Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles 6.5 CM vs 7mm/08

Yep.

The 120 grain Sierra is no slouch on deer either. I don't know how fast they were going out of my buddy's Rem M7, but they were being pushed by 45 grains of Varget so they probably weren't crawling along.

I have both in stainless Tikka's. I would probably prefer the 7-08,but the wife claimed it and has killed 2 bucks with 120 Barnes.I shot my buck this year at 155 yards with the 143 ELD-X in the 6.5 and wasn't at all impressed with performance,although accuracy is great.

Get both, be a looney

Any day of the week and twice on Sunday. LOL

If I do my part.

Been shooting a 7-08 of some sort since 2001 and also have a 6.5 Creed, as well as several 6.5 Grendel’s. I think you’d be pleased with either round as they’re similar. I’d lean towards the 7-08 just because you already have 7mm components on hand. 120gr Barnes are bad medicine for deerz in my 7-08, wouldn’t hesitate to load up the 140gr Accubonds and hunt bigger game.
What kinda distances do you practice at/what’s your maximum comfortable range shooting at game? Both cartridges are capable of ethically taking game much farther than 95% of hunters can reliably shoot.

peak98

I can shoot up to 400yds

Nice rifle and target system!

If you're up to it so are both cartridges.

OMG...

Every time bsa posts I roll my eyes….

A 1 moa target is cake walk. If you can't hit it, that is on you^^^^ Like they say, you can lead a horse to water, but I can't make you shoot any better.. Either you can or you can't. Sounds like you fall in the latter..

When you learn, maybe you will understand. I'm sorry you are only mediocre at best. Maybe you should take up golf or something more along your skill set. Knitting???

7-08 is a ballistic twin to 308 with the same recoil. On paper it is a LITTLE better than 308, but we're talking about somewhere around 2" less drop at 500 yards and about 35 ft lbs more energy at that range when best loads are fired in each. 308 is about 1/2 the thickness of a dime larger in diameter. I like the 7-08 in theory but could never pick one over the more common 308. But I won't argue with someone who prefers the 7-08. They are REALLY close in performance, but 308 has always been easier, and cheaper to find.

The 6.5 does everything 270 does with recoil closer to 243. It shoots the same bullet weights as 270 about 150-200 fps slower at the muzzle. But the more aerodynamic 6.5 bullets come pretty close to catching up at 300 yards. I can't imagine any animal noticing the difference between 270, 6.5CM or 7-08.

Since I already own 308 and 30-06 going with 6.5CM was my best option. Recoil and ammo availability were also big factors for me. But depending on what you already have 7-08 might be more appealing to you.

140 AB has you covered from yotes to bulls and yes, I speak from experience.


screenshot


Find some Big Game and magnum primers then PM me for recipes. 150 ELDX are great also, cheaper and plentiful.

Note the entrance wound. Doesn’t get much better than that.





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I am assuming you don't realize your club posts the results from your "long range matches"...

Out

I killed three whitetails last year with the 120 Sierra GK or ProHunter, not sure which one but they're about one and the same, out of the 6.5 CM running 2900fps. Absolutely deadly, all were DRT. Accuracy is wonderful too.

The .308 gives up 200 fps to the 7-08 with low drag bullets of similar BC. It is more like half a foot at 500 yards. The drop doesn't really matter, though. It is the wind that will get you. Seven for the win.

The 6.5 CM and 7-08 are much closer to being ballistic equivalents than the 7-08 and .308.

Laffin’.. It’s amazing he’s not leading PRS and every other discipline.

Freaking tool.

This question has been on my mind, because I want to get my youngest daughter set up for deer/maybe elk. I have a 7-08 Mountain Rifle I would give her, but part of me feels like the 6.5 CM would have a better chance of really getting shot more by her down the road, simply because of easy ammo availability. I reload, but she doesn’t, and her life has her bopping all around the wild areas of the great West, so ammo availability could be key. As others mentioned, Hornady did a great job supporting this one (still waiting for 6mm ARC brass though, haha) and ammo is everywhere and, I hear, generally very good. So I say 6.5 CM if ammo availability matters to the OP.

I’ve killed an antelope and a blacktail buck with a 6.5 140 ELDM from my slightly faster 6.5 GAP 4S, and it worked great, but that’s the extent of my 6.5 killin’.

I’m a big 7-08 fan and have used it to great effect on a bunch of deer from a couple different rifles with several different bullets. As pharm said, 140 Accubond and go huntin’. It might literally be the most perfect deer huntin’ cartridge ever made.

If minimizing recoil is an issue, and especially if shooting a lot at your max range is in the cards, the 6.5 CM with 147’s will be a noticeable notch down in recoil from the 7-08 with 162’s. Not that you need 162’s for 400 yards but if you ever tried them, there’s no going back.

7-08 or 6.5 CM is a pretty great problem to have. There’s no wrong choice there.