7mm/08 or 280Rem Sporter?

[HTSmith]

I'm wanting to build a lighter hunting rifle and have 7mm Brux blank (#3 contour) and a Rem700 Long Action. Game will be mostly whitetails but they've opened a black bear season in my area. I am recoil sensitive. I had a 280 Rem in mind originally, but see that brass is hard to get. Lapua is set to make 7/08 brass and I've had great experience with their brass in my 6br and 260. Would a 7/08 feed ok from a long action? Anyone use either of these rounds? Feedback appreciated.

 

[1holeaddict]

I shoot a 7MM 08 in a Remington 700 factory rifle. I purchased the rifle with the intension of putting a new barrel on it chambered in 7MM 08AI but the gun is a 1/2" shooter right out of the box after a bedding job. I load 140 Nosler Partitions and have taken several deer with no complaints. The reason for my bullet choice is due to a coinciding deer bear season here in PA. Im pretty convinced with correct bullet placement the 7MM 08 will stand up to the test.

 

[lawman29]

Nosler makes 280 brass. Powder Valley has it in stock.

 

[HTSmith]

I'm hoping someone will comment on the durability of brass. I had such a poor experience with 260 Remington brass when I started using it in the 90's that I almost wrote off the round. Primer pockets would be loose after two firings of less than max loads--by book and chronograph.

 

[bheadboy]

I have have a number of 7-08s and all were more than enough for white tail and bear. the 140s of SBT or nosler are perfect.

I have also had the 260 and 280s and only the 280aI for our west was preferred to the std 7-08. now I am shooting the 7-08AI and it is so close to the 7mm mag and 280 AI that I will not look back

R/P brass has lasted through many a season - using reasonable loading levels. I never push for the absolute max velocity as that seldom shoots as well as a grain or so less.

Bob

Bob

 

[kilowatt41]

I have been shooting 7/08 for the past 5 years. I talked my cousin into building one, he had a long action model 70 that he wanted to work with. We used a #3 Bartlein 1-9 twist and finished with a Boyd's thumb hole he loves it. Use your long action and you won't worry about cartridge length.

 

[ShootDots]

Remember this truism.. Place a properly designed bullet in the right place on a game animal, and death will come in short order. Power is not AS NECESSARY as it was back in the 50's and 60's when you needed POWER because bullets were not all that good. But with the advent of Triple Shocks, Bonded-Core bullets and the like, a 7mm-08 will take on just about any game animal in the Continental United States. What Deer or Elk or Black Bear for that matter could withstand a hit from a 150gr Swift Scirocco thru the heart lung area? And a 7mm-08 can deliver the goods to 300 yards or so. After 300-400 yards the Foot-Pounds starts to get a bit shallow and the speed starts to diminish considerably. How many animals are honestly taken past 300 or so yards?

 

[L.Sherm]

I would think that if you can feed a 308 cartridge out of a long action you can a 7mm-08 it's nothing more than a 308 necked down. As far as comparison I have both about the best I could get out of my rem. 280 with a 140 Part. was 2980fps. out of a 24" Lilja barrel on a Rem.700 action. I have a Rem 700 SA 24" factory barreled 7mm-08 that at first i was using IMR 4350 at about 2800FPS. with a 140 Part. that was all I could get out of it because thats all the powder the case could hold. Then when Hornady came out with there magnum line of ammo( don't know if thats exactly what they called it) was 15+ years ago and was claiming 3000fps out of a 139 gr. bullet, I chronoed one and it was indeed 2999fps I wanted to know what kind of powder they were using to get that speed so I pulled one apart and there it was ball powder. I bought a pd. of Win. 760 and I got it to shoot great at 2950fps witha 140 Part. After all that I had to rifles basically the same so I acklyed my 280

 

[HTSmith]

Great information. Thanks all. My maximum range for a shot on any game animal is 300 yards. I have H4350 and Varget on hand (and not much else).

 

[JEFFPPC]

I have had both calibers on both factory rifles and custom builds. The 280 hands down in my opinion. The reason being, I have found the .280 case very easy to gt excellant accuracy with a varity of bullets and powders. I have found the 7/08 to be on the finiky side to develope good accuracy.

