The 7-08 is as good as it gets for deer and hogs. I’ve been using one for deer and hogs since the early 90’s when I switched from a 6mm Rem. I had a couple of hogs tote off some 6mm’s but nothing totes off the 7mm 140’s. I’m shooting South Georgia deer and hogs and I’m talking probably 1000 deer and half again the number in hogs. For several years I shot crop damage permits all summer that really racks up the number of animals shot. 7-08 is easy on the shoulder with a light rifle, cheap to load for , and kills with authority. Everything you want in a general hunting rifle. I took it as a backup on my elk hunting trips and wouldn’t have hesitated for moment to use it on elk. I’m using 140 vld Bergers these days for deer and hogs.
7mm-08 or 6.5 option?
- Thread starter Dubbo
- Start date
My 7mm-08 is nothing fancy, it's what I hunt with most of the time though. It has a 1-in-9 twist Pac-Nor 28" #1 barrel and a Boyd's prairie hunter stock. I love it and it don't recoil bad at all. I do think the 120 7mm bullets will recoil more than a 243 90 grain though.
Sure to make some fanboys mad, but as far as 6.5mm...I don't know what's up with all these off the wall cartridges, 6.5X46 1/2, 6.5X47.3....6.5 this, 6.5 that, 6.5 almost a 260.......they are all short action cases, why don't ya just shoot a 260, get it over with and call it a day???? Let me guess...some oddball, off the wall, special 1500 yard bullet fits, so you are going to recommend this for a hunting rifle.....if you like it buy it, I guess, but at the end of the day the 7mm-08 will go down as one of the best hunting/target rounds ever.
Sure to make some fanboys mad, but as far as 6.5mm...I don't know what's up with all these off the wall cartridges, 6.5X46 1/2, 6.5X47.3....6.5 this, 6.5 that, 6.5 almost a 260.......they are all short action cases, why don't ya just shoot a 260, get it over with and call it a day???? Let me guess...some oddball, off the wall, special 1500 yard bullet fits, so you are going to recommend this for a hunting rifle.....if you like it buy it, I guess, but at the end of the day the 7mm-08 will go down as one of the best hunting/target rounds ever.
130 Ar Berger Hybrids, 140 Elite Berger Hybrids and 140 Nosler B-tip. No exits and several shot through 1 shoulder into the heart and they still ran. 162 Amax and 168 Bergers in a 7-08 and 165 Interlock boat tails in my 308 get exits every time with a carpet of blood to follow. Don’t know what’s up with the 6.5 bullets.
GSPV
A failure to plan is a plan for failure.
Waalllll, a 6 PPC is almost a 243, why don’t all those benchrest shooters just shoot a 243 and be done with it. What with a 243 being a really nice medium game and varmint cartridge and all.
Similarly, why don’t all those long range benchrest shooters just skip to the 243, what with the 6 BR, straight and improvers, being even closer to the 243?
Why don’t those score benchrest shooters just shoot a 308? It punches the same size hole as the 30 BR and it even used to be a thing in score BR?
In the opposite capacity direction, why do those 1,000 yard F-Open champions shoot a 7-08 instead of a 284 (straight or improved) or one of the short mags? Geez.
Answer: Because the cartridges being used have been tried and proven near optimal in the crucible of competition...where many of us would be down at the crossroads at midnight peddling our souls if we thought it’d gain us an advantage.
Does experimentation happen? Sure. Is there the occasional guy out there beating people’s brains out with a 30-30 bolt gun? Yes. Does the state of the art move incrementally? Heck yeah. We’re seeing that with the 6 BR Ackley displacing the Dasher. Perhaps the Grinch will do the same with the PPC.
But, by and large, when scads of people are shooting a given/*closely* similar cartridge or small number of cartridges of similar capacity, there are systemic reasons for that choice.
Similarly, why don’t all those long range benchrest shooters just skip to the 243, what with the 6 BR, straight and improvers, being even closer to the 243?
Why don’t those score benchrest shooters just shoot a 308? It punches the same size hole as the 30 BR and it even used to be a thing in score BR?
In the opposite capacity direction, why do those 1,000 yard F-Open champions shoot a 7-08 instead of a 284 (straight or improved) or one of the short mags? Geez.
Answer: Because the cartridges being used have been tried and proven near optimal in the crucible of competition...where many of us would be down at the crossroads at midnight peddling our souls if we thought it’d gain us an advantage.
Does experimentation happen? Sure. Is there the occasional guy out there beating people’s brains out with a 30-30 bolt gun? Yes. Does the state of the art move incrementally? Heck yeah. We’re seeing that with the 6 BR Ackley displacing the Dasher. Perhaps the Grinch will do the same with the PPC.
But, by and large, when scads of people are shooting a given/*closely* similar cartridge or small number of cartridges of similar capacity, there are systemic reasons for that choice.
hogpatrol
Silver $$ Contributor
The two Bergers are target bullets. All they do is pencil hole the animal. With the 6.5x47, in Africa I've shot over 50 deer size and larger animals, most of them 300 to 700 yards, all one shot kills with the Berger 130 VLDs hunting bullets. Most were DRT. I don't do shoulder shots. Break their leg, they can still run. Double lung, break the balloon, they may run but it won't be far when they can't breathe.
Having said that and with my experiences, I'll take the 6.5x47 against any of the other options.
Mulligan
Silver $$ Contributor
I agree!
I have been comparing cartridges for my sheep rifle build for the last few months. I have came to the conclusion that the 7-08 with all of its bullet choices can be matched by some of the 6.5’s and if compared bullet weight to bullet weight beat by a few.... darn few. The big 6.5’s (264 WM and 6.5 SAUM) with 140’s will compete with a 7-08 with 160’s at 400-500 yards.
