Thread: 7mm08 Bushpig projectile

Looking to work up a load for a mate in his 16" barrel 7mm08.

Tossing up between the 139gr SST, or 140gr Prohunter with a healthy dose of H335 underneath. Rifle shot these well prior to chop so imagine with luck they will still do so...

However wondering if a 120gr BT might be a better option to regain a bit of speed from the short barrel?

Forget fancy pants TTSX, Accubond etc, this fella is on a budget!

What are peoples favourite loads?

I'm using 120gr BT in my 18" 7/08. They are doing about 3000fps with H335. Only shot one deer at 220yds, heart shot complete penetration and a couple of goats.
The 120BT is a harder projectile than the 140gr BT, because they cut the 140gr cup shorter to make the 120gr, hence the jacket walls are thicker at the nose on the 120gr.

The 139gr SST still has stellar performance even from short barrels like a mates 15" 7mm08. The 139gr SST or 140gr Ballistic tip are my recommendation.

I am using Speer Hot cor 130 grain Spitzer soft Point with 45.0 grain CFE 223 (~2800fps) in a 16' 7/08 Tikka 595.
Furthest shot was 320 yards at a big billy goat and it dropped it well.

what @stug said, or any cup&core like .... 140gn Sierra PH, 139gn Interloks, 130gn Speer hotcore, all cheap as and great for bush loads

Speer also make a 7mm Hot-Cor 160gr. I use those for sub-sonic loads. Nothing wrong with a heavy, chunky bullet for bush-hobbiting.

ebf my good man youve hit the nail fair square on the head......big fat flat or round nose with heaps of exposed lead...bush hobbit ranges 0-75 yards perfect hard hitting load.... find another splitzer then sight in the lighter load 3" high at hundy,hopefully your fatty will be close to smack on at hundy... job done.

Cheers chaps, looks like we're on the right track. Have some sst and PH on hand so might give them a go as see how they go.

Speer 160gr Hot-Cor (1635) next to 162gr ELD-M for comparison

that speer looks good,bet your arse it will be soft enough to expand properly too. Speer make great projectiles.

First thought, for a bushpig <200m, is there a clear advantage from having aerodynamic bullets - spitzers or boat tails - compared to the advantage of a round nosed, exposed lead bullet?

ummmmm NO sub 200 mtrs just about anyshape will get projectile onto target....so a supersleak high BC BLAH DE BLAH jobbie wont shoot the deer any deader than dead. if you can make that projectile connect where it will do most good then the terminal preformance aspect is MORE important...
look at the 180grn-200 grn round nose projectiles that the dirty06 and the 303brit were origonally loaded with...nobody can deny they were VERY good at killing things.

the 180grn round nose hornadies I use in .308 winchester are impressive,as are the 170grn speers in the .270 winchester. they just hit hard.....that said the winchester 180grn power point factory loads in .308 ARENT round or flat nosed BUT they do have good exposed lead and are VERY soft.

@ebf what is performance of the 160 speers as a sub load? Does it expand at all, or are just doing doing head or neck shots?

@stug, only just started playing with them, so no results yet.

i did have a chat to a guy at the local NZDA range, he uses 162 Amax seated back to front. apparently those do expand at sub velocities ...

I have used some of shooternz 130gr lead hollow point sub loads. They are accurate but didn't kill as well as I had hoped. Only 2 goats though.
I also made my own from cutting down 140gr Hornady soft points. I only shot a couple of possums with those.