Just wonderin how all you Alaskans that use the 7-08 are likin it?


I have had excellent luck on deer with 140 partitions!!! The boy will be hunting elk with it again this year.

I don't hand load but there are 140gr tsx's avalible from federal. So far the partitions are flawless.

I know quite a few here like the 120 TSX! What kinda muzzle velocity's are you gettin?

For elk size game which besides the 120 tsx would you run between the partition and the TSX in 140's?

thanks everyone!

Cd

A search of the forums would do wonders on this subject. More than enough to get you nauseated.

I know just hopin to hear from the wilds of Alaska and results on Moose or Caribou with the -08.

Thinkin about a new hawkeye or Tikka in 7-08 next spring. Mostly just wanta fry those 120 TSX's. The -08 and 140's are as light as I've gone. Always ran 180's in different .30 cals. The step down to the -08 actually feels like a step up! took me years to leave a 180 gr. .30 cal bullet. the -08 with 140 partitions has been amazing to say the least!! just never kille da critter bigger than some big old bucks.

Just wondering.

A Ruger Hawkeye chambered in 7mm-08 would be a kickass setup, imo. But not in a Tikka, only because I'm bias that way and don't like them one bit!

I may have carried and hunted with a 7mm-08 (Rem Model Seven) more than any single other rifle. I've used it to take two (or was it three?) moose and more caribou than I can recall. I have used the 160 Failsafe and 140 X on moose. Caribou have been taken with 140 X and 139 Interlocked mostly, along with quite a few other bullets. It is a very useful hunting tool especially in the seasons when bears are dormant.

Hoping to test the wifes Kimber 7mm-08 on a nice dall ram in a couple of weeks. Will post a report and pics if we luck out.

I was under the impression that a larger # of the alaskan crew was running the 7-08 for big game. I was hoping more would chime in. I saw AKgirls wonderful bear she took!!! And thought maybe others would be able to help me deceide on which bullet outa the -08 on elk sized game?

Cd

Miss T runs a seven in 7-08. BW used it for his sheep hunt last fall. He thought it weighed quite a bit less than his 77R in 30-06.

I am not a fan of the Partition. I know it is a good bullet, but it falls well short of a premium in my book and I figure I can arrord to use better. Or rather, cannot afford to use less than a premium.

Xs in 120 and 140 are my standard, though I am looking at working up a TSX load to replace them...
art

Personally I like the Partitions and they have worked every time for me, never had to track a single animal. They've been used for decades up here and continue to do the job. We are using 140 NP's on our sheep hunt and I'll be using 150 grain NP's in my 270 for caribou and grizz at the end of the month.

AkMtnHtr
Partitions are too prone to remaining with the carcass... I like my bullets to leave. For stuff where tracking is not an issue it means a lot less.
art

Are you saying that even when shooting through the lungs that the bullet will not exit? I can't say that i've ever seen that happen and i've only recovered a few of them from moose that were shot through the shoulder. I want a big wound channel and lots of damage to vitals plus I don't want an animal that i've shot walking away and dying someplace where I can't recover it. I'm sure the X and TSX's are great bullets but the Partitions have always worked for me so I don't see a reason for me to switch now.

Shoot a few dozen critters with an X/TSX and you will definately see a huge difference. Damage is major and the bullet always leaves... or always has for me.

I was raised to shoot stuff through the lungs, behind the shoulder and perhaps take out the offside shoulder. When I stopped doing that in favor of a plain old double shoulder shots with Xs stuff started expiring a lot earlier and the bloody mess made by the cup and core went away... Eat right up to the hole with an X.

I have a number of recovered Partitions from sheep shot with the 30-06 and 257 Roberts. I have done it both ways and would not want to go back to Partitions...
art

I have shot a few dozen critters with the TSX/X and as much as I like em I find that I get 2 holes just as often as with Nozlers and I really don't notice any difference in how they work on the critters. Both kill just fine.

Also I find just as many TSX's as I do NPT's and that isn't very darn many.

I have noticed that a intelligently placed bullet with either has the same end result.

Take the one that shoots best in your rig and gives you the confidence you need and go forth and fill an ark.

Dober

Mark
You do not see the difference in the way the Partitions bloodshoot meat? The coagulated pockets that I always find with meat shot with cup and core bullets? I do not think the Partition is a bad bullet, but it is nothing like the X, IME&O. I firmly believe the X does a far better job of killing stuff faster and I like that.
art

Personally I never liked the X and wouldn't own one anymore and that is a debate I just won't get into but IME the X was about the biggest piece of gradu bullet ever made.

I do however love the TSX and that is about all I run these days when I am playing for keeps.

Bloodshot meat, I noticed that on rib shots the TSX ran thru and thru in a very clean manner. The NPT may of been giving a bit more jelly but I never mess with the ribs when cutting game anywho.

As for breaking bone, IME if I catch shoulder with either bullet on the smaller critters (deer/lopes) then the shoulder is yote meat pretty much irrgardless of what bullet I use. On elk I've don't loose the shoulder but goodly parts of it once again no matter which head I use.

I always am intrigued by the differing experiences of different folk. Not saying your wrong, our experiences have just differed is all.

Dober

I own a 7mm-08 but it tickles me about as much as the 270, which ain't much. I'm sure it will do all a man needs getting done.

Might shoot something with it this year, then again might not.

I guess I'm missing something here. "Damage is always major......"; "...and the bloody mess made by the cup and core went away...eat right up to the hole". If the second statement is true, how is there major damage? If the first is true, how do you avoid the bloody mess and eat right up to the hole? Just wondering as I've never shot anything with other than cup and core bullets.

