Any suggestions for a specific bullet for this caliber. Will be hunting plains game and plan on loading my own. Thanks, smoker1

140 Swift, 150 Partition or 145 Grand Slam would do the job.

M

Where ya huntin?

The reason I ask is that if you are hunting brushy country or over waterholes from a blind, then your shots will not be long enough for trajectory to make much diffence. In that case, go for a 150 or even 160 grain bullet of any dependable brand or type. Nosler Partitions are a good bet because they provide rapid expansion even at relatively low velocities with the nose section, but there are plenty of other good bullets. But don't use a bullet that is "super tough" because you may not get adequate expansion at 7-08 velocities.

If you are hunting in open country like the S.A. Cape, southern Namibia, or the Kalahari, then you want to be able to hit your target at 200+ yards without having to elevate your gun like a mortar. In this case, I would suggest dropping back to a 140 grainer. Something like the Hornady, Nosler, or other bonded, plastic-tipped bullets will provide you with adequate penetration and a sufficiently flat trajectory to make hitting your mark fairly uncomplicated. These slick bullets will also retain more down-range energy than a blunter bullet. Good downrange energy is important with something like the 7-08 which is adequate, but a bit on the light side to begin with.

Whatever bullet you use, accuracy is more important than theoretical terminal performance. If you can't hit your trophy, then it is totally academic how the bullet would have performed if you had. So try several bullets that should work in terms of terminal performance, then pick the one that shoots most accurately in your gun.

I personally am a fan of the barnes triple shocks. If it were me, I would use a 140 grain triple shock.

Ditto on the 140gr Barnes Triple Shocks. I've been using them in my 7mm-08 for three years. They shoot incredibly well, and terminal performance has been excellent.

I would suggest a heavy Triple Shock probably the 160gr. That should work for anything up to zebra and eland if you are careful on shot placement.

160 gr triple shock, shot all of my plains game in the Save with it, including zebra. Worked like a champ.

If you are hunting anything bigger than whitetails size critters (like impala) I'd leave the thing at home. When you have to pay big trophy fees, especially for stuff like sable and such, I'd prefer to blow them away.

IF hunting the bigger stuff, a 375 H&H kills them and the little stuff too.

my wife used 120 grain triple shocks to take a gemsbok and a blue wildebeast, each 1 shot kills.

My wife also used triple shocks. 140 grain. She killed a kudu, warthog and a klipspringer. All one shot kills.

quote:

If you are hunting anything bigger than whitetails size critters (like impala) I'd leave the thing at home. When you have to pay big trophy fees, especially for stuff like sable and such, I'd prefer to blow them away.

Sounding like your outgunned here Will. That being said, my 375H&H was the smallest thing I took the next year and I shot everything including my plains game with it. However, I understand (from first hand experience) the bigger rifles are cost prohibitive and the $194 7mm-08 I already had the first year worked beautifully on all of the plains game. I would definetely suggest the biggest, best bullet you can get, and make sure you can shoot the thing.

505 gibbs is on the money.

With correct shot placement the 7-08 will do fine. Load 160 - 175 weight premium projectiles. Whatever load shoots the most accurate in your rifle. Then practise at all ranges from 50, 100 and 150 out to 200 yards to analize fall of shot.

I took a 9.3x62 to Africa on my second Safari for Kudu and Eland after taking Zebra, Gemsbok and Black Wildebeast on my first Safari with a .308/165 combo. I could have stayed with the .308/165 combo.

If you are uber familiar with your 7-08 it is the rifle to take and has similar ballistics to the 7x57 which has killed everything that walks the planet.

If your not such a good shot then you need to practise. Takeing a canon will not make up for bad markmanship if you aren't much of a shot already.

I have sold the .308 but am having a 7x57 built for my next Safari.

Live and maybe learn, dude.

Load the biggest bullets per caliber for the 7-08, 160-165 grain size in Swift, nosler partition or TSX. I agree with Will on this one, unless my 10 year old daughter was hunting she shoots a 7-08 I take nothing smaller than a 375 to Africa most critters are tougher than in North America and if for some reason the tribal area down the road is haveing problems with a buff or an ele you might be called upon to fix the problem with your PH, no problem, you have the caliber to sort it out, this happens a lot in Africa, you go for plains game then you get an oportunity for DG.

Thank you all for your input. I like Barnes TSX bullets also. The 140 grain will get the job done I'm sure. Will be going April of 2010 to the East coast cape area for a 5 animal hunt. Didn't think I could still get excited at my age but, yep I am . smoker1

In my opinion the 110gr Impala LS bullet would be hard to beat. On my last years hunt in RSA one of my buddies killed 9 animals with nine shots, using the 110gr LS loaded to 3400fps in a 7X64. No bullet was recovered as all exited.He shot Kudu,Oryx,Blue Wildebeest,2 warthog,Impala,Blessbuck,Nyala.Jakal. Another hunter shot it in a 7X57R at 3100fps, taking Zebra and Kudu without any problems.
www.impalabullets.at

My son just took 5 animals in 6 shots (Wildebeest took a finisher but he was dead on his feet) with a 7-08 loaded with nothing more than Hornady 160 grain boat tail softs. Every shot was a pass thru except one of the shots on the BWB. We used a very mild load, 40gr H380, for around 2400 fps. No shot further than 125 yards. Performed beautifully, every animal dropped within 5 yards of where it stood except the BWB which ran about 100 yards. No need to vaporize the beasts ... slower is better as you get deeper penetration and pass thru.

Thank you Russ. I thought I might use the 140 grain Partition. Have not started to develope a load yet as the rifle just arrived today.

Only women can use the 7mm-08 in Africa.

When asked if it is okay for my wife/daughter to take, the praise for it is universal. Numerous anecdotes of its killing power are extolled and the comparisons to the granddaddy, the 7X57, are made.

But if you carry the dreaded "Y" in addition to your 7-08, expect ridicule, tales of trophy fees for lost game and a two folks quoting Ruark for you to "use enough gun".

Having used a 7x57 with good bullets on all sorts of gamel, I would not hesitate to use it, the 7-08 .308 etc. on pretty much any plains game. I would draw a line at eland and possibly zebra, as almost all PH's have zebra horror stories to tell. A 140 TSX at 2800-2900 or a 160 at 2600-2700 will flatten any elk sized game in my experience.