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

Shaman,

"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?"

Would you like some good Wisconsin cheese to go with that 7mm-08 whine?

Keep your chin up!

There may be some real truth there.

Take my situation. I've went into this deer season with a new 7mm-08 rifle. I brought 3 others with the idea that I'd keep my Ruger Hawkeye in 30-06 as a backup in case anything else went wrong. I also brought the Mauser From Hell (8X57) and my Savage 99 (.308 WIN). Honestly, any one of the 4 could have done the job, but I set each up for different venues (long vs. short range, treestand vs. ground blind, etc.)

It just so happened that I picked the TC Compass in 7mm-08 for a trip to my tower blind, and a nice doe walked out at 120 yards and . . . well, the rest is history. It was supposed to be my close-in deep cover treestand gun, but I never got a chance to get there. It's okay. I'm not bitter, but my struggle ended without a struggle. The deer went over backwards and all I saw was the tail twitching-- no drama, no muss, no fuss.

What's more: no serious load development. I shot her with the first pick of powder (Varget), bullet (Hornady IL 139 SP) and out of 25 rounds loaded, I've still got a bunch left. I could stop right there.

Now, is that depressing? What happens when you get success on your first try?

Compare that to the Mauser from Hell: basket case sporterized Kar 98 that my buddy basically threw at me. Minute of bushel basket. It took years of effort, hundred of dollars, and multiple trips to the gunsmith, multiple arcane tweaks, several different bullets and a bunch of range time to get it to where it is. Along the way I lost my taste for Mauser conversions. It finally produced the best group I ever shot, and has accounted for several nice bucks, but at what price? Only you guys can understand the bittersweet victory it's brought.

So here I sit with a very mundane 7mm-08 rifle in a mundane stock. Am I depressed? Should I be?

The other sub-current in all this is that 7mm-08 is the next step down the path to oblivion. I knew it. I took that step with complete knowledge of what it meant. I'm 62. I decided in 2014 to make one last 30-06 purchase. I knew eventually I'd not be able to handle the recoil, and figured it was time to spend the latter part of my hunting career investigating the sub-thirty universe. 7mm-08 was that first step. I figure I'll be right on target when they find me in a leopard thong up in a treestand with a 223 REM and have to use a dart gun to get me down.

I don’t have much use for the 7mm-08.

TOUCHE'

Jerry

I did, on purpose. Don’t like to waste letters or syllables. There are shortages, you know.

But you didn’t say you didn’t know how to use one.....

I was loading my newly acquired 7 x 57 XTR model 70 featherweight. It was fun.

I was also loading for my newly acquired 6.5 x 55 husky. It was fun also.

But I also got a 7 08 Blr and a win 88 in 284 win.

It seems the data in the reloading books favor the 284 win. I bet who ever invented the 284 win sits back and wonders........ .

WTF?

Hush Pappy.

at 67 years of age some health issues that i don`t admit these issue are a problem i have used my heavy 257 Weatherby mag. for many years and i don`t feel right if i don`t hunt deer with this old killer,well i took the next step i used my lighter Remington 30 express new brux barrel in a 257 Roberts for part of my 2 week hunt. so during that middle of the season with this less recoil the 257 Roberts i never seen a decent buck,so the last weekend of this hunt i decided to take out the old killer again 257 W.mag and last weekend Saturday deer were moving well and out steps a buck that`s real nice one shot and i am done ,its like that 257 W.mag. draws deer in ? i like to play ,shoot,reload ammo and rotate my rifles some, maybe next year it will be time to bring out my custom 7mm-08 again ? or my other 3 new 7mm-08`s i have never shot yet ? and i am still looking for a Savage 99 in a 7mm-08 that`s been on my list forever just because i want one .

Don’t care one way or the other about 7-08. But hearing short action is like hearing common sense from a politician. Makes me wanna puke. I have a few but it sure as hell no reason to like a rifle. Edk

I built 2 creedmoor to date and sold them because they didn't offer anything over my 260's.

I have a friend who is a retired force recon Marine. And HALO jumper. And Golden Glove. He knows he isn't still what he used to be, but in my book he is a badass. Also a very ethical hunter, specializing in elk, the big ones in the remotest parts of the northern Rockies. I was surprised when he asked my opinion fifteen years ago about what he should consider for a new rifle on a blue collar budget. I suggested a M70 FWT in 7mm-08. He bit, and has thanked me several times since. He put a synthetic stock on it so he can give it a bit more abuse when called for. It still drives tacks and puts an elk in the freezer most years for him.

For me, if all data were put in a computer for what and how I hunt, a lightweight 7-08 or 6.5CM would be the answer. Granted, factory loaded ammunition for the 6.5CM outnumbers the 7-08 here on local shelves something like 8 or 10:1, but since I still handload it's not an issue. And really, all it takes is one factory load (like the 139 Hdy John mentioned) to make it work. Variety, while nice, is vastly overrated. Really, it and the 6.5 CM are essentially lighter kicking 270's which is pretty good company to be in. I've taken exactly one old bull elk with the 7-08, and not surprisingly it worked very well. As much as I like the 308, I still consider the 7-08 to be the best use of the 308 case.

