Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Is 7mm-08 heading towards obscurity?

I like 7-08 well enough, but it has always been obscure where I live. Not that there is anything wrong with it, it just never caught on. The 6.5 CM has.



Obscure and obsolete are not the same thing. I expect both 7-08 and 3006 to become obscure in my lifetime, but not obsolete. If anything 3006 will go 1st. There are a butt load of 3006 rifles out there, but very few new production. Some new rifles are no longer even being offered in 30-06 whereas it along with 270 used to be the 1st chambering's offered when something new came out. Ruger has 10 different versions of the Hawkeye, only 2 are available in 30-06, only 3 in 7-08. They don't offer a single Hawkeye in 270 BTW. If you want a 270 you have to settle for the Ruger American. Times are a changing.

Some sales numbers from one manufacturer in 2019, nearly 1/3 of all rifles sold were in the hated 6.5 CM. 308 only accounted for 7%, with 3006 lumped into the "other" category. I wouldn't be surprised to see similar numbers from other manufacturers.

https://christensenarms.com/blog/2019-in-review/

AND it would turn the buyer into an instant Sniper.

I’m gonna keep the 7mm-08 alive all by myself!

Obscurity? No.

Backseat in popularity to the 6.5 Creedmoor? Yes.

Many, many moons ago I started deer hunting with a used Marlin 336CS 30-30 that had a steel tube El Paso 4x Weaver already mounted on it that I bought from a local pawn shop and I killed several deer with it.

I somehow figured that the 30-30 wasn't killing them dead enough so I purchased a bolt 30-06 and mounted a Leupold 3x9 on it and I also took several deer with it.

After a few years I grew tried of the 30-06 recoil and purchased a bolt 7mm-08 and mounted a Leupold fixed 6x on it and I've never looked back......it kills deer just as dead as the 30-30 and 30-06 does and with my 120 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter load over a near max charge of Varget it's considerably easier on the shoulder.

Factory ammo never has been overly plentiful for the 08' but it's a great cartridge and I don't see it fading away.

The 7-08 Rem sits between two popular cartridges, the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 308 Win. Looking at those two there are game most suitable to one or the other depending on game size, bullet weights, recoil and reach ability. The 308 Win is still very popular because many households have one. Truth is the 7-08 Rem combines the best of both and supersedes both by virtue of similar case capacities, but with bullet weights and designs that have no rival for that case capacity. The 7-08 Rem is the sweet spot for versatility and all around performance that can be tailored for any circumstance up close or very far away.

"The 7-08 Rem is the sweet spot for versatility and all around performance . . ."

This!

Most hunters are shooting whitetails and mulies. The 7mm-08 is a much better choice for that application than the 30-06. Plus, it is a great elk round, too. Especially with modern bullets.

And, due to its short action, the rifle that shoots it can be a little smaller and lighter.

It may not be sexy, nor adopted by the U.S. military, but, all of the above means that the 7mm-08 is a great choice for a lot of hunters, and will be around for a long time.

JMHO

You mean theres some kinda way to not love both 6.5 an 7mm and not agonize over which one you buy next with countless oscillations between the two?

Is it just me with such an addiction?

I made a perfectly good .308 into a 7mm-08 back in the early ‘90’s and have paid more for cartridges ever since. I too think that it will be a lot like the .300 Savage round in that there are a lot of rifles chambered for it and maybe mail order cartridges only, but available. I’ve always opted for some of the more premium 7mm-08 bullet offerings anyway and those are not usually available locally anyway.

The .280 is still alive and there are less new rifles in that chambering than the 7mm-08, but yes, the Creedmoor is taking away market share that would have been occupied by the 7mm-08 or .243 in years past. There may be slightly fewer ammo offerings in 7mm-08 in years to come, but there are still a lot of existing rifles in that chambering.

For my money, I like it better than the Creedmoor or the .308 as a hunting round, but it's really not much different overall in that role. I shoot them all.

Get in line.





P

Not in my house! I usually have 4-5 in the gun safe, currently down to only 2 but just ordered a new action and will soon be back up to 3

7mm what ?

Echo the sentiment the creedmoor has relegated it to a mostly hand loader only proposition.

Something else to consider: except for a few exceptions, pretty much all cartridges have a shrinking market share simply because of the growing number of options that continue to become available.

The way I remember it the 7/08 came on a little slow in the early years, well known to rifle looney types but not especially by average or ordinary public. It is now 40 years old and about as popular as the .270 was when it was 40 years old.

Some of you may remember hunting talk around the barbershop in the mid or early 1960's and many participating did not know what a .270 was back then.
My point is that now there are enough rifles in the 7/08 caliber out there that it is not going away.

Well if the 7mm-08 goes extinct it is because it can't compete with my favorite ----------- the 7x5 Mauser!

CJ

..................Too many 7mm buffs out there. 7/08 gonna be around for a long time to come.

Good indicators to determine IF the 7/08 cartridge is on the down slide or not, would be to track all of the new factory rifles available in 7/08, available factory ammo and brass for the reloaders. If any one or any combo of those three were taking place then I might be concerned a little if a 7/08 owner or a wannabe 7/08 owner...

bsa1917hunter, that's my point....the 6.5 Creedmoor offers, in my opinion, one large advantage and one small advantage over the .260 Remington. The ability to seat VLD bullets to correct length and still have the shank of the bullet in the neck, and a slightly sharper shoulder. With more conventional bullets there is not much difference to the hunter who stil thinks 400 yards is a long shot. On game, I'm one of those, and seldom shoot at game over 300 anymore. The hypothetical 7mm Creedmoor would offer the same advantages to the 7..-08, but are they important enough to create demand for a new cartridge? Probably not, but if there are those out there who want to load long for caliber, high BC bullets......

My bet is the 7mm-08 is with us a long time, as it is almost an ideal deer cartridge. But, I said that about the .260 when it came out (still think so), and look what happened.

In the group that I shoot with all are hunters and pretty serious shooters. Several have bought 6 and 6.5 Creeds, no new 7-08s. Small sample but covers an age range from 28-73 y/o of mostly good shooters and one old hacker.


mike r