7mm-08 anyone

[pip]

Hi,

Just about to order a new sako, and contemplating a 7mm-08, basically wanted a 308 then read up on the 7mm, sounds like a great performer in view of the 308.

Anyone got comments on the 7mm as I don't know anyone with one to compare?

Pip

[yoshie]

Are you reloading??

[pip]

Hi yes , set up for other calibers

[Chronos]

Hey Pip,

i've owned my 7-08 for 4 years or so and i love the cartridge, it will shoot bullets from 120gr to 175gr under .5moa and has good barrel life. there's also heaps of good bullets available, they do cost a little more than similar .30 cal bullets though.

in general i say you should forget most of what you read about the 7-08 shooting with less recoil than the .308 because that is based on using lighter bullets, say 140gr in the 7-08 and 150gr in the .308. the fact is the 7-08 doesn't gain the advantage until after 300m where it's designed to perform in metallic silhouette competitions. here it can deliver 168gr bullets with a heap of energy at 500m

unfortunately the cost of factory ammo makes it a hand load only cartridge in australia, not a problem for me but some will be put off by this

Lorgar had a good thread about the 7-08 a little while ago, would be worth reading as well as the stuff on 6mmbr forum and a few others

Tikka 7mm-08 range report and handload data

Most 7-08 handloaders run .308 brass through the 7-08 full length die and neck it down as 7-08 brass is hard to come by. i use lapua .308 brass in my 7-08 with a light neck skip to uniform neck thickness

Here's a target from my load development with 120gr nosler ballistic tips for hunting and 150gr sierra match kings and 162gr AMAX all shot at 200m

Photos temporarily removed

Chronos

[yoshie]

Then yeah go for it. I went the 260, but I was looking for something in between 223 and 30-06. 7-08 is a great cartridge. The reason I asked is ammo is fairly rare. Keep this in mind if you plan to sell it one day.

[Lorgar]

Hey Pip,

Another 7mm-08 shooter here. I sold my .308 to get one in fact, and am glad I did.

Happy to answer any questions not covered if I can...

[Lorgar]

Actually here is a bit of info on it from another thread too that might pre-empt some questions.

I'm looking to get a bigger game rifle than my 243 and am trying to decide between 7mm-08 and .308 win.

I see lots of shooters like the like the 7mm-08 for reduced recoil. I'm not a huge guy so less recoil is always a good thing.

They shoot more or less the same way weight projectiles though, so why the less recoil?

Same rifle, same weight projectile = less recoil? Huh?

Any info for either calibres would be awesome.

As you say, the 7mm-08 doesn't just magically have less recoil. There's a bit more too it than that...

The differences between the two is that the 7mm-08 has a higher ballistic co-efficient for the same weight bullet due to the smaller diameter, long projectile.

As an example, if your compare a 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tip projectile in both 30 cal and 7mm-08, the 30 cal has a BC of 0.435 while the 7mm-08 has a BC of 0.493.

This it itself doesn't mean less recoil. Where the recoil comes into it is that with a 7mm-08 you need less energy (powder burned) to match the performance of an equal weight 30 cal projectile.

Alternatively, if you use the same amount of energy with a 7mm-08, it will have superior performance to a 30 cal of the same weight.

If I recall correctly, the 7mm-08 was developed for silhouette shooting for exactly this reason. You can shoot further and retain more energy to knock over the targets at greater distances.

Long story short, when comparing equal weight pills, the 7mm-08 is a superior cartridge. How much of a difference this will make for you in real world hunting situations is debatable though.

The one shortfall with 7mm-08 is that ammo/reloading consumables can be in short supply, where as you can walk into any gun store in the world and they will have tonnes of 30 cal.

Depending on how much you shoot that might not mean a thing to you though. Visit a few stores and see there ammo range and you'll see what I mean, then you can decide which calibre is best for you.

[pip]

Thanks everyone, I'm getting the picture.

I don't go through a lot of rounds, probably few hundred a year, so I'd be right once I have a brass supply.

Although it's nice to have plentiful supply of pills and brass at most suppliers. I live in a regional area and don't have a lot of shops around, and the ones that are here are small. I rely on online shopping a lot.

Decisions decisions.

Thanks.

[Monty]

I don't go through a lot of rounds, probably few hundred a year, so I'd be right once I have a brass supply.

Although it's nice to have plentiful supply of pills and brass at most suppliers.

If you get stuck you can always buy .308 brass and neck it down with your 7mm dies. Wouldn't really worry about that.

Just stock up on some pills when they're in stock.

[Lorgar]

Decisions decisions.

I did the same. In the beginning I bought a .308 because it was more plentiful blah blah blah.

In hindsight it was a waste of time.

Bought my Tikka 7mm-08 and I love it. Honestly I doubt I will ever replace it as my hunting rifle.

My Ruger .308 only seemed to like 150gr-155gr bullets so I was stuck shooting them.

For my 7mm Tikka I have a 120gr ballistic tip load for varminting and small game.

A 140gr Ballistic tip load as my 'regular' hunting round to cover everything.

And a 160gr Accubond load up my sleeve if I want it for some reason.

All shoot about .4 - .7 MOA.

The 120gr and 140gr loads are my regulars.

The 120gr are great for mucking about at the range and for varminting. Very recoil friendly which makes them nice to shoot. These are the one's I'm getting .4 MOA out of so it's perfect for the range.

The 140gr are my hunting rounds and are still pretty easy going. Shoots flatter than the .308 did and has more than enough power/damage.

Much more flexible than the .308 IMO. Would have saved myself a bunch of time and cash if I'd just gone with the 7mm to start.

My 2c.

