Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 7mm08 and Elk

In perfect conditions, I would keep my shots under 200 yards.

How many elk have you killed with the 7-08?

JFC! Perfect conditions?

Read just the other day on the campfire it requires a magnificent 338 rum. You could PM the blowhard and get the particulars. LOL

Keep a 7/08 under 200 yards..

This chit just kills me..

Wow, lots of advice from a bunch of "elk hunters" that havent shot many elk...or a 7-08.

I've seen several killed the last few years with the 7-08 and 140 accubonds from 2 different rifles...one has a MV of 2910, the other 2870.

My wife shot this bull at 202 yards, broadside. The bull slowly turned at the shot, then stumbled about 30 feet downhill and flopped over dead.



I was impressed enough with the 7-08 I built one last year and got to test it out a bit.

I shot these 2 elk in about 60 seconds. Shot this cow first at 130-140 yards broadside. She kicked and ran about 20 yards and died.



This bull stepped out when I shot the cow, and I thought about it for a minute before I shot him at 170 yards, hard quartering away. He slumped at the shot and made it about 30 yards into the timber and died.



Next I headed to Montana to hunt with my Dad and Brother. My Dad was interested in my 7-08, so shot this cow at 230 yards quartering slightly away. Made it a whopping 25 yards before hitting rubber legs street and dropped.



My Brother took this 6 point bull the following day at 487 yards, again quartering away. Found the bullet, a 140 grain accubond (only one I've found so far), on the point of the off shoulder. The bull made it a whopping 25 yards.



Heres the recovered bullet:



Finally, I was whitetail deer hunting in Western Montana and bumped into 2 bulls. I hated to waste a day of deer hunting, but took this bull with a hard quartering toward shot at 70 yards, hitting the point of the on side shoulder. The bull left a massive blood trail and I found him about 15 yards from where I shot him.

[img]http://photos.imageevent.com/buzzandpat/elkhunting/websize/DSC00160.JPG[/img]

My conclusion is that the 7-08 is a very capable choice for elk.

I've killed many elk with the 30/06 and 338 and they work great as well. But, for those thinking the 7-08 is marginal for elk, you need to take perfect shots, you have to be within 200 yards, etc. demonstrates to me that they havent seen it used much on elk.

I'm sure some will still argue all day long about how marginal the 7-08 is for elk...

Carry on.

Dang Buzz, you need to buy another rifle so you, your dad, and your brother don't have to share the one 7-08.

smokepole,

Funny story, when I left Montana my brother tells me, "be sure to take good care of my rifle, dont be dropping it and beating it up"...

Had a good friend from AK use it on 2 nice WY pronghorns as well...he really liked it too.

Its just an easy rifle to shoot well, easy to carry, etc.

I also killed an elk on the same hunt my Dad and Brother took theres last year. I had been meaning to kill an elk with my Dads pre-64 in 30/06 for years. Finally got around to it last fall. My Dad, my late Grandfather, and I have all now killed deer, elk, and pronghorn in Montana with the same rifle.

Have had numerous clients kill elk out to 500yds using the 7mm-08. Had my wife one built several years ago, and have seen numerous animals killed with it, from hogs up to mule deer and elk. There has been several times that I have had clients guns not show up at the airport, and several have shot this rifle for elk. Numerous ones came back the next year with a new 7mm-08. Im not a fan of accubonds, but that is just my personal opinion. Put the bullet in the right place and no matter the distance, it will do what it is supposed to do.
Great round.

Toby Joe

All I could think of was how bad it would suck to have two elk down at once. One is bad enough. But congratulations!

Buzz, Congrats on some very fine animals. Big of you to offer up your rifle to others! Your a good man.

I've yet to see a 30-06 make anything more dead than a 7mm-08 or visa versa.

The 140 Partition always served us well. And every Accubond kill we've experienced has been very much partition like.

Logged in just to say that's funny....

I prefer 160 gr NAB's in my 7-08 for elk...

What speed you getting and powder used?

Say what you will Rancho, I don't care what your opinions about my opinions are. But to clarify myself, I did not say that a 7mm08 could not kill elk at longer distances. I've heard of and seen people drop elk and moose at much longer distances than 200 yards with this round. But the reason for my opinion is this; I am extremely respectful of the animals I hunt, and therefore I am extremely (you may even say overly) cautious about the shot I take and the rounds and types of bullets I use. There are two reasons I hunt. The first reason is so that I my eat meat from an animal that lived the way an animal should live, ate what an animal should eat, and died as quick, fear free, and pain free a death as could possibly provide, instead of waiting in terror at a slaughter house. The second reason is so that proper populations can be maintained so that they can continue living proper and healthy lives. And out of my respect of these animals and my striving to provide them with clean and proper deaths, I simply refuse to hunt animals the size of elk or larger with any thing smaller than a .308 or .270, not that a smaller round like the 7mm08 or 7x57 Mauser won't get the job done properly, especially with premium ammunition, but I just like to be absolutely confident that what I am shooting will provide the clean and quick kills I desire. Call me paranoid if you like, because I probably am. I also refuse, no matter how large my gun is, to take a shot unless I know I can make it and like to keep my shots at as short distances as possible. If I have doubts or worries as to whether I can make that shot or not then I will simply not take it. Now if you see my reasons to be absurd, dumb, badly thought out, or lacking, then feel free to insult, criticize or demean. Because I really don't give a dmn.

.284 is a smaller round than .277?

Holeee chit.

Learn something new on here every day.

If you don't think you can cleanly take an elk past 200 yds with an 7-08, you haven't hunted much.

So you�ve seen situations where a 270 or 308 performed better than a 7mm-08 or 7x57 on elk size game, in order for you to come to this conclusion? What were the ranges, conditions and situations, and bullets/loads used?

Youre clueless!

It would be difficult to choose four cartridges more similar in general performance on big game than the .270 Winchester, 7mm-08 Remington, 7x57 Mauser and .308 Winchester. My wife and I have used all four on various big game animals, and I can't imagine the circumstances where one would definitely outperform the others.

I was not really talking about bullet diameter, Rancho, I was mainly talking about energy. You know, mass multiplied by the square of the speed.

Prairie Goat, what neither you nor Ranco seems to realize is that I am not try to knock either of the 7mms I previously mentioned. I love them both and think they are fantastic wonderful rounds and, as I have said before, know that they'll drop elk. And to be entirely honest, I have seen little to no evidence that a 308 or 270 drops elk any better than either of the 7mms mentioned. Yes I've seen messed kills with all of them, probably the most with the 7mm08, but that could be from any number of variables. But as I said before, I am overly cautious and paranoid when it comes to my ammunition and I simply have set some limits. Is that really such a sin?