7-08 ?

[Shrek]

Twotikkas , yours is the first factory barrel Remington I have heard of with a short throat.
I don't have a 150gr load but the powders are going to be the usual suspects , H4350 , RL15 , W760 . I don't think the Superformance is going to work here but I may be wrong . Looking at Hodgdon load data it seems Hybrid 100V may work well for heavier pills. I use the 139 sst on the deer down here and it's Thor's hammer on them. Most have been drt TV shots . I had one buck make it 15 yards and I'm so used to everything dropping drt that it scared me a bit thinking I made a bad shot.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Yeah Dave,

My 7-08 Model 7's factory throat was way out there, which combined with the short M7 magazine length didn't work out the way I wanted. Now it has a Douglass barrel with a short throat, though, and stacks them on top of each other.

 

[TwoTikkas]

I haven't had the time to work with this latest rifle (7-08) much. Based on the throat / mag dimensions it may be a real shooter with the 120gr through the 140s. The longer high BC stuff may give me some problems with case capacity. I should get her up and running with one of the lighter TSXs and see what happens.

 

[Shrek]

TwoTikkas , if you want to put an extended magazine and shoot longer bullets it would be an easy fix for you. Any smith with a 7mm throat reamer can run the neck out in less time than getting the tools out and the box is the same way. My smith charged me $50 to mill the back of the action and that much because he had to set up the mill. I bet you could get all the smith work done for less than $100 + the box.

 

[Salmo-Priest]

Salmo , none taken and I couldn't agree more about the 7-08 being an awesome all around load. I'm going to load mine up with some 154 sst's and I'm betting I can bust through 2800fps with a hot load. I have a wyatts extended magazine in mine that lets me seat out to @ 2.95" col so a long bullet is not as deep in the case. Might even see what is possible with some 162gr sst's , maybe 2720fps ? Some reformed 308 lapua brass and cci primers and I should be able to really push the pressure.

Ive never ran 150's in a -08 and your prolly right. I wouldn't even 2800. Never looked heavier than the 140PT. Federal premium factory ammo got 2880fps in my mtn.rifle. I stopped at 2850fps hand loading the 140 with a very accurate load. I sold my -08 mtn rifle and picked up a .260 mtn rifle that loaded with a 140PT running between 2775-2800fps did as much damage to elk as the 7-08. I love both cartridges! Really dig those long assed 6.5 140 PT's.. Like a bone head I sold that .260 also.

 

[Shrek]

My 7-08 will someday become a 6.5 something. Most likely a 6.5x284 as I can seat out to 2.95"+ col. For one rifle to do it all in a light recoiling , inexpensive to shoot , and compact rifle the 7mm-08 is hard to beat. I'm not a one rifle man so keeping a 7-08 around is not a big deal to me. My new 7mm wsm will take all my bigger game and a future 6.5 will become my go to deer rifle. I also have a 308 right now so I'm not hunting rifle poor. I also have a second 7mm wsm . It's a crpf Winchester m70 blue rifle that will be sold. I'm a stainless steel man and I just can't find love for blued guns.

 

[Salmo-Priest]

My 7-08 will someday become a 6.5 something. I'm a stainless steel man and I just can't find love for blued guns.

Dave, A friend of mine put together a TI in 260AI. Ive first hand witnessed that TI 260AI shoot lights out to nearly 1100yds. Same rifle smashed a 250lb mulie buck last fall. He's shooting the 130Berger. The kill was one of the most impressive I've ever seen. I hear ya on the stainless rifle love! My one exception to that rule would be an 84M Classic.

 

[Heather Stomper]

I just picked up a Ruger Compact in 7-08 for my niece and nephew to use on an upcoming trip to South Africa for plains game.
My go-to rifle for many years has been a custom Mauser 98 in 7x57mm. The 7-08 is everything the 7x57 is and a little more. Plus a short action.
In Africa the 7x57 is the backup cartridge of choice for many PH's when hunting plains game. After using my rifle there in 2004 and seeing the performance on some very tough stuff I would not hesitate to hunt anything in North America, except big bears, with the 7-08 or 7x57.
FWIW, internationally, the 7x57 is loaded down to about 2400 FPS. The penetration with 140's or 170's in this velocity range is amazing. Though I load to about 2750 with 140's, the ammo I saw used in Africa had better penetration with the same bullets at slightly lower velocity.
I don't think you'd be disappointed with a 7-08 for a nice light rifle with very little recoil.

 

[sanchomaes]

I just picked up a Ruger Compact in 7-08 for my niece and nephew to use on an upcoming trip to South Africa for plains game.
My go-to rifle for many years has been a custom Mauser 98 in 7x57mm. The 7-08 is everything the 7x57 is and a little more. Plus a short action.
In Africa the 7x57 is the backup cartridge of choice for many PH's when hunting plains game. After using my rifle there in 2004 and seeing the performance on some very tough stuff I would not hesitate to hunt anything in North America, except big bears, with the 7-08 or 7x57.
FWIW, internationally, the 7x57 is loaded down to about 2400 FPS. The penetration with 140's or 170's in this velocity range is amazing. Though I load to about 2750 with 140's, the ammo I saw used in Africa had better penetration with the same bullets at slightly lower velocity.
I don't think you'd be disappointed with a 7-08 for a nice light rifle with very little recoil.

Heather I also have a Ruger compact in stainless and laminate stock that loves the 140's. It has been several years ago but I shot a big cow elk with 140 grain TSX that put her down very fast...

 

[TwoTikkas]

Fired a few 120gr Ballistic tips out of the Mountain this morning. Not too shabby. A little verticle going on,but not bad for a pencil barrel.

 

[Matt Cashell]

Nice TT,

What was the range?

 

[Shrek]

TwoTikkas , not only did you get the only short throated factory barrel I have heard of but your magazine is on the long side. Both my current 700 short action and my old one topped out at 2.78 col. . Iooks good , the first shot counts and the rest just makes them run faster.

 

[TwoTikkas]

Nice TT,

What was the range?

That was at 100yds.

 

[TwoTikkas]

TwoTikkas , not only did you get the only short throated factory barrel I have heard of but your magazine is on the long side. Both my current 700 short action and my old one topped out at 2.78 col. . Iooks good , the first shot counts and the rest just makes them run faster.

I don't get it either. The box on this thing is 2.850". The throat is comparable with bullets that aren't too low drag. I had a 7-08 M700 Mountain a lot of years ago,when they first hit the scene. It was so short I had to trim .030" off new cases to get the bolt closed. Off it went to Remington for a new chamber. Who knows? I'm convinced anything can happen with these rifles. On a similar note. My new LSS 300 Win Mag is easily seated to the lands as well. Before running out of box length. Maybe not the best scenario velocity wise,but I can deal with that.

 

[KMD]

TwoT, that vertical stringing could be a result of being between 'nodes' in your powder charge. Did you try any charges above, or below 42.5 H4895?
Also, how were you securing the rifle when shooting? Bench/bags, bipod? Vertical like that can also be a manifestation of improper bipod loading, or varying amounts of shoulder pressure off the bench. Lightweight 'mountain rifles' with pencil barrels are especially succeptible to muzzle flip, which will show up as vertical stringing on paper...
Either way, you should be able to tune that out and have a good working load. Try some Varget too, if ya have any lying around!