From time to time there have been posts on THF asking about "on game performance" of various calibers and factory ammo. I got a trip report last nite from an old friend who had gone "across the pond" last month and thought some of ya'll with those ??'s could take note.

Rifle: Winchester M70 Classic Grade Fwt 7-08. Ammo: Factory RP 140gr CL's, tally: 4 one shot kills on African Plains Game at the "normal hunting ranges" that the guide was able to achieve, probably under 200 yards, with 3 bullet pass throughs on Nyala, large Wart Hogs and a large Impala.

His hunting partner had similar experiences with a 30'06 and factory ammo that is the same package he use's on Texas WTails, and no discernable advantage in the larger caliber or ammo over the 7-08. As always, bullet placement is king.
Ron

Yes, the deer bullets we use here will work fine for the smaller, deer sized game in Africa. I have shot a lot of impala over there with a .223 and a Hornady soft point. Shoot them behind the shoulder and they are dead. I just got back yesterday from Namibia and shot 61 wildebeest and gems buck. The Sierra and Speer 180 grain soft points killed every one I shot, however, there are bullets that work much better on these 500-600 lb. animals. With Sierra/Speer, you have to shoot behind the shoulder and get into the lungs to be effective. Angles, off placement shots result in long tracking sessions. I used 7 different bullets on this hunt and cataloged their performance. The Speer bullets are slightly softer than the Sierra, and these two came in last in terms of performance. The Barnes worked OK, but did not get the expansion I was looking for. The top performers were both from Swift, the A Frame and Scirocco. Followed closely by the 200 grain Partition. Mid pack was Woodleigh. I used a .30-06 with 180's with the exception of the Woodleigh which was 240 grains and the Barnes which was 168 grains.

Bullet placement is always #1 - provided the cartridge is sufficient for the animals sought. The 7mm-08 is sufficient for most all African plains game at normal hunting ranges. That's been proven since the advent of the 7x57.

Would I hunt Cape Buffalo or lion with it? No. Nor would I with the .30-06. But if I had to choose between those two for Buff or lion, I'd take the '06.

Thanks for that great post full of solid information.

The old Partition and Swift A Frame have sure continued to acquit themselves well for many, many years. Sure speaks well of them.

I've killed countless pigs, deer and coyotes with either the Nosler 120gr BT or the Hornady Amax/ELD and have never had an animal go more than 75yds with a majority dropping on impact.

The 7mm-08 will kill anything big enough to die. It's one of the greatest cartridges in the history of the world.

The 7-08 w/140 grain bullets has fast become my favorite combo of mild accuracy, killing efficiency, and just plain fun to shoot cartridge I own. I grab it first, every time nowadays, when headed out for hogs, whitetails, muleys, aoudad, antelope, and any other medium size game. I would't hesitate to use it on elk either, or African plains game up to eland size. I will say that the 120 Nosler BT is an amazing little slug, and is very tough.

Thanks for the post, Ron. Lots of good information.

The 7mm-08 wasn't even really on my radar until I came on here and read all you guys' accolades for it. Heck, I was grown before the cartridge came on the scene.

My oldest daughter now has a Tikka T3 in 7-08 and just bought my wife a Weatherby Camilla in 7-08.

I was surprised with my friends 7-08 being the rifle of choice, until I heard the back story on the Hunt that was purchased a couple years ago, and all the obstacles he had encountered to get the Hunt done. My friend has used a pre M700 30'06 since the early '50's for everything except prairie dogs and anything less than Grizz & Cape Buffalo...and has a rack full of DG to antique Empire Garden Guns to choose from. But the Permit's were locked in on the M70 7-08's SR # that was intended for his wife to use, who could not make the trip at the last minute..and ya dance with what you got. Again, bullet placement is King.

Gonna have to put some trigger time in on the M70 XTR 7x57 I picked up as a lark last fall...but I'll never get a chance to make it across the pond and will have to be satisfied with Big Piggies etc locally for a test medium.

Sooner or later I'll wind up with only 2-3 shooters in 1 or 2 calibers at most like the Original Mulligan Plan was conceived, as I am busier now in retirement than I ever was working fulltime and travelling regionally or nationally for a living...and a small sized 7mm Remmy or Mauser is looking better and better for a primary everyday 'lil Red Ridinghood shooter.
Ron

My favorite, by far. Think I have 6 or 7 rifles in 7mm-08.

Also my favorite caliber .

I've had great success with 140 grain ballistic tips and 140 gain accubonds. I wouldn't hesitate to bring it to Africa with any bonded or monometal bullet. It's a pleasure to shoot and just plain works.

Only shot 3 bucks with my CZ in 7-08 so far and each one was DRT using 120 grain factory Barnes TTSX. I have started going for a safer base-of-the-neck shot and have been surprised at how little meat I lost in the process since there isn't all that lead shrapnel with those shells.

If I wiped the slate clean, and started over. I'd probably have about three of em.

25" heavy barrel for competition
16" light barrel to walk around with
16" AR platform.

Add a .223 or .22-250 and the short actions are covered.

The 7mm-08 is the first rifle I bought in 1982, 18.5 inch barrel on a Remington 788. I have bought lots of rifles and hunted with lots of rifles since then but that is still one of my favorites. I could have saved myself a lot of $ if I just continued to use what worked so well and still works extremely well.

