You get some fragmentation, which is typical with traditionally constructed bullets, but it fully penetrates and kills the deer dead anyways.Selecting a rifle for deer hunting in Kentucky need not be a daunting task. I’ve hit bone on deer from very close distances with the 140, and have not experienced any kind of catastrophic bullet failures. With the slightly slower speeds of the 140 vs the 130, you don’t have to worry about catastrophic bullet failure. They’re cheap, simple, accurate, and they’ll kill any deer within more than reasonable distances. For work on deer, I like regular “cup and core” bullets in the 140 grain weight. If you need to whack an Elk across a ravine, pick a different round as the 7mm-08 just doesn’t have the gas to deliver enough power at long ranges for big animals. If Moose or Elk are on the menu for short range 7mm-08 work, a TSX or other premium bullet will help with penetration. You could go heavier to a 160, but they’re really best used with the bigger 7mm remington magnum as the bullets get long enough that they start cutting into your powder capacity inside the case. Most suitable bullets for the 7mm-08 are in the 130-150 grain range.

You can’t go too heavy, or you lose powder capacity, but if deer is on the menu, you’ve got a few really great bullets to pick from. When it comes to hunting bullets, there’s a fair amount of choice out there for the “little 7mm”. There’s plenty of 7mm-08 cases out there, and they’re only a few bucks more than 308 cases. So, in my opinion, it’s not really worth it. If you own a 308 and reload for it too, it can make things in your reloading cabinet more complex than they need to be. All it takes is for you to mistake your 7mm-08 rounds with your buddy’s 308’s to potentially screw up your rifle or at least your hunt. My issue with resized 308 is that you’ve got a bunch of rounds that aren’t marked properly.

You end up with a thicker neck on the case, you might end up with uniformity issues, and if your rifle chamber is tight, that might mean that your recycled 308’s will give higher pressure or just won’t fit compared to the regular 7mm-08 cases. 7mm-08 cases are available in abundance at most large sporting goods stores, and the modest operations to turn 308 into 7mm-08 just aren’t worth the time. The short answer is that it is possible, but it’s not really worth the hassle. After all, the 7mm-08 is based on the 308 Winchester. The number 1 reloading question that I know I had when I bought my first 7mm-08 was whether I could use resized 308 cases.

7mm 08 remington rifle