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

“CM fanboy-ism”?

Not so much. Didn’t see a need for one but finally bought my first and only last December - a Savage 12FV (26” heavy barrel) – because I couldn’t pass up the $299 price after rebate.

The 6.5CM has a lot going for it but it also has limitations. The 6.5CM was designed specifically as a target round and goals include, per Dave Emary, “less propellant, less recoil, longer barrel life and better accuracy” than comparable cartridges like the .260 Rem and 6.5-284. It was designed with a fast 1-8 twist barrel standard, to better handle heavy -for-caliber bullets, while the 7mm-08 standard is 1-9.5. Go to your local gun store and see what they have in stock for 6.5CM rifles and ammo vs 7mm-08. My guess is 6.5CM rifles are outselling 7mm-08 by 10x or more. Regardless of the actual number, that isn’t “CM fanboy-ism” but rather acknowledgement of what’s on gun store shelves and what the salespeople tell me is selling.

As to limitations, I would have preferred to see the 6.5CM with a 65,000psi SAAMI limit like the 6mm Remington and 6.5PRC. The 62,000 psi SAAMI limit for the 6.5CM is one reason why I’m considering a sporter-weight 6.5PRC barrel rather than a 6.5CM for a currently barrel-less Savage action. For hunting I am not concerned about the repeated recoil encountered by target shooters at matches.

Are the 6.5CM and 7mm-08 both fine hunting cartridges? Yes. I’d bet that 99% of the time what a hunter does with one they could do with the other.

The fact is the 6.5CM has a bright, shiny future and has taken a lot of 7mm-08 sales since it’s introduction. While the 7mm-08 was introduced as a factory round in 1980, forty years ago, I suspect sales of 6.5CM rifles have already eclipsed the total number of 7mm-08 rifles sold by a wide margin.

Not trying to knock the 7mm-08, just taking an objective look at the way things stand.


[edit to add]
BTW, if I was a 6.5 fanboy I'd probably have or be looking to get a sporter-weight 6.5CM for hunting. Instead I have none and no plans or desires to get one. There isn't anything a 6.5CM will do for me inside 600 yards that I cannot accomplish with the .243" to .308" tools I already have. And I have better tools for beyond 600 yards.
[end edit]

I get it, the 6.5 CM is a shiny new toy with significantly better marketing. But we’re talking about half a millimeter difference and 100 fps less (maybe more) velocity.

Whatever sells guns, I guess.



P

"Whatever sells guns, I guess."

That's my view. Higher sales of guns and ammo mean a healthier, more prosperous gun industry which is good for us all...

So get out there and buy stuff!

And learn to reload so you can keep shooting your personal favorites, even after they have fallen from the mainstream.

I sort of think the .270W and maybe .243 W is more likely overtaken by the 6.5 CM than any other popular cartridges. I had a 6.5 CM for a short time but I sold it to a girl and went back to .30-06. My experience lead me to believe it would kill like a .270 and recoil like a .243W. My prospective daughter in law was talking about buying a CM because she didn't like the kick of our .270W Ruger 77. I advised a 6.5 Grendel.

I have what is for me about the perfect whitetail deer rifle in my Model 7 stainless in 7-08. Short, relatively light but not overly so, low recoil and plenty of options for bullet weights and designs. For antelope to mule deer, its hard to pick a better round. I could care less what happens to the commercial availability as long as components are available bit I do think the Creed has taken some sales from the 7-08.

7mm08 rocks!

In the last twenty years, the 7mm08 is probably one of the top ten calibers sold in deer hunting rifles. Most that bought them are very happy and will continue to use them. Only shooters that got to have the latest greatest will replace them with a Creedmoor. I have been hearing the same thing said about the 30 30 for 50 years and each deer season you see 30 30 ammo on sale everywhere.

What do you wanna bet that a smart marketing firm could rebrand the 30-30 as the "30 WCF Tactical Lever Magnum" and spike sales? A few videos about the armor plating deer and elk are growing and you'd be in the money...

