Help me decide: which Plains Game Bullet for my 7mm-08?

[Doug Hamilton]

I would shoot both and decide from there.If eland is on the menu it would be 150 gr. Barnes for me and be very particular with shot choice.

Remember that mono bullets are longer than lead core bullets. 7-08s are short cases and most rifles with short actions have matching short magazines. Heavy for caliber mono bullets have to be seated in too deeply and and use up powder space. He would be better off with good bonded core bullets in 150 or 160 grains. I like Accubonds, but there are several good ones on the market, Swift A Frame, TBBC, etc. As Hunter Habib said, mono bullets have no business in the 7-08.

 

[Rickmt]

Barnes would be my choice.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Exactly!

All this talk on AH about heavy for caliber bullets doesn’t make sense, especially with modern bullets. It’s just physics. Here’s an easy to understand explanation:

Go outside and gather three rocks - one light in weight, one medium weight and one heavy. Pick up the light rock and throw it as far as you can. The light rock starts out fast but doesn’t go very far because it runs out of energy quickly. Next, throw the heavy rock. It starts out much slower and also doesn’t go very far because your arm can’t throw it fast enough. Next you throw the medium weight rock and you are able to throw it farther than either of the other rocks.

Every cartridge has a proper weight bullet that performs and flies the best given its powder capacity and energy. For a 7mm-08, it is the 140 grain bullet. For the 30-06 it’s the 165 grain. For 270 Win, it’s the 130 grain. For the 338WM it’s the 225 grain bullet. In my 30-06, I use the 165 grain for everything in Colorado and never need to switch loads whether I’m hunting elk, deer, pronghorn, sheep or black bear. My wife and kids shoot a 7mm-08 140 grain bullet at everything as well. Keep it simple.

Well said. It also lines up with my experience. I now shoot 140s in my 7-08 and 165s in my .30-06, though I haven't had to shoot them at anything past 200 yards or bigger than a blacktail. Things have stopped happening very fast with.both. I didn't take either of them on my last safari though. I took a .300 WM and 200 grain bullets which I could do because of the greater case capacity. The longest shot was about 300 yards and nothing needed more than one.