7mm-08?

[tipup]

Been looking for a gun for my son. Tossed around a few ideas, he is gun shy of the recoil, and it is hard to get him to shot anything. He used a 223 this year, but I fear that he will need a bigger rifle in the next few years. I have been hearing about the 7mm-08 and would like to know more about them. I know about all other cal. out there, but not about this cal. Any info would be great. Pros and cons, what can be hunted with them and so on. Thanks to all!!

[Bowfin]

I haven't shot this caliber but what I have been hearing:

Cons: high price and somewhat less available ammo

Pros: everything else that matters (low recoil, flat shooting, good knockdown power)

[mtheis]

The 7mm-08 is a great cartridge. But we are not looking for a great cartridge. We are looking for a cartridge that your boy can shoot and enjoy in-season and off-season. Google "Rifle Recoil Table" and you will see that when shooting 120gr bullets, a 7mm-08 creates 12.1 foot pounds of energy in a 7.5 pound rifle.

Will this be too much? Other cartridges that are adequate for killing deer and have LESS recoil than that are:

.243 Winchester (with 7.5 pound rifle) at 8.8 foot pounds.

.250 Savage (with 7.5 pound rifle) at 7.8 foot pounds.

.257 Roberts (with 8 pound rifle) at 10.7 foot pounds.

Each of these have LONG histories of killing deer humanely and certainly would

give your son a great experience shooting with dad.

P.S. My father hurt himself in an industrial accident when we was near retirement, and he had to trade in his 30-06 for a lighter shooting caliber. His choice? A .243 Winchester. He killed more deer with that than any rifle he owned and we often referred to his one shot kills as "the hammer of Thor"!

[Wensel]

My son now 13 has been shooting one for 3 years,the first time he shot it I had him shoot it out of a lead sled. Out of the box with a bore site it shot dead nuts.

This year I sat back and watched him level a doe at 70 yards. I'm sold on it for the kid part, and the thump it seems to have on deer.

[JeffB]

The 7mm-08 is a good cartridge. When shopping for my son I thought about the .243, 25-06, 7mm08, .270Win and the .308 I went with the .243 win. Very light recoil and a good flat shooter. Several companies also produce low recoil loads for common shell such as .270 Win, 30-06, and .308. These shell have 50% of the normal recoil by both reducing bullet weight and velocity.

[paul pachowicz]

To be perfectly honest the 7mm-08 is spendy to shoot if you don't reload, of which, I do. The bullet selection of the 7mm is pretty limited in factory loads. What I like about the 7mm is the bullet weight selection for reloading with comparable ballistics of the .308.

Forget reduced loads. Practice with what you are going to kill with.

[PerchJerker]

I have a 7mm-08, which I got for my wife. She's shot it several times and likes shooting it. But she seems to have retired from deer hunting so now it looks like I'll have my kid start shooting it whenever he wants (he's 9 years old now).

I think the 7mm-08 is a great combination of knock-down power, flat-shooting, and low recoil ...... all the reasons I picked it out in the first place.

My decision came down to the 7mm-08 and the .243. I went with the 7mm-08 because I thought it'd be better for mulies or antelope if it ever went on one of those hunts ..... and I liked the idea of not having the "common" .243 caliber (for some reason that wasn't an important consideration when I got my .30-06

My buddy's kid just shot his first deer this year, at 60 yards with a 7mm-08 with a reduced recoil load. He and I agree with the recommendations to not use reduced recoil for hunting, they got their deer with 1 shot through the lungs but the penetration and bullet performance was far from what you want. My advice is to use the light loads on the range for practice for fun and to get comfortable with the gun ..... but to shoot a few full power loads for practice and sighting in, and for hunting. My buddy agrees too.

[Borch]

We have 4 hunters shooting 7mm-08 in our hunting group. All daughters of my friend and mine. There are 2 savages, a Rem 700 mnt rifle and a Rem model 7 youth. All have killed plenty of deer and none have complained about recoil even though a couple are pretty small framed hunters.

Ammo is not any more expensive than any of the other rounds mentioned unless you jump into the premium rounds. After a lot of research I decided to go with the 7mm-08 for my daughter due to recoil, performance and bullet weights available. Pretty easy to find loads from 120-150 gr in different bullet styles.

Several good options out there though.

[Alagnak]

I can't comment on price of rounds because I shoot hand loads but I love the round, absolutely love the way it shoots out of my 700 mtn and has dropped several in their tracks that I've had the pleasure of shooting. But, I can say the same thing about a ruger no. 1 6mm, and model 70 .243. Good quality bullet and proper placement out of any of those low recoil rounds are and it will make a nice whitetail gun for someone.

[hockeybc69]

Get a Pachmyr decelerator pad put on any higher recoil rifle and you wont believe the differnce....

