I finally got a chance to work up and test fire my TSX loads for the wife's 7mm-08. I used 120 gr. and 160 gr. bullets using various powders and charges. I seated the bullets .050 off the lands as recommended by Barnes. The 120 gr. bullets didn't group well at all, the best group being around 2". At first I figured I might have gotten a rifle with a crappy barrel but when I started on the 160 gr. bullets the first three holes were touching. This was with IMR 4831.
I had hoped to use the 120 gr. bullets for a whitetail hunt in November. The 160 gr. bullets will be my wife's load for moose here in Alaska. Perhaps I need to work more on OAL with the lighter 120 gr. bullet. What do you guys think?

Hey Bob, I'll be in your neck of the woods for the whitetail hunt. I plan to hunt Waha, Winchester, Craigmont area and will also hunt turkey while there. Never hunted turkey before as they weren't plentiful 25 years ago when I lived there. What do you think of the 160 gr. TSX in 7mm-08 for whitetail?

Before messing with the OAL, might want to try some different powder/weight with the 120's to see if you can't shrink the groups to acceptable levels. The Barnes bullets are pretty sensitive to the "off-land" dimension, needing a bit of a head start before hitting the rifling to reduce pressures a bit while engraving.

Many times, a faster powder works best with lighter weight bullets, while slower ones go great with heavier bullets.

Thanks for the advice. So far, I've tried Varget, H4895 and IMR4350 with the 120 gr. bullets, all with a variety of charge weights. If I can't get these bullets to work, I'll try the 140 or 150 gr. TSX bullets to try and find an acceptable load for whitetails.

The 140's seem to work the best in my 7mm bores.

Doug

The 160's should work fine, but I'd sure try some 140's. You know how this country is, often a 300 to 400 yard shot presents itself. If the 140 gives you good accuracy and seems to kill deer as well as the 160's. It also seems to work better at longer ranges.

I'm using the 139 grain Hornedy's in my 280 Remington and a friend killed an nice buck up by Melrose last year with it at near 300 yards. It' did the two step and folded with a nice heart lung shot.

That Waha country offers some long cross canyon shots, but is sure being hit hard by Lewiston hunters.

Our turkey population has just exploded in the last few years. I'm to the point where I just road hunt anymore up around Dwarshak lake and on upper Forge Creek. It's easy to see several hundred a day and the fall season allows hens as well as jakes.

Around Dwarshak the Eastern's (bronzebacks) have taken over from the Merriam's. They are big and plentiful.

Turkeys just above my house. When we moved back to Peck four years ago Fish and Game came in and live trapped over 250 above my house. Since then they've come back and I can call them from by back porch. I can't shoot them in town, but It's fun to see them come into the yard, though they leave a mess.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q172/faucettb/Hunting%20pix/Turkeysabovehouse.jpg

If you give me a call when you get down here I can show you a couple of places up above Peck that has really good deer populations.

I work on different weight bullets in my rifles as well but another idea is if the 160 grains shoot well, why not use them for deer to?

Bob,

I plan to be in Lewiston Nov 11 thru Nov 22. Because of the season dates it looks like I'll be hunting on one side of the river the first week and the other side the second week. My oldest son will there the first week and plans to hunt also but I think his hunting time will be limited. He has babies to show off to the relatives. My buddy in Lewiston will probably be available only on weekends. I plan to hunt as much as possible so most of the time I'll probably be alone. You are welcome to join me if you still have a tag to fill.
As for turkey, the regs show that all hunting must be done on private propery at this time of year. Are the local farmers and ranchers willing to permit access? The last time I fished Dwarshak, which about 8 years ago, I saw some of those turkeys you mention. I didn't realize both Easterner's and Merriam's were in your neck of the woods. Do you prefer the Easterner's?
Thanks a million for the info you provided. I'll definately give you a call one way or the other, maybe chew the fat if you're interested.

M1Garand,
I may end up using the 160 gr. bullets but would feel more comfortable using something a little lighter. As Bob stated, 300 to 400 yards shots are common.

Doug I'll have to look at the regulations, last fall I hunted turkey in the deer season on federal, state and Potlatch land. I have not looked at the new regulations, though I did get a turkey tag for this year.

