7mm 08 vs .308

Kelly Timoffee said:
It is interesting how some will state that a 120 TTSX in 6.5mm offerings have plenty of performance to drop a moose at moderate distances but some figure that you need 180 grains in 30 cal minimums to be effective for large game in N.America.

At the end of the season I guess the freezers will speak for themselves. ;)
Click to expand...

i just cant see a 6 , 6.5 or 7mm 120-140 grain bullet is making the best of your time. i spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours for a chance at harvesting an animal, and having to pass on an animal quaretered towards you because all i have is a tiny bullet isnt a chance i want to take.

for a simple apples to apples comparison shooting an animal at 100 yds with .308 is the exact same bullet and velocity as the 300 win mag at 220yds
however shooting 7mm-08 at 100yds equals the 7mag at 350 yds with 150 gr bullets. (i used federal data)
 
The 308 is such an efficient caliber, even if i wanted ,i could not justify the 7mm-08 maybe only a reason to add that caliber to my stable, 7mm is a proven performer but from all the rifles i own only 2... 7mmSTW and 7mm Wheaterby, kind of never hooked on the 7, but many friends of mine do swear by them, but i do have a lot of new interest in the 6.5 caliber... JP.
 
12many said:
i just cant see a 6 , 6.5 or 7mm 120-140 grain bullet is making the best of your time. i spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours for a chance at harvesting an animal, and having to pass on an animal quaretered towards you because all i have is a tiny bullet isnt a chance i want to take.

for a simple apples to apples comparison shooting an animal at 100 yds with .308 is the exact same bullet and velocity as the 300 win mag at 220yds
however shooting 7mm-08 at 100yds equals the 7mag at 350 yds with 150 gr bullets. (i used federal data)
Click to expand...


You didn't compare the same bullet in the 7mm Rem Mag and 7mm-08! Just a little over 200yds if comparing the same bullet in both! So same relationship as the 308win to 300Win Mag!
 
Onies said:
Hi all. I was looking at the possibility of a new deer rifle, in a new to me calibre. While in my search, I came upon the 7mm 08, which is a necked down .308. Ballistics charts look comparable, so my question is, what advantage does one have over the other, other than availability of ammunition, and filling the gap betwen the .243 and .308?


Thanks,


Fred
Click to expand...

7mm 08 performs very well with cheap 139/154 grain bullets shooting quite flat and low recoil, the 308 not quite as flat shooting heavier bullets and a bit more recoil.

Light 7mm-08 rifles don't kick that bad, light 308's knock your socks off. With equal weigh bullets the 308 has a higher velocity.

Either cartridge will be excellent for deer or moose.
 
I do think the RECOIL do start after the 308, everything there or under is very maneageble, it is like big apple and bigger apple... JP.
 
Use the chambering then post your experiences, don't refer to tables and on-line data used to sell product.

I know what I am comfortable using.

If you don't want to use a slow poke 6 6.5 or 7mm offering use what you feel is best.
 
I would of bought my daughter the 7mm-08 instead of the 308win if I didn't
hunt with a 308win.
From what I have heard from hunting friends who use this chambering, it does
compare to the 308win with less recoil.
I prefer the 30 calibers for hunting.
 
I'd say there is no serious appreciable difference between the cartridges. Both will do an equal job of putting down an animal.

Personally, I'd go for the .308 because the ammunition is more readily available and likely cheaper (marginally). More ammo means more target practice, which in turn will improve your shot placement and accuracy.

YMMV
 
I did shoot a couples of time customers 7mm-08 at the range, i am not #####ing the caliber, just saying can't find enough difference from the 308 to justify the 7-08 and if i had a 7-08 i would not justify buying a 308, this is a personnal opinion... JP.
 
Kelly Timoffee said:
Use the chambering then post your experiences, don't refer to tables and on-line data used to sell product.

I know what I am comfortable using.

If you don't want to use a slow poke 6 6.5 or 7mm offering use what you feel is best.
Click to expand...

i don't own a 7mm -08 i own a 7mag, and 150 grainers are marginal on moose and bear etc when busting bone and have required a second shot. but never had a 30cal 180 grain fail to do its job, even on Texas heart shots .

i don't get the fascination with small bores and taking big game, then recommending it.In ideal conditions with ideal target positions they work, but otherwise the other 50% of the time they won't so why reccomend it.

guns are loud and have recoil deal with it, dont like recoil take up baking or knitting.
 
Bullet construction once again is important.

Put a crappy frangible bullet in a 300 WM and a good quality bullet in a .260 and guess what your out comes are.

.308 and 7mm-08 do the same job wearing different work clothes, if you feel it won't work, don't use it, having doubt in your equipment isn't good, but having confidence goes a long way.Some have confidence in a 6.5 x 55 others in a 338WM.

I have 30 cal rifles, 7mm, and 6.8mm , my old reliable is of the 7mm variety, but what works for me may not work for you.
 
If you want a kill shot from any angle including hard quartering, it's penetration that you need, not diameter. That has to do with bullet choice more than anything, and sectional density. The "small" 6.5's and 7mm's with proper bullet choice will penetrate just as deep or deeper than the 30 cal's when you're talking about similar energy, etc.