Defining the yardstick is the first chore.... it should have been for me, however I’m a bit slow and it took some pondering. Brought me back to some post grad courses.... frame up the problem first!!!
I compared reloading manual velocities with hunting bullets using their published BC’s and velocities to compare energy delivered down range.
You really do have to look long and hard to beat the 7-08 for a lower recoiling, hunting rifle cartridge that will handily take black bear and deer.
My son has put about 13 or 14 cow elk in the freezer with one. When hit with a 150 partition out of a 7-08, I never seen a cow elk take more than 2 steps. BTW I believe a Bull elk is (can be) a bit bigger critter, use plenty of horsepower for these fellas.
CW
XTR
F-TR obssessed shooting junkie
My reasoning for the 7-08 is that the 7-08 running 140s at ~2900 is running bullets that are in the middle of the weight class for the chambering, have excellent BCs and there are a number of choices in hunting bullets, and will run in any feeding system you choose, and will work on anything east of the Front Range. I wouldn't choose it for big bears and if I were to go on an elk hunt I'd take something bigger (though if you're smart about it it's fine there too).
A 6.5 running 140s is at the top of the bullet weight class (the very top until just recently)
A 6.5 running 140s is at the top of the bullet weight class (the very top until just recently)
No argument here....and thank you for helping to hammer home my point!! The OP asked about a hunting round, so why is everyone not recommending one "proven in the crucible" of hunting???
The Ar hybrid is listed as a target bullet and the 140 is an elite hunter. They both do the same thing, blow up even at 6.5x47 speeds out to 522 yards in my experiences. Blowing their balloon up is all fine out West or in Africa but in the Southern thick woods, CRP thickets or young pine plantations when they run 100-200 yards with not the first drop of blood on the ground, you have to find them with a dog or buzzards.
hogpatrol
Silver $$ Contributor
Good points.
Sounds like the bullets you're using are a poor match for the intended game within your environmental constraints. If you want to shoulder shoot deer or get reliable exits, why use Bergers? Why not use one of the many better, tougher, hunting bullets like the TTSx, LRX, Accubond, Accubond LR, Interbond or even Interlocks or SGKs?
The cow elk I shot this year with Accubonds out of my Creedmoor had two holes and tipped over just fine. Two guys I know hammered a bunch of Muleys and Antelope with Creeds as well, using SGKs and 143gr ELDxs, and reported spectacular kills with great penetration. All of us were using proven hunting bullets though.
As for or the OPs question, I'd say, if the usage on elk is a maybe, someday, if the stars align kind of requirement, you might as well flip a coin, my choice would be (is) the 6.5. If you are going to be hunting elk every year with this rifle, the 7mm with heavier hunting bullets (160gr Accubonds are popular), might provide some advantage on big bulls. Still if I were looking at a 7mm to provide a clear advantage over the 6.5s on elk, I'd be looking for a larger case to go with it.
Which 6.5 option is best, creedmoor or 260? I can load it 3" so the shorter OAL isn't a huge benefit. Thinking a 260 maybe gets you 75 more fps?
Are you going with a 7mm-08 for the sheep rifle build?
I'm no expert on the .260, but it isn't any faster than the 6.5 according to Alliant, Hornady or Sierra data in same length barrels (see links, Alliant's load data site and the attachment here).
http://m-b-r.co.uk/PDF/Sierra 260 Rem.pdf
https://sierrabulletsblog.com/2017/01/09/sierra-bullets-6-5-creedmoor-load-data/
Given the vastly superior market support that the 6.5 CM enjoys, and the very similar performance between the .260 and 6.5, the only reason I can see for anyone to buy the .260 over the 6.5 is if they already own another .260 and are invested in dies, cases, etc.... But that's just me.
Well, in regards to taking a shorter, smaller round with less case capacity but the same size bullet and saying it will do the same or better......at some point I think it might be a good idea to consider that Alliant, Hornady and Sierra are all trying to sell you something, and it's not the 260.
One thing I have learned about cartridges and reloading, trust no one or nothing but your chronograph. You might not always like what it has to say, but it's the only one that's not "pre-skewed" for "other" reasons....
"only reason"...what about sizing readily available quality 308 brass in one easy step??? What about a bigger case capacity {in spite of what the salesman are telling you}????
Why would Sierra care whether they sold me bullets for a Creedmoor or a .260? Same with Alliant and powder? Alliant still hasn't published that 6.5 data on their website, and I requested and received the PDF over a year ago! Plenty of loads up for the dying .260 on their site though, sounds like they're really pitching the Creed hard.
What bullet or powder makers show a velocity advantage for the .260 over the 6.5? Are all load books conspiring to trick everyone into shooting 6.5s?
My Chrono does match very nicely with the Alliant and Sierra loads, 140gr ABs exit my 22" hunting barrel at 2,760 fps using RL16. 127gr LRX exit the same rifle at 2,910 fps. Powder weight wise, there's not even much difference in the loads I use for the 6.5, and the loads the few people I know shooting the .260 are using for PRS type matches.
What's the net capacity after you load both cartridges to 2.8"? Is the useable case capacity really larger after you stuff most of a127gr LRX, 143 ELDx, 147 ELDm, 150 SMK, or even some of the lankier 140gr bullets down into the .260 case?
Hornady, Lapua, Nosler, Norma, Federal, Sig Sauer, Peterson, Starline x2 all make 6.5 brass. Why would I ever care about forming something from .308?
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It'll get the job done. This is the lightweight 708 with the #1 Lilja, and Bansner stock I referred to earlier in this thread.
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