7mm 08 A few Questions

For those that shoot a 708 and load for it, how does it generally handle the larger 175 grain bullets. I ask this because my wife should get drawn for bull moose this year and in my head I should be building her some tougher rounds than the usual 139 gr hornady sp.

I shoot 162 Hornady BTSP's in one of my 7-08's...it shoots very good with this bullet but haven't yet checked the velocity, I"m guessing its right around 2650-2700 ft/sec.
 
For those that shoot a 708 and load for it, how does it generally handle the larger 175 grain bullets. I ask this because my wife should get drawn for bull moose this year and in my head I should be building her some tougher rounds than the usual 139 gr hornady sp.

I would use a 150 grain partition. Better ballistics than the 175 grain, you won't have to worry about stability issues and you sure won't have to worry about bullet dependibility.

I think an excellent rifle for this caliber would be the Tikka T3. A good rifle at a decent price (around a grand). Top it off with a Leupold 3X9 and you're in business.

I would disagree. Short action cartridge, you may as well utilize a rifle with a short action instead of the Tikka one size fits all action. JMHO.
 
Use a quality bullet in the 140-150gr range.Bonded , partition, a-fame, interlock , they all will work.

175 are getting pretty heavy for factory twist rates and likely wouldn't gain much over a 140 moving at 2850 ft/sec anyways. Stability will be sketchy unless you have a 9 twist or faster barrel .Mine in 9 shot 168 OK, but it was dropping off in the accuracy department.

I use 150gr bonded for everything , it works for everything.

The illusion of heavier is better is just that, an illusion.

It is about on game performance, bullet for intended game and purpose and velocity.

Since you mention Hornady you could start with the inter-lock, price will increase from there.

Your 175's will likely give you 2500 ish ft/sec , run that on a ballistics chart vs some 140/150gr , I doubt you will want the loss in trajectory and accuracy of the 175's when the lighter projectiles will be giving you similar energy but football like trajectories.

Thank you. I wasn't sure if there was any collective wisdom on this combination. I just thought that I could maybe use the 175 gr partitions that I run in my rem magnum in the little 08. I believe there is a box or two of 154 grainers somewhere in the cupboard that would do the job.
 
I think an excellent rifle for this caliber would be the Tikka T3. A good rifle at a decent price (around a grand). Top it off with a Leupold 3X9 and you're in business.

A buddy has one and will never part with it, super accurate and it keeps his freezer full.
Now I'm looking for one..
 
I think an excellent rifle for this caliber would be the Tikka T3. A good rifle at a decent price (around a grand). Top it off with a Leupold 3X9 and you're in business.

I think a better way to go would be a vanguard s2 (can be had for $399 brand new at times even) and a nice scope of your choosing. Cabelas Right now they are $611 a leupold vx1 is $349 there as well so for undue a grand (without tax) you have a great gun (in short action as well) and good scope.
 
I think a better way to go would be a vanguard s2 (can be had for $399 brand new at times even) and a nice scope of your choosing. Cabelas Right now they are $611 a leupold vx1 is $349 there as well so for undue a grand (without tax) you have a great gun (in short action as well) and good scope.

I tend to agree because I have one :) A VGII Sporter with a Burris 3-9X40 E1 on it. But it's not for everyone.

With the (mag) loaded it tips the scales at a little over 9 1/2 pounds - not the end of the world in my type of hunting, but I'm not humping for miles or climbing mountains and with it's 24" barrel it's not exactly "compact".

I have found 139/140 grain bullets to be almost universally accurate in mine - doesn't really matter who made them or whether they are cup/core, bonded or partition style - this caliber just seems to like about 140 grains launched somewhere in the 2700-2800 fps range.

And that's enough bullet for just about anything save Ol' Grizz.
 
I think a better way to go would be a vanguard s2 (can be had for $399 brand new at times even) and a nice scope of your choosing. Cabelas Right now they are $611 a leupold vx1 is $349 there as well so for undue a grand (without tax) you have a great gun (in short action as well) and good scope.

The Vanguards are great, I have and have had quite a few and as you say certainly a bargain.
The only downside for some is the weight, scoped and with Talley mounts will likely be a bit north of 8 lbs.
 
The 7mm-08 Rem. is one of my favorite calibers. I purchased a new Model 7 not long after the cartridge was introduced and have owned several since. My latest a Cooper M54. With that said, I've lived and hunted long enough not to say anything bad about the 30-06 as it too is a great, read legendary, caliber. The 7mm-08 will recoil less and it's ability to fit in a short action is a real benefit to me being of smaller stature. I find short action rifles much more compact and quick to handle than their long action counter parts. Both are great cartridges.....just different.
 
Since the 7-08 is ballistically the same as the European 7x57. Moose hunting in Finland with the 7x57 is the most popular caliber, and it gets the job done.

i have been hunting two times in Finland only and i never seen a 7x57 nor a 6.5x55. favorite in the two hunting groups was 308 win and i was alone with my 9.3x62 ....
 
i have been hunting two times in Finland only and i never seen a 7x57 nor a 6.5x55. favorite in the two hunting groups was 308 win and i was alone with my 9.3x62 ....

