HowaHunter
Active member
Love that versatile round. It has put antelope, deer, and moose in my freezer!
7mm-08?
- Thread starter Mustangs Rule
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jbseamus83
Well-known member
It's a fantastic round. Has a lot of fans here on HT. My savage in 7mm-08 has taken a pile of animals (hogs, WT deer, mule deer, cow and bull elk). With the right bullet it's more than capable. We've taken animals from 67 yds to 430 yds with it.
7-08 is what I recommend to 95% of new hunters. It works and won’t recoil hard. It also saves me time not cracking creedmore jokes at them.
I have a lot of rifles but haven’t owned a 7-08 yet. My love of the 280ai is strong.
I have a lot of rifles but haven’t owned a 7-08 yet. My love of the 280ai is strong.
Salmonchaser
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Im working my way down, slowly. I don’t have a 708 but I do have a 275 (7x57)Rigby a little more case capacity than the 7/08. I get 140s to 2925 and 60k psi. I’ve taken a few deer with it but no elk-yet. Kinda thinking I’ll take it elk hunting this year. If I pull off another trip to Africa I’ll take it and the 375 or the 416 rigby. I’m sure it’s been done, Bell comes to mind, but it’s not a Cape Buffalo cartridge. I’m curious to see how many bang flops I can get on plains game. The 300 H&H was 10 out of 12.
I use and love both
elkduds
Well-known member
And 270 win is the thinking man's 7 rem mag.
Theoretically, the 7-08 is a nearly perfect cartridge, and yet inexplicably is one that just doesn't "speak" to me. I've owned and hunted with several, but I'd sooner use the 6.5 CM's or 308's that are in my closet. I just never "loved" the cartridge. Can't really say why. Some years back I did use one to take a grand, old, mountain bull elk though, so that's a great memory. Quickest kill I've ever had on any elk.
Funny creatures we humans are lol. I always do like seeing others use the cartridge though - it's such a fine and sensible choice.
Funny creatures we humans are lol. I always do like seeing others use the cartridge though - it's such a fine and sensible choice.
I recommend the 6.5 CM to new hunters since ammo is plentiful everywhere, can often be had fairly cheaply, and in great variety. 7-08 ammo is generally harder to find, and not nearly so plentiful in variety. Here locally, for every SKU of 7-08 ammo there is 8 or more SKU's of 6.5CM.
What’s your preferred bullet in the 6.5creedmoor?
Hams42
Well-known member
I use the 130 grain Sierra game changers. I will be switching to Hammers though. I found the game changers worked much better than eld-x's.
Mustangs Rule
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Decades back I bought a 7x57 FN Belgium made Mauser Venezuelan Cavalry Carbine, It had an 18'' barrel, with a heavy bullet twist. I had a gunsmith drill and tap the receiver and put on vintage Lyman peep sights and tuned the trigger, not replace it with a boxed Timney trigger. Those mauser military trigger were self-cleaning and made for war.
I worked the stock down to a trim profile and carved in a Schnable tip on the front of the stock.
It would was Sub-Moa with those 190 grain round nosed bullets made by Either Banes or Lapua, I forget now it has been so many years
I named this rifle the "Wolverine" and hunted tons of wild boar with it. These boar were the real deal. Big black, tuff hides, long sharp tusks. Some went almost 400 pounds. Muscle not fat. Here is one local event.
A Cowboy tried to ride his horse into a scrap his dogs were having with a big boar. He was going to shoot it with a 44 mag.
The boar did a classic attack and unzipped his horse's belly, and its guts were hanging out, and the cowboy was still in the saddle for few seconds.
That little rifle was such a boar killer. I sold it when I got older and my eyes got too weak for peep sights. I replaced it with a 308 Sako SS Finnlight with a 20 inch barrel and with a 1/11 heavier bullet twist. I like shooting the 200 grain Lapua Mega round nosed bullet with a sectional density of .301.
I have a fine New Haven Ct. made CRF Winchester Model 70 in 6.5x55 Swede. It is a sweet Swede but for me a real rifle, fit for all duty has 7mm as the bottom line. I have had two 7x57's a 280 and a 280 AI, all gone over a half century of shooting and hunting. Oddly I never had a 7mm-08. From all my readings the 7mm-08 is the magic zone for all 7mm rifle cartridges. The 308 case is so efficient and accurate.
My next birthday I will be 79. Seems like one of two roads is followed by most old hunters. They either get out of shape and keep buying more rifles to go to the range with,,,OR,,,they get rid of extra rifles, stay in shape and keep hunting.
Quite possibly the 7mm-08 is the best choice for all hunting shy of things that can bite back. Were I younger I would buy one ,but not now. All that fiddling around with a new caliber, new dies, working up new loads and lots of range time no longer excites me, especially with the high price and scarcity of powders.
275 Rigby??? Were you a Jim Corbett fan?
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Worked better in what way?
Salmonchaser
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I am I suppose, read some of his books as a kid in Alaska. We didn’t have tv up there in the early 60s. While I’ve owned very few 7mms I’ve been keenly aware of them since the 7mm Remington mag started showing up. As I’ve aged out of numerous over bore cartridges I’ve become more interested in more modest use in powder and ball, so to speak. I was actually looking for a #1 in 7/08 about 10 years ago when the 275 stamped #1 showed up. It is so much fun to shoot I need to stick a new barrel on it, been a good deer round with 140 accubonds. I’ve rountinely violated my rule with the 7/57 had 150 accubonds getting into the high 2900s before getting spooked by extraction issues. My rule is broadly speaking if you want 3000fps with 180 gr bullets don’t try with an 06, buy a 300 wm.
I do work at staying in shape, at 70 it gets tougher. I do plan on getting to Africa one more time at least. I’ve yet to hunt buffalo. Next time I’ll take the 275 Rigby for plains game, for buffalo the 375 HH or the 416 Rigby.
For elk and deer this year the overbores stay home. I’ll take the Rigby.
Hams42
Well-known member
The eldx just punched holes. Little to no expansion on multiple deer. Switched to the game changers and had good expansion and were very accurate. Eldx worked great in my 7 rm just not in my 6.5 cm.
Interesting. Usually the eldx is the opposite of just punching holes.
Yeah. Bullets do stuff. mtmuley