+1

Just wait until the 7mm Creedmoor makes the 7mm-08 look like a flat souffle.

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

[/quote] What's he going to say that hasn't already been covered a thousand time over? By writers of the past. I have a lot of respect for the 7x57, but damn [/quote]

Well, gee, BSA, I might just have something sorta new to say about the 7x57, having taken 16 species of big game with it in various places around the world since the 1980s. Also used a wide variety of newer bullets and powders to do so, far more than the average hunter usually tries, in a dozen 7x57's to get a handle on what works in rifles with everything from military-style long throats to modern short throats. And that doesn't include my Sauer drilling in 7x57 Rimmed.

In fact, I could put together a decent little book of relatively just by arranging and rewriting. I also wouldn't bore the snot out of readers by repeating the same stuff about Bell and elephants, though I probably would include the very quick mention I made of that in one article--which eventually became a chapter in GUN GACK I. The photo is of another photo of a herd of elephants, with a 7x57 round loaded with a 173-grain military solid (the same basic ammo Bell used) laid on top the elephant photo. The caption reads: "No hunter can mention the 7x57 without bringing up elephants, so we might as well get it over with." But I might also mention that Bell's favorite elephant round was NOT the 7x57, as so many casual students of the cartridge assume.

But it ain't gonna happen, because anybody who really wants to read the stuff I've published on the 7x57 (and apparently some do) over the past 30 years can probably find it. There's even another chapter on it in GUN GACK II--on handloading it with the newer bullets and powders mentioned earlier--along with a practical solution to safely load ammo for rifles with a wide variety of throat dimensions.

I'm the only person in my camp that shoots a 7-08.

It's pronounced "Death Star" as the most powerful weapon system in the galaxy. It barks and meat hits the ground.

I've been wonderfully happy with it since purchasing it from Whittaker's.

I think Craig Boddington asked that same question in a article on 7-08. I think it's a great question. I remember my Uncle playing around with the 7-08 before it was in production. He was friends with Chub Eastman of Nosler and Chub was a great proponent of the round. After seeing my Uncle take many antelope, blacktails, mule deer, and Elk with his, I told myself I would own a 7-08 one day.

Well now I own 3 of them. One is a M70 Classic Featherweight, one in a BLR, and one in a Ruger M77 SS. Each one is a pleasure to shoot, and it seems every deer season one of them is the first to be taken out of the gun safe by one of the kids! I have personally taken deer and antelope with them, I have yet to shoot an elk with the 7-08, but with the right load, I would not hesitate to do so. There is something about a compact, short action rifle, with moderate recoil that keeps the 7-08 as my go to every year, if the kids haven't gotten to them first!

Kipp,

The 7mm-08 works fine on elk--and also black wildebeest, considered among the toughest of African plains game. In 2007 one of my safari partners put a 140-grain Nosller AccuBond just behind the shoulder of a big wildebeest bull at about 150 yards. The bull ran about 50 yards and keeled over.

Craig started becoming a fan of the 7mm-08 after his daughter started hunting. She used one on a safari with him and it worked!

I was also a good friend of Chub's, and we hunted together several times. But he was also a rifle loony, and somehow he never used the 7mm-08 on any of our hunts. In fact he used a different cartridge on every hunt!

SUCCINT !!!

Jerry

ERK, well you don't see many carbines sporting long actions......for good reason. MANY fans will disagree........it's not about the shorter stroke so much as reduced weight. It's not much, but it's all subjective. Some folks don't mind running scopes that weight 2 lbs........others want one less than 15 ounces......and it all depends on how you use a rifle as much as anything.

I dropped a coyote running full throttle with a Rem 600 in 243, first shot.....that little rifle with 18.5" tube was fast handling. It had an old Redfield fixed 10 or 12x, a light scope, which FOV put the dog on the edge of my view when I squeezed. That 'snap shot' would not have been made so easy, or at all with a say 8lb rifle with 2lb scope sporting a 26" tube.........oh it was about 250-275 yds out if it matters. Also dumped a WT deer running at 200 yds using a M7 in 7BR with a 4x scope. Every tool has a purpose.....and application matters which tool has benefits or not.

But there are always folks who feel 'bigger is better' - I scoffed watching a lady punch an elk the other day with a rig that was set up to shoot 1,000 yds, when the elk popped out of the brush about 25 yds in front of her. She took a long time to get that shot off. A 30/30 or small carbine would have worked perfect.

So, the same reason some like a woman with a 24" waist and 36" hips, others might prefer say a 36" waist and 48" hips....it's all subjective.

Brad, your comments and experiences have always been very reflective of mine, we think very similar.

To the 260 user above, nothing wrong with an accurate 260. I built a couple of expensive Borden actioned rifles in them long ago, they did not disappoint.