Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Remington Model 7 in 308 your thoughts?

I been tossing the idea of getting a model 7 in 308 for a deer rifle carrying in the mountains and using in a tree stand. Anyone have any thoughts on this rifle in a 308 or is there a caliber you prefer over the 308? Like I said this is mountain hunting and tree stand gun

Model 7 in most any short action caliber is a winner

owned and still own quite a few 7s and loved them all .. not a better tree stand rifle and the 308 will do most anything you'll need

upgrade the stock to a light weight and you'll love it.


oh yeah they shoot pretty darn well too

Moose, elk, deer, hogs, and black bear....the 308 will harvest them all. Great caliber!

Had one for the wife in .308.

Could never get the thing to shoot to my satisfaction. Had it bedded, recrowned etc. Just wouldn't shoot consistently.

Love the size and felt it would be a great truck gun. But I sold it. Guns that won't consistently shoot just don't intrigue me very much.

I also had one in .243 that my nephew and brother had and shot for a few years. Took a number of deer in Texas with it.

If the rifle will shoot, the seven is a great gun.

I bought my son a stainless one years ago and that's all he uses. It's great for tight quarters like a climbing tree stand, etc. He didn't get the "gun looney" from Dad.

My thoughts...I want one.

I had one in .308 back in the early 90's. My only memories of it was that it had an extremely loud and concussive muzzle blast and at that time it was the only Remington I'd ever owned that wasn't accurate. It did handle nicely, though.

I like 308. I don't much care for the model 7. I've had a couple. Accuracy was never as good as others and while I don't mind shorter barrels, the 7's just didn't do anything for me.

Bought one 20 years ago when the kids were moving up from the ole 30/30. Great little gun. With the right load around 1 - 1 1/2 moa. Not bad for a thin barreled rifle. Plenty good enough for hunting. My oldest now has a model 7 cdl in 270 wsm.That thing is a shooter. From what I read the Ruger american rifles are fairly accurate and have a not too bad trigger. I believe they make a compact model. If so it's probably less money than the model 7. Something to consider.

I have a ruger American compact in 243 that my son hunts with very nice little gun have considered the tikka compact also

Yeah, but could she get it to shoot to hers?

I'm a long time fan of short barrel .308 bolt guns for deer in the woods and/or treestand hunting. I had a M70 lightweight carbine .308 for over 20 years, until the accuracy started to go south. I still have a M600 Mohawk .308, and a Ruger American stainless .308 carbine. For woods hunting, I've never had a shot longer than maybe 125 yards. Most shots have been under 100 yards.

There's a good selection of short .308's available these days including the Weatherby Vanguard S2 youth, TC Venture compact, Ruger American carbine, Tikka compact, Howa Ranchland, Rem M7, Rem 783, M70 Classic Compact, and the ultimate being the Sako Finnlight. I consider a 20" barrel ideal.

I'd buy a Finnlight if it would not lead to a divorce.

All the more reason

The only complaint that I have about the 18.5" and 20" Remington 7s is that I find them to be off-balance to the rear, IOW "butt-heavy", and I prefer a neutral balanced rifle.

My dad has hunted with a stainless/synthetic model 7 in 308 for over 15 years, it's been adequately accurate, though not a tack driver. He loves it, I never liked the balance of it though. A kimber Montana would weigh the same or less than a model seven and balance much better, not sure what you are looking to spend, but it's a thought.

A 7 and McM is about equal to a Montana.

I spent a decade shooting 308's, said I would never be without, dumped every 30 caliber for 24, 264 and 284.

Wonder what weight difference would be model 7 in mcmillan compared to a tikka compact in mcmillan

Best thing I ever did to my M7 was pull the tube and put a sporter contour barrel on it and cut to 21"


They are too barrel light for my liking.

Decent little rifles, but I tend to agree with Steelhead. Had a M7 SS in 260 when they were first introduced in 260. My son adopted it. I've stuck with S/A 700s ever since.

I have a whole camp full of people with M7's in 308 & 708's. Blued, SS, Wood, Synthetic. I don't hear any complaints.

Like the little SS 308 model 7's. I consider them to be about the closest to a universally useful tool available.

7 model 7's in our hunting camp. The .308 cal has been the most productive flavor since 1972. For those who like a bolt action for humping up and down the Mountains of New York , New England, or even the hills of Tenn. a Model 7 has to be one of the best.
Web

Have a friend who bought a used one in .308 off some guy on the Eastern Shore of Maryland 5 or 6yrs ago. Came from the factory with a synthetic stock and 22" mountain rifle contour bbl. I WILL have it one day.

