7mm-08 what is it's claim to fame??

S

skeetlee

New member
I have been hearing a little bit about the 7mm-08. I am not at all familiar with this cartridge. I was hoping someone with more noledge than me could tell me were this cartrige really shines. I dont have any real desire to own one at this time. I just like learning about cartridges I know nothing about. Thanks Fellas, Lee
 
It is like many moderate velocity 7mm rounds, an excellent hunting round. The 7mm has always enjoyed an excellent reputation for accuracy. The 7mm-08 is an excellent round and can be quite accurate. It is also popukar because of its availablity in "short" action rifles.

One of my favorite deer rifles is a Rem Mdl 7 in 7mm-08.
 
Based on the .308 case necked down. Reasonable performance, good accuracy, easy on the shoulder, wide range of bullets available. Similar to a 7x57mm Mauser but a bit more oomph.
 
Simply put, it's a .308 necked down to .284. Better ballistics, less recoil, less powder are benefits over it's parent cartridge. Ideally suited for deer sized game and shines in a lightweight bolt rifle.

Here's a good article about the Model Seven/7-08...
Howard Brant, 1989

I re-barreled my .308 Model Seven to 7-08 over the winter...

120gr TSX @ 3000 fps out of a 7lb bolt gun with very mild recoil. Bump it up to 140gr TSX and go elk hunting.

What's not to like?
 
It is the 308 win case necked down to 7mm. 7mm bullets have a great reputation for accuracy and killing performance. It has very low recoil, is deadly accurate, and can be had in some nice short light rifles.
Get you one. Yoyu will like it.
 
I have the Tikka chambered in 7mm-08 and have three 308's and in my opinion the 308 is the best of the two cal's. The 7mm-08 is a great deer rifle and for bigger game if the right bullet is used but it will do nothing the 308 won't do better. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif
 
It is efficient; has a wide range of projectile options for a variety of purposes; limited recoil; very easy to load for; if you don't roll your, own factory ammo is readily available; wide variety of factory rifles at your fingertips; is a short action; etc. ad nauseum...

That said the .260 is better...grin...
 
What is the criteria for a caliber to have fame? It's an enjoyable shooting .28 cal round and more than capable in the field for animals in the size that it can handle. I have a 7x57 but if anything happened to it I would probably consider the 7-08 as a replacement.
 
A bit off topic but here is a story on my 7mm08.
Went to newfoundland hunting moose about 12yrs ago and took my300win mag Browning.And my guide loved to walk and I mean we walked alot,first day we put on 18 miles and came close to matching that for the next three days.Well needless to say I was D-mn tired so on the next day I took my spare rifle instead which was my little micro medallion in 7mm08 and sure enough 8 miles from camp we stumbled onto a bull moose at 50 yrds and all i could see was one palm and when he turned to walk away I shot him in the back of the head.
The bullet upon retrival done a very good job and at that close range traveled well thru the skull.That made me fall in love with that little gun and has since gone on many hunts with me.Coyote,Cougar,caribou,deer,moose.I will never sell that beauty.
 
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The 7mm-08 is a great deer rifle and for bigger game if the right bullet is used but it will do nothing the 308 won't do better. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif



I think you need to re-think that statement after crunching some #s...

A 140gr boolit at a very attainable 3000fps from a 7-08 shoots flatter & hits harder than most any .308 bullet from 150grains + up out to as far as one can shoot...
 
I'd doubt that any deer would be able to tell the difference between the 7mm-08 and the 308. Both are excellent cartridges. The lighter bullets the 7mm chucks downrange makes for lighter recoil from same size cases. Lots of metal target guys like the 7mm-08.

Is there an advantage between the 7mm and 30 caliber, it's like folks that argue over which is best between the 270 and the 30-06. Both of those are great deer cartridges and so is the 308 and 7mm-08.

Now if you want a real deer cartridge it's the 280 Remington!
 
You are absolutely right Bob, the deer may not ever know the difference.

Yet ballistically, the .308 is playing catch up just past the muzzle and only continues to lose ground with distance.
The only thing it does better is burn more powder...
 
In the 70's High Power Metalic Silhouette shooting was quite popular. The 7mm-08 became popular because it carried more energy a 500mm than the 308 yet had less recoil.

AWS
 
I was attracted to the little 7 because of what I read regarding ballistics and comparisons I did between a couple other calibers I was interested in. I stumbled across a SWEET early model 700 rebarelled to the 7-08 with a nice micky stock and trigger job. I CAN'T PUT IT DOWN! The rifle is lightweight, points quickly because it's pretty short, accurate, accurate, accurate-way better than I can shoot! My only complaint with the RIFLE is that the trigger is so light I suffer from premature ej...IGNITION of the round! The cartridge is a sweetheart that has a BIG sting!
 
idbob, a man after ny heart, the 280 is king unless you have no regard for your shoulder when it comes to the 7mm cal. i have 3, 700 lss, abolt, (dont shoot me 2much), 700 mounain rifle, my favorite, stolen by my dad. my 12 year old got his first whitetail last year with a ruger 77 at 225 yds, put down with such authority. had to sell that gun to fund another one. my 15 year old is coming bench shooting with the abolt, and am going to pick up a 7-08 for the now 13 year old to bench with. looking at the 700 sps in camo for him. dont know about the 260 being better, but it is an excellant cartridge imho. in summary, if you are looking at a 7mil cartidge, and dont want to shoot over 300 ards, a well placed shot will get you anything on this continent. my 2 bits. lee.
 
Quote:
You are absolutely right Bob, the deer may not ever know the difference.

Yet ballistically, the .308 is playing catch up just past the muzzle and only continues to lose ground with distance.
The only thing it does better is burn more powder...



LOL...slows down more, drops more, drifts more, recoils more...what's not to love.

The 308 is a great chambering....until you play around with the one's that will stomp it...

This past weekend at a 1K shoot we were running 38MOA of ele and 12MOA of wind with the 308/175SMK...I was running 30MOA of ele and 9MOA of wind with the 223AI/75Amax....the 223AI killed steel just as dead as the the 308 and burned up purt near 20gr less powder per every yank of the trigger...LOL.

Knockemdown, where does the 7wsm fit into all this? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
hard to argue with efficiency. just started workin loads for my 6- duce, what a pleasure to shoot. 20 inch tube, sporter weight, sending 75 gr vmax at 2980 so far, one ragged hole at 100. can you say helicopter on gophers!!! lee. cant wait to take it deer hunting with 95 gr ct silvertips. lee.
 
Sounds like you have a good one there!!!

It all boils down to stuff for us to throw back and forth between seasons...come deer season, it don't matter if your running a 223 or a 308...the deer really don't care what they were killed with. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif Hell, I'm shooting a longbow and WOODEN arrows... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
 
Back in the days when I shot in IHMSA (how many of you remember what that was?) my unlimited gun was a 14.5 inch XP-100 chambered in 7mm-08. My previous unlimited gun was chambered in 7TCU and sometimes would leave a ram standing. The 7-08, I assure you, would hammer them down every time. Unfortunately, it hammered me as well. I wore a handball glove when I shot it. It helped some, but by the time I had fired my 40th shot of the match, I was really ready to put that thing down for a while.

After I quit the silhouette game, I traded that hand cannon off for a nice Yamaha RD400. Kinda wish I would have kept that XP in a way, but I would have had to find something more than a handball glove were I to keep shooting it.
 
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