James B

The 7MM-08 with 140 grain bullets has 12.6 lbs of recoil while the 308 with 150 grain bullets has 15.8 lbs so there is a noticable difference. You have to consider the 7mm-08 recoil as MILD. Great all purpose caliber the 7mm-08. Much like the 6.5x55, its gets the job done well without the Blast and Recoil.

dog1

I bought a 7mm-08, Model 7 youth model( I started buying youth models because I have two grandsons and a granddaughter that I plan on giving the guns to when they are old enough) about 4 years ago and I handload for it. I have been loading sierra 140 gr boattails, I can't remember the loads right now and it's to cold to go out to my shop to check, but I can honestly say, it is the most pleasant rifle to shoot that I have. I actually believe it's more fun to shoot than a 243 I have. As for accuracy, and I'm not as good as I once was, but it is what I would call, a tack driver. Needless to say, the caliber has made a believer out of me on deer and hogs.

dog1

herman

James I don't have the sps in 7/08 but do have the rem classic with 24 in barrel so should be about the same.This summer I played with the hornady 120 in HP and spitzer and they shot so good I tried the spitzer on a deer and at 240 yds it did well but hit farther back than I wanted because the deer waswalking pretty fastaccross a power line,it went about 75 yds before pilling up.Bullet made complete pass through but there was only some hair at the impact and no blood for the first 25 yds.If it had been standing still and I placed the bullet better I believe it would have worked well.These were loaded with [email protected] grs and both shot more than a couple groups at 300 yds less than2 inchs,with the spitzer shooting a little tighter than the HP.This load is 1.5 grs over book but still didn't get up to what book says for 45 grs.I got 3012 fps.
Have used the 139 sst and they worked well also on deer.
Worked up some loads with the barnes tsx you may want to try.
Varget-46 grs,barnes 120 tsx, Win case, wlr primer, 2.76 col, .434@ 100yds,3209 fps, 3/10/05,sunny 52 degrees

IMR4350-48grs,barnes 120 tsx, Win case, wlr primer, 2.76 col, .341 @100 yds,3012 fps, (same day)

James B

Thanks a lot for that info. The paper that came in the box of TSX bullets said that you may have to exceed the data for the 120 grain X bullet to get the velocity from the TXS. This gives me a good statring point. In the past, I have used the 120 grain Sierra Pro-Hunter bullets in the 280 for deer. I kept the velocity down to about 2850 with the Sierra bullet thinking that with its low SD, it may be a bit fragil. I did get pass through on all the mule deer that I hit with them but no hit to big bones were involved. With their constuction, I think the 120 TXS should be a very good deer bullet. Thanks again.