Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Mule Deer, et al, compare the 7-08 and 6.5 Creed as a general purpose hunting round

I know there’s lots of good hunting long range bullets for the 6.5 Creed, but the 7-08 seems to a dedicated following, and a large selection of bullets as well.

How do they compare for real hunting situations?

Toss them in a bag, use the one that falls out first. I’ve killed lots of pigs with both. Dead is dead!

The only rifle cartridges that are closer to each other than those two, for real hunting situations, are the 7x57 Mauser and the .275 Rigby.

Sycamore

It’s where you put the bullet that counts. I like both and have a preference for 6.5 cal as I’m getting old and like lighter rifles with less recoil. Both kill very well out to 350 or so. The 708 with a 140 TTSX will kill what ever you need as will the CM with 140 Accubond.

I bet it is like Governor George Wallace said about the Democrats versus the Republicans "not a dime's worth of difference".

Inside of normal hunting distance of ~300y....they're going to be the same. If you're going to go for larger animals, I'd go 160+ bullets in the 7-08.

I've got a couple of bolt-action 7mm-08 rifles and a couple in short action 6.5mm chamberings as well. I've seen no real difference in the field. The 7mm-08 will do what the Creed does with about 15gr more bullet weight, at the expense of a bit more recoil, and only a bit. The Creed will do what the 7mm-08 will do with a bit less recoil and marginally slipperier bullets of a few grains less weight. For general purpose hunting, I like a good 130 at 2,900-ish in a 6.5. For the 7mm-08 I must admit that it's a toss up between the 120's at 3,100 and the 140/145 stuff at more like 2,800. They will all work.

The existence and acceptance 6.5 Creed does not diminish the effectiveness or the performance of the 7mm/08 or its elder brother the 7x57.
Unless you kill 100 or more animals a year with each, you are unlikely to ever see a difference and even then a rifle that you like, that fits you well is likely to sway judgement and opinion.
John

Have both, like both.

To me, performance is about a draw.

DF

David,

I might go with the 7mm-08 if hunting more game larger than deer. Have seen both the 7-08 and 7x57 (which has the same ballistics) used on a bunch of 400+ pound animals both in North America and Africa, and they work well. One of hunting hunting partners in Africa neatly killed a 600-pound blue wildbeest bull (considered perhaps the toughest of the plains game) with one 140-grain AccuBond from a 7-08. The bull ran about 50 yards and keeled over. I've used the 7x57 on 16 species of big game, including elk and moose in North America and gemsbok, wildebeest and kudu in Africa.

That said, haven't seen much problem with .25/6.5/.270 caliber rounds on the same basic array of game in North America, including the Creedmoor and similar 6.5's like the .260 and 6.5x55.

They both work if you put a good bullet in the right place.

might not factory ammo be a bit easier to find in the 7-08?

Nope, the loads available for the two rounds are about equal even though the 7mm-08 has been around for a couple of decades longer. My quick search on Midway turned up the following:

6.5 Creedmoor (37 loads): https://www.midwayusa.com/65-creedmoor/br?cid=20296

7mm-08 Rem (33 loads): https://www.midwayusa.com/7mm-08-remington/br?cid=22155

And there are more manufacturers jumping the Creedmoor bandwagon every day.

The 7mm does put a bit more momentum into the bullet, and with equal bullet construction, and a bit bigger hole. Does it matter? Don’t know. But these threads always say it doesn’t matter, but if extrapolate it all out eventually there’s no difference between a 338 win mag and a 243 win. I tend to think there is a small difference as you go up. With the bigger animals it may begin to matter. On deer, probably not.

Went to local Wal-Mart today...could have bought three different 6.5 Creed loads but not sure if I've ever seen a box of 7-08 there...so, these days, I think the Creed factory loads are much easier to find. That doesn't matter much to me since I hand-load for either.

Both are at their best with 120-140gr bullets.

I’ve shot 7-08 nearly since it came out and the best performing bullet on game I’ve used is the 120 TTSX. Great killer of deer, Pronghorn and elk. No need to use anything bigger when this bullet leaves two holes in anything at almost all reasonable hunting distances. Never caught one, although I’ve caught quite a few 140s in various guises and most 160s.

Have yet to kill anything with the Creedmoor but have taken a freighter full of critters with the .260 and 6.5x284. The 120-130s are preferred but 140 class bullets really seem to perform. I’ve gotten multiple pass-through with all weights, including my two farthest shots on game.

I’ll be working with the Creedmoor the next couple of seasons and fully expect it to kill everything as well as any .260, 6.5x284, 270 Win, .280 Rem or 7-08. I already know it kicks less and is easier to shoot well than all the above and that only the great .270 Winchester has more factory ammo available.

I’m just charting out potential loads right now and development will start soon with several excellent bullets.

I had a Vanguard 6.5 creedmoor for a year. It shot factory rounds well, but it was really picky about reloads. I did manage to find several loads that it loved and killed a whitetail with it this season. Yet, sold it and bought a 7mm-08.

I have more shooting/reloading experience with the 7mm-08 cartridge and it is a pretty excepting round of different powder/bullet combinations.

Thrown all into the pot; would I have tried to kill that whitetail this past season with a 7mm-08? Maybe/maybe not. I might have passed and waited. But, I had worked with that creedmoor out to 400 m so I was comfortable with it out to that range. This year I'll do the same with the 7mm-08 and see what results I get on paper first; see how comfortable and consistent I can shoot.

I have both. My one and only benchrest or target rifle is a medium-heavy barrel 6.5 CM. I'm an older hunter and it is too heavy for anything other than maybe varmint hunting but, It is accurate, easy to reload and just plain fun to shoot. The new RDF match bullets as well as their older custom competition bullets are really accurate and pretty easy to reload. I'm guessing the longer range Hornady ELD-X and Berger bullets would be great in my rifle.

One of my deer rifles, is a 7mm-08. I have probably worked up more hunting loads for this rifle than any other rifle I own. I currently have it set up as a longer range rifle and have tried several bullets including 139 grain Hornady SST's (factory loads), 140 grain Barnes TTSX, Nosler Partitions and Ballistic Tips, along with a couple of different Speer 145 grain bullets. I getting ready to play with (test) some 140 grain Trophy Bonded Tip bullets as well. For heavy for caliber bullets, I've tried 156 grain Norma Oryx's and will soon be reloading some 160 grain Sierra GameKing SBT's. I'm really anxious to get some test loads worked up using the SGK's as they have proven to be one of the most accurate bullets that I've loaded (in other calibers) and, my Tikka T3 seems like heavier bullets well.

For hunting, it is a coin toss as either rifle would work fine for most game I hunt.

Might be so, but from what I've in some of the sporting goods stores I've frequented on trips in areas I hunt (Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington) just about all have 7-08 on the shelf. Some have had 6.5 Creed but a lot have not.

Buying off the shelf is what I was referring to. YMMV

Our local hardware store here stocks Creedmoor now, but not 7-08.

And always 6 Rem. Must be somebody likes that one around here.

If you’re worried about factory ammo, get a 308 Win.