If you're talking about real world experiences, a doe I took last year was a very hard quartering away at about 200 yards using factory 140gr remington core-lokt 7-08 out of a 20 inch barrel. The bullet penetrated about 26 inches through the animal and smashed a 3 inch wide hole through the ribs on exit, then continued on ricocheting off a boulder with a loud enough sound that I thought I missed at first. That was with a cup-and-core bullet, and it's generally accepted that the monolithic solids penetrate significantly deeper than the traditional bullets.

When people advocate using a 7mm-08 on moose or elk, they are usually doing so assuming a well constructed 160gr bullet, or a 140gr monolithic like the tsx. Having seen the performance first hand, I would not hesitate to use a 140gr tsx on moose or elk. My friend who I was hunting with at the time, has worked as a moose guide for several seasons and his personal choice is 308, and when he saw the cup-and-core performance he said "that's a moose gun".

A few people have said it already, that these two cartridges are so close you're splitting hairs. I agree the 308 is a better moose/elk choice, but the original OP post specifically stated a "deer" gun, not a "moose" gun. How did this move from a deer gun discussion to a moose gun discussion anyways? And as I said although the 308 would probably be a little better for moose, I would never hesitate to use the 7-08 with proper bullet choices.

If you're going to reload, I chose the 7-08 for the same reasons that I and many other people have stated, and especially for deer or similar size game.

If you don't reload, I would choose the 308 because finding ammunition in a pinch is worth it just in case.

I really can't put it any more simply than that. So close, it doesn't really matter... but you can't bash either one as a result because there isn't enough difference!

Red
 
I shot my first deer with a 7mm-08 in 1984 nearly 27 years ago. I've hunted with a 7mm-08 in one form or another almost every year since. I can not imagine a better deer cartridge and I've shot deer with 243 Win, 280 Rem, 7mm Rem Mag, 30-06, 300 Win Mag, 350 Rem Mag, 44 Mag and 45/70 (favorite for close range). When things like portability, low recoil, accuracy and sufficient power are considered the 7mm-08 is about as good as it gets. This is just my opinion and I'm sure there are a lot of cartridges the same thing could be said including the .308.
 
Last edited:
I like being able to pick up ammo in almost any store that carries ammo when I need ammo.(Making special trips to store XYZ isn't always practical.) I generally don't shoot premium ammo hunting or at the range. I want it cheap and I want it anywhere. Out hunting far up north, it's comforting to know many others will have the same caliber and one guy can help out another. I can get cheaper hard point and soft point ammo from sources overseas in .308. Differences in recoil are trivial between the two. (Get a recoil saving butt pad if you think these calibers kick.) Finally, since they both do pretty well the same job, no 7mm-08 for me.

...oh and when the zombies attack, there's loads of .308 ammo close by at Cambodian Tire and Chinamart to stock up.
 
There is no wrong answer, flip a coin and choose one.

If recoil is your limiting factor try a 6.5X55 or a .257 Roberts. I'm a little perplexed that the issue of recoil comes up when we are considering cartridges in this power level. IMHO, none of them kick enough to be a problem for any adult healthy enough to consider big game hunting in the first place. A generation ago our military taught youngsters to ignore the bump on the shoulder and most were able to shoot similar .30 caliber rifles effectively. Besides, one does not lie behind a 6 pound hunting rifle and fire 20 round strings.

Be sure your rifle fits you well, install a good quality pad if it doesn't have one, and limit your shooting to 5 round strings. That is the formula I followed with my wife's .30/06. One day I asked her if the recoil of the 180 gr TSXs was a problem, and it hadn't occurred to her that it might be. But if you find that the recoil of any rifle is a bit more than you enjoy, do what I do when shooting more powerful rifles. Reduce your strings to 3 shots if 5 is too much, then take a break before you shoot again.

Handloading allows you to pick your power and control the recoil level as well. You can load 130 gr TTSXs to 2600 in a .308, a .30/06 or a .300 magnum for that matter. That load kills deer dead, shoots flat over normal hunting ranges, and has negligible recoil. If you don't handload you can find managed recoil ammunition, but one wonders if such a thing is necessary with a .308 sized cartridge.
 
Onies said:
Hi all. I was looking at the possibility of a new deer rifle, in a new to me calibre. While in my search, I came upon the 7mm 08, which is a necked down .308. Ballistics charts look comparable, so my question is, what advantage does one have over the other, other than availability of ammunition, and filling the gap betwen the .243 and .308?


Thanks,


Fred
Click to expand...

Here's the best advice yet: Buy one of each, play with them, pick a favorite and tell us which one is better. Then - sell the other...

One question to all of you 'ammo availability' guys: Do you really just buy one box at a time?

:HR:
 
The 7-08 is a fantastic deer cartridge. It'll shoot flatter, and will kill a deer without any difficulty whatsoever.
Now, I don't own one, but I do own a couple .280's and a few .270's. You definately do NOT need a 30 cal to kill a deer.
Do yourself a favor and get the 7-08. It'll be an awsome deer cartridge.
 
Most times anything starting at 243 is more then enough to kill whitetail deer. And it all about how well one shoots the rifle of choice. Shooting out beyond 200 yards and cleanly taking game is about shooting the rifle/cartridge of choice as well as one can. Shooting practice and repeatable bullet placement on the target; and developing a comfort zone for whatever degree of recoil one's rifle produces is the best skill a hunter can have. Nothing beats confidence.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom