Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters So why not 7mm-08?

I was reading the recent thread from the 7X57 fanboys urging our esteemed Mule Deer to write a tome dedicated to the 7X57.

The thought hit me: Why not 7mm-08? Why aren't folks begging for a book dedicated to the 7mm-08 instead?

I remember at the dawn of my awareness of these chamberings asking about 7X57 and such and getting such glowing accounts from guys like Ingwe. However, when I mentioned an interest in 7mm-08, I was rebuffed.

Don't get me wrong; I fully understand the irrational side of all these discussions. I'm just trying to understand this one better. If folks can talk about the 270 WIN being gay or not, I'm sure there can be some equally strong (albeit weird) reason for not liking 7mm-08.

Look, on the one hand you have the 6.5X55 Swede. Everyone says the Swede is the schizz. It's one downside is that older rifles can't stand full house loads. So someone comes along with the 6.5 Creed and everyone gushes. It's everybody's darling.

7mm-08 seems to have that same relationship to 7X57. So why is it that on the one hand, guys are gushing over 7X57 and going all gooey over 6.5 Creed, while at the same time there was a thread fairly recently asking "Is the 7mm-08 dead?"

I admit to being a neophyte in this whole thing. However, I also know that if I don't ask the questions, I won't find the wisdom. Besides, I know these questions can stir up 10 pages of heated dialog in a hurry.

Ancillary questions:

1) Why is it that everybody knows how to say "Thirty-Ought-Six" and "Seven-By-Fifty-Seven," but nobody can agree on 7mm-08? Why in tarnation do folks call it a "Seven-Em-Em. . ." and then take their pick of "Ought-Eight", "Zero-Eight" or just "Eight". I've never seen such a goofy mix of pronounciations.

2) Why is it everyone goes all gooey over 6.5 Creedmore and just kind mutters to themselves that 7mm-08 is probably the superior hunting cartridge at normal hunting ranges?

3) Why is that we had this whole thing about 7mm Rem Mag for a couple of decades and nobody wanted to talk about 7mm-08 getting most of the way there with half the powder, and yet everyone was arguing for twice as long about the same relationship between 308 WIN and 30-06?

4) Why is it that everyone gets teary-eyed talking about 30-06 as the all-American cartridge and at the same time gets weepy over a German-built cartridge that was fired at us at San Juan Hill by a bunch of swarthy Spaniards?


I'm beginning to get the idea that there is some dark secret about 7mm-08 that I have yet to hear about? Did something happen at summer camp that nobody wants to talk about? Did it accidentally shoot its father on a hunting trip? Did it get caught with Julio down by the school yard?

Great post. I'm a fanboy of the 7mm Mauser and the Swede. I can't have enough of either one. I also own 2 Creedmoors that I don't really need.

But the 7mm-08 is truly a great cartridge and if a person were forced to use only this one for the rest of their life they wouldn't miss a beat. It's as near to perfect as I would ever need.

What can be said about a cartridge/bullet combo, good or bad, that does what it was designed to do, so very well?

Nothing wrong with a 7mm-08!

Last year I watched a friend knock down a deer with one shot from a 7-08 at a bit over 350 yards. I then called it a short action .270 and commenced to build one for myself.

This year I saw the same friend kill a deer at a (Leica measured) 550 yards. He used a 120 grain Federal Fusion bullet. Again, one shot.....one dead deer!

Maybe one needs to see it in action to believe it.....but make no mistake about it.....the 7-08 is an excellent hunting cartridge. It stands right along the .270 Winchester and that says a lot.

Introduced forty years ago, the 7-08 is just starting to gain some traditional steam due to nothing more than years of excellent performance. The creedmores will not survive anything near that many years.

No reason at all.

.

I would also nominate the "275 Short Rigby" as a candidate. Folks could get all Jim Corbett and imagine that they're hunting tigers in Injya.

I used to think the replacement for the Winchester M94 .30-30 would be the Remington M7 7-08 in the eastern woods. I don't think that happened, but it wasn't due to a lack of ability on the 7-08's part.

I also don't understand the huge popularity of the Creedmoor as a hunting round, but it works! I know it seems that half the rifles at the range on any given day are chambered in that cartridge, three quarters of those are in sporter configuration and are going to be hunted with.

I would have never foreseen the popularity that the AR-15 enjoys with our senior population, either.

Don't ask me what the weather's going to be like......or if VLD bullets are going to change things.....

I think it all comes down to the fact that 95% of us are velocity whores... it isn’t as bad with factory ammo shooters but you can bet handloaders can’t stand it when their 7-08 won’t shoot .280 Rem velocities. It’s very doable to get .280 velocities out of the 7x57 when you hand load. We handloaders push our loads to the fullest, don’t pretend you don’t.. it bugs us that our .280 won’t shoot 7 mag velocities.. It seems when recoil gets stout enough, the need for maximum velocity subsides a bit, that’s why handloaders are okay when their 7 mag doesn’t shoot 7 STW velocities..

The 7-08 is too boring to have many books written about it.

