1st Deer Calibre Rifle - Advice
- Thread starter blaserf3
- Start date
Karamojo Bell used a .275/7 x 57 on everything from flying ducks (yes ducks) to elephants. How is that for versatility!!
David.
+1 Many times. Corbett and Bell both used them and they are suitable for all deer.
I had and used one for over thirty years and my wife used one as well. I should have bought another but had a fad for a single shot, break rifle and couldn't find one in 7 x 57 in my price range. Anything in 30 cal can be punchy my 30R Blaser certainly lets you know when you fire it.
Any caliber over and including .243 can have felt recoil, the fit and weight of a rifle has a lot to do with felt recoil ... find something that is a natural fit / mount to the shoulder, get some coaching from a recognised person in this field, there are a good few around ... a badly mounted rifle, shooting a decent load is going to make you liable to a flinch, I found a Rigby plains game full house load no more onerous than a good deer load in win mag .. just because of fit and method.
Ah, no hickory shafts for me, but i do use blades and bladed putter exclusively
iain b
Well-Known Member
this.
it’s a bloody good calibre...I’m always torn between that and the 7x57, the 7mm just takes the cake as I handload and instead of recoil, it’s like the rifle gives you a little loving hug
But you can’t spoil a good walk on a rifle range..Golf courses. A waste of a perfectly good rifle ranges!!!!
David.
Now there's an ill thought out comment!
The deer man
Well-Known Member
Utter rubbish!
7mm-08 ammo availability in the UK is perfectly good. If your local gunshop is so inept at getting it perhaps you should find another!
To name just a few available brands in the UK when I checked for supplies last month, Federal Fusion, Federal Power Shock, Hornady Whitetail, Hornady Superformance, Remington Core-Lokt, PRVI Partizan, Geco and Norma. Then you could just reload if there's nothing here you like.
7mm-08 is a great choice of cartridge with little recoil along with the 6.5x55 and either would make excellent choices for UK deer. The 7mm-08 you can also use for Wild Boar.
You can also use any caliber for boar..
There is only one type of 7-08 ammo for sale near be and it cost £45 a box. I will stand by my comment regarding availability of ammo.
A Guy Out West
Well-Known Member
To the OP, and you were confused when you asked your innocent question. Hope your not institutionalized at this point. This probably should have been pointed out at the start, if you shoot a center fire rifle, you will become a hand loader sooner or later. Yes, some on here will disagree, but odds are your next biggest worry will be what powder do I use. Best to get started on the hand loading thing as soon as possible. A simple and inexpensive Lee hand loading set up will serve you perfectly well. When you can roll your own, many limits are taken off you. You can use a 7/08, and not worry about finding ammo or you can down load a .308, and find a load you can handle until you are able to go full capacity. The list of advantages is limitless. You could even use a .257 Roberts AI, just because you can. You can do it! Good luck.
Load data for the 7mm-08
http://accurateshooter.net/pix/sierra708.pdf
http://accurateshooter.net/pix/sierra708.pdf
McKenzie
Well-Known Member
I don't know what you're complaining about; I bought some Norma 7x57 yesterday which was marked at £60, although I did manage to beat him down to £55 if I bought 2 packs.
Pine Marten
Well-Known Member
Once upon a time, around 2012, I bought my first rifle and for a variety of good reasons, applied for a 7mm-08. Then I set out to buy a variety of different factory loads to see what worked best in my rifle. I found that few gunshops had any in stock around London (there are not very many anyway) and that some brands were 60 quid a box. I managed to find four boxes of assorted Federal and Remington loads. The Remington ones were awful in my rifle. The Federals were both very good. I was subsequently given most of a box of Federal Fusions by The Deer Man on here, and they were equally good. Frankly, any of the Federals, be they Fusion, Power Shok or Vital Shok were just fine, but they were expensive. For stalking this didn't matter, I don't use half a dozen rounds a year on deer. For practice it was totally unaffordable. I first went down the road of custom reloads, essentially specifying a copy of the Federals. They weren't very good, but they were a lot cheaper.
Then, some well-meaning reloading proselytisers on SD started sending me assorted bits of reloading kit to make me see the light: an old RCBS press, a set of Lee dies, funnel, scales, etc. All I had to do was buy powder, primers, bullets and the Lee reloading book. Turns out it's easy, just follow the process. But it takes a while to do all the testing as I had to go down to Bisley which is a bit of a mission. Anyway, since then, I can reload 7mm-08 rounds to my heart's content with FMJs for practice, and have the same load with hollowpoints for stalking. A shoebox full of kit has kept me going for five years now. After the initial outlay, the cost is totally negligible, and now I can have bullets posted to me.
Honestly, it's easy and worth it. And now I know I could buy a rifle in any obscure calibre I liked. All I need is paperwork and a new set of dies.
Failing that, the Federal stuff is awesome, and the Fusion is quite affordable.
Then, some well-meaning reloading proselytisers on SD started sending me assorted bits of reloading kit to make me see the light: an old RCBS press, a set of Lee dies, funnel, scales, etc. All I had to do was buy powder, primers, bullets and the Lee reloading book. Turns out it's easy, just follow the process. But it takes a while to do all the testing as I had to go down to Bisley which is a bit of a mission. Anyway, since then, I can reload 7mm-08 rounds to my heart's content with FMJs for practice, and have the same load with hollowpoints for stalking. A shoebox full of kit has kept me going for five years now. After the initial outlay, the cost is totally negligible, and now I can have bullets posted to me.
Honestly, it's easy and worth it. And now I know I could buy a rifle in any obscure calibre I liked. All I need is paperwork and a new set of dies.
Failing that, the Federal stuff is awesome, and the Fusion is quite affordable.
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