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

no - not for a long time,maybe someday -maybe never? 257 Roberts is almost lost now,i personally hope not ,hell the 6.5 Creedmoor might be gone in 30 years ? who knows for sure ?

Okay, Pharmseller and I will keep it alive!

120BT @ 3200fps in 7-08 is pretty hard to beat for such low recoil and effective range on deer, mulies and even elk. I'm a fan.

Greats you won’t find at WalMart:
416 Rigby
375 H&H
300 H&H
7x57
9.3-62
280 Standard or AI

Really irrelevant test, that available at WalMart deal.

By a bit, the 7-08 is what the .308 should have been from the beginning, for 99 percent of what needs be done by either.

Yeah that’s a good one. Very effective and seems we’re not the only ones with that opinion.

Gotta use Big Game powder, of course.

DF

It's called the 7mm GPC.
The parent case is the 30 T/C, same as the needmore

I've had a 7-08 or two since the 80's. Maybe the best deer/antelope load ever.

The only way it will ever "go away" is when, if, the .308 is banned for civilian sales, i.e., never.

Didn't know about the 7mm GPC, jackmounain. Thanks for the info!

I hope not. 7mm-08 is still pretty high on my list of wants.

I honestly don't think it is going to go away. However, it may fall into semi-obscurity for a while-- kind of the way 300 Savage did.

I was going to buy a Savage 99. My buddy who used to be a gun rag editor told me to stay away from 300 Savage, because it was going to become an orphan. True, in the early 2000's most folks were shying away from it. It was getting harder to find factory fodder. Savage had stopped making 99's, and the bulk of their last rifles were in 308 WIN. I bought a 308 WIN Savage 99 instead, and learned to download it to 300 Savage levels. It's still one of my favorite deer rifles.

However, within a few years, 300 Savage made a comeback. It's still out there. Folks are still interested in it. It isn't dead and it probably is not going to be.

I see 7mm-08 kind of going the same way. Both can use ubiquitous 308 brass. 7mm bullets are almost as ubiquitous as .308. There is no special treatment needed. It may fall out of favor with some gunmakers. However, some will probably keep it around, because it is one of the better chamberings for their rifles (Browning BLR's for an example).

For me, I want to start playing with 7mm-08 when my 30-06 rifles start getting hard to shoot. I'm approaching 62. I've already hit my highwater mark for recoil. Eventually, I'll not be as interested in my stable of aught-sixes and I'll start seriously dabbling in things that are easier on the shoulder. 7mm-08 will be top of my list.

I have great .308 and 7-08 rifles, like them both, use them both. .308 is a Kimber Classic with Broughton barrel, the 7-08, a SA 700 with Hart.

I read some time ago, one posters claiming the 7-08 squeezes all the "suck" out of the.308. I don't believe that, just passing on one opinion.

DF

As good as the 7-08 Rem is it will never surpass the 308 Win in the field. When you have a 2.8” cartridge that duplicates 90% of what the 30-06 will do in the game field, and do it with less recoil and a superb record for long range accuracy you have IMO reached the pinnacle of a do-it-all big game cartridge.

Not sure you got my drift, which was a gentle nudge to the OP about getting into hand-loading so he won't forever have to worry about where his next box of ammo is coming from, or let popularity unduly influence what he shoots. The 7-08 is somewhat under-appreciated right now, but I sure wouldn't let that keep me from buying one if I wanted to, same as some others that are falling off a bit just now, but are as useful as ever. I usually look for rifles that appeal to me, then look at what cartridges are available. I see very little practical difference between most cartridges for my use, putting Eastern whitetails in my freezer. Stick 'em right, and reach for your knife.

Only place I ever hear anybody even talk about the 7mm-08 is on here. Seems to already be largely moot.

Thanks for all the replies. I've been looking for a certain rifle in 6.5 Creedmoor but found it for a great price at a local gun shop in 7mm-08. From what I know about it, the 7mm-08 seems like it would be great. But there are lots of good factory loads for the Creedmoor and not many for the 7mm-08. I can shoot the 6.5 creedmoor pretty cheaply. Not so much the 7mm-08.

Getting into reloading is a whole other thing... it would change my perspective for sure.

Gotta reload.

But, you're right. For the non-reloader, it's hard to beat the Creed, top quality ammo on the dealer's shelves and at fair prices.

I have both, shoot both, don't see much difference regarding how they perform on WT's and hogs. Both do the job. IMO, it depends more on the bullet than the caliber/round in comparing those two.

DF

I suspect the 6.5CM and 6.5PRC will do to the 7mm-08 what the .243 Win did to the .257 Roberts.

Bullets of fairly similar weight, diameter and construction with better B.C. values and, with the PRC, higher velocities than the 7mm-08.

Not knocking the 7mm-08 as I think it is a great cartridge. Just don't see it competing well with the 6.5's in new sales.

7mm-08 has significantly more velocity with same bullet weights than the CM, with the capability of much heavier projectile, should one wish. And since BC doesn’t matter to 90% of shooters, I get a kick out of the CM fanboy-ism.




P

I've never owned a 7mm08 and only owned a 6.5cm for a month or so, but I do pay attention to what dealers stock. Judging from the tremendous success of the 6.5s, and so few sightings of 7mm08s and very limited 7mm08 ammo choices, I'd guess the 7mm08 has seen its best days. Few hunters hand load, even fewer new hunters who are the buyers of today. If you want to know what people are buying, visit Walmart, the largest seller of guns in the United states. My local Walmart has 6 to 7 different factory loads for the 6.5cm, and none for the 7mm08. There's the answer. Ymmv

I’m down to my last 5 7mm-08s. Still think it’s one of the finest cartridges in existence. I remember 15 years ago a few of us were walking down an old logging road, in the dark, hiking to a spot we picked out to hunt bull elk. As the sun just started to come up, my buddy says - look up the road about 430yds. Then all of a sudden - BANG! All I saw was a flash of light and heard a hard thump. We walked up the road to where he shot, and 10ft off the road was a nice 6x6 Bull on the ground. The bullet was a 140gr Remington Corelock, our of an older Remington 7mm-08. Yea, the 7mm-08 works like a charm on game big and small. The Bull didn’t go 10ft, and fell over dead.