Does anybody shoot barnes bullets in their 7mm-08?
I am specifically thinking about loading the 140gr XBT with Hodgdon powder. Any thoughts on this?

I use 42gr of Hodgeden Varget and 139gr hornady spire pts. velocity is 2825 fps. 1.5 group size

Ohaygen,
Thanks for your reply, I am having great results with H-4831sc and H-4895 with the Nosler ballistic tip bullet. I am interested in shooting an X bullet for their greater penetration and weight tetention.

Thomas, I don't use Barnes-X but I use Fail Safes which are very similar with very good results in my 7mm-08 and .338 WM and I will probably use them for a .338-06 project I'm doing this summer. I use RL19 in the first two and my research tells me it will work very well in the .338-06. If weight retention and penetration are important to you, you can't go wrong with the Barnes-X or the Fail Safes.

I GUESS MY THOUGHT IS WHY WOULD YOU FEEL THE NEED FOR THE X-BULLET OR THE FAILSAFE WITH THE 7MM/08. WITH THE SPEED WE ARE DEALING WITH HERE, WOULD NOT ANY OF THE STANDARD CONSTRUCTION BULLETS DO AS GOOD OR MAYBE BETTER THAN THE REALLY TUFF BULLETS??

If you want a less expensive bullet that packs a
punch try the 139 SST and max load of 760in the 7-08,Have shot many deer with them in 260,7-08.30/06 and all complete pass throughs.Have aload with the 130 gr sst's in my 7wsm that I will use some this year.Less expensive,accurate,and gets the job done.

WHAT IS YOUR "GO TO" BULLET FOR ACCURACY IN THE 7MM BORE , DISREGARDING ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT PENETRATION,EXPANSION,ETC,ETC. ??

I hope you don't end up punching a little hole about the size of a pencil through him with little damage ? I love mine in a encore with 140 nosler bal. tips have not had one fail yet.

Thomas, I'd have to agree with some of the other posters about using the Barnes X or Failsafe type bullets, you'll get very little expansion if any, and they're way too expensive for shooting deer or anything short of a Cape Buffalo. I've been shooting the 150Nosler with anywhere from 39.5-41grs. of Varget, settled on 39.5 seemed to be the most accurate, getting 5 shots under 1/2" And I just got done testing RE15 with the 150MK, and settled on 39grs. getting a nice group of .426", (3 bullets in almost the same hole) 38grs. was a bit smaller group,.025" less, but I'll take a little more velocity with 39grs. If you want to use 140gr. bullets, try the 139SST or Ballistic tip with 39.6 to 40.5grs. of RE15, I thought I'd never stray from Varget, but RE15 is the cat's ass from the results I'm getting, and it measures excellent through a powder measure, the bullets I mentioned, (even the MK) will do a perfect job on deer sized game. Jay

Jim, To answer your question, the 150MK or 150BT, no doubt. Jay

I agree with Jay Gorski on RL 15. I have found this powder works well in the 308 size cases as well as the x 57 and x 55 Mauser case as well.

A close second is IMR 4064 or IMR 4895.

For lite loads, with light bullets, RL 7 does a fine job, If you can locate any load data on it.

Second choice is 4198.

seafire, I see 42grs. RE15 is the accuracy load for 168MK for the 308 in Sierras manual, just so happens I've got some for my 308, and 39.6grs. for their 140gr in the 708, how convenient, I did want to try out my 139SSTs sometime, geez, good thing I bought another pound yesterday. Jay