My son started with a .243 at 10 years old. And has since then shot 270, 308, 30-06...

He is now 15.

I have become a firm believer in a quality recoil pad on any gun.... Even I winced when I used to shoot our 270 Winchester Featherweight... Now, its a joy to shoot with the decelerator pad.

Oh hey Alagnak,

Alvinmack was the one that put me onto these Pachmyr pads.... He isnt as stupid as I thought. LOLLLLL

[leechlake]

had the same recoil problem with my son. I stared with the bed sled and he had no issues, got out hunting and he kind of freaked out a few times but it was also noise related. All the practice went out the window and that was with a 243.

I'm a 308 guy and I ended up shooting quite a few deer with his 243, and they all went down no different than my 308. In the west there are a lot of adults that shoot deer with 243 because its a good deer caliber nothing to do with recoil.

7mm 08 is an awesome caliber if he can handle it go for it, if he can't 243 is awesome.

One thing I never understand is buying a rifle based on convenience of finding shells??? I can't remember any deer hunt where I shot so much or left the shells at home that I needed to find 8mm Mauser shells while in PoDunk USA. I'm sure it could happen but the probability of it seems negligible and unimportant when picking a caliber.

[mwal]

I do not like recoil so I shoot 30/30 and 7mm-08 both great deer rounds.

Mwal

[Moose]

Tipup PM me if you are looking for a 7mm08

[boatfixer]

I echo the comments already said by most.

I own a .243, 7mm-08, .270 and just bought my with a new TC in a .308. Out of all of them, I really prefer the 7-08. Mainly because I really like the way it feels, the accutrigger and that I am fully confident that I have PLENTY of knock down power. I shoot 140 gr factory loads.

I have killed more deer with a .243 than any other caliber, mulies included. So when it comes down to confidence in humane killing power, nobody will ever convince me I need a large caliber.

So why do I own more than 1 caliber? The .243 has a special meaning to me, the 7-08 feels great and is my favorite ( however I shoot LH and so does one of my boys and he's sorta taken it over. He's very confident with it, which is important to both of us). Then comes the .270. I won it and since my son likes the 7-08.......

Next is the wife's TC. When I took her gun shopping, she shouldered many rifles, this was the one she preferred. I said "ok, now lets decide on caliber" she said " I said I want THIS gun" it just do happened to be a .308. Confidence is everything. I told her we can get reduced recoil, she said "why?"

Some may consider the 7-08 a kids or a ladies caliber, I don't and I doubt deer consider it a weaker load

[tipup]

Thanks everyone!! Lots of good information!!

[ccarlson]

My two daughters both shoot a 7-08 and started shooting it at about 11 years old. No problems. They love shooting it. One tip..be sure to have your kid wear ear muffs when target shooting not only for their hearing's sake, but the sound is what most kids are actually scared of more than the recoil. They think it is the recoil, but it is the sound that implies recoil. Reduce the sound and they don't notice as much recoil.

Great gun. highly recommend it. Very accurate. I've used it myself with confidence.

ccarlson

[Tripleplay]

Both my son and daughter started with Rem 7mm-08 youth models their first year deer hunting and both are still shooting the same rifle now at the age of 20. Still a great fit for my smaller framed daughter and she is deadly with it. My son looks kind of "odd" shooting that youth rifle but he loves how fast he is with it up in a tree stand and how natural it feels. He is utterly amazing with that rifle and they both shoot the Federal Fusions out of it and he has a rule that he only shoots a deer one time and I now think he has like 12-13 deer to his credit at least and every one of them has been a one shot kill.

Great cartridge for the younger hunters and for the gals but my 20 year old son at 195 lbs shows that you don't have to just fit in either of those camps.

[Comit 2]

Quote:

Been looking for a gun for my son. Tossed around a few ideas, he is gun shy of the recoil, and it is hard to get him to shot anything. He used a 223 this year, but I fear that he will need a bigger rifle in the next few years. I have been hearing about the 7mm-08 and would like to know more about them. I know about all other cal. out there, but not about this cal. Any info would be great. Pros and cons, what can be hunted with them and so on. Thanks to all!!

The 7mm-08 is a fantastic round!! it is to the 280 what the 308 is to the 30-06. Maybe even more so. Very shoot able. If you and the gun/cartridge can put the bullet on target, what can't it bring down? I shoot a .25cal. Yes, I have had bigger bores but found it was just over kill. Who needs a softball size hole when a baseball size hole will do just as well.

2800-2900 fps is optimum for precision shooting in the field. It is all about bullet placement and a 7mm08 is one of the tops for that.

As with all 7mms check the twist rate of the rifling. A lot of 7mm have a faster twist to stabilize longer bullets. So if it will shoot (stabilize) 140gr bullets ElK wouldn't be out of line with a good shot.

The only way you can out grow a 7mm08 is if the stock is to short.