Thread: X-ray of shot deer

Originally Posted by Average-Lad

What's my personal takeaway? As someone who eats 90% of my protein from wild game I shoot, as does my 4 year old son and partner. I'm going to transition to copper bullets. Any recommendations for 7m08?

I load Barnes 120 TTSX in 7-08 for a few Guys & they are all very happy with them

We use 110 TTSX in both our general purpose Tikka 7-08s these are doing 3400 fps & are devastating

I use Hammer projectiles, Absolutes & HHTs in a few other hunting rifles

The Hammers are more expensive than the Barnes, are way more aggressive & their terminal performance is magnificent

Generally you want light weight for caliber & plenty of velocity

Two disadvantages with the copper projectiles are cost & reduced BC, I'm more than happy with those compromises when balanced against performance on game

Originally Posted by Kiwi Greg

I load Barnes 120 TTSX in 7-08 for a few Guys & they are all very happy with them

We use 110 TTSX in both our general purpose Tikka 7-08s these are doing 3400 fps & are devastating

I use Hammer projectiles, Absolutes & HHTs in a few other hunting rifles

The Hammers are more expensive than the Barnes, are way more aggressive & their terminal performance is magnificent

Generally you want light weight for caliber & plenty of velocity

Two disadvantages with the copper projectiles are cost & reduced BC, I'm more than happy with those compromises when balanced against performance on game

The way you load them Greg they're moving and then some. The problem with copper bullets as I've seen a fair bit is when they're used in middling cartridges that are getting 2700 +/- a bit, especially in carbines 14-16". And then targeting the animal the same way as you would with a normal lead bullet. The traditional swaged type can be quite unforgiving with poor expansion. A behind the shoulder rear lung shot for example.

There's so many smart designs out there now, the innovation has been great to see. If you're worried about lead (I'm not) then all you need is a fast twist barrel chambered for long-for-calibre bullets in whatever calibre you like. Send the bullet of choice sensibly fast. Success will follow. And there's no need to argue about it unless a genuine official press statement is made about a review, be in on DOC land or all land or whatever. Happy lead & lead-free hunting.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

The way you load them Greg they're moving and then some. The problem with copper bullets as I've seen a fair bit is when they're used in middling cartridges that are getting 2700 +/- a bit, especially in carbines 14-16". And then targeting the animal the same way as you would with a normal lead bullet. The traditional swaged type can be quite unforgiving with poor expansion. A behind the shoulder rear lung shot for example.

There's so many smart designs out there now, the innovation has been great to see. If you're worried about lead (I'm not) then all you need is a fast twist barrel chambered for long-for-calibre bullets in whatever calibre you like. Send the bullet of choice sensibly fast. Success will follow. And there's no need to argue about it unless a genuine official press statement is made about a review, be in on DOC land or all land or whatever. Happy lead & lead-free hunting.

The biggest problems I see with monos are lack of velocity from short barrels and or poor powder choice & way to heavy for calibre

Generally you need a light projectile, a 7mm 110 in a Barnes generally stays at 105-110 grains so has a retained weight like or better than a 140 cup & core with much less recoil

In this country the 7mm Barnes 140 is ideal in a magnum cartridge not a 7-08, unless you are chasing Wild Bulls

The Hammers are different, they lose their nose into 2-3 grain bits of shrapnel then the base carries on to exit generally

The devastation from this performance needs to be seen to be believed

FWIW if I didn't have an icecream container literally full of loaded 110 TTSX 7-08 rounds I would only be using Hammers in our 7-08s