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

I'd have one right now, but the rifles are not available, the bullets are out of stock, and the powder is un-obtainium. Other than that I'd be at the range working up a load!

Yeah that's what happens when you spend all your money on rubber dog sheeit from wallyworld instead of hardware and components. I'd say I was sorry for you but I m not. Mb

I've noticed the same, and am always interested to read what you write.

My favorite cartridge right now. I really really like the 7x57 too. They just work.

I love how guys get starry eyed about the 7x57... it was at its best in a 98 action sized for it. In a modern action, the 7-08 makes far more sense and is its full equal in killing effectiveness.

I’ve had a few 7-08’s, a few 280’s and a 7x57. Though I liked the 7x57 the most, 7 anything doesn’t seem to click with me.

As far as the 7-08’s place, I get the same recoil and better trajectory for normal hunting ranges with a 270. If I want a short action for a more compact lightweight rifle, pass me a 308.

Good point.

In my experience there isn't enough difference even between the .270 and .308 at so-called "normal" ranges say our to around 400 yards) to make any difference. And ammo for the .270 and .308 is far more available for the majority of hunters who don't handload.

Didn't someone once say, "boolits matter more than headstamps"?

I've always said ”cartridges are more alike than different."

yep Big Stick mention that

I very much like the 7mm-08, but as Brad mentions, it is more alike the other comparable rounds than it is different, especially when we're talking hunting bullets and ranges inside a quarter mile. The 6.5s with 130s, the .270 and 7mms with 140s, and the .308 with 150s will all get it done in a similar manner.

I have had the Scorpius constellation in my eyes for several years now. It is beautiful. Far out man!

I like how people talk about how great the Might -08 is for women and young shooters.

As if the deer or elk knows who’s pulling the trigger.



P

Ain't that the truth...

And, kids kill WT's with 223's all the time, but not suitable for adults. Need a cannon.

7-08 is a very effective round for all but the biggest, meanest stuff... And, maybe in a pinch, with the right ammo, some of them, too.

DF

There was a time the 7x57 was used on lots of game, as many know, in Africa.

Now reflect also - from Handloader magazine-
King George V took a pair of .280 rifles on a hunting tour of India and reported them to be “a great success.”. Less positively, George Grey (brother of the foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey) was killed by a lion in Kenya in 1911, after wounding it with a .280 Ross and failing to stop its charge.

IIRC, a 140 grain bullet of suspect construction failed. So, I am not advocating using any 7mm for Lion, but my point is, the 'failure' was largely due as I recall reading long ago about it in other publishings, when the bullet failed because of poor construction. That was in the early days of modern rounds, and bullet technology is far better, more dependable and consistent. SHOT Placement and BULLET construction is the key as it always has been as to the effectiveness of a round. You need controlled expansion to produce needed trauma to vitals beyond the surface.

I would hunt everything in North America but the Great bears, with a modest 6.5 or 7mm, with Proper Hunting bullets, in the 130-150 grain range.

Aren't you Captain Obvious.


Jerry

So is a 300 Win Mag a good women and kid's cartridge? Deer won't know who's pulling the trigger in that one either.

That .300 wm was what I shot my first deer with at the age of 13. Worked for me as a kid. Pulling both barrels on the 12 ga. Was as little rough at that age. Only did that once.

I used my 7mm-8 this evening to take a nice Kentucky whitetail. Hornady Full Boar factory ammo with 139 gr. GMX projectiles. Bang-flop. I would not hesitate to use it on an elk if I am ever fortunate enough to get drawn for a Kentucky elk tag or venture out west.

Yep.

Maybe 30 years ago a True Believer in belted magnums of AT LEAST .30 caliber (he was far more a .338 guy) was waxing eloquent on how superior they were to smaller rounds on big game. Eileen had already taken a bunch of big game up to bull moose with much smaller cartridges, which somehow killed the animals pretty dead, pretty quickly.

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.