Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 358 win or 7-mm-08

The bigger the meplat..........

The tighter the group.........


Recoil be dammned!

Killed a few elk with a 7mm Caliber, none with a 358, I can afford either. If you are hunting the deep, dark and wet, timber the 358 is your bet. Any other areas the 7 mm will get it done.

Do you mean the 348 or 358?

The 348 rifles had no place to mount a scope.

I have both calibers and both have been elk hunting (no elk taken with either rifle). I think Elkmen has summed it up nicely. The 358 win with a 225 grain bullet is a good woods rifle and 250 yards shouldn't be a problem. Mine likes NP's but, Sierra Gameking's are the most accurate bullet I've tried. As indicated, the 7-08 will reach out a bit further and has a better selection of bullets to choose from. My 358 win is probably my favorite rifle and is well suited for the distance I'm comfortable shooting large game.

this post is right on with two additions 7mm-08 ammo is much easier to find and cheaper too buy than 358 win. not many rifles chambered in a 358 win any more either and every company chambers 7 mm -08. that should tell you something also.

I like them both, but I own neither right now. If I were to be offered one of the two, I also would have trouble choosing. The 7-08 is the shell that covers the bases a bit better, but for raw power the 358 dose the job with real authority.
So I guess it depends on what you hunt, and where.

I do own some 270s and the 7-08 covers the same ground in the game fields as the 270. I see the 7-08 as the very best of the factory shells made on the 308 case. But don't think you can't shoot 400 yards with a 358. You sure can. You just need to know the hold over, and it's not as high as you might think.

The 358 Winchester is a shell I have made several rifles on. I have never sold one to a customer who didn't love it.

I have a 9X57 in the works now and a 9.3X57 in my safe. As I load them, those 2 shells set on both the high side and the low side of the 358. I think very highly of them as hunting cartridges, but after about 175 yards you have to judge or measure your ranges closer than you would with the 7-08. But if you hunt in the trees the problem doesn't exist.

Maybe you should ignore everyone's advice here except for that given by JimhnSTL
"Get both".

Then in the future when someone else asks, you can tell us all the answers, and give real world advice concerning how they work.

Well said amigo!

Eh.....

the right choice FEELS like the .358.....

But I don't think either is a bad choice.

-Jake

No wrong answer here.

It sure helps when posters read the original question.....see the bolded words.

While either of the cartridges in question are adequate for the task the .358 is going to make the larger hole. If we stretch the distance another football field we are simply evading the original question.

^^^^^^^this^^^^^^^^^

For what it’s worth: to the original poster, either will do fine, but after many years of use I’ll take the 7mm-08. There is nothing it won’t do in this country if loaded and shot properly. And, if the 7mm-08 didn’t exist, my next choice would be the .308. Why tolerate more recoil and a less flat trajectory if not necessary?

358, l aready have a 7x57 and a 35 Whelen. For elk in timber I would prefer the 358 and 250 gr. Speer spitzers or Nosler Partitions. 250 yards is not really to far to shoot a pointed bullet started out at 2300 fps. If you just had to you could use 225 gr. bullets going a bit over 2500 fps. My experience with the 35 caliber rifles give me absolute confidence that I will get an exit hole and it will leak blood no matter what. I have killed an elk with a 7MM RM but neither of the two bullets exited the elk. 175 gr. Hornady Spire points. The 270 though not a 7MM did well with 150 gr. Speers and Partitions exited half the time but on elk blood trails were kind of thin, I was glad I had snow. This all said most of the elk I have shot were closer than 200 yards, some much closer.

Started with a 358 then went to a 700 Ti 7mm-08 for a decade or so but decided to give a 358 another try.

My new Elk rig is a light weigh Montana rebored to 358 shooting 200 gr Tipped TSX. Sweet shooting gun out to 300 yards.

Great advice. That's why I have a 7mm-08 and .35 Whelen barrel for my Encore and a 7mm-08 bolt gun. :-)

split the difference and go .308 165 gr. TTSX will do well =]

I totally agree. About the parent case......the 308. Waz built 4 a reason.........itz a miracle!

This just might be the best advice on ths entire thread.

Not in my opinion... it runs the 165 mono too slow for my taste.

i have only used conventional bullets in the 308. 165 or 180 s. The 160 FTX in the 300 savage.


Been good 4 me on cow elk. ( Rocky Mountain). Under 450 yards. Most a lot closer.