I'd be glad to take you and your son if he wants to go to several places up above Peck here that have proven excellent. I'm handi-capped so I can't walk to far, but I have several places that can be hunted with a short walking drive by a couple of folks. There seem to be lots of deer here and no wolves in this part of the country, though you don't have to drive far to get into the pack areas.

We actually have three types of turkeys here if you count the Rio-Grands on the breaks of the Salmon and Snake rivers.

We started out with Merriam's and then the Eastern's just took over on the breaks of Dwarshak. The Eastern's are bigger and seem more aggressive when called. I haven't hunted the Salmon or Snake river breaks so haven't seen any of the Rio Grands. There supposed to be even bigger than the Easterns.

Sounds good Bob! I'll keep in touch.
No problem if you aren't able to walk far, I'll drive 'em to you. Personally, I'm not looking for a monster buck. I have a monster whitetail buck head-mount at my folks place in Lewiston that I intend to ship back with me. I shot the deer when I was about 19 and didn't cape it out. After getting it home, I decided I'd like a head-mount and the taxidermist only had a doe cape on hand. The neck is too slim so my mission is to get a good cape and have the mount re-done.
I'm looking forward to turkey hunting almost as much as the deer hunt. When I was living in Idaho, I saw turkeys one time in the Waha area which was a rare sighting at the time.
My very first deer hunt took place up behind Peck. My uncle's family owned the old house behind the Canyon Inn and I spent many hours swimming in the creek. My uncle was on that first hunt with me and killed a small whitetail buck with his .30-40 Craig. After that hunt, I don't think I ever hunted the area again. Waha, Winchester, Reubens, and Troy were my stompping grounds for Whitetail.

Bob,

I plan to be in Lewiston Nov 11 thru Nov 22. Because of the season dates it looks like I'll be hunting on one side of the river the first week and the other side the second week. My oldest son will there the first week and plans to hunt also but I think his hunting time will be limited. He has babies to show off to the relatives. My buddy in Lewiston will probably be available only on weekends. I plan to hunt as much as possible so most of the time I'll probably be alone. You are welcome to join me if you still have a tag to fill.
As for turkey, the regs show that all hunting must be done on private propery at this time of year. Are the local farmers and ranchers willing to permit access? The last time I fished Dwarshak, which about 8 years ago, I saw some of those turkeys you mention. I didn't realize both Easterner's and Merriam's were in your neck of the woods. Do you prefer the Easterner's?
Thanks a million for the info you provided. I'll definately give you a call one way or the other, maybe chew the fat if you're interested.

M1Garand,
I may end up using the 160 gr. bullets but would feel more comfortable using something a little lighter. As Bob stated, 300 to 400 yards shots are common.According to the barnes manual the difference in drop with 200yrd zero at 400yrds between the 160gr and the 140gr is only about 3 1/2'' your getting 2'' groups at 100 it will be about 8'' at 400.for a 7mm 08.I get very good accuracy 160gr tsx for my 7mm rem mag.Also 270gr tsx for 375 h+h shoots well too.Haven't had much luck 85gr tsx for my 243win though.I'll try different powders till there gone and if they stll don't shoot I'll try another bullet.GOOD luck

I'm also working up loads for the Barnes TSX. Sounds like a killer bullet. However this is my opinion and nothing more. I believe you want to keep velocity up with these bullets. They are built tough and my fear is that if speeds are slow, they may falter in performance. It's just a guess and testing would show you what really happens. I use them in a .300 Win. Mag. However in a 7-08 which is modest on speed even when it starts out, I think I'd try it on wet paper or something at long range to see how it acted. If you could get the smaller bullets to work in yuor rifle, they might perform better on deer. ONE THING I LEARNED while developing my TSX loads. Powders that worked for everything else you've ever stuffed in your rifle, I mean same bullet weight, same rifle, etc. You might find the TSX to like a different powder. They are just made of different material. However, when you find that combo, they will really shoot. With H4831 my .300 Win. Mag hasn't exceeded 1" with any load I've tried. Obviously I'll keep the hottest one that meets my accuracy requirements. However, the only other powder I've ever used on magnums, and it's a great powder, didn't work for me with that shell, bullet combo. just my thoughts. Keep us posted on results. I'm still tinkering with that bullet as I really want a one load settup.

Thanks for the info guys!

Doug in AK