Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles opinion of 7mm-08 rem. vs 308

Stick,

How's your 700's feed the 7WSM? Did you have to modify them much?

Jeez, you guys could argue over what the other guys favorite color is. I've shot a few things with a few different guns. Some I like better than others, but all of them did their part when I did mine. This past fall I just loaded up some 7-08 Partition 140's and hunted. Seemed to work out...



A couple rounds at 250 yards seems to have done the trick, although I better go check the freezer.


SS

A Shamu punched to Whizzum is an easy convert,but it pays to heed throat geometry. I remain a fan of the 7 Shamu as issued and think highly of it's melding of capacity,case design and trim length. Very great chambering.

On say the more ubiquitous .473" s/a 700's,the HS DBM is an easy swapaloo,if you are not fighting weight. Open the boltface,go Sako or AR extractor and you are there. I much prefer the issued extractors however.

If weight is a concern,nothing can hang with the Montucky 7WSM,as it is exceptionally well thought out,as mentioned prior. I prefer the 1st Gen Ti's in .473" and the Montucky in .532".

700's are easy to transpose to another cartridge type.

It's always easy to cypher those who actually shoot,as opposed to those who dream about doing same.

The 308 simply suffers from bullets that'll allow it to outpace the 7-08 and that is simplistic fact...much to many Dreamers' chagrin.

The S/S MR's are still right up at the top of my list of favorite 7-08's over the counter. The Ti took the top rung and a faux Ti the second.

22" is plenty of tube.

Here I was hoping that DumbBore was gonna step to the podium,do a mic check and offer an eloquent Treatise upon 308 virtues,but the cat musta got her tongue?

Shame.

What is a shame is useless name calling. It does not represent the masses on this site IMHO.

I do my best to show respect for all here, no matter differences of opinion. I come here to exchange knowledge, ideas, opinions, and a MUTUAL interest in what we discuss here, not try bashing others or boosting my ego which serves no purpose.

But that is what the internet has created. There are too many opinions and ideas nowadays with internet armchair quarterbacks. I would love to bring back my Great Grandfather and he could see all this internet quibbling over topics that are nothing but wasted time after he filled his ice house and killed everything in BC and Alberta with a lowly .303 Savage back in the day before the invention of redundant wildcats and the like.

Sounds totally boring.

.............Just like a 7mm-08 vs .308 debate.
Holy splittin hairs Batman!!!!

If you want Katie Couric to spoonfeed you nuggets read aloud from Field & Stream,be my guest. If you are on the edge of your seat with Oprah's latest Ballistic Findings,be sure to dial in and turn up the volume.

If you take exception to DumbBore knowing full well better than to open his yap,in regards to anything I've mentioned even in passing...I cannot sooth your frailties,so you'd best scroll right on by.

Cyber hanky to you.

'boy,

If your Great Grandfather was gunning a 303 today,that'd be his fault. Unless he was a fan of more weight,less performance and pissing up a rope in general.

Dead is dead.

Late to this discussion but here goes my take,

I have a couple of rifles in both 7mm-08 and 308 and have killed a bunch of stuff with both.

If I am in really open country I like the 7mm-08 a little better,in thicker stuff I prefer the 308. But a guy can get by with either one in either place. The 308 seems to hit a little harder with it's 165 grain loads than the 7mm-08 with 140s. They have tended to exit more and kill quicker,so I like them in thick stuff.

The 7mm bullets do shoot flater and deflect a little less in the wind when you get past 300 yards or so. This has been the case for me in actual shooting out to 500 yards.

PS,

Mr. Stick,glad to finally hear from you here,you're kinda famous.

I gotta remember that one.

BMT

The arguments concerning the relative superiority of the 7mm's vs the 30's is almost as old as dinosaur excrement,and if you dig far enough back in Elmer's old tomes you'll find references to the superiority of the 280 DuBiel Magnum to the 300 H&H as a long range cartridge. It applies not only to the magnum jugs,but to all cases of comparable capacity that are necked to both the 30 cal and 7mm's.

The theme's are the same, with the 30's winning on the bullet weight/frontal area side of the issue, and the 7mm's trumping when it comes to high BC,flat flight,and ample ballistic rewards for less recoil and lighter rifles.

I've played the game myself over the years and discovered long ago,when shooting a variety of magnum capacity 30's with 180's at 3100 against the 7mm's and a 160 at the same velocity,that the 7mm got to 600 yards with less drop than the 30's; it did so with less powder, less recoil, equal accuracy, in a lighter rifle.Maybe not by a lot,but the difference ws apparent.It just takes bigger powder charges and heavier recoil to get 30's to do what a 7mm does in terms of ballistic flight, if bullets are roughly comparable.

The 30's rule when it comes to heavier bullets and pure smash,but few animals require that level of punishment,and stuff hit with the 7's seem equally dead; maybe the reason Eleanor O'Connor knocked off African plains game with a 7x57, but used a 30/06 when she needed a "big" rifle for lion and elephant...

These analogies apply across the board so long as case capacities are the same.Les Bowman had it figured that his clients did better in open, above-timberline elk country with a 338 necked down to 7mm,than they did with the 300 Weatherby's they brought,simply because they hit better with the 7mm than the big 300's.

At the end of the day,Warren Page had it right ,I think,when he came down to the 6.5's and the 7mm's as providing the best balance of long range accuracy, high BC bullets,manageable recoil,flat trajectory,and lethal effectiveness from portable rifles for most big game hunting,at comfort levels most humans can apply,with a rifle in their hands, in the field.

And about the time you get it all figured out,you mostly say "screw it" and grab a 270 or 30/06..........

Bob-old Bowman, he knew his stuff didn't he. Would of loved it if he'd of written some books.

Well said as also there Bob!

Side note, there is a reason I like my old Mashburn so much...grin And how's it going with the 7 Dak?

Dober

Dober:Thanks! The 7mmDakota is coming along.I'm trying to get to a load for 160's. In thinking the whole thing through,I fired the 300 Weatherby yesterday and contemplated taking it to BC in September.But the 7 Dakota is lighter...kicks less...shoots as flat....and I suspect it MIGHT go to BC instead of the Weatherby...loaded with a good 160, I already know the outcome

The Dakota is just a modern Mashburn....which is a good thing!

Second in command will be one of the 270's

Yes, Warren and Les had it figured out.....

With those 160's I'd try 7828 and see if they won't perk. 7828 has been my go to powder for the Mashburn since I began working with it.

Take the Dak my friend, no need to tote one of those silly 30 cals around...grin

And hey don't forget Hagle in that group! Not only were those guys serious shooters they were serious hunters and really got around the globe!

Now I gotta get back to reading "One Mans Wilderness", no ma doubt a classic!

Dober

Dober: Got 7828 up and ready...I will try some.Enjoy the read!