Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 708 twist

I'm getting parts together for a light weight hunting rifle in 708. looking at twist between a 8 or 9. I probably will never shoot anything over 150s in it. I have 7mm RM for the heavies. More likely it will be 140s for deer and bear size critters. Is there any advantage to one over the other twist? Seems like a wash to me.

Like you, I'd not be shooting over 150's so would go 1-9.

But I can about guarantee most of your answers will be to go 1-8"...

I split the difference on my recent build and got one in 1-8.5" twist. Only because that barrel was available or I'd of been just as happy with 1-9". For the stuff I hunt with my 7MM-08's I almost always use 120 grain BT's and have no complaints with how they work on critters.

Yes, on the 120 gr. Ballistic Tips. Never shot anything heavier than 140 gr. in my 7mm-08’s.

My tikka T3X shoots the 150 ELDX just fine, and it has a 9.5 twist. Im also pretty sure it will stabilize a 162gr hornady as well..

My 7-08AI with a Bartlein 8.7 twist barrel will handle 162 grain ELD-X bullets just fine.

A 1-9 twist is more than adequate on the 7mm-08. For hunting purposes it will accurately deliver a 175 gr at 2,500 fps just as a 308 Win will carry a 190 at that speed. Case capacity and OACL becomes the obvious drawback when pushing heavy for caliber bullets in a 308 Win based case. Again in the field a 140-160 class bullet is really the best choice just as the 150-180 class bullet is in the 308 Win.

Good post.

For what you plan on doing a 1:10 would work, but 1:9 would probably be good as well and be good insurance should you ever want to shoot something bigger. But in my mind for what I do 150 grain bullets would be my upper limit for a 7-08 or 7x57 because you don't get good velocity with the heavier bullets in the smaller cases. I love 140 grain bullets even in my .280. That's what I plan on trying first in my new to me 7x57. They're big enough for most any game around Texas, plus they still have good velocity. Of course I'm just speaking for what I do. You may have other ideas.

My Tikka Superlite 7mm-08 shoots 150 eldx into little bitty groups. Hard to count the shots when there’s too few holes.

“Get the parts together” vs buying a Tikka, hmmm...



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I went 1-10 twist for my light-weight 7-08, shooting mainly 120s and the occasional 139. Very, very happy with the results. Haven't tried any heavier bullets with it since I primarily hunt deer, and I have other rifles for bigger animals if the need ever comes up.

That's funny in that I seriously considered that question, BUT - I had a LH McM stock that's been sitting in the closet for a few years and then I got a deal on a SS Remington short action, so...

In all likelihood, it wont shoot as good, nor will it be as light.

I went with a 9 twist and it loves to eat bbq. I’ve only ran it out to 450, she shoots tight with 140’s & 160’s.

I no longer use a 7MM but I have owned several and all were accurate but 1, with some being super accurate. I used 160 and 175 bullets in them all before I sold the last of them.
Every one of my 7MMs I ever owned had either 1-9 or 1-9.5 twists and they would all shoot. The only one I ever had that was so-so in accuracy was a stock M700 Remington in 7MM Mag that would only shoot about 2" no matter how much I tried to make it do better, but I had another one that was pretty much identical that would shoot under MOA. In all I have owned 3 7MM Rem Mags, one 7MM Weatherby Mag, 3 7X57s, and one 280.
My very best shooter was a 98 Mauser in 7X57 I made that would shoot under 1/2 MOA which had a 1-9.5" twist. The 7X57 and the 7-08 are ballistic twins when loaded to the same pressures in the same barrel lengths.
So I would not get too concerned about twist in your 7-08. Anything from 1-8 to 1-10 is likely to do very well.
Quality of the barrel and the cambering is FAR more important then the twist rate being 1 to 1.5 inches tighter or looser.