LOL...the grass is always greener on the otherside of the pond! :)
 
If you check the link to the other thread I linked to a write up of my kid's cow elk hunt. I loaded a 139gr Interbond at about 2700fps...perfect performance. I shot a cow elk in 2007 as well but with a 139 gr interlock it worked great too. I've been using RL-15 for accuracy. H414 gets me top velocity. Exact book loads from new Hornady manual match my chronograph but my barrel is 22" and the book is 24" so I'm happy with that. My friend hasn't gotten top velocity or consistent results with Varget. H4350 has been good for him though. My most accurate loads have been RL15 and 139gr Interlocks. 150 ABLRs are promising so far...now to move the testing from the range to the field.
 
If you check the link to the other thread I linked to a write up of my kid's cow elk hunt. I loaded a 139gr Interbond at about 2700fps...perfect performance. I shot a cow elk in 2007 as well but with a 139 gr interlock it worked great too. I've been using RL-15 for accuracy. H414 gets me top velocity. Exact book loads from new Hornady manual match my chronograph but my barrel is 22" and the book is 24" so I'm happy with that. My friend hasn't gotten top velocity or consistent results with Varget. H4350 has been good for him though. My most accurate loads have been RL15 and 139gr Interlocks. 150 ABLRs are promising so far...now to move the testing from the range to the field.

I'm listening.

Ive just loaded 139 gr HILs over a min charge of Varget/2208 and seated projectiles to fit in the Box which coincides with the cannelure.. that'll do.

but in my realisation over time , I learnt I don't need a lot of speed, just enough , I would of previously tried to load as hot as I could for that Extra FPS, with Kimberly I will not achieve this.
2700fps is around the Min charge in my grasp of info.

I'm thinkin the lower velocity will be welcomed by the 140gr range of the BTSP.? may aid in penetration I am hoping.


I am having a hard time walking away from the Federal Blue box 150gr @ $44 per pack...... but I'm only prolonging the enevitable.


Great Topic.
IMG_3075KimberStagBag.jpg~original

WL
 
Photobucket is co-operating again...sort of.

To answer the question: here's my friend's son with his moose and Tikka in 7-08

7-08Moose_zps9529e015.jpg


Here's the recovered 140gr Nosler E-tip

140EtipMoose_zps6d57905d.jpg


I do like my Rem mtn rifle better than the Tikka but obviously it made no difference to the Moose which rifle that bullet came from.

Willy
 
Thanks to all of you for the information so far ! Very good information I might add , I'm learning a lot here !

I bought a new Winchester in the 1970's in 30.06 for some reason it was a lemon, lot's of problems . Sort of shy about going that make again . "Once bitten twice shy" !

Leavenworth

Winchester TOTALLY SHYT THE BED starting in 1964 (they hired a bunch of marketing people away from the car industry to try to stop the company from losing money hand over fist. The way they had been manufacturing firearms for decades was VERY COSTLY and LABOUR INTENSIVE. They had to charge a lot of money for their firearms compared to the Remington 700 etc which were much easier to make. They were losing market share daily. SO, they , more or less overnight, changed the way the guns were built. They used every cheap trick they could to reduce the cost to make their guns. They went from a controlled round feed type bolt action, to a push-feed on the model 70. They cheapened almost every detail of their guns. The Model 94 lever action went from having mostly machined parts to having "stamped out" parts. Fit and finish went the way of the dodo bird. Anyhow, if you bought a new in box Winchester from 1964 up until about 1980, you had a better chance of buying a lemon than a keeper. )
The plant in New Haven, Connecticut, where the Winchester plant was located, had a very "troublesome" staff and union. Labor strikes and other issues kept the plant from reaching it's production milestones. The people at the top saw the writing on the wall and sold the Winchester name. Winchester (as it was , was no more) It was eventually purchased by FN (fabrique National de Herstal) who make the U.S. militaries machine guns. They initially began production of NEW WINCHESTER MODEL 70's in Columbia , SC at the FN plant. (alongside the military guns, model 70's were churned out). F.N. makes top-tier guns. The quality of the new products was as good as it ever was. (pre-1964 quality). The parts are still made in the U.S. but are assembled in a state of the art new facility in Portugal. Apparently, the quality of these new guns is OFF THE CHARTS good.
All that long-winded response to tell you not to be afraid of NEW model 70's. They are truly guns that are inheritance quality. At least keep them on your radar when looking for your new gun.
 
Apparently, the quality of these new guns is OFF THE CHARTS good.
All that long-winded response to tell you not to be afraid of NEW model 70's. They are truly guns that are inheritance quality. At least keep them on your radar when looking for your new gun.

I have a USA made m70 from 3 or 4 years ago really well built. I bought a supergrade and gf bought a fwt assembled in Portugal and the fit, finish is way nicer on those 2 guns. Also seen a brand new one in a store was also finished excellently.
 
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