7-08 rem opinions

[bigrich]

hey fellas , i already got one coming , but as a excuse for a chat i was looking for opinions on the 7-08 . compares very well to the 270 win with 140's

[Cooper]

They are a good ladies gun!

My mate talk me into getting one as my Deer rifle. It was the reason I started reloading. Although the Hornady whitetail factory load was cheap enough in bulk and work pretty when I first got mine. Otherwise factory offering were a bit mote limited.

Mines a Tikka T3x lite. I run the Hornady 139 BT interlock or 140 SST in a Norma case with 42gr 2208. Pretty sure thats the book max load so work up. The two different projectiles have virtually the same point of impact. The SST are a fair bit more explosive so I use them on varmints

I also run a 308 and 6.5cm now but the 7mm 08 is my go to walk around deer rifle.

[deye243]

Great calibre 2209 for the heavier pills does everything at 308 can do but better I can never work out why this calibre never really took off and like you Big Rich I have a hankering for one it may just be the barrel that I replace on my 260 .

[duncan61]

The 7-08 is very popular in England and is the go to cartridge for all deer from reds to the tiny little roe deer.I worked in Portsmouth for a Renault dealership that fitted out the vans to become wheelchair accessible.The owner was off deer shooting a lot and 7-08 was his choice.The ,224 remington and later 6mm Remington failed to get a big share of the market as the .243 then 7-08 were so succesfull

[bladeracer]

Absolutely love it, it's the cartridge that .308Win should have been.

[bigrich]

lot of love for the 7-08 i'm setting up a tikka t3x stainless laminate with a 3.5-10x40 vx3i loopy . it's gunna be the rifle my sako 85 shoulda been . tikkas don't have ejection problems and their as accurate with a great trigger (same trigger ?) . i've got some 145 gn speer hot cores , which should be a great all round projectile . add a bit of 2209 and i'm in business......

[bigrich]

so what have you fellas used the 7-08 on , game wise , and how was projectile performance ?

[duncan61]

I like the 308 and its relatives.I like the 458 on the 308 case.How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

[bigrich]

I like the 308 and its relatives.I like the 458 on the 308 case.How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

but ya left out 358

[straightshooter]

I like the 308 and its relatives.I like the 458 on the 308 case.How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

Yes a 458 on a 308 case sounds like a great idea.
But I am curious how you would overcome the likely head spacing problems.

[bigrich]

Great calibre 2209 for the heavier pills does everything at 308 can do but better I can never work out why this calibre never really took off and like you Big Rich I have a hankering for one it may just be the barrel that I replace on my 260 .

in hind sight i have a model 70 xtr that i should have rebarrelled into 7-08/260 instead of 243 . hindsight is a wonderful thing , but then i wouldn't have played around with so many great calibers . the most underrated of all is the 8x57 mauser in my opinion . having said that i'm looking at building up "the one gun" custom rifle everyone would like to own . sako L61 in 30-06 . projectile choice and hitting power is a influence on this . "everything from mice to moose" as the yank gun writers say .
back to the 7-08, i think a laminate stainless in 7-08 is the "all weather, anytime, anywhere rifle" for most parts of australia . at least where i live anyway . could probably get away with my 243 for what i do , but having "enough gun" for humane kills is of utmost importance to me . 243 will kill, but there's more room for a poor shot on running game with a 7-08 i reckon . anyone use the lighter 120 gn projectile loads ? be a good goat/dog load ?

[bigrich]

I like the 308 and its relatives.I like the 458 on the 308 case.How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

if i built a rifle battery based on that case , it would be 243, 7-08 , 358 . not much you couldn't do with those . 358 with a 225 woodleigh protected point would do scrubbers/sambar i reckon . i've used it on pigs with 225 GK's and it's dynamite (actually, it's overkill ) alaskan's love the 358 in a blr browning for elk/grizzly's in a compact rifle

[bladeracer]

8x57mm is the European version of the .30-06. In the same platform you can run 6x57mm, 6.5x57mm, 7x57mm, 8x57mm, and 9x57mm, (plus numerous wildcats) all made from the same brass, but the only one you actually need is the 7x57mm.

