Compare 7mm08 low recoil factory loads for Whitetails.

At this point, and I know this sounds... is doucheish a word?... but in all honesty, if you don’t reload whatever you can find is your best option. If you did reload you could load whatever components you can find milder. That’s not in the cards though. Having said all of that, federal seem to work well and kick less than some of the others. At least they did when I used to use them.

Any of the reduced loads will work as long as they are for deer sized game. I have never seen a wide variety of reduced loads on anyone’s shelves. Getting any may be the most important thing. None of them are underpowered in any way and have flat enough trajectory for what you want to do.

Used to load 130 Speer at 2500 for my friends kids in 308. It shot through both sides on every deer they ever hit with it. The factory reduced loads should do the same.

What is the recoil of that round? I can't think it is much. Why are you looking for a downloaded version?

I’ve tried the Hornady sst custom light. Before the ammo hoarding most stores around here had them. At the time I was having shoulder problems. Can’t say I noticed much difference in recoil. They did the job on a couple deer at around 80yds. I’ve gone back to the federal blue box or fusion for my 7mm-08 and have been very happy. I’ve had best accuracy with federal blue box and fusion (fusion is my top pick for whitetails) and hornady American whitetail in factory ammo. Your gun my differ.

I don't recommend reduced-recoil loads for larger game animals like deer, bear, moose. When standing or seated upright, you won't notice the recoil as much if you're not leaning-into the shot when anchored at a shooting bench.

If recoil bothers you when sighting-in:
*1. Put an extra slip-on recoil pad on the rifle for sighting-in.
*2. Wear ear plugs AND muffs when sighting-in.
3. Hold the rifle tightly against your (padded) shoulder and pull down on the forend onto the front rest.
4. Squeeze the trigger with the tip of your finger, gradually increasing pressure until the rifle goes off when not expected at that moment. It won't hurt any more than if you'd have anticipated the shot and pulled back from it.
5. If you can bring a padded vise to the range, shoot one or two shots on paper, even at 25 yards then clamp the rifle in the vise, aiming at the center of the target, then adjust the scope to the group center and take the extra clicks to bring the shot where you wish the rifle's zero to be in relation to the crosshairs at that distance. I often sight-in so the shot at 100 yards is about 1" to 1 1/2" high at 100 yards and plan to hold-over for the longer shots.
6. I then test the setting at 200 yards, to see if the zero lives up to the promise. If not, I often adjust a few clicks to make it as desired at that distance. The small difference in zero at 100 yards won't usually make much of a problem to either me or the game I'll be hunting.

I then make a modified trajectory chart and tape it to my hunting rifle's stock, for quick reference.

Nosler ballistic tips in the 120gr are very, very mild recoiling. Up until I got the 120's I had only shot the 150's and 140's, when I shot the 120's it felt like a different gun to me. Very flat shooting, nice tight groups... makes all the difference in a compact rifle

ETA: I picked up a box of reduced recoil 120gr Hornady Custom SST's I believe, I haven't tried them yet but I got them for my daughter. When warmer weather comes around I plan to shoot them to compare POA/POI between those and the NBT, when I do I'll report it here...

I like 140 grain in 7mm-08 and I don't think it kicks much at all, even in a fairly lightweight rifle. That said I can't imagine a low recoil load in that caliber would be too light for something like a whitetail within 200 yards.

I have shot the Custom Lite loads from Hornady in my 7mm Rem Mag. It brings the velocity down to 2800 for the 139 SST or 7mm-08 power. The accuracy was acceptable in my rifle.

My close friends son has used the 308 Hornady Custom Lite loads with great success on Wisconsin whitetails. It uses a 125 grain SST at 2675 fps.

I would not hesitate one second using them in a 7mm-08 on game at the distance you are looking for.

Got my buddy some Hornady custom lite for his .270, he was VERY pleased with being able to keep the target in the scope when shooting! Iirc, had to re dope, but they were good out to 300 in that cartridge. The sst is designed for expansion at 1600 fps, so at the lower speeds it still works quite well. It would be my first pick.