Todd

It's irrational but I can't warm up to 7mms. I just have more confidence in 30 and above. Had 2 in 7-08, took a couple deer with one it did okay. One thing I didn't like was it doesn't do too well velocity wise with bullets above 140 and not many factory loads with bullets heavier than 140. And I'm okay with average velocity for the round in hand. I do have one 280 (sold another) that shoots so good with 160s and because I like the rifle itself, I keep that one for "doe" work.
I do think it's a capable round and if I was advising a new hunter on a deer rifle with suitable recoil and power I would recommend a 7-08..........just not for me.

The 7mm 08 is an answer to an unasked question. It is popular partly due to fact hunters know how good the 7mm bullet is and 308 is all over the place. It offers zero over the 7x57.

If that is so, then why all the goo written about 6.5 Creed? It really does not offer anything over 6.5X55 Swede

I'm not disputing. I'm just asking.

To me, I see the 7mm-08 as answering a lot of questions. The biggest thing is that the former fits in a short action, and as you said, it uses 308 brass. Velocity-wise, they're nearly identical.

1. EVERYBODY knows it’s 7-oh-8
Unless you’re from the south, then sem-oh-8 is fully acceptable
2. At “normal” hunting ranges the 7-oh-8 IS superior to the 6.5 creed
3. IF more guys ran their Big 7 mag over a chrony they would realize they have been
Shooting a 7-oh-8 and just didn’t know it and neither did all the game they killed!
4. The ol ‘06 and 7x57.... well...they’ve earned their bragging rights. Period

Ya reckon?

DF

i also own a few 7mm-08`s built a 7mm-08 on a 700 action when this great cartridge was still a wild cat cartridge and this custom rifle shot extremely well as it still does. many years ago " back in early 80`s" in my area i lived we had rifle money shoots in the winter that consistent of targets from 100 yards to 500 yards some bench ,some off hand even a little rapid fire and my custom 7mm-08 always done well. no one in those days ever beat me for 5 shot group size at 100 yards off the bench and that was always worth $50- $100 depending on the bets that day of those shoots.that custom 7mm-08 shot 2`s and 3`s i had six matched 308 Lapua cases that i neck down,turned necks,weighed and shot for a 6 shell matching for that 7mm-08, my reloading may have been a little better than the rest with what i knew from bench rest competition and my good friend and uncle who were engineers at Federal Cartridge those two knew plenty. my son`s first deer rifle was a 7mm-08 and he always did well killing deer with that 7mm-08 Remington 700. my dad once said that `s a good kid gun and when he gets bigger he can get a 280 like my rifle,i said shoot your 280 thru the chronograph 2450 fps with Remington 140 gr. core lotk ,so then son shot thru the chronograph 2850 fps with140 gr. handloads.then dad and son shot a 5 shot group at 100 yards dad`s old eyes 1 1/2 inch group with the 280 - son`s young eyes and a lot of shooting off the bench skills his 7mm-08 shot a 5 shot 1/2 inch group my son was 12 years old, grandpa was 70 years old. grandpa that day had me order him a new Remington 700 7mm-08 and dad did shoot that new 7mm-08 rifle well too with less recoil too.

My first hunting rifle is/was a Tikka T3 in 7MM08. If I had to start over, I would buy it in 6.5Creedmoor.

The goo for the Creed is owing to the fact the gun rgs would not survive without something to write about. Some bright bulb comes up with a new cartridge and voila more goo.

The 7-08 and 6.5 Creedmoor are the practical modern choice in todays world for rifles and factory ammo.

The 7x57 and 6.5x55 are for the romantics, looney's, nostalgia, and historians.. They take a little more knowledge and effort to maximize ballistic performance due to older rifles, varying throat lengths and very anemic factory ammo offerings and load data.

I am partial to 270's, and it is very easy to load it to 7-08 ballistic levels. I too consider it a 270 short. I have a couple, but have never been able to warm up to it.

I did pick up a partially completed semi-custom Husqvarna 1640 in 6.5x55 this year. Fine tuned the whole package and got busy. I really like the rifle, developing loads was easy peasy and used it to take one of my best whitetails to date hunting with a good friend. That rifle will never leave. Being married into a serious scandinavian family also helps. I have been able to warm up to the 6.5x55 for some reason.

Why are 7x57 “fanboys” asking Mule Deer to write about the 7x57? Gee isn’t sort of self explanatory?

Back when the bootlips asswipes that had got Remington bought out Marlin and quit making the marlin xs and xl 7 bolt because they wanted no competition for the cheap remington promo guns I read on the fire that CDNN had the last of the stock and were selling cheap. I checked their site out and had a dealer order me a stainless steel XS-7 in 7-08. IIRC it was $342 out the door with an old straight 6x Burris it was also an 1 moa gun out the box with Hornady American whitetail 139 gr SP loads. Stainless steel and plastic stock gave me a mid caliber bad weather gun for damn little cash. I haven t seen a damned thing it will do that my 7x57 or 270 or 280 won't do as well. Atleast you don't have people accusing it as "gay" yet. Mb