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

Mule Deer,

Small world! I can't wait to tell my Uncle!

That’s hilarious!
I can just see him chewing on his cigar and wondering how he’s going to get out of this gracefully....... lol.

So she asked: "Why can women kill stuff with smaller cartridges than men use?"

He fumed, silently, for half a minute--and then never answered.

Because the animals want the women to feel "empowered" and they fall over right away. Well - you asked!

[quoteB Because the animals want the women to feel "empowered" and they fall over right away. Well - you asked!
[/quote]

Of course! Duh!

[quote=Angus1895
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?[/quote]

Angus 1895,

I also have a 7-08 in BLR and a Win 88 in 284 Win. Nice combo!

Big fan of the 284 Win myself. Had a 7-08 once in a Browning BLR but was not enamored enough to keep it.

Mauser created a thirty cal first.

7-08 was chosen to not succeed by ammo companies only, doomed to be a redheaded stepchild.

The 7/08 is the culmination of what mankind has learned about the metallic cartridge. It’s the best if the best all factors taken into account IMHO.

Mind you, even though I write quite a bit, and I do a lot of writing about outdoor subjects, I'm not going to ever say I'm an expert. However, I did at one point do a sort of Q&A thing for a couple of mags, and I did my best at it, and I became their resident expert on guns and reloading.

I'll wait till the laughter dies down a bit. Please, take your time. It was one of those "In a world of the blind, the one with one eye is king" kind of things. The truth is that whenever I felt I was getting in over my head, I'd come over to the 'Campfire and put the question to you all, and the help was usually good enough to get me by.

In those years, the most memorable question was " Which is more: a Remington 742 or a 30-06?"

One of the questions I got was simple: "What do you think about 7mm-08 as a whitetail cartridge?

I really did not have an answer, so I took what I knew already about the 30-somethings I knew a lot about and started comparing. What I found was that 7mm-08 compared very well to everything I shot regularly, and usually got it done with less powder, less recoil and quite a bit less controversy. I wrote an honest answer-- I had no experience, but that it looked really good, and I was putting it on my shortlist. That was probably over a decade ago.

It was also about this time that I did that mathematical modeling experiment using select data from the Hodgdon site and found that shooting off-MAX loads of some chamberings gave the best Bekkar KOV versus recoil. 7mm-08 was one of the top scorers. 6.5X55 was also in there, so I assume that 6.5 Creedmoor would have also been a contender. The bottom line is that 7mm-08 has been on my radar for over a decade. Now that I've been out to the blind and back, I can say my awareness was well placed.

. . . I had to run, but I had some more thoughts on the way to work.

When I got into deer hunting, everyone was still talking about 30-30 WIN as the greatest all-time deer round. I don't have but a few datapoints for 30-30 vs whitetail, but my impressions were not all that good. Flame away, but I'm being honest. I've just got the one datapoint with 7mm-08 and I have to say it was astounding in comparison to 30-30. I blew over that doe at 120 yards. For my 30-30, that would have been getting to the distance where I'd have been wanting something more. With the 7mm-08, it was still well within point-n-shoot range and the recoil was negligible.

One of my 2 all-time favorite deer rounds is 30-06. The 7mm-08 got the job done with 60% of the recoil of my 30-06 loads. The MBPR was comparable 30-06 -- well out past 200 yards, which is the farthest I ever shoot anyway.

My second all-time favorite is 308 WIN downloaded to hot 300 Savage levels. This is as close as I've come to what I consider the optimum whitetail round for normal whitetail distances. Again, the 7mm-08 went well above and beyond. Recoil was lower, the trajectory flatter, the terminal velocity and energy greater.

Lastly, it sounds odd, but my TC Compass was purchased to replace a 44 Mag semi that assumed tomato stake status. I'd been quite taken by the 44 Mag as a close-in treestand round. I figured I could get this rifle set up for close range work this year and stretch it out in the off-season. As it turned out, it really out-performed the 44 Mag at the far end of what I'd call working 44 Mag range, and did so with about the same amount of recoil.

Now, I'll be the first to say I could have done this with a 7X57, however, I'd not have been able to find a $325 rifle in that august chambering with pillar bedding, a decent trigger, and a 3-position safety, NIB.

I suppose I should chime in since I'm the one who made the suggestion.

