308 v 7mm 08

foxer1

Well-Known Member
Hi guys iv currently got a spair slot for a 308 on my ticket but that was mainly because i used to be a member of a gun yeh i know how sad lol . And now im been tempted toward a 7m 08 and would love lots of advise please . The rifle would be used mainly for fallow but if i can ever afford it a trip to scotland wouldnt be out of the aquation :D.

Cheer Andy
 
Ask youself what the difference will be at the receiving end and then buy the one that takes your fancy.
 
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Hardly any difference.. Better BC and therefore a slightly flatter trajectory. Its something different though and seems to be growing in popularity. I also chose it because its aparently a milder round to shoot.
 
7mm 08

yeh as pierred said fingers crossed i will be rolling my own but with lots of help as im not the sharpest tool in the box lol a milder recoil would be good for me i must confess getting old you see lol' :lol:


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Hi guys iv currently got a spair slot for a 308 on my ticket but that was mainly because i used to be a member of a gun yeh i know how sad lol . And now im been tempted toward a 7m 08 and would love lots of advise please . The rifle would be used mainly for fallow but if i can ever afford it a trip to scotland wouldnt be out of the aquation :D.

Cheer Andy

Personal choice is 7-08 ... less recoil, terminal performance at all normal ranges is effective for all UK Deer species. If you're going to shoot longer range at paper/steel then the 7-08 is probably flatter shooting, which is what I understand the round was developed for originally.

A lot of people go to the 308 because its what they used in the Military (7.62) on the Queens Enemies, in days of yore. That doesen't necessarily make it the ideal deer calibre IMHO. AND..... as already said; in UK the 7-08 is a reloaders calibre.

There was an interesting article on this topic in Sporting Rifle a month or 2 ago, PM if you'd like a scan of it.

Best

P
 
.
A lot of people go to the 308 because its what they used in the Military (7.62) on the Queens Enemies, in days of yore. There was an interesting article on this topic in Sporting Rifle a month or 2 ago, PM if you'd like a scan of it.
P

P, I think you will find the military are still using quite a lot of 7.62, in fact the volume used is increasing!

Lew Potter in his splendid book "Deer Stalking and Management" calls the .308, "probably the ultimate allrounder". I find it hard to disagree with him, although I am a big fan of the 7mm round.

In fact there would be much to the argument that the 7x64 is a more versatile round (although the .280 is supposed to be more efficient), able to be loaded up to very nearly rem-mag levels, or down to 7x57 performance levels. And the 7x57 is what the 7mm-08 is supposed to replace. In the great scheme of things the deer will never know what killed it, they are all effective rounds and none will let you down.

Much navel gazing can be done on this subject ;)

ft
 
Over sensible deer stalking ranges there is virtually no difference. It's at really long range that the 7mm-08 wins.

I am planning on building a target rifle in 7mm-08 when I have shot my .243 out. At 1000yds the elevation is 28moa for the 7mm and 32moa for hte .243 and the 7mm is still supersonic at 1300yds. Please note this will be a target rifle which I am planning to use out to 1200yds+.

That said however, my deer stalking rifle is a .308.
 
Ammunition?

The 7mm-08 appeals to me as a bit different. Nothing more scientific than that. What is the availability of ammunition like? Is reloading a must?

Cheers
Adrian
 
a friend of mine shoots a 7mm-08. he reckons its the perfect calibre for fallow with a 140gr bullet. And will handle everything in this country quite suitably. I dont think there is much difference between the 7-08 and 308 at the 140-150gr mark, 308 obviously has more wider bullet choice and if your considering ever going after some pigs would be the better choice.
 
Flytie, I agree entirely, we have good reasons to be happy that the 7.62 round is still going, and long may it continue.

I seem to be going backwards myself, as the recent acquisition of another 7x57 (275 Rigby) is replacing the 7-08 in my affections, and again it is all navel gazing stuff, as you say the deer don't know the difference. :lol::lol::lol:

Best

P
 
Over sensible deer stalking ranges there is virtually no difference. It's at really long range that the 7mm-08 wins.

I am planning on building a target rifle in 7mm-08 when I have shot my .243 out. At 1000yds the elevation is 28moa for the 7mm and 32moa for hte .243 and the 7mm is still supersonic at 1300yds. Please note this will be a target rifle which I am planning to use out to 1200yds+.

That said however, my deer stalking rifle is a .308.

At those sorts of ranges I'd be looking at 6.5mm rather than 7mm as they have a higher bc for pretty much any given bullet weight. But having just signed up for a .260 rem (6.5-08) I'm biased :)

As said, you'll need to be reloading in pretty much anything that isn't mainstream...
 
I thought the 7mm won the bc race. Target guys are changing to 7's.

308 is hard to beat, just has huge knock down power for that little cartridge.
If I would start fresh I would go 7-08 as we don't have boar. As others said it seems
ideal for UK and Eire deer.
edi
 
I am going to upset the apple cart here, I don't think caliber is such a contributing factor when hunting. I am certain it is more important to place the bullet in the right spot and when done correctly the animal drops like a stone.

I have shot a fox with an air rifle in the head many years ago in my grandfathers barn at 20 yards and I dropped it like a stone. I shot a fox 6 months ago with an HMR at 188 yards (Measured with rangefinder) and it dropped like a stone, I shot one last week and winged it with my .243 and it ran 30 yards like a drunken sailor before it keeled over.

Does that make the air rifle a better foxing round ????

Of course not !!!

Which is the best deer round, .243, .308, 7-08 or .338 lap mag???

They will all kill a deer cleanly if you hit it in the heart and lung, but even the .338 lap mag will give you runners if you hit it in the ass.

I am off the opinion that to make our sport as humane as possible we firstly need to make sure we have a rifle we can use accurately at ranges within our abilities. Secondly get a rifle capable of killing the target animal AND THEN SOME!!!

