I agree with you on that to a certain extent, and not to mention it has a short action which makes for a lighter platform. If the maximum range for an average hunter in North America was 300yds I would choose the 7mm-08 all day long, but I think 500yds is a more realistic maximum range for the average hunter, for deer might be ok but I wouldn't try it on a moose or elk at that range with a 7mm-08. I think once you get out past the 500yd range you get into someone who is not your average hunter anymore, that's territory I'm not talking about.
Good to know that you're assuming it doesn't work, with zero experience to back it up.
What is the deciding factor when figuring out the cutoff range? How do you know when a shot is beyond the capable distance of the chambering/load? What load are you using in your .280AI? Thanks.
I own a 7mm-08, I've also killed deer, moose and elk out past 500yds with my 280rem and 280ai and have recovered bullets from the animals, I have seen the lack of expansion from a ttsx at long range out of the 280 and I know that it would be worse out of my 7mm-08.
Your assumption I have zero first hand experience with these cartridges is just that, an assumption, and false at that.
I made no such assumption, sir. Based on your use of the words "might" and "wouldn't try it", I inferred that you've never shot or killed a BG animal beyond 500 yards with the 7-08. Correct me if I'm wrong. Yet you are suggesting that it wouldn't work well. Some of us that have experience in that sort of scenario with the 7-08 would beg to differ.
Your fanatical-esque zeal for a chambering like the .280AI as a 500 or 600 yard rifle and your criticism for the 7-08 at anything over 300 yards, with no mention of bullets used, sends a message about your understanding of such things. At 500 meters a 7-08 shooting a 162AM arrives with more energy, more velocity, less wind drift, and more reliable expansion behaviour than a 140TTSX from a .280AI...
Can you tell me the velocity energy and wind drift of both the 162amax out of the 7-08, I assume it would be from a 22" bbl and the velocity, energy, and wind drift from the 140gr tax in a 280ai which I assume would be from a 24" bbl?
Sure. I used a hot but not red-lined load in each- 2700 fps for the 7-08/162 and 3100 fps for the .280AI/140, and a 22" barrel for both to keep the comparison valid. We could push either load 50-75 fps harder if we stepped on the gas. Of course a guy could put a 24" barrel on either one if he wanted and gain about the same. There will be minor variations in calculations based on individual atmospheric differences, etc, but I used the same input factors for both loads...
Using SA conditions and 10mph full value wind, at 500 meters the 162AM from the 7-08 has 1.0 mil of wind drift, 1955 fps of velocity, and 1372 ft-lbs of energy.
The .280AI/140 has 1.3 mils of wind drift, 1945 fps of velocity, and 1174 ft-lbs of energy remaining. Even if we give the .280AI an unfair advantage with a 24" barrel and say 3175 fps muzzle velocity, at the 500 meter line it drifts 1.2 mils in the wind (0.2 mil more than the 162), has 2002 fps remaining (47 fps more than the 162), and 1243 ft-lbs of energy (129 ft-lbs less than the 162).