7mm-08 is a more efficient case though, allowing a short-action. On powder charges of 35gn to 45gn it'll throw 78gn to 120gn bullets at velocities similar to the .25-06. 100gn to 160gn bullets at velocities similar to 6.5mm Creedmoor. At 2.800" (short-action feed length) it's 150fps to 300fps short of .270Win levels, about 400fps short of .30-06 with 168gn bullets, and about 200fps short of 8x57mm up to 175gn bullets. But a longer throat will reduce these velocity shortcomings significantly (by allowing longer cartridge length and increasing the case volume). 7mm bullets go from 78gn up to about 212gn, but past about 168gn/175gn you'll need a tighter than standard 7mm twist rate.

7-08 gives you everything from .22 Hornet to light .30-06 levels of performance, with the high-BC of 7mm bullets for long-range velocity/energy retention.

Great calibre 2209 for the heavier pills does everything at 308 can do but better I can never work out why this calibre never really took off and like you Big Rich I have a hankering for one it may just be the barrel that I replace on my 260 .

in hind sight i have a model 70 xtr that i should have rebarrelled into 7-08/260 instead of 243 . hindsight is a wonderful thing , but then i wouldn't have played around with so many great calibers . the most underrated of all is the 8x57 mauser in my opinion . having said that i'm looking at building up "the one gun" custom rifle everyone would like to own . sako L61 in 30-06 . projectile choice and hitting power is a influence on this . "everything from mice to moose" as the yank gun writers say .
back to the 7-08, i think a laminate stainless in 7-08 is the "all weather, anytime, anywhere rifle" for most parts of australia . at least where i live anyway . could probably get away with my 243 for what i do , but having "enough gun" for humane kills is of utmost importance to me . 243 will kill, but there's more room for a poor shot on running game with a 7-08 i reckon . anyone use the lighter 120 gn projectile loads ? be a good goat/dog load ?

[Baronvonrort]

How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

I am considering the Terminus Zeus action with quick change barrels.

https://terminusactions.com/product/zeus/

With a short action it gives .223/204 ruger? by changing bolt and barrel then .243/260/7mm-08/308 i guess 30-06 and 270 as well. magnum bolt option available for short action as well.

Long action gives you options with 308, magnum and Lapua bolts with quick change barrel

I bit on the expensive side might work out cheaper in long run when factoring in optics probably a lot easier to transport a rifle with a couple of barrels/bolts in a pelican case instead of multiple rifles.

The 7mm-08 is good to get back on topic.

[deye243]

I don't see the point in a switch barrel rifle ( unless it is a Target Rifle) if you put your 243 or 204 barrel in you going to want a 18 to 24 power scope for varmints you stick a 458 708 or something similar in you gonna want 2.5 -8 powered scope and I got better things to do than resighting a rifle in every time I swap a barrel waste of components powder but that's just me switch barrel switch scopes better to just pick up a tool thats right for the job and have at it .

[bladeracer]

Multiple barrels have great novelty value, and are useful for experimenting with different chamberings, but most people will quickly decide on one as their most useful and forget about the other barrels.

I used to carry two rifles, usually a rimfire and a centrefire, as switching from one to the other was literally quicker than swapping magazines. I could walk along a creek with the rimfire, spot a fox crossing a paddock, or a crow in a tree 200m away, lay down with the .222, knock off the fox or crow, and go back to the .22 to continue along the creek, all in less than a minute. Barrel swapping doesn't work as well as that in the field. Just take a rifle that will deal with the most demanding situation, as it will still deal with the easier ones.

Nowadays I prefer to take one rifle with different loads for different situations, which is simply a matter of swapping the magazine to drop a fox with a subsonic load while out hunting larger beasts. Most commonly I carry the .204 with a 2500fps load, as most foxes are taken well under 100m. If I have to take a long shot I pop in the 4400fps magazine. I also carry some subsonic loads in case I have to finish something off at near-contact range.

With the Dickenson T1000, in the field, I can swap between 20" and 28" barrels in probably under a minute, though I haven't timed it. It's certainly quicker to change the barrel than to change the choke, and the extra barrel is not bulky or heavy to carry, and less likely to lose than a choke. I also have rifled chamber adaptors in pistol chamberings, but they take the same amount of time to swap in as changing the barrel.

