Best bullets for 7mm-08 hunting African plains game?

[Capebuffalo]

Cape Buffalo,
On the great cats… I’ve had the greatest success with Nosler Partitions.View attachment 533281
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Nosler used to load a 250Gr Partition factory load for the .338 Winchester Magnum. Absolutely magnificent. Unfortunately, new Nosler products seem to be in extremely short supply all over the world since the past one year.

Among currently manufactured/available factory loaded ammunition for lion & leopard, I really like these in a .375 Holland & Holland Magnum.

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Nice old fashioned unbonded lead cored design. For lion & leopard, this is actually a good thing.

https://www.hornady.com/bullets/rifle/338-cal-338-250-gr-interlock-rn#!/

I’m assuming that this is the 250Gr .338 caliber Hornady Interlock bullet which you’re referring to. It will be absolutely devastating for lion & leopard (where legal, of course). A close friend recently hunted a 500LB male lion In Mozambique with a .338 Winchester Magnum Model 70 Super Grade and hand loaded 250Gr Hornady round nosed Interlocks. One broadside heart-lung shot folded the lion and the game went less than 30 yards before dropping.

Up until 1980, Winchester used to offer a 300Gr Power-Point factory load for the .338 Winchester Magnum. It was a favorite cartridge of King Mahendra of Nepal, who favored this load in his .338 Winchester Magnum Mannlicher Schounauer for hunting Royal Bengal tigers in the Terrai.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[Houston Bill]

Houston Bill,
Do you have the synthetic or laminated stock? Do you have the 24" barrel? How is the recoil on those Tikka's? The laminated ones in 338 WM look really nice, I was just wondering about the recoil since it is on the light side.....

Hi @Capebuffalo, I have the synthetic stock T3. Yes the barrel is 24.3". I have several Tikka T3's from .243 Win up to .338 WinMag. I had muzzle breaks put on the 338 and the 300 WSM. The breaks really help at the range when I practice or do load development. I don't notice any help when I am hunting because I don't really feel the recoil hunting anyway. I find that for the money the Tikka's are about the best value in a hunting rifle. My experience has been they are very accurate (always better then 1 MOA and sometimes better than 1/2 MOA) with a very smooth action and I like the fact they are a bit on the light side so they are not too bad to carry on the mountain hunts I have done.

 

[Capebuffalo]

Hi @Capebuffalo, I have the synthetic stock T3. Yes the barrel is 24.3". I have several Tikka T3's from .243 Win up to .338 WinMag. I had muzzle breaks put on the 338 and the 300 WSM. The breaks really help at the range when I practice or do load development. I don't notice any help when I am hunting because I don't really feel the recoil hunting anyway. I find that for the money the Tikka's are about the best value in a hunting rifle. My experience has been they are very accurate (always better then 1 MOA and sometimes better than 1/2 MOA) with a very smooth action and I like the fact they are a bit on the light side so they are not too bad to carry on the mountain hunts I have done.

Houston Bill,
I agree with you, because I figured all those good characteristics in the Tikka's as well. For sure value for your money and the laminated stock looks really nice. I am interested in buying another 338 WM to use here in NA where weather conditions can be extreme during hunting season. I was just concerned about the recoil in such a light for caliber rifle....but as you said, a muzzle brake can solve that. Also good to hear about its good accuracy....

 

[Capebuffalo]

It performs well, but I really wish that Hornady was still making the old round nosed version. The round nosed version is now only available as Federal factory ammunition. That ammunition is advertised as being capable of achieving 2390fps. But it only achieves 2317fps (I checked on a chronograph).
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Hunter-Habib,
Yeh, I was interested in some Federal ammo in the past too....until I saw their velocities...Disappointing, because they use some of the nicest bullets in their ammo...