Thanks for all the input. Tom, thanks for the offer, I'll keep it in mind. I'm going to allow (and hope) for the possibility that Mrs Snubbie may be looking around for a gift for our upcoming 25th anniversery. She asked me about rifles and what I would want if I were going to get one. She doesn't give two hoots about a rifle or what rifle I may want. I put the 7mm--08 bug in her ear figuring it would be easier for her to find IF she is considering this.
There's hardly a dimes worth of difference between the 7-08 and .280. I think I could live happily ever after with either! May even lean toward the 7mm-08 if for no other reason than brass size. I currently use and load for .25-06. Having totally different brass size and loaded cartridges would certainly help avoid a mix-up.
If I end up with new bedroom slippers and a necktie for anniversary I'll save my pesos and start looking for used!
Good Morning, snubbie,
You will do well with either cartridge. It might just boil down to preference. I agree that the 7MM-08 Rem will do everything that a .280 Rem will do. The 7x57 was doing it all long before the 7MM Rem Mag arrived.
As I got older and a little wiser, that and too damned many ortho surgeries, I realized that I didn't much like carrying a heavy 7MM Rem Mag up and down the Rockies all day long. So I figured I'd buy a lighter and more easy-to-carry rifle. I was going to go '06 so I could use it on elk. But I researched the heck out of it and found out there ain't arguin' difference between an '06 & .308 Win. So I went with a short action Featherweight in .308 Win. I've never looked back. It's a compact rifle. I ain't shot an elk with it...yet, but I can tell you that mule deer don't much like it.
I cannot imagine anything in North American that you couldn't put in your freezer with a 160 grain .284 caliber bullet at 2800 FPS. And ain't no big game gunna figure out the difference between a 7MM-08 Rem & .280 Rem.
I wish you the absolute best of luck on finding your next rifle.
Take care,
Tom