[bobnob]

Hey Pip,

i've owned my 7-08 for 4 years or so and i love the cartridge, it will shoot bullets from 120gr to 175gr under .5moa and has good barrel life. there's also heaps of good bullets available, they do cost a little more than similar .30 cal bullets though.

in general i say you should forget most of what you read about the 7-08 shooting with less recoil than the .308 because that is based on using lighter bullets, say 140gr in the 7-08 and 150gr in the .308. the fact is the 7-08 doesn't gain the advantage until after 300m where it's designed to perform in metallic silhouette competitions. here it can deliver 168gr bullets with a heap of energy at 500m

unfortunately the cost of factory ammo makes it a hand load only cartridge in australia, not a problem for me but some will be put off by this

Lorgar had a good thread about the 7-08 a little while ago, would be worth reading as well as the stuff on 6mmbr forum and a few others

Tikka 7mm-08 range report and handload data

Most 7-08 handloaders run .308 brass through the 7-08 full length die and neck it down as 7-08 brass is hard to come by. i use lapua .308 brass in my 7-08 with a light neck skip to uniform neck thickness

Here's a target from my load development with 120gr nosler ballistic tips for hunting and 150gr sierra match kings and 162gr AMAX all shot at 200m

Photos temporarily removed

Chronos

Good commonsense there. Good post.

A lot of people want to apportion magical properties to the 7-08 when comparing it to the 308. For hunting big game out to about 400y there's very little difference.

If you like shooting bullets lighter than 150g to reduce kick a bit, I would suggest the 7-08 is a better pick than the 308. If you just want a great middle of the road big game getter, the 308 with 150g bullets will do it as good as most and every bit as good as the 7-08.


Chronos, how do the 120g BTs go on game? There are big wraps on them and I must admit to a temptation to build a light deer rifle around that projectile in 7-08 or possibly 280 Rem, given their great ballistic profile and reputed accuracy and on-game performance.

[Chronos]

Good commonsense there. Good post.

A lot of people want to apportion magical properties to the 7-08 when comparing it to the 308. For hunting big game out to about 400y there's very little difference.

If you like shooting bullets lighter than 150g to reduce kick a bit, I would suggest the 7-08 is a better pick than the 308. If you just want a great middle of the road big game getter, the 308 with 150g bullets will do it as good as most and every bit as good as the 7-08.


Chronos, how do the 120g BTs go on game? There are big wraps on them and I must admit to a temptation to build a light deer rifle around that projectile in 7-08 or possibly 280 Rem, given their great ballistic profile and reputed accuracy and on-game performance.

I gave to admit I've not hunted with the 120's (in fact my hunting experience in general is limited) but I did ask a couple of experienced deer hunters from the UK about the 120gr Noslers and there had been some problems on deer with failure to expand and pencilling through, I has a similar issue with Speer 130gr SP an issue I put down to driving them too slow.

The rem corelokt's in 140gr shoot well in my gun but I've struggled to get the 150's to shoot. More work req'd

Chronos

[bobnob]

Thanks Chronos.

[bunnybuster]

With reference to comparative recoil,Newtons Law rules,if you shoot an identical weight projectile at an identical velocity from an identical weight rifle,

the recoil will be identical, ie a 130gr 308 at 2900fps will recoil the same as 130gr 7mm at 2900fps in the same weight rifle.

Be Safe,BB.

[Lorgar]

Chronos, how do the 120g BTs go on game? There are big wraps on them and I must admit to a temptation to build a light deer rifle around that projectile in 7-08 or possibly 280 Rem, given their great ballistic profile and reputed accuracy and on-game performance.

I gave to admit I've not hunted with the 120's (in fact my hunting experience in general is limited) but I did ask a couple of experienced deer hunters from the UK about the 120gr Noslers and there had been some problems on deer with failure to expand and pencilling through, I has a similar issue with Speer 130gr SP an issue I put down to driving them too slow.

Hmm, gotta say that hasn't been my experience with them.

Exit would when it occurs is in the neighbourhood of 15cm. Strike a solid shoulder bone etc. and a lot if not all of that is directed internally with no exit would. Taking about small-med game here.

If fishing bullets out of the dirt etc. behind a target they've all expanded completely too. No pencilling.

I'm shooting 120gr Nosler BT's as my light load, at the lighter end of the scale as far as powder charge goes too. ADI data for this load 42.5gr - 45gr of 2208 and I'm loading mine with 43gr of powder for roughly 3,020 fps muzzle velocity. Not what I'd call a ridiculously fast load...

Just my experience anyway.

[harlow]

I'm loading mine with 43gr of powder for roughly 3,020 fps muzzle velocity. Not what I'd call a ridiculously fast load...

Sounds pretty fast to me

[Lorgar]

Agreed if you're on the receiving end of it it's not going to really matter

I just mention it as there are some people (not bobnob or Chronos) who are obsessed with velocity and won't accept anything less than blistering speeds.

I was shooting 95gr pills at about 3,050 fps when I had my .243.

I had more than a few people tell me this was 'way too slow' and I should be getting 'at least' 3,500 fps out of it. Lots of guying pushing lighter loads as high as 4,000+ fps too.

Just adding pressure IMO. No need to shoot them that fast.

[Farmjer]

I was shooting 95gr pills at about 3,050 fps when I had my .243.

I had more than a few people tell me this was 'way to slow' and I should be getting 'at least' 3,500 fps out of it. Lots of guying pushing lighter loads as high as 4,000+ fps too.

Nick Harvey followers vs ADI is a common one.

In the past several of this loads had starting charges which were above the ADI max charges.

Quite a few of his loads have been wound down in more recent books but guys insist on referring to the old ones still.

Oh well, what can you do.