Any of the reduced recoil factory ammo with work perfectly well on whitetail deer inside 200 yards. The problem is going to be finding it for sale. Now if you reloaded, you could work up your own reduced loads and then I'd probably recommend a little testing before trusting it for hunting. But the factory reduced recoil ammo is tried and true, especially the Hornady Custom Lite stuff. I have not tried any of the other brands, so I can't' speak for them. But that Hornady SST bullet going anywhere from 2400 to 2600fps is devastating on game. Reliable expansion and just turns in the internals to jelly. Personally, I don't like to push the SST bullet over 2800fps anyway. That bullet seems to do better at what I consider "modest" velocities.

My youngest daughter shot her first deer with Hornady lite 7mm-08 120gn SST. Dropped it where it stood. Not a long shot, not a huge buck but it did the job. I don't have many left for here so she'll be using 120gn fusions soon. I doubt she'll notice much difference or even care if she is shooting another buck, lol

I doubt there's enough of a body of knowledge on those rounds for anyone to give you any substantial experience based input as to which is the "best." You'll get some anecdotes. That said, you don't really need the experience to know that any of them will work just fine when you put them in the right spot. Buy what's available, get the gun sighted in and go shoot with confidence.

Might be easier to list what factory 7-08 loads you can get your hands on (likely a really short list at the moment) vs us telling you about a bunch of loads your not going to be able to find.

I really like the 140 gn partition loaded to match 7mm BR velocity’s. Very soft, even in really light weight rifles.

I think the best reduced recoil 7mm-08 loads are regular .243 loads. Seriously. Wait for it now.

So my MIL shot a deer with a reduced 30-06. It was a 125ish gr bullet @ 2500 FPS or thereabouts. It was a Remington Managed Recoil load. The deer was recovered but I was surprised we ever found it. Two 30 cal holes in and out. No blood trail or bleed out of any kind to speak of. No bullet expansion and no significant vital organ damage to speak of upon necropsy. The bullet did hit both lungs and heart so I am sure that helped.

IOW, I think a proper 243 bullet going at proper 243 speeds is going to be better than a 7mm bullet going at less than proper 7mm-08 speeds.

Did a little shooting today with my 7mm-08. The plan was to use up a couple open older boxes of ammo. One of the boxes was Hornady sst custom lite reduced recoil and it grouped great. By far the best groups out of the three brands I shot. Still didn’t notice much difference in recoil among the three brands.

I don't find the recoil of any 7mm-08 load even mildly offensive, but that said, your best bet if it does bother you is a good muzzle brake or a suppressor. Either will do more to mitigate recoil than reduced loads, and without giving up performance.

If you can find these they will work well for you . The bullet is designed to work in conjunction with this load , it performs like a bullet is supposed to, even with a lesser charge . Much of reduced recoil loads are done with powder performance . Nothing wrong with using reduced recoil loads , people do it for many reasons . I have light rifles in .308 and 30-06 and load them at 30-30 levels, much less recoil and still puts meat on the platter . I also practice more because they are a joy to shoot, practice leads to accuracy and confidence ,

https://hsmammunition.com/low-recoil/

Dale Alan said:

If you can find these they will work well for you . The bullet is designed to work in conjunction with this load , it performs like a bullet is supposed to, even with a lesser charge . Much of reduced recoil loads are done with powder performance . Nothing wrong with using reduced recoil loads , people do it for many reasons . I have light rifles in .308 and 30-06 and load them at 30-30 levels, much less recoil and still puts meat on the platter . I also practice more because they are a joy to shoot, practice leads to accuracy and confidence ,

https://hsmammunition.com/low-recoil/

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I like the 7mm Rem Mag load it's close to
7-30 waters (2320 fps advertised) it would be a nice starter load for a youngster.

The only factory reduced recoil loads I've tried in 7mm-08 was the Hornady Custom Lite 120gr SST's. I didn't notice any difference in recoil in them and the 140gr Hornady American Whitetail. They grouped well and I'd recommend giving them a shot (pun intended) for that reason.

Doesn't matter in this case but I was able to load some much milder rounds with pretty good velocity using 120gr Sierra ProHunters and H4895.