I really do not know how many deer that rifle has taken. know it is over 50 probably closer to 75 and only 3 have run out of sight of the shooter and in those cases it was not a good shot but both were found after a little blood trailing

I was thinking about try those Barnes Bullets in my 7-08 this year.

Glad to hear you have good experience with them.

7-08 FTW!

That's a dang good testimony for the 7-08.

I don't know what the 7/08 does in Africa, but in Texas, it's danged near perfect.

Picked one up about 8 years ago after a bad experience with a lighter caliber. Since then, the largest animal I've taken was an (estimated)300 lb live weight Axis buck. Everything I've shot has been DRT out to about 350 yards. All with 140 gr BT's

I never like 308 based calibers until I married Mrs. B and we went on her Elk hunt. She'd been shooting the 243 so we decided to step up to something a little bigger and got her a Remington 7mm08. Her bull went about 25 yards and folded up, she's since taken 6 bucks with the 7mm08 and they were all one shot drop's. She gives it 2 thumbs up!

Love me the sirroccos! I'm glad my sentiments and experience have been reflected in Africa. Imo they are the best hunting bullet out there.

Yes, the Scirocco was the best performing bullet. It penetrated and exited from all angles, produced a high degree of traumatic shock, and had the highest percentage of DRT. The A-frames also penetrated and exited from all angles, just slightly less traumatic shock and slightly longer death runs. Which makes sense to me. I think the A-frame is the toughest bullet out there. No complaints about the Partition, it just did not have the same killing effect that the Swift bullets had. The Barnes did not impress. I shot a couple that did not seem to have great internal damage. More like .308 holes going in and out. They all died, but blood trails were iffy and longer death runs. The Woodleighs were OK, but I think I could not get enough velocity to make them expand properly. 2400 fps was all I could get out of them. I shot one wildebeest in which the Woodleigh entered the chest and the bullet was bulging under the skin on the rear ham. That is about 5' of penetration. Upon examination, the bullet did not expand that much. The Sierras/Speer bullets all killed their intended target. Some very quickly due to cup/core separation, fragmentation, etc.. in the chest cavity. Only had one exit from these bullets. All of the bullets killed, just some did a better job of it than others.

That all sounds just like one would expect given the bullet types. There is no perfect bullet for all shots - even for similar types of game. Each bullet's performance will depend on: 1)its construction/design and 2)how that construction/design comes to bear given the shot placement on the animal.

On average, bullets designed for more expansion will result in more dramatic kills - especially with a broadside animal and the "boiler room" placement we all seek. It's when we don't have the perfect broadside shot or make the perfect shot that "tougher" bullets earn their keep.

Your dramatic results with the Scirocco are not surprising. It is a great bullet. The penetration/exiting described on par with "tougher" bullets is mildly surprising, but my guess is that the shots with the Scirocco did not encounter heavy bone.

Bullets do what they are designed to do - high expansion, medium expansion, low expansion. There is no miracle bullet that will "do it all". For the many varieties of small to medium to larger hooved animals bullets that seek a good balance between expansion and penetration (A-Frame, NP, AccuBond, etc.) come the closest to an "all around" bullet IMO. Within normal hunting ranges. For long range shooting the bullet game becomes much more tricky for a number of reasons, primarily because the issue of the greatly varying velocities one may encounter.

You experience with the Barnes bullets is an enigma also. I have used Barnes TSXs and have had good luck with them. My sample size is admittedly small, but others with way more usage have sung their praises for a very long time now - both out west and in Africa. When they first came in the scene years ago, after a couple of years I knew of two or three PHs who basically mandated their use for medium to large plains game.

I will be using the 180 grain TSX on an upcoming sheep hunt - not because it is the ideal sheep bullet, but because I will have a grizzly tag. In the open (generally rolling) county of the high Yukon, I am not concerned much with a ram running a little after the shot. Though the last one went all of about 5 feet using a TSX when shot just behind the shoulder. I am no great marksman but will do my best to anchor a ram with a high shoulder shot if the need arises.

The PH was an A frame guy and asked that I use them. His reasoning is that they never fail, always expand and always penetrate, regardless of the angle. I told him my thought of bringing several different types and cataloging their performance would add to the fun. We decided on 5 animals per bullet and see how they performed. He is now a huge Scirocco fan. The penetration of wildebeest/gemsbock is not a big surprise. They are very tough, but 16-18 inches will get you shoulder to shoulder on a wilde or oryx. I had no problem busting shoulders and one Scirocco entered front chest and exited in front of rear ham. If zebra had been on the menu, that would have been a bigger test of penetration. I have shot a lot of them and it takes a pretty good bullet to exit and kill quickly. If I only had broadside, standing shots, then a Sierra Pro Hunter would be my choice. Those exited and the damage was severe. I am not a Barnes fan at standard velocities. When I am culling white tail, the 110 grain TTSX is my go to bullet at 3500 fps. Flat trajectory, dramatic trauma and great penetration. I have never captured an 110 grain TTSX from any angle on a white tail. I just don't think I got enough speed to make the 168 grain bullet do its work. I got maybe 2850 to 2900 fps at the muzzle. In my experience, the Barnes needs a lot of speed. I have seen a lot of pencil holes in white tails over the years at standard velocities. I know lots of guys who swear by Barnes, but it has not been my experience here or in Africa. If I had it to do over, I would have brought 130 grain TTSX and run them at 3250 fps. After 5 animals per bullet selection, we started over with the top 3 performers. A frame, Scirocco and Partition.