I have the chance to pick up a 7mm 08 Attache' arrel for my R93. It was my hope to use this as my standard stalking rifle for the next while. My primary use for this would be the occasional red, and heavy use on Sika and Fallow. I have ooked at the ballistics and like the 154 to 160 rs bullets. Any thoughts or guidance on this calibre and it's suitibility for stalkiing would be greatly appreciated

Aleko

7MM08 is the number one selling caliber here in New Zealand and the main deer that most people hunt here are Red,Fallow and Sika.

I don't see any need to use 154-160 grains,140 is good weight for the 7mm08 and those three species of deer.

I don't own a 7mm08 but do load 139 Hornady Interlocks and SST in 7mm08 for 2 mates that hunt mainly Red and Fallow deer.

I was looking at the Hornadat SST in 139 grs an option too. What attracted me was the fact that bioth RN and spire points were avalible in the 154 grs catagories. What ranges were these animals shot at?

Aleko

Most shots would be about 100 yards,odd shot out to 300 yards.

139 are doing 2860fps 47gr of AR2209 which is not max.

The 7mm08 is simply a modern reincarnation of the 7x57mm and that is one of the finest deer stalking rounds going...Its also pretty damn similar to the .270win and that has no fly's on it as a deer cartridge either...

I too would look at the 140grain class of bullets or possibly the 154grains if I were going for big Red stags...

The 7mm08 is my go to rifle for deer and performs perfectly. I load the Barnes 140 and 120 TSXs. I got 6 deer last year with the 140s and this season I will use the 120s.

Aleko,
Another vote of confidence in the 7-08. In my experience 139 sst's are too soft for red stag. I have seen at least 3 blow ups that I can remember with that bullet. One didn't get through the brisket on a frontal shot. 120 grain tsx's will penetrate from the side through shoulder and end up under the skin on off side most of the time. First time I shot a stag with these I shot him 3 times in the shoulder before he fell and all 3 bullets were recovered (very pretty) under skin on off side. 140 tsx's work great and give the kind of penetration I want and I think you are spot on with your idea of using the 154 to 160's.

John

I ordered some ammunition from various makers in the weight of 140 grs. These include Accubonds, Partions, Solid Base, and BT's. I also ordered components to hanload 139 SST's. Again I feel that the 154's to 160's would be the best still, but we all have to start somewhere

Aleko

How would anybody rate the 150 gr GameKing in 7mm-08 compared to the 139 gr SST?

I am still looking for a bullet that kills but meat bruising/damage around shot sight is kept to a minimum. With the monometal bullets do the deer tend to run more when shot in the heart/lung area, I too have shot a red stag 3 times in heart with a .270 heavy bullet, each shot hardly registered a hit until the animal went down (park deer - bullets were to be used by someone else on a boar hunt in Poland I think, sorry forget which brand, they just wanted me to trial them)

quote:

Originally posted by nightwalker uk:
How would anybody rate the 150 gr GameKing in 7mm-08 compared to the 139 gr SST?

I am still looking for a bullet that kills but meat bruising/damage around shot sight is kept to a minimum. With the monometal bullets do the deer tend to run more when shot in the heart/lung area, I too have shot a red stag 3 times in heart with a .270 heavy bullet, each shot hardly registered a hit until the animal went down (park deer - bullets were to be used by someone else on a boar hunt in Poland I think, sorry forget which brand, they just wanted me to trial them)

I used the Sierra 160 HPBT Gameking for many years and never shot a deer twice. The may run a little on lung shots but they cna't go far. There is a good bit of blood shot meat since the Sierras separated quite often. I like the Barnes TSX now since it stays together and kills much cleaner. Lung shots will get some runners but again they don't go far. A high shoulder shot will knock out the nervous system if you want them to drop fast.

After much debating, I order a .308 Attache' barrel and returned the 7mm 08. The limited factory ammo was a concern to me, plus in my clean out as you can see on the classifieds I found 100 boxes of 180 grs Federal Premium. While the 7mm 08 is fantastic 100 boxes of Federal Premium count for something!

Aleko