonded boat tailed bullets et al.

Their "criteria" is best described as: approach the ammunition cabinets, scan the price tags, find the lowest price in the caliber they want - buy that - go out with the boys and pop a deer.

Then there is the more "selective crowd". They come and want a box of 180 grain CoreLokt for their 308 because Dad shot them, Grand-dad shot them and everybody they hunt with "shoots them". And if we don't have them in stock, unless it's the night before the opener they will walk out and try to find those somewhere else.

The premium bullet market (in the pre-rolled stuff) is somewhat less than 10% of the market, at least in my piece of the country.

And you know, I have never had anyone come in and say - hey, those (blue/green box) things don't work worth a crap - five of us lost deer that we shot last season, give me something better.

Now it might sound like I dislike or don't use premiums - not the case - I could be the poster boy for Swift Bullets. Even though I "know" I don't need to shoot "that premium" the way I hunt, I also know that while I might have many doubts or worries when I get to the second stage of my trigger, "trust in the bullet" is not one of those worries - and for that piece of mind the price of shooting them is well worth it "for me".
 
Unless the topic is bullet shrapnel in meat, I don't even know why people bring average deer hunting situations into a discussion about premium bullets. We all know most bullets will kill broadside deer

Some of us hunt multiple species with a single load, and if that is the case you could do far worse than picking a TTSX.

And there is absolutely nothing wrong with choosing a premium for deer hunting, either. They can offer you more shot opportunities and less bloodshot/ shrapnel.
 
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