When I am out rifle shooting on my permissions I nearly always take the .243, the odds are I will only shoot rabbits, but if a fox or muntie shows I am tooled up to dispatch it. The rabbits get really wasted, but what the hell, dead is dead. My ticket says "Deer any other lawful quarry" so thats what it is used for.

A 7-08 is no better for deer than a .308, they will both kill a deer up to 600yds and beyond if you hit it in the right spot, the important question is can you hit it in the right spot ???

I suggest that is a more pertinent question in deciding caliber suitability.

Suitable caliber is just a matter of "Does this caliber have sufficient ft/lb energy with suitable ammo to kill the target animal ???"

Different calibers do have different trajectories but that is just a matter of printing a drop chart and dialing to a different number on your elevation and windage turret.

The important question really should be

"What rifle caliber am I able to use accurately enough to hit an animal at a desired range in the right spot ???"


I am sure most of the talk about different rifle calibers is just a fashion thing, most of the top long range shooters use .308, so .308 has got to be a pretty accurate round and it is well capable of killing deer at 600yds which is probably 3x further than 90% of British deer are shot at so why use anything else.

Fashion !!!

It doesn't make it wrong, but come on guys, lets be honest about it.

I have a .308 BTW.
 
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I think shot placement has nothing to do with caliber. If one talks about caliber well then it is not shot placement.
Let's say shot placement will be the same with calibre x, y or z. Then the better calibre for purpose will shorten
the time till death on the particular game animal. Big can of worms, because of course many calibres or cartridges
will be very similar at the end....and we have to draw the line somehwere.
None of us would send a bunch of greenhorns into the forest armed with 22lr's ...saying it's all about shot placement,
because it isn't.
With modern lightweight sound moderators just about anybody can shoot a 308, 270 or 30-06 which are
generally accepted on deer in Europe or most parts of the world.

edi
 
I think shot placement has nothing to do with caliber. If one talks about caliber well then it is not shot placement.
Let's say shot placement will be the same with calibre x, y or z. Then the better calibre for purpose will shorten
the time till death on the particular game animal. Big can of worms, because of course many calibres or cartridges
will be very similar at the end....and we have to draw the line somehwere.
None of us would send a bunch of greenhorns into the forest armed with 22lr's ...saying it's all about shot placement,
because it isn't.
With modern lightweight sound moderators just about anybody can shoot a 308, 270 or 30-06 which are
generally accepted on deer in Europe or most parts of the world.

edi

EDI you are making my point for me. caliber just isnt that important as long as the caliber is up to the job of dispatching the animal. Accuracy of the individual is a lot more important.

.243, .250, .260, .270, .280, .308 etc...etc...etc... will all kill a deer and be legal at doing it and the recoil with modern mods will be similar as long as you don't start talking about Ultra Mags and the like.

But, all will maim too if the nut behind the but cannot shoot straight.

Get the nut trained to shoot bug holes groups with his favoured deer caliber and you've cracked it.

To suggest 1 caliber is a better caliber to dispatch an animal is nonsense really.

There are a other factors that have a bigger bearing on the effective dispatch of an animal with a rifle;

eg,

1, Type of ammo (Whats best hollow points, accubonds, partitioners???)
2, Weight of ammo ( Whats best 140grain 6.5x55 or 125grain .308 ??? )
3, Accuracy of the shot (Does he hit the heart and lungs he is aiming for or does the wind make it a gut shot ???)
4, What part of the body the shooter is aiming for (Does he aim for the spine shot, head or heart)
5, The ft/lb energy at the range of impact (Whats best 1500ft/lb from .308 or 1750ft/lb from .243 ??? )
6, Does the bullet exit (Does the bullet pass through the heart and lung causing heavy blood loss and instant shock and death or does the bullet get stopped by heavy bone leaving animal to run a short way and collapse???)

I would suggest all of the above are at least as important factors in deciding how effective at dispatching an animal a rifle is.

If you hit a deer in the ass with a .50cal it will not die as quickly/humanely as a .243 with a direct heart and lung shot.

Caliber is just 1 of many variables that affect the effectiveness of a bullet to kill a target animal.

The caliber is more about fashion in my opinion.
 
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At those sorts of ranges I'd be looking at 6.5mm rather than 7mm as they have a higher bc for pretty much any given bullet weight. But having just signed up for a .260 rem (6.5-08) I'm biased :)

As said, you'll need to be reloading in pretty much anything that isn't mainstream...

I have done the comparisons and 7mm wins every time.

Highest BC 6.5 bullet: 0.687 - Lost river bullet which is hard to get hold of over here or: 0.629 Berger

Highest BC 7mm bullet: 0.735 - JLK bullet which is hard to get hold of over here or: 0.672 berger (180gr)

The best however is the 7mm 162gr A-max at 0.625. Because it is 18gr lighter than the berger you can get much more velocity out of it for not much loss in BC terms.

A .260 with the best 6.5 bullet doesn't even come close to the 7-08 with the 162 in ballistics.
 
I have done the comparisons and 7mm wins every time.

Highest BC 6.5 bullet: 0.687 - Lost river bullet which is hard to get hold of over here or: 0.629 Berger

Highest BC 7mm bullet: 0.735 - JLK bullet which is hard to get hold of over here or: 0.672 berger (180gr)

The best however is the 7mm 162gr A-max at 0.625. Because it is 18gr lighter than the berger you can get much more velocity out of it for not much loss in BC terms.

A .260 with the best 6.5 bullet doesn't even come close to the 7-08 with the 162 in ballistics.

Given that most ethical deer stalking is done between 100 and 200 yards, would you say that statement holds true at for example a controlled experiment at 150 yards?
 
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