My reason for going with the barnes bullet is because I will be hunting deer, sheep and elk with this rifle. In the area that I hunt it is common to run into all three of these animals over the course of the day. My experiances with the 150gr x bullet in the 7mm-08 are quite pleasing. I killed two whitetails with them last fall. the first deer died on the spot, the second bolted perhaps 20 meters before crashing.
The first deer was hit at a little over 250m, the entrance wound low behind the shoulder was nothing more then a pin prick, the exit was not more then an 2.5 cm in diameter.
The second deer was hit at about 25m, the bullet entered high in the shoulder, and exited at the joint (elbow?) the shot was made from a tree stand, and when I opened the buck, I found the heart lying completely severed in the chest. Again the entrance was bullet diamerer with the exit being quite small as well.
This performance pleases me a great deal, as I would much rather have a bullet expand less and penetrate more, causing less damaged meat. In all reality even if these bullets fail to expand, a 7mm hole in the heart will still lead to a quick humane kill.
I have yet to shoot the 140 XBT's over the chronograph, but 43gr of varget is showing great promise, turning in groups in the half inch range. With any luck I can get this bullet flying at 2900-3000 fps, which will be great for my intended purposes.


thanks for your ideas,
thomas

Hi Thomas. My experience loading the 7mm 08 with 140gr bullets has been that Win 760--H414 & H380 have been unbeatable when taking in to account vel & accuracy. I believe the 7mm 08 can do anything the 270Win can do. I can achieve 2900ft/sec with 140gr bullets in my 24" barrel BBR.

Thomas, please post your velocities when you get them. I have been trying to work up a load using the 120 XBT in my 7-08. Velocity and accuracy are lousy! I have a notion bad things are happening in the throat. I am thinking a bullet with a longer bearing surface may help. If you are getting good velocities with the 140 I may try that next.

i tried 42 gr varget & 140 partition, shoots under 1" 5 shots @ 100 yards. have not killed a deer with 7-08 yet, but i will this year, it is going to replace my 7mmrem mag. the partition will open up very easy & keep penetrating, i like good blood trail if they run. this load is below max but shoots real well from model 7 rem w/ 20" bbl that was worked on by hill country rifles. does not kick as much as 7 rem mag & is much lighter then sako 270

I blooded my 7-08 for the first time Saturday. I used the 120 XBT on a small buck deer. Muzzle velocity is about 2800 fps and the range was perhaps a bit short of 100 yds. The killing shot hit just below the spine. There was no evidence of an entrance hole but there was a good 2" diameter exit hole. The bullet clipped the backstrap on the way in(I was shooting down at him) and exited between the ribs. He hit the dirt with satisfying speed. I boned him out in the dark so I don't know exactly what damage was done. I was just trying to get done boning before I lost all light and was not interested in a thorough post mortem. There were no broken ribs but the bullet probably clipped the bottom of the spine as I felt bone chips around the wound. There is very little meat damage with X-bullets which is nice if you like to eat what you kill.

I have killed a pile of deer with X-bullets mostly with a .264 WM and the 120 X at ranges from 100 yds. to 400 yds. My wife has killed 5 deer with a 6mm Rem and the 90 gr. X. This nonsense about them not expanding is nonsense. They don't create a large blood shot area full of lead particles but they kill with satisfying certainty. I hit a buck at 400 yds. with the .264 WM and the 120 X through the chest between the ribs and he ran about 30 yds. before he piled up. The bullet should have been traveling about 2400 fps at that range. It clearly expanded even though it hit nothing solid.

Never had much luck with the 140 gr X bullets in my 7-08. tried a lot of different loads, nada. Once I switched to 139 gr Hornadies, accuracy picked up. FWIW - Dan

48.0gr of H4350 and a Hornady 139 gr SST get me about 2800 fps and 3/4" groups. I have stopped looking for loads for my 7mm-08! This does what I need. I have killed a doe at 25yds and a pronghorn at 302yds. Both were one shot kills and the animal dropped when hit.

42 grains of IMR4064 and the Hornady 139 BTSP works extremely well in my REM Model 7 7mm/08. On my better days it's capable of .75" groups @ 100yds, on my average days groups will run around 1.25" @ 100yds. This rifle/load combination has taken several Kentucky whitetails...

I have loaded for a few 7-08's and found good loads with many powderes but if I had to choose one it would be Hodgdon or IMR 4895, H-414 or Re-15 in that order. O.K thats three and would be four if all the good loads I have found with 4350 weren't compressed.