I am currently using Speer 130gr spitzer boat tails in 7-08 (44.5gr N150 = 2830fps),0.75" groups. Only problem is meat damage to roe and fallow when chest shooting, any recommendations for anything else to try. The damage is not excessive just annoying at times, any recommendations?

Try Hornady 140gr BTSP (interlocks). Work well for me in my .270.

Regards

I use the 150 Norma Oryx in mine

Aleko

I neck shoot my Falllow when meat hunting What about a heavier bullet 160gr partition may not expand as much and do less damage.139 hornady is a good Fallow and Red deer bullet but does a put a pretty big hole in Fallow as they are such a small animal.

I am not sure if you can get them there, but I would recommend trying the Nosler Accubond.

It is a bonded bullet that has the same shape and form as the Ballistic Tip.

I have seen a couple of wild hogs shot with the 110 grain version in a .257 Wby Mag and with the 140 grain version in a 7-08. Bullet performance was great, complete pass throughs, devastation to the vitals, and no excessive meat damage.

Having said that, I would imagine a 140 grain Sierra Pro Hunter would be a good bullet for you in your 7-08 on those smaller game animals.

My dad shoots them in a 7 WSM and has killed quite a batch of wild hogs with them. They have only failed to completely penetrate a couple of really large boars, no particular excess meat damage. (And this in a rifle with a muzzle velocity of about 3150 fps.)

The Speer is a good little bullet, but pretty light contructed. If you want to stay with the Speer bullets try their 130 grain Hot-Core version that is a flat base. It has a tougher construction than their boat tail bullets.

R F

Thanks for the responses, put same topic in medium rifles calibre forum, theres plenty to see on that. In the end it came down to what the shop had, went with sierra 150gr game king, anybody use them?

Getting a bit of deer movement at last light so should be able to test them soon!!

Thanks for all the replies!

Nightwalk,

Not the same caliber but had the same issue when using 140 grain Ballistic Tips in my 7x57R which ought to offer pretty similar performance to your 7mm-08 with the 130 grain Speers on the same game animals, Roe & Fallow. If the Nosler BT's got through the ribcage and out the opposite side without any undue resistance all was Hoyle but if the angle of the dangle caught any of the shoulder/elbow on either side it was a terrible mess.

I thought the short barrel (20") K-95 would off-set (velocity) with the pretty frangible Nosler BT's. Well, it didn't work that way - still got lots of meat damage on all kinds of angled & broadside chest shots.

I bumped up a notch to the Hornady 154 grain Round Nose and the extensive meat damage issue ceased. Not as sexy as the streamlined plastic tipped High-Spec stuff but I don't shoot at these small game animals at much over 200 meters anyway, most alot closer; so the Round Nose losses little in the grand scheme of things. The Hornady's do give me very solid bullet performance on these game animals with reasonable velocity and sterling accuracy.

I've got some Barnes 120 grain TSX's that I'd like to try on Roe & Fallow but not having any expereince with this bullet have been hesitant to use them. Other Barnes users have implied that TSX's give their best performance at maximum velocity, which I will definately NOT get with the 7x57R and the 20" inch tube. So for the moment I'm in a holding pattern although the accuracy with this bullet and my load is absolutely outstanding.

I use 156 grains Norma Oryx in my 7-08. They group well and produce good speed with VV 160 but I have not yet had the opportunity to try them on any game...

Regards,
Martin