 

[idahoorion]

Ht, I used a 243 in a long action for years, feeding will not be a problem my smith put a partition at the back of the mag box and used a short action follower. nary a hicup.

the 7 08 is a very good round, I used one in sako and it had mild recoil and hammered deer.
a bit heavier bullet than those 140's say a 150 to 160 would be heap big bear medicine. I watched my hunting partner crush a caribou at 325. impressive.

that being said since you are a reloader and have long action you can tame down the 280 to 7 08 no problems and still have the horse powder if you need it. you can use 270 brass to make the 280 (I think so anyway) and even 3006 although the 06 is a bit short. there are reamers out there for the 7mm 06 which is just a bit shorter case 280 neck, all the load data will interchange. I'm sure I'll get corrected here if I am leading you astray.

Best part is there isn't a bad choice in these two.


Idahoorion

 

[fredo]

IMHO, if you've got the long action, then use it.
I'm a big fan of the 7-08 in a short action, mine was on a Seven and it was a honey launching 120TSXs @ 3125 w/ Varget. But if I were building on a LA .473", it'd be a 280, and an Ackley at that...

And to echo above, any one will serve you well!

 

[XTR]

I too have a 7-08 hunting rifle that I am quite fond of; however, if I were building on a long action I'd take advantage of it. Given the choices you are evaluating I'd choose the 280Rem.

If this is really a sporting/hunting rifle after your initial set up and load work it's probably not going to get that much firing. I wouldn't be too concerned with brass life.


If I were building a long action 7mm I'd probably go with a 284Win.

 

[gbp]

The majority of my 280 brass says Lapua in either ai or standard, all of my 7-08 says lapua, and has for years
build a false shoulder, fireform and go from there

 

[kev77]

I would go with a 280AI , I shoot this cartridge in both of class and hunting rifle. You can shoot the 140s for the smaller dear I had a boat 33 3400 ft./s out of a 26 inch barrel. You can shoot the 162 or 168 bergersrs at 2950fps. Or you could shoot the 180s between 2850 and 2900 ft./s all from a 26 inch barrel. I have personally shot everything from Whitetail to elk the Canadian moose hold with a 280AI. You can either use Lapua or Nosler 280AI brass no fire forming required. I got lots of low data if you need

 

[Dgd6mm]

I would go with a 280AI , I shoot this cartridge in both of class and hunting rifle. You can shoot the 140s for the smaller dear I had a boat 33 3400 ft./s out of a 26 inch barrel. You can shoot the 162 or 168 bergersrs at 2950fps. Or you could shoot the 180s between 2850 and 2900 ft./s all from a 26 inch barrel. I have personally shot everything from Whitetail to elk the Canadian moose hold with a 280AI. You can either use Lapua or Nosler 280AI brass no fire forming required. I got lots of low data if you need

Ditto +1 This will be my next 7MM.

 

[alintx]

Late To Chime In But,,,,,, Everyone Seems To Have Overlooked The RECOIL issue! Have Had Every Caliber That Was Mentioned. The Only One I Kept ? Plain Jane 7/08. Cant Beat The Combo. I Shoot 120 Sierra On Whitetails, 140s On bigger Stuff. They Wont Bounce Off Of Bears Either. When You Can Bang Flop An Elk At 250, Why Would You Need More Power ? If I Went After Grizz, I Might Go To The 160S, But Would Not Feel Undergunned. I Have Just Seen To Much Game Hit The Ground With One Shot To Have ANY doubt About The 7/08. Good Shooting ! AL

 

[kev77]

Why a 280 or 280AI because it looks "more cool" thats why lol

 

[Terry_M]

OP said he was recoil sensitive so I would go plain old 7-08. My daughter punched her bucks ticket last year with mine and it never took a step after impact. It's built on a long action Rem 700 and it feeds reliably with 0 issues. I loaded her up some 160gr Speer Grand Slams and they did just that. She is about 100lbs and 5'1.

 

[benchracer]

With the 280 or 280 AI, you always have the option of backing off the throttle, reducing bullet weight, or both, if you are bothered by recoil. The 7-08, excellent cartridge though it is, doesn't give you the option of throttling up to the 280/280 AI. I don't think you will have feeding issues with the 7-08 in a long action, but the 280/280 AI wins, hands down, because of greater flexibility, IMO.