How cool would it be to have one action and interchangable barrels in .243,7-06,308,338,and 458.You could cart 2 and bang rabbits with the .243 and switch out to 338 for larger game

I am considering the Terminus Zeus action with quick change barrels.

https://terminusactions.com/product/zeus/

With a short action it gives .223/204 ruger? by changing bolt and barrel then .243/260/7mm-08/308 i guess 30-06 and 270 as well. magnum bolt option available for short action as well.

Long action gives you options with 308, magnum and Lapua bolts with quick change barrel

I bit on the expensive side might work out cheaper in long run when factoring in optics probably a lot easier to transport a rifle with a couple of barrels/bolts in a pelican case instead of multiple rifles.

The 7mm-08 is good to get back on topic.

[bladeracer]

I don't see the point in a switch barrel rifle ( unless it is a Target Rifle) if you put your 243 or 204 barrel in you going to want a 18 to 24 power scope for varmints you stick a 458 708 or something similar in you gonna want 2.5 -8 powered scope and I got better things to do than resighting a rifle in every time I swap a barrel waste of components powder but that's just me switch barrel switch scopes better to just pick up a tool thats right for the job and have at it .

I agree about barrel swapping being mostly unviable, but there's no reason you can't use the same scope nowadays - 2-10x32, 3-12x40, 4-16x40 work equally well at close and long distances. Or use a QD magnifier that clips onto the rail in front of your 1-8x32 to turn it into a 3-24x32, although I don't think I've tried this on a precision rifle. 40-years ago most of us had a 4x32 that we used for everything, because we had nothing else. And usually your zero should be fairly stable so you can make pre-recorded scope adjustment without having to re-zero. If the rifle loses zero just from removing and reinstalling a quick-change barrel, it probably struggles with accuracy anyway.

Ideally you want each barrel to have it's own scope already mounted on it, scout scopes are good for this. But with pic rails you could simply swap the scope as well without having to re-zero, keep a scope zeroed to each barrel, and swap them as a set.

I find it's more sensible to have numerous rifles and choose the one for the job, but lots and lots of people just own one and make it do everything reasonably well.

I'm considering another RPR in .17HMR and an additional barrel in WMR, just to allow me to experiment with both cartridges. Not really a quick-change system, but it can be swapped in a few minutes with the standard AR15 tool, and uses the same bolt and mags in both.

[GQshayne]

I have always been a fan of the 7-08, but have never owned one. I reckon it is the next step up from my .243, so if I needed a larger calibre then the 7-08 would be it.

[bigrich]

I have always been a fan of the 7-08, but have never owned one. I reckon it is the next step up from my .243, so if I needed a larger calibre then the 7-08 would be it.

well , if you ever get inclined to rebarrel your 243 , it's a easy job to go 7-08

[GQshayne]

I have always been a fan of the 7-08, but have never owned one. I reckon it is the next step up from my .243, so if I needed a larger calibre then the 7-08 would be it.

well , if you ever get inclined to rebarrel your 243 , it's a easy job to go 7-08

Yes, and that is the plan. But having said that, as a pig gun, my BLR in .243 is good, and I have never felt under gunned. And it has a good barrel. But you never know what may happen one day. I have an old Tikka in .243 too, so maybe that is one .243 too many.

[bigrich]

okay fellas , my pta finally came through and i ran in the barrel/load tested today . 41.5 of 2208 and 150 nosler bt's shoot very well . that's a max load according to nosler and uncle nick , but it kicks like a kitten . i like it if i think i'm getting too girly i'll give my 45-70 with 400 speers a blast
145 speer hot cores are pretty woeful so far , will work up closer to max and see what happens

aside from that , i put my tikka in a B&C stock , which fits me like a glove . and tikkas being what they are , slick with a great trigger

[Blr243]

I had a look and I see that the 7mm 08 pushes 130 pills at very similar speeds as the 270. That’s great. And in a shorter action length

[bigrich]

I had a look and I see that the 7mm 08 pushes 130 pills at very similar speeds as the 270. That’s great. And in a shorter action length

yeah , 270 is great , but 7-08 performs almost as well with less powder and better barrel life . i was at belmont due to ripley being closed due to lots of water around .
started talking to a young fella who had driven straight down from around gympie to sight his rifle . he'd got 2 deer this morning but his shots were a bit off . poor bugger . nice fella , but he must've come straight down to belmont from the farm. had a akubra on his head and gumboots on his feet i find fellas like that easier to talk to than some of the "snipers" i see at rifle ranges but

i gotta go bush REAL soon .......

