Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles opinion of 7mm-08 rem. vs 308

ColdBore, That's still an apples to oranges comparison. You compare the heaviest bullet loaded in 7-08 by remington (140gr) to a middle weight bullet for the .308 (150gr).

I'll give you credit in that you've shown fairly conclusively that for the 140-150gr. range bullets that the 7-08 is more efficient at longer ranges.

Obviously the heavy for caliber 7-08 is going to carry energy further than the lighter for caliber .308. However, if you pick a heavy for caliber bullet in .308 (180gr.) and compare it to a heavy for caliber bullet in 7-08 it paints a somewhat different picture. In this case .308 beats 7-08 at every range quite handily. It'll also belt your shoulder quite handily too.

Energy (ft-lbs)
Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500
Remington� Express� 180 PSP CL 2743 2288 1896 1557 1269 1028
Remington� Express� 140 PSP CL 2542 2142 1793 1490 1228 1005

Cartridge Information
Index Number Cartridge Type Weight (grs.) Bullet Style Primer No. Ballistic Coefficient
R308W3 Remington� Express� 180 Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt� 9 1/2 0.383
R7M081 Remington� Express� 140 Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt� 9 1/2 0.390

Notice that the ballistic Coefficients are very close 0.383 in .308 and 0.390 in 7-08. This number is what determines how fast a given caliber will shed velocity and energy as it travels down range.

The 7-08 is more powerful than the .308 at 100 yards and beyond in the 140-150gr. range. However, For a given load of similar ballistic coefficient, the .308 is more powerful out to 500 yards than the 7-08, but the difference is negligible after 300 yards. I'm not even touching the difference in momentum between the two cartridges...