Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 7mm-08 What makes it popular?

Seen several threads showing some nice fur taken this season by guys and dolls using a 7-08. It’s never been a chambering I’ve considered. I am wondering if the increase in scope dialing, and bullet designs have contributed to it’s success and popularity.
What’s to like? 😎

I'm thinking it is kind of like the 6.5 CM without the 270 reputation..... but with better bullets....

Bob

Oh, man. You’re gonna turn this into a schit show now for sure...6.5 Creed versus the 7-08. I already own a CM and a 270 Beaver. Thinking 7-08 may have a place somewhere in between them. 😎

Calling Pharm!! We need you Pharm will explain better than I can but they just work and kill stuff. I'm a huge fan of the 7MM-08, have been for about the last 15 or so years and most times have 4 or 5 in the gun safe just in case!! I guess its just one of those calibers that doesn't sound all that impressive on paper but when you start hunting with it you get it. And for us amateurs that don't hand load you can get some mighty fine factory ammo for it.

It's a great cartridge with performance that notably outshines its modest appearance.

Great selection of bullets, good muzzle velocity, flat enough shooting, can be had in very compact and handy rifles and very moderate recoil to name a few. Really it's just a good balance of everything you're looking for in a cartridge for game up to about the size of elk. You can improve on many of the attributes of the cartridge but usually by sacrificing another.

I've prolly killed more varied stuff with the 7mm-08 than any of the other 80+ cartridges that I have loaded for!













Couple it with a 140 Gr. Nosler Accubond...........

Works for me!

ya!

GWB

It works.....

GW-few hunt with the same class you do, my Friend. As always, beautiful rifles. Thanks for showing.

I felt a disturbance in the Force...

The 7mm-08 is a conundrum. On paper it looks pedestrian at best, suitable for women and kids. But elk, deer, and antelope don’t read ballistic tables.

In the 7mm-08 we find the intersection of performance and shootability. Sure, there’s lots of hairy chested he-men who shrug off the recoil of a 460 Wby the way others look at a .22. The kind of hunters who one-hand a .338 Win Mag like Rooster Cogburn shooting Ned Pepper.

Then there’s the rest of us who like to shoot, but have come to tolerate recoil less and less. Tolerate might be the wrong term, say rather we choose to avoid it more, and enjoy shooting without the beating.

So recoil is manageable, but what about on-game performance? I think we’ve seen enough money pics of elk, deer, and antelope at a variety of distances to have confidence in the lethality. I’ve killed deer at over 500 yards, and seen elk killed at over 400 yards. Members on this site have killed elk even farther, quickly and efficiently with the Mighty 08.

The reloader has a wide variety of bullets from which to choose. 120s on the low end, 160 and up on the high end. 7mm bullets have a sweet spot for ballistic coefficients, so velocity is retained surprisingly well.

But it does take a bit of getting used to. I grew up thinking the .30-06 was the best/only cartridge for anything I would ever hunt. Imagine my surprise when I killed my first bull with the Mighty 08 DRT. I’ve killed smaller bulls that took a second shot with a .300 Weatherby! My second bull with the 08 went down so fast I thought I had missed.

If you’re looking for a rifle that is easy to shoot, and easy to shoot well, borrow someone’s 7mm-08. Then take one hunting. A 120 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3100 FPS, 140 grain Partition at 2880 FPS, or 150 ELDX at 2790 FPS will kill anything you’re likely to shoot, at ranges you’re likely to hunt.





P

Because it's really a 7X57.

Ted

Okay, I’m sold!...

Now, let’s help the Beaver select a rifle and a couple of different loads to tryout...I will hand load for this rifle.

The 120g NAB is a 100% given. I shoot NAB’s in most of my big fur rifles. I have come to love and respect this bullet on what it does when placed properly. I’am looking for a 140g bullet, as another option...Recommendation please.

Rifle? Up to $1400 for it.
I have one Tikka CTR in 6.5 CM. It’s one of the very few box rifles I’ve purchased that shoots every bit as good as any of my custom rigs. Tikka would be a consideration in a stainless and fluted barrel. Plastic furniture would be replaced with either a Manners or MCM stock.

Any other rifle recommendations are appreciated and barrel length. I’m partial to 24” barrels. I don’t run a suppressor. But, if a 22” inch barrel is what you’re hunting and like; Explain. I will listen this time instead of putting a saw to my barrel after not listening to some hippie looking dude in Colorado that’s knows a smidge about rifles...Thanks 😎

24" really isn't needed which is one of the benefits. 22 is about perfect in my eyes and 20 is adequate. As far as rifles on that budget you've got some options, it really depends on how you're going to use it. A Fieldcraft (used), Kimber MT or Christensen Arms Mesa are all in that budget.i think the fieldcraft has a 21", the Christensen is a 22" and I don't recall the Kimber. Any of those would save you the hassle of restocking and may be cheaper in the end.

Copy...22” seems the norm. Thoughts on a Kimber Mountain Ascent? A lot to like except for the Kimber Lottery that I played once and lost requiring a new PacNor barrel. 😎

My go to load for the 7mm-08, no matter what the barrel length is the 140 gr. Accubond over 43 gr. W-748. May not have the highest velocity, but I've found that it shoots sub-inch in all of the dozen or so rifles i've owned chambered for the 7mm-08



+/- 20" barrel



22" barrel




or 24" barrel.

and with Muzzle Velocities circa 2,850 FPS, at ranges of +/-100 yds. and over, you should be able to eat right up to the bullet hole!

ya!


GWB

Thanks GWB...I will try it out. I just bought a custom build from our classifieds. Lonewolf had his 7-08 build up for sale. Super rifle and a good price. Stoked to get the rifle and start putting loads together. 😎

Thinking this is coming my way tomorrow 😎






Accurate Ordnance Custom 7mm08
Bighorn Arms Origin s/a action DLC coated
Manners EH-8 13.5 LOP stock is pillar bedded barrel is free floated
22" Hart 1-9 twist rem sporter contour
Triggertech special set 2 lbs
Hawkins BDL bottom metal
Rifle weight is 7 lbs
Rifle comes with a 20 moa pinned rail also comes with Talley 1pc low 30mm rings
Received rifle in October right before deer season, loaded up some 120 Nosler Bt and it shot very well .5 or better 3 shots groups at 100 yards. Rifle has less than 25 rounds

FWIW,

Only time I shoot groups is for load development. I'll take accuracy over velocity any day. After I have developed a load, its first shot out of a cold barrel that trips my trigger.










ya!

GWB

looks like fun will be had!

Enjoy!


GWB

Thanks GWB...Cigars and Scotch one day in our future, maybe...Mom was from a little town in Texas called Quitaque Kitty-Kway” 😎