[Blr243]

Gympie was a fun place when I was up there working a couple of years ago. A nice country town. I really liked it. My dog and I fitted in real well at the dog park there .... so I called in there again on my way home from the cape. Some of th people in the town were a bit u know teeth missing pension day thongs sunburnt bandanna moonshine up in the hills

[deye243]

I had a look and I see that the 7mm 08 pushes 130 pills at very similar speeds as the 270. That’s great. And in a shorter action length

yeah , 270 is great , but 7-08 performs almost as well with less powder and better barrel life . i was at belmont due to ripley being closed due to lots of water around .
started talking to a young fella who had driven straight down from around gympie to sight his rifle . he'd got 2 deer this morning but his shots were a bit off . poor bugger . nice fella , but he must've come straight down to belmont from the farm. had a akubra on his head and gumboots on his feet i find fellas like that easier to talk to than some of the "snipers" i see at rifle ranges but

i gotta go bush REAL soon .......

I don't get it he was on a farm but drived to a range to sight in a rifle

[bigrich]

I had a look and I see that the 7mm 08 pushes 130 pills at very similar speeds as the 270. That’s great. And in a shorter action length

yeah , 270 is great , but 7-08 performs almost as well with less powder and better barrel life . i was at belmont due to ripley being closed due to lots of water around .
started talking to a young fella who had driven straight down from around gympie to sight his rifle . he'd got 2 deer this morning but his shots were a bit off . poor bugger . nice fella , but he must've come straight down to belmont from the farm. had a akubra on his head and gumboots on his feet i find fellas like that easier to talk to than some of the "snipers" i see at rifle ranges but

i gotta go bush REAL soon .......

I don't get it he was on a farm but drived to a range to sight in a rifle

Yeah, I thought that odd too . Maybe he just wanted a excuse to drive down to Brisbane. Was a genuine fella, just no accounting for what people do at times I guess

[bigrich]

Gympie was a fun place when I was up there working a couple of years ago. A nice country town. I really liked it. My dog and I fitted in real well at the dog park there .... so I called in there again on my way home from the cape. Some of th people in the town were a bit u know teeth missing pension day thongs sunburnt bandanna moonshine up in the hills

Yeah, I’ve known a lot of different people in my life, for me it’s not their social status/appearance/looks, it’s whether or not their genuine. If I had money I’d get property up around Gympie, lot of red deer up that way

[bigrich]

Are there any 7-08 users who can give me ballistic reports with regards to projectiles performance on game ? I’m thinking the 150 nosler BT’s will be a good general purpose load. Their readily expanding with enough weight for good penetration according to Nathan foster

[deye243]

I had a look and I see that the 7mm 08 pushes 130 pills at very similar speeds as the 270. That’s great. And in a shorter action length

yeah , 270 is great , but 7-08 performs almost as well with less powder and better barrel life . i was at belmont due to ripley being closed due to lots of water around .
started talking to a young fella who had driven straight down from around gympie to sight his rifle . he'd got 2 deer this morning but his shots were a bit off . poor bugger . nice fella , but he must've come straight down to belmont from the farm. had a akubra on his head and gumboots on his feet i find fellas like that easier to talk to than some of the "snipers" i see at rifle ranges but

i gotta go bush REAL soon .......

I don't get it he was on a farm but drived to a range to sight in a rifle

Yeah, I thought that odd too . Maybe he just wanted a excuse to drive down to Brisbane. Was a genuine fella, just no accounting for what people do at times I guess

[bigrich]

seeing as how they're at similar velocity's , and feedback on bullet performance from 7x57 shooters would be appreciated too