7mm-08 multi role?

[mrnyman]

I have deecided to look into getting a Remington model 7 in 7mm-08, i were wondering if i could make this a Multi role gun, i.e. 140 grain loads for Deer etc.

and 90-100 grain loads for varmint, Coyote etc.
Now the question is - how low can you go with the 7mm-08 ? how light of Bullets can you use in it, ?

Thjanks , Nyman

[sleeper78]

I think the lowest you can go is a 90grn bullet made by Sierra, maybe it's a 100 (I don't have my manual handy)
As for dual purpose that is fine. I shoot 165grn bullets out of my 30-06 for deer and 110grn for varmints. Since the 7mm-08 is just a .308 necked down to .284 you can do the same thing. Depending on how far you'd want to shoot at varmints you might now even have to re-sight your rifle in the summer. My 110s shot close enough to the 165s that I didn't bother changing the scope. At close ranges it shot where I aimed and at long range if I missed I'd walk them in provided they allowed me enough time to do so.
Or you can use the same load for varmints as you do for deer so you stay practiced up. This could be cost ineffective however if you plan on using premium bullets.

[mrnyman]

Thanks for this educated reply sleeper, i didnt thought of that -

using 

the Varmint rounds for deer too , after all .the .243 uses 90-100 grn rounds and its a deer rifle.

Nyman

[sleeper78]

I wouldn't use the varmint rounds for deer. The 90-100grn bullets in .243 are designed for deer. They use a thicker jacket so they expand and penetrate.
The 90-125grn 7mm bullets use very thin jackets for explosive expansion and little penetration. If used on big game they would just make big shallow messy wounds and not be reliable killers.
The difference between the two is that the .243 bullets are heavy for caliber. Most .243 bullets for varmints are in the 55-80grn range.
In a 7mm the 90-125 bullets are light for caliber. The 139-175 grain bullets are the ones designed for large and heavy game.
Remember this. As a general rule and only a general rule, the heavier for caliber the bullet is the bigger the game it is designed for. This of course doesn't apply to target bullets which are generally heavy for caliber to make use of their high BC.

[mrnyman]

That makes sense , the thin jacketed varmint bullets would not do a good job on deer, i would have to use dedicated deer rounds.

Nyman

[sleeper78]

Yes.

Varmint bullets+big game=BAD

Good luck with the rifle. May you kill quickly and humanely and often.

[Tomcat088]

Just because a bullet is light does NOT mean it's not a "deer" bullet, it just means that the bullet is light. I haven't checked out all the options on 7mm bullets, but there are definitely some "light" (relative to the caliber) that are thick jacketed and would work for deer. There are even "light" bullets for the .243 that aren't NOT varmint bullets, but were intended for deer sized game. Either way, yes, you will be able to find all weights of bullets for the 7mm that will work well on varmints, and for big game.

[sleeper78]

Just because a bullet is light does NOT mean it's not a "deer" bullet, it just means that the bullet is light. I haven't checked out all the options on 7mm bullets, but there are definitely some "light" (relative to the caliber) that are thick jacketed and would work for deer. There are even "light" bullets for the .243 that aren't NOT varmint bullets, but were intended for deer sized game. Either way, yes, you will be able to find all weights of bullets for the 7mm that will work well on varmints, and for big game.

Without wanting to delve into a 6 page post on bullet types I decided to use the "general rule" approach to simplify my response. I've been a gun nut for 20 years and I still learn more about guns and bullets on a daily basis. Now that Barnes is making solid bullets for everything they have a 80grn(i think) bullet that is designed for deer. Also you have Remington's managed recoil load which use lighter bullets at reduced velocities, the reason being that the lighter construction of the bullet is more conducive to expansion at the lower velocities experienced with the lighter loads. There are so many variables when it comes to bullet selection that it's hard to keep track of everything. Hell, that's what makes the gun owner lifestyle all the more fun.

[Tomcat088]

Without wanting to delve into a 6 page post on bullet types I decided to use the "general rule" approach to simplify my response. I've been a gun nut for 20 years and I still learn more about guns and bullets on a daily basis. Now that Barnes is making solid bullets for everything they have a 80grn(i think) bullet that is designed for deer. Also you have Remington's managed recoil load which use lighter bullets at reduced velocities, the reason being that the lighter construction of the bullet is more conducive to expansion at the lower velocities experienced with the lighter loads. There are so many variables when it comes to bullet selection that it's hard to keep track of everything. Hell, that's what makes the gun owner lifestyle all the more fun.

I understand what you're saying about not wanting to dive into a 6 page post about bullet types. LOL, maybe that doesn't bother me because I have several 6 page posts talking about twist rate, barrel length, burn rate, etc, so why not bullets right? LOL, either way, I completely understand and agree.

I did a quick search and didn't even run across any 90 grain bullets for 7mm (.284 caliber). That's not to say that they aren't made, but just that I didnt' find any when I did a quick search. I did see some 100 grain varmint bullets, and 1 that I would use for deer hunting. Mostly what I started to see in the 7mm caliber for light deer weight projectiles was 120 grains. Since the lowest weight I found in that caliber (without "accelerators"). I'm gonna say that 90-120 grains is in the "light" weights for this caliber. There's others in the 139-160 grain area that I'd say would be in the medium weights. Then you get into the 168-180 that I'd call the heavy. Even in the 120 grain weight, there were LOTS of good hunting bullets for deer. You could look at the Hornady SST (wouldn't necessarily recommend the Vmax), Lazzeroni, Nosler partitions and Ballistic tips (accubonds in 140 or heavier), Sierra Pro Hunter, Barnes Triple Shock. Either way, there are some good deer size game bullets in the 120 grain weight, they don't just start at 140, but 140 is where the options really open up.

120 grains out of a 7mm-08 would be a pussy cat in terms of recoil, and definitely get the job done. As sleeper said, I actually didn't find any super light deer hunting bullets in the 7mm besides 1 solid. The 7mm is a bit more limited than some calibers in terms of bullet choices. Either way, it has MORE than enough choices, and is not really a limiting factor the way it used to be. It's definitely one of the "do all" cartridges around for most game and varmints in North America.

[sleeper78]

You're right tomcat the 100 grn is the lightest. Sierra makes it I believe. I don't have my reloading manuals handy at the computer. I was thinking of the .270 TNT when I mentioned a 90grn bullet.
Thanks for the assist on helping Mrnyman out on his search.