It sure doesn't show in the ammo available on the shelves at the stores. Places like Wal-Mart still get .243, .270, .30-30, .308 and .30-06 by the pallet in several brands and bullet weights every season. In the past few years the 6.5 Creedmoor has joined those old stalwarts in quantity and brand/bullet selection on the shelves. If you can find a few boxes of one brand of 7mm-08 on the shelves you're lucky. Heck the selection of .300 WSM, 7mm Rem mag. and .300 Win. mag. is better than 7mm-08 and it's not like many people around here are hunting elk, moose or grizzlies. In fact, thinking about it, I personally know more people who use one of those magnums or a .223 or 7.62x39 for deer than I do folks who use 7mm-08's.

I'm just glad folks are buying guns. I don't care what they buy - short, long, shot, bolt, lever, semi, tactical or traditional.

I don't personally see the 6.5 Creedmoor and 7mm08 as the same. I see them as complementing each other as the 6mm Creedmoor does on the other end!

6mm 108gr, 6.5mm 140ish gr, 7mm 168 to 180gr. There is a place for all three in my opinion.

Mine is similar, a Kimber Montana. Shoots lights out with 120 NBTs. And for anything bigger than deer, like you said, plenty of bigger bullets, it shoots 140 NPTs really well too.

But if you're talking about the average deer hunter, I'd say the 7-08 was already a little obscure, and the Creedmoor hasn't helped. It's the man-bun of cartridges.

What’s your thinking, Grendel over Creed?

Both good rounds. Just curious.

DF

Like many cartridges, it should. IMHO we have way too many different loadings that do essentially the same thing, for practical purposes.

When I chose my first big-game rifle, I chose 6.5 CM over the 7mm-08 because of the quantity of good ammo out there for the CM. Not because of any wild stories about the CM as a miracle round or because I felt like I needed a super high-BC bullet for hunting success. I don't think I was overly influenced by marketing, and honestly I don't recall seeing much marketing.

If someone wants to start manufacturing really good 7mm-08 practice ammo at a low price (like Hornady's American Gunner series with the CM), I'd be all over the 7mm-08 for my next rifle.

You live in East Little Bozeman, of course you have a 6.5 Creedmoor!

She doesn't like recoil and wanted to hunt with my Weatherby Vanguard 2 in .223. My neighbor friend has an AR in 6.5 Grendel and with a 120 to 135 grain bullet it seems almost if not equal to .308W with 150 grain bullets in trajectory. Kills hogs very well with a 129 Nosler LRAB. Very low recoil and she isn't likely to shoot over 250 yards. The light recoil is why I recommended it. Besides that we are set up to reload that caliber and I let my cousin have the Creedmoor dies.

Try finding a new factory rifle in 25-06 now. Less .270 WIN chamberings, too. Forget finding a 257 Bob or 6.5 Swede, or a .260 Rem (a few are cataloged). The 7mm-08 is also seen less frequently, now. All due to the 6.5 Creedmoor. I remember Mule deer (JB) saying that the 7mm-08 is closer to the 270 WIN than anything else, in the field & on paper. I have a Weatherby stainless 20" Mark V six-lug 7mm-08 rifle, ~ 6.5 lb, 7.2 lb. w/ a 2-7X scope, usually sub-MOA. A sweet, easy to hike with rifle. I'm very pleased with it and the caliber. Working up loads w/ the Barnes 120 gr. TTSX now. Long live the 7mm-08!
Mark & Belle

Im the only guy in my deer lease out of 11 members and guests I ever saw use a 7mm08. The rest are 270 or 3006 guys. Some of the younger guys are using magnums , you know just in case “that 600 yard shot comes along “ my primary is a 270 but if the same set up was in 7mm08 I would use that. My 7mm08 rifle is just my second favorite set up so it comes along as my back up. One of these years I will probably sell it and get a light weight 7mm08.
I think it is popular in some circles but the average deer hunter I find knows little or never heard of one. I learned about the 7mm08 on the fire.
I thought dang just thats just what I been looking for. So I bought one in a Montana Rifle Company X2 a few years back. Just bit heavy and the stock a bit fat for my taste but a great rifle just the same.