Don
The damage done by Xs is different... It is difficult to explain. When a cup and core goes through there is a great deal more coagulated blood blown back between muscle masses... An X seems to cut a bigger hole with solid and squared edges and far less blodshot meat around the hole. I may be caught up in the differences, but they seem very real and dramatic to me.
art

I will second SD on the amount of coagulated blood and impact trauma. I have used the TSX Partion and a couple of bonded bullets in my 7-08 and 300 and 7 saum. Let me preface this with all of them have killed . Putting the obvious behind, I will concur that the Tsx Kills faster and cleaner than any of the other bullets I have used and I have not had one not pass through yet.I have used them on everything from deer in Sask, goats in BC, Caribou in AK and QUE, Muleys and antelope in NM and MT and will use them on my moose hunt in AK next month. I believe in them 100% to get any job done that I will come in contact with. Some guys prefer to drop down in weight in the 7-08 to get the speed up ,I prefer to shoot the 140 out of my 24 inch bbl at 2950 rather than a 120 at 3150 or 3200 JMHO.Art has a lot of experience with big brown bears and trusts it to work, I have no brown bear experience and just don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling with a 7-08 and would prefer something a little bigger agian JMO. I do however think that you can not go wrong with this caliber to do a lot of work in a lot of places , it is a pleasure to shoot and flat out kills stuff.Enjoy your time afield with your 7-08, I love mine.

How does one bullet kill "faster" than another when placed in the right spot?

Because it does more to dump blood pressure faster...

The X cuts through meat and bone and any other tissue in the way, leaving a free-bleeding wound. Cup and cores seem to bruise and stretch a lot of tissue, but it does not seem to bleed as freely... This of course is my subjective opinion after having watched it happen quite a few times...

Back to the cardiac surgeon friends I have asked questions of, they have seen amazing things with hearts damaged where people should have died, yet did not. Trauma of some kinds is simply easier for the body to deal with... but blood loss rules. An example given was a knifee with a big blade in the low pressure side of his heart, inserted from behind. Blade blocked the hole and BP was low enough that it did not leak all that much. If the tip had not hung up in the sternum and been extracted he would have died.

I realize the above is a stretch in many ways, but I honestly have seen huge differences...
art

I wholeheartedly agree with art and my results mirror his. The last 3 X bullets I found were in the steak on the dinner plate (these were length wise shots on critters). Didn't even know the bullets were there, due to no blood shot meat. The wife actually bit into one (that hurt). Cup and core of any design leave more blood shot meat. I don't really care about that, trauma is trama, but the X's do cut nice clean wound channels, for what it is worth. I like them due to the bone crunching power,staying together and exiting, regardless of shot angle. Perfect broad side shots are great for game ranches and "feeder shooting" but not for real life on public land.

I can't say anything good about partitions. I have never liked the way they perform, especially on elk. Partitions are far from a premium bullet. Me no likey them at all. Flinch

"killing faster" along with what Art stated about blood loss. I will say, It has been my experience that nearly every single animal that I have shot since using the TSX in my 7-08 an other calibers has died either DRT or within 20 YDS. My tracking skills are just fine from many years of bow hunting, but since I have started using the Barnes I don't get to use them much anymore because most things expire within sight of the POI. This has been my experience YMMV.

I sure hope to try one... TSX in a .325 WSM, on elk. "Should be sufficient!"

:-)

-jeff

160gr NP out of a 7RM at 100 yds. Broke the 600lb black bear's shoulder, lungs and exited out the rear ham:



Same load, exited on a frontal quartering shot:


140gr NP out of 7-08, same old boring performance on a front quartering shot = exit out the rear ham:



Same old 7-08 140gr NP load, broadside but hit him high and back in the ribs just under the spine and exited out the other side. He went down with his hooves pointing to the sky:


Have some more NP kills but these are the ones I have pictures of.

I better switch to the TSXs, these NPs just don't kill fast enough I guess!

MtnHtr

NIce critters!

No one ever said the NP would not work, just that an X will make less bloodshot meat, dump the BP faster and exit more reliably. All things that make a difference to me. I have some pretty nifty critters right here above me that expired via NP. I have not shot as many big critters with Xs as I have NP, even, but I still see a difference more than worth trading up for...

Besides you live in KA where they will force you into Xs within a year or two...
art

Art,

If push comes to shove I will be shooting Nosler's E Tip. Nosler should have it available in the weights I like if the kommies have their way.

MtnHtr

I shoot the TSX out of my 300 WSM, partly because the Fed premium loads are much faster than I dare handload. In my 270, I have used the 130 and 150 partition exclusively on game for the past 25 years.

In my experience, the partition damages considerably less meat than the TSX. It is not even close. And even the 130 partition exits on the elk I shoot, unless I hit the shoulder bone, or shoot diagonally through them.

Both work fine, but the hyperbole is not correct, in my experience.

kcm270
I know quite a few folks that have used both and you are the first to say damage rates are reversed. Which is fine and possible when dealing with anecdotal evidence in small quantities, especially on something difficult to quantify. My only question would be based on the size of your test group...
art

I don't really get into the X thing anymore because Xs are history and I have yet to shoot an animal with a TSX. I used to be in virtual thought lockstep with what Art is saying about the way the X bullet seemed to work though.

It does more damage faster while doing less damage, a rather contradictory statement, but with some truth to it. A second shot on a young bull moose one time hit him in the butt as he was making tracks. It busted his pelvis into chunks of bone the size of charcoal briquets. The crazy thing was I threw away no meat. All I had to do was cut out the big chunks and rinse off the small bone bits - which were few. There was zero jellied blood or bruising of the meat. And that seemed typical of what I saw on nearly all the several dozen animals I killed with plain old Xs.

I see a lot of pictures of animals shot with the TSX which look pretty horrible and not anything like what I used to see with the X bullet. If that's normal, it's not a direction I want to go.