First, as far as loonies and fanboys go, I'll have to check my cards at the door as frankly, I'm neither. While I have several rifles chambered in 7x57, there's a reason for that: that cartridge is the first centerfire cartridge I ever owned, one of my uncles having given me an old M95 chambered for the round, and since I don't want to load for 15 different cartridges, I have just stuck with the one. That takes care of the loony issue.

As far as being a fanboy goes, there isn't a thing that the 7x57 can do that just about any other cartridge (within reason) can't do equally as well or better, the 7-08 being one. And no, I don't feel like Bell or Corbett when I'm chasing down a wild pig or trying to get in range of a deer: the 7x57 just happens to be the rifle in my hands (for the reason I stated above). If I had started with the 7-08, .280, or anything else, that too would probably be the only cartridge in safe (again, for the reason stated above), albeit probably housed in several different rifles. So I expect that takes my fanboy card away as well.

But why did I suggest a book devoted to the cartridge? For the same reason that Rule wrote about the M70, there are books dedicated to Ford Cobras, 57 Chevys and Corvettes, John Deere tractors, and things like that: they're iconic. So is the 7x57. I'm not saying that the other cartridges aren't as effective, nor am I saying that there aren't other iconic cartridges as well; but ever since 1892 the 7x57 has been leaving its mark all over the world, in both war and peace, and its done so in the hands of some pretty iconic people; people like Bell and Corbett, both O'Connors, their friend Prince Abdul Reza Pahlavi, and our own John Barsness, just to name a few. Someone mentioned Craig Boddington: we could arguably also include him in that line-up as well since he shoots a beautiful left hand 7x57 built by Todd Ramirez. Now, no doubt someone will suggest that something like the 30-06 fits into the iconic category too. I'm not arguing that it, nor many others, don't. I'm just saying that the 7x57, among others, checks all the boxes. That's why I suggested it. And since JB probably has the most extensive knowledge of the cartridge of any living human being, he would be the obvious person to put it all on paper. Would it pay? Of course it would. Would it be enough to be worth it to him? Only he can answer that question.

Anyway, that's what's behind my suggestion. I'll check my loony and fanboy cards at the door.

RM

I could see a book written about the 7mm bullet and feature or kinda devote 7x57 in the first chapter or two ? but then bring up all the 7mm cartridges that might work better ? i don`t think the 7x57 by itself would have enough interest now days ? many great cartridges just disappear maybe that would make a better book ? there you go John # IV ? " i typed the last 4 words with a > BIG GRIN "

I agree with Tom M1

The if only one short action.......pass the 308.

Let's use the BLR as a plat form.

While still hunting put in the magazine of 180 grain type partitions (magazine A ) for point blank work.....zeroed to 100 yds.

For open shots across canyons or longer shots 130 to 140 grain monoliths zeroed to where ever the scope is set.
In another( magazine. B)

If wifey or junior needs to hunt with the 308 BLR ........magazine B

If the manly cousin needs to hunt with the BLR .....magazine A.

Or maybe zero the light ordinance to 200 , then see where the 180 grain is zeroed and record.

But one could not expect to only NEED one short action? HUH?

The biggest problem for the 7mm-08 is the short action that limits the COL!

for hunting i see no problem with a 7mm-08 in a short action , besides that`s why shooters like this cartridge its in a short action.

To me, the SA works well with the 7-08. It's more of a hunting round than a LR target round, IMO.

Hunting bullets in a SA 7-08 have never been an issue for me. I don't load the very long, high ogive target bullets in my light hunting rifle.

For a LR target or LR hunting rifle, I'll go with another round, currently the 26 Nos with 156 EOL over Vv N-570. It's set up with a full 3.6" mag box, throated accordingly. Those loads take up most of the 3.6" mag box, wouldn't fit in a std. 3.4" box.

Some may disagree, YMMV.

DF

Why is that a problem?

I can probably guess what your answer will be, but want to know for sure.

I will take a stab at this. Because longer bullets take up powder space.

Page 297, RIFLE TROUBLESHOOTING AND HANDLOADING.

Fireball2, what rifles do you have the 284 Winchester in? Personally, I just have the one M88, I would love to find a Savage 99 in that caliber though!

I load 162 A-Max's in mine - pretty long bullet. No COAL issues for max loads.