Never owned a Model 7, but always liked the idea of getting one and putting it in a McMillian edge.

I have rebarreled several 7s with 22" 700 LSS-MR barrels, but have never seen that configuration in a factory-made rifle.

I have used a model 7 243 stainless for more than 10 years. It's perfect for tree stand and hiking the hills and tight woods. It's not a tack driver, but that's not what its for. It's light, handles well, and shoots moa/sub MOA with hand loads. Mine wears a MCM mod 7 stock now. I just bought a youth model for my boys this week off the fire.

My best friend and his family (4 boys and dad) have killed more than 60 deer between them with the 7 and youth 7 243. Never a problem. I'm a fan. I also have 2 customs and a model 70 30-06. I will take the 7 into a woods stand every time. Even over my custom defiance 260.

I meant to add. I would go 243 and shoot 95 grain NBT. It's asolutely lethal on deer. I have shot a lot of TN deer with it without a single issue. Never lost one. All DRT or within 15 yards.

Mine is the older Schnabel/lami stocked blue version. Great for the OP applications stated...exactly why I bought mine. Factory 150s subMOA for deer, upcharge to 165 handloads for bear. My son has it now in NM and it will likely never see my safe again.

I posted about this rifle back when he got it. I ended up contacting Remington. Remington and Dupont owned land on the Eastern Shore where executives and clients would hunt. The rep ran the serial # and found that rifle was registered has having an 18.5" bbl. He said more than likely what happened was one of the executives pulled the action off the assembly line and had a 22" bbl installed. He said it was not unusual for this to happen. How the rifle got into public hands we don't know but he said that a lot of times the executives would give the rifle away as a tip. My friend's not a rifle looney and he didn't know what he was seeing so didn't inquire about its history. Don't remember what he paid for it but then I can't believe what he tells me when it comes to him buying firearms. He gets ripped off a good bit on firearms deals.

What he said

I was going to pickup a 7mm-08 m7 but then saw a youth 7mm-08 700 sa adl stainless at d1cks sporting goods. It was only $400 and just balances way better then the m7s I have handled. I lined it in toady 120 btips first 5 shot group went into one hole.

I have a blued 20 inch with a synthetic stock that shoots 'okay' but nothing to write home about. I added a B&C stock hoping that would help and it didn't seem to make much difference in the accuracy but did add some weight to the butt end which is not a good thing in the M7 in my opinion. The stock is a bit thick and the rifle just doesn't balance all that well to me with the short thin barrel. I really like the idea of the short light M7 but will likely either rebarrel mine with a slightly heavier barrel or trip it at some point. The key to a light rifle is balance and stock fit in addition to light weight and this is where the Montana has it beat in my opinion.

I have a Model 7 in .308 that's shoots tiny clusters with IMR 4895 and 165 Hornadys.

Probly the best light wt rifle for the cheddar.

This is how I think also. Have a #3 Shilen on one, a #3 PacNor on another, both 20". The PN is a bit heavier than I'd like, but they did bore only a quarter inch of metal out of the center.

Love all of the ones I've been around!

I bought a 7 in 7-08 4 years ago for my GF. Needless to say it never made it to her. It became my most carried rifle. Short light and quick to shoulder. Excellent stalking or treestand gun. Would it be my first choice to sit on a 500 yard bean field with? No. But for stalking and treestands its my go to.

I liked it so much I picked up one in 308 last year but I still carry the 7-08 more and it will probably be the last rifle I part with.

I was glad to see they brought back the stainless model 7's this year.

Any of you M7 users find the magazine box to be binding between the bottom metal and the action?

I was working on one today and it took a large number of file strokes to trim the box to proper size.

Haven't had that problem with the mag. box when in the factory syn. stock but when I put mine in a B&C Medalist I had to knock off about 3/32 from the bottom of it.

John

This one is in a factory wood stock.

How is the length of pull? Being a youth model can the stock be replaced with a different stock to accommodate a longer length a pull? Congrats on an awesome rifle.

I tried the rifle with the relieved magazine box this afternoon.

Groups were nearly halved in size. Now three shot groups run moa or a bit less.

With full power loads of RL15 the barrel goes from cool to too hot to hold in four shots. The rifle took many trips from the firing line to the air conditioned car.

All the actions are the same. Youth models are just rifles with a 1" shorter stock than the "standard" LOP stocks. A youth stock will fit in place of standard and vice versa.

I prefer a shorter LOP myself for when bulked up in winter clothing.

I have two of these. One in .350 Rem Mag and the other in 7mm-08.

Beautiful little rifles exuding quality.