Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 7MM-08 for my first elk hunt?

I shot these 2 at 230 and 240 yards about 30 seconds apart, both exited and both went about 30 yards before piling up, again 7-08 and 140 AB's:





Shot this Montana bull, 70 yards, hard quartering toward me, broke the near shoulder exited at the back of the rib cage:



Broke both shoulders on this cow, again 140 AB she pushed herself about 5 yards on her hind legs:

Shot this cow at 621 yards with a 7-08 and 140 AB's, bullet broke ribs in and out also exited:



7-08 quartering away 160 yards:



Plain vanilla 150 yards behind the shoulder, made it maybe 10 steps:



250 yards broke the near shoulder exited behind opposite shoulder, 2 steps:

Last fall, 170 yards:



Last fall, 387 yards, exit side is facing the camera:



My nephew with his first elk, 7-08 and 120 grain ballistic tip, 70 yards broke the off shoulder:



We've used the 7-08 enough to be pretty damn comfortable using it on elk...

country_20boy,

One of the basic, long-time rules of big game ballistics is that hunters living east of the Mississippi River, who've never hunted elk, require far more "gun" than do actual elk living west of the Mississippi.

I've killed 2 elk both with 7-08 enough gun

Looks like you have you answer. FWIW, my GF used my 6.5x55 with 130 gr Accubonds to shoot a large cow moose last year. Killed it every bit as quick as miy 30.06 with 165 gr Interbonds.



Use it.

Years ago I built up a 7 RM to hunt everything and it sure reads like my more recent 7mm-08 would do the same job. What a lot of people don't take into consideration is that most of us will shoot a 7mm-08 at long range way better than a big magnum that is going to hit us with 2x-3x more recoil. The older I get, the less that I want to shoot and carry a big magnum rifle.

MD:

I looked this AM and there were 311 replies to the thread by VarmitGuy on what rifle, scope caliber for elk. Looks like a pretty mixed bag to me and was tempted to sort it out by caliber and location...but that passed, thankfully. I have coffee to drink.

Scope used: tactical vs set and forget, may be a interesting commentary...

East of the Mississipi includes exactly 1/2 of the globe, so have thought of my home base as the Great Lake States, or the Midwest. Takes me 12 hours to get to Baltimore and 10 to get to Memphis, both very different worlds from the midwest.

Here we too were subjected to magnumitis marketing, basically at the same time as the rest of the planet via reading gun rags. "More gun" appeared in deer camps for their amazing killing power, not so much the trajectory--trailing poorly hit deer thru cedar swamps gets old pretty fast. Recall a friend raving about his BAR 300WM as a stone dead killer and "softer" recoil--certainly a step up from the lever....but it no longer gets any play. Mags got quite a bit of play for mooses, as there used to be a lot more moose hunting until the changes in Canada. It was a natural to use them on elk--but still further to drive. All in all, I think that the better killing part has pretty much worn off with the experienced hunters.

If it is a rule that the younger guys from the eastern half need more gun, they aren't hearing it so much from their elders as they did once upon a time...

We can safely surmise after reading the above posts that the 7-08 is enough rifle. This piece of advice from utah708 is the best elk hunting advice given!

“If it’s still standing, I’m still shooting”.

Happy Trails

My wife shot her cow last year at 250 yards with her 7mm-08 and 120 ttsx.
That was three cows for last three years with same rifle/load.

Guess, the 7mm-08 works great on elk from the pile of them BuzzH showed. Prolly bounce off anything else, though. 🙂😎

Hornady 140 GMX in 7mm-08 worked fine for me @275 yards on a nice 5x5 bull elk this year. First shot was in the diaphragm, second in the neck; both pass-throughs. Total distanced traveled = 10 yards. Probably not an optimal caliber selection at that distance on a bull but it worked.

https://imgur.com/JzawPGj

7mm-08AI, 120 gr TTSX at 405 yds, 3100 fps MV. I'd probably load Accubonds for her to use if I did it again. The TTSX worked but the bull walked uphill about 40 yds, laid down and didn't expire until Hope and her guide got up close to him. Actually the Accubond would have been travelling faster at 400 yds than the TTSX - and still in a very good performance window.

Either will work, but I might go Accubond.

I'll dig up some of mine and my wife's 7-08 kills if I feel like getting off my butt in 107 temps with a cold beer in my hand...

It looks like Buzz's pics with more variety...grin...

Go Etip....

Either load will do. You are good to go.

Someone suggested taking both rifles. I concur. I work in an industry where "one is none and two are one". Something bad happens to one you'll still have a backup. BTDT.

It is hard to argue with BuzzH, when it comes to the 7-08. He used to be a 7 mag guy, and now rarely uses it. Success speaks for itself. The 7-08 is a fine balance of power and convenience. I have never owned one, but said long ago, that if I was just starting out-instead of winding down-that I would own two 7-08s and forget my 7 mags, 308s etc.

BuzzH, tells us more about the rifles used ?

BuzzH pretty much answered any questions (ballistics wise) I may have had.

Thanks to all of you for the positive replies. Like I said, I already knew the answer, but it's nice to hear from those that have been there and done that and have first hand info.

BuzzH, all I can say is wow!! Fantastic group of photos.

TomK, the horseback photo in the snow looks awesome. I grew up riding on a cattle farm and I know that would be a great way to hunt.

Believe me, I've already thought of this. The naysayers aren't going with me, thank goodness.

No worries here. My brother will be with me and I can shoot his 280AI if needed.