7mm-08

[Unckebob]

Does anyone have pros and cons on a 7mm-08?

Or if you do have one, do you mind sharing the make and model and ammunition?

Looking to getting the wife a smaller hunting rifle. She currently uses a .270 and .308 at times but I think she'll be more comfortable shooting the 7mm-08. Never shot one but from what I see with the good shooting placement it can handle deer and elk well. Not expecting to shoot over 500 yards but never know how the hunt will go.

The 308, 7mm-08, and 6.5CM all share the same lineage and have similar performance. The 7mm might be the best hunting cartridge of the bunch, but not by much - if any.

The main, and significant disadvantage, of the cartridge is ammo availability.

If you go to a gun store today and they have rifle ammo in stock, 308 and 6.5CM will probably be available and often will be available in multiple loads.

If you can find it, which is questionable, you'll likely pay a lot and have limited options In 7-08.

imo - it is a handloader's cartridge in today's ammo market.

 

[Newtosavage]

Does anyone have pros and cons on a 7mm-08?

Or if you do have one, do you mind sharing the make and model and ammunition?

Looking to getting the wife a smaller hunting rifle. She currently uses a .270 and .308 at times but I think she'll be more comfortable shooting the 7mm-08. Never shot one but from what I see with the good shooting placement it can handle deer and elk well. Not expecting to shoot over 500 yards but never know how the hunt will go.

7-08 has been my cartridge of choice for years and I've reloaded for mine for the past 7 years. That said, there's not a hill of beans difference between a 7mm-08, a .270 and a .308 for practical purposes and if you use light bullets in the .270 and .308, not much if any difference in recoil either.

I barely notice a difference between a 7mm-08 and a 6.5 CM but others say they do.

If it were me, if you're not happy with 130's from the .270 or 150's from the .308, then you'll need to go all the way down to a .243 to find appreciable difference in recoil.

 

[Boarmaster]

I use a 7mm08 on deer. If I didnt have one and was looking for something similar I would go with a 6.5 creed. Easier to get factory ammo and more rifles to choose from. I think that trend will continue. Im an old guy 60 in a few days. I probably got enough 7mm08 ammo for deer hunting for the next decade. When I run out of of that I got another decade worth of 270 ammo. My hunting ammo will probably out live me.

 

[Earlierbird]

I love mine. I've killed deer, caribou, sheep, black bear, and mtn goat with it. I'll probably let my wife use if for her cow moose in December. It's a cheapo Savage Axis with a few mods but it shoots much better than I'm capable of. It will easily shoot 1/2" at 100 all day long with the right ammo. Oddly enough, like others mentioned, mine was very picky with ammo and finding what worked was an exercise in frustration. At least at the time there were several options to work through. The 120 grain Barnes factory loads paired with that gun shoot extremely well. As others mentioned, 7-08 ammo is almost nonexistent. I haven't seen any on the shelves for two years here.

Do you get adequate expansion with the Barnes bullet?

 

[AK Troutbum]

I bought a Tikka T3X in 7-08 for my son’s first rifle when he was 12. So far he’s only killed a moose, black bear, and a couple caribou with it and now he’d rather bow hunt, so it probably won’t get used much anymore. Everything that he’s taken has been shot with factory 120gr. Barnes TTSX bullets. All were one shot kills and no bullets were recovered.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[william schmaltz]

Do you get adequate expansion with the Barnes bullet?

Like the post above this, I’ve never recovered a bullet. So I don’t know. I do know everything shot with it is dead. Now including a moose my wife shot Friday.

 

[MedServ60Driver]

I've been hunting with the 7mm08 since my dad gave me one as a teenager (still the same rifle, with some upgrades). I like the cartridge a lot and really appreciate the efficiency. With that said, if you're already in a .308 IMO you don't gain much by switching. Some will argue reduced recoil, but is the difference between a 150gr bullet at 2800fps and a 140gr at 2800 really that significant? If you were starting new I'd say go for it, but already having a .308 I'd stick with that.

 

[borden811]

I’m running a 7-08 kimber Montana with 150gr lapua scenars at 2860pfs. Up to 7 deer the last 2 years and haven’t caught a bullet yet. Farthest one has traveled has been 30 yards. I’m sold.

 

[rkcdvm]

It’s my most used round for sure . For longer shots I use a bigger 7 or a mag 30.

 

[SeaRun1]

I am a big fan of the 7mm-08. I have been using 140 grain Ballistic Tips but want to change to either a Partition, ELDX or Barnes. That’s my spring reloading project.

SR1

 

[Pharmseller]

I am a big fan of the 7mm-08. I have been using 140 grain Ballistic Tips but want to change to either a Partition, ELDX or Barnes. That’s my spring reloading project.

SR1

Good info here:

7-08 ELDX

I am switching to a 7-08 as my deer/elk rifle with a 22" barrel, 1:9 twist. 500 max yardage on deer and 400 max on elk. I haven't seen a ton of info out there on the factory 150 grain Hornady ELDX. Any thoughts on this round? I've used ELDX for 7mag and loved the round with fantastic results...

rokslide.com

 

[Matt Cashell]

This is one of my favorite cartridges. Years ago I found a load it liked with the 120 Barnes TTSX at around 3000. Since then my son has killed a number of critters out to 500ish yards. Great combo That pairs well with a simple ballistic reticle scope.

 

[Ron.C]

In my experience with the 7mm-08 its a great choice. Recoil is tame and manageable and for me anyway, really helped promote better shooting. Used a 7mm-08 (Remington Mtn Stainless) exclusively for the past 7 years. Does great work on deer/black bears and is adequate for larger game like elk/moose within reasonable range. There are better choices for big critters but I know a well placed 139/140gr bullet from a 7mm-08 will work. My buddies daughter shoots a savage 7mm-08 and has killed deer and bears with it shooting 120gr TTSX. I know another older 7mm-08 shooter who has killed 3 bull moose with his. Of all these animals, one deer was 280 yards, one of the moose was 225, all others were sub 100 yards. Hope to add a goat to the list this fall

I handload 140gr TTSX for it but found factor Hornady Whitetail ammo shoot nearly as good as my handloads and very close to their poi. I had considered loading 120TTSX's to get longer range, but in the areas I hunt I can rarely can shoot farther than 300, so I stuck with the 140's.

I've since worked up a load with 139 gr Hornady Interlocks that shoot VERY well out of my rifle and I'm going to try these out on deer and bears this year.

The only downside(s) I can come up with are:

it's somewhat of a boring cartridge, not super fast or powerful;
I would only consider it an intermediate range hunting rifle (especially if you want to shoot 140gr or higher);
not a huge variety of factory ammo choice; and
need to know it's limitation s when hunting big critters like moose/elk.