7mm-08 Remington as a Cradle to Grave Hunting Cartridge?

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The 7mm-08 Remington was brand-new in 1980 and so was I. As a new junior editor at Guns & Ammo, field testing was needed on a Remington M788 in the new cartridge. Despite its rear-locking action—or, perhaps, because that action was a massive hunk of steel—the unlovely 788 always shot well. This one did. Accuracy was excellent, ballistics potent: 140-grain bullet at 2860 fps.

Co-worker and friend Payton Miller and I made a couple runs up the Central Coast trying to get a good boar with the new 7mm-08. We failed and couldn’t get a shot. It would have been a better story if we’d shot hogs with it, but neither of us were excited by the new cartridge. In part, we were bummed by what we didn't accomplish, which had nothing to do with the cartridge or rifle. Perhaps more importantly, we didn’t understand it.

Unlike today’s shooters of our age back then, Payton and I were aware of—and revered—the 7x57 Mauser. In a shorter case, the new 7mm-08 essentially duplicated 7x57 performance, legendary since the 1890s for mild-kicking and deadly efficiency on game. In 1980, the 7x57 still had a significant following in the US. Handloading was more popular back then, and 7x57 loads off my bench would beat any 7mm-08 load.

To this day, I personally prefer the 7x57. Much for history and nostalgia: Karamoja Bell, Jim Corbett, Jack and Eleanor O’Connor…and my several 7x57 rifles. After 1980, I gave almost no thought to the 7mm-08 for 20 years. Almost. A year later, Payton and I joined the late, great Chub Eastman, then with Nosler, for a pig hunt up at Dye Creek in northern California. Chub had a 7mm-08 loaded with Nosler’s then-new AccuTip bullet. He shot an exceptional boar, broadside at 100 yards. Broke both shoulders, hog down in its tracks, bullet still going. Many years passed before I messed with another 7mm-08, but I didn’t forget that performance.

Contemporaries

In 1998 Remington introduced the .260 Remington, a 6.5mm (.264-inch bullet) based on the .308 case necked down, 140-grain bullet at 2750 fps, so essentially just 0.02-inch (.284 minus .264), twenty thousandths difference in bullet diameter between the .260 and 7mm-08, 100 fps difference in velocity. The .260 was touted to be the most accurate cartridge based on the .308 case. The .264 Winchester Magnum had been my teenage idol, so I had no stigma against the 6.5mm. I quickly got a .260 Remington.

I hunted a fair amount with that .260. In 2002, daughter Brittany used it for her first big game, a good-sized hog. Worked fine. Naturally, she wanted her own rifle. I needed to give this some serious thought.

The .243 Winchester has been a standard “first hunting rifle” for several generations. A .243 was my first hunting rifle, but it depends on one’s first game animals. For me, pronghorn and deer. Not big deer. Like most kids, any deer was a great trophy. Light in recoil, accurate, easy to shoot, the .243 is excellent. On the Central Coast, where my daughters were raised, our deer are small-bodied blacktails. There, the .243 is the most popular deer cartridge, ideal for modest-sized coastal bucks.  Today, that local hunting picture has changed. Feral hogs have replaced deer as our most available and popular game.

The 6mms are excellent for the eatin’ size hogs we usually shoot. Not enough gun if you get a chance at a really big boar. I was happy with the .260’s performance on game but I went through a couple of barrels before I got the accuracy I wanted. By the early 2000s the .260 wasn’t catching on. It seemed the curse of the 6.5mm had struck again; .260 platforms and ammo were scarce, and I didn’t want Brittany stuck with an oddball cartridge.

Perfect Pairing

What to do? For her, I didn’t consider a 7x57. Mine were left-handed, she’s right-handed, and by then the 7x57 had become a handloader’s cartridge, factory loads uncommon with poor selection. The solution was obvious, but I didn’t see it until friend Dwight Van Brunt, then with Kimber, suggested a 7mm-08. Though never a front-runner in popularity, the 7mm-08 is solidly established, widely chambered and loaded. Brittany has used her Kimber 7mm-08 ever since. All over the place, including for larger African antelopes.

A decade later, when younger daughter Caroline wanted to start hunting, I had a similar problem. She’s right-handed, also short, none of our guns suitable. We borrowed a Ruger youth model M77 from August Harden…in .260 Remington. Worked fine, and I had an attack of stubbornness. I got her an M77 in .260, short-stocked with a hot pink laminate stock. Fun. Except I couldn’t get it to shoot. I do not impugn that the .260 Remington is inaccurate. I put it down to bad luck and limited load selection. At the SAAM school, we put Tim Fallon’s 6.5 Creedmoor barreled action into Caroline’s stock, great performance. She marched it out 1000 yards, then shot a good axis deer with it. As a permanent solution, the Creedmoor wasn’t yet popular, load selection limited. When we got home I rebarreled it to 7mm-08. Tack-driving accuracy, consistent performance. Like Brittany, she has never looked back. Caroline has taken almost all her game with the 7mm-08.

Today the 6.5 Creedmoor is wildly popular. It seems to me the most likely choices for a first hunting rifle, with capability beyond medium-size deer, fall to the 6.5 Creedmoor and 7mm-08. Both offer wide availability with acceptable recoil. Depends on what you want to do. The Creedmoor is a better long-range target cartridge, using long, aerodynamic 6.5mm bullets that stay supersonic until ridiculously far. However, I am convinced the 7mm-08 is a better and more versatile hunting cartridge.

There seems so little difference: Bullets in the 140-grain class at somewhat similar velocity. And yet, now with long experience with both, I am convinced the 7mm-08 hits harder. The 7mm-08 can use heavier bullets, but most hunting we’ve done, all over the world, has been with standard 140-grain bullets. The only way I can explain it: That 20 thousandths in greater frontal area makes a noticeable difference. The Creedmoor has an awesome reputation for accuracy. However, I have seen nothing but excellent accuracy in the 7mm-08.

Loyal Fan Base

Daughter Brittany believes so strongly in the 7mm-08 that, at her She Hunts skills camps for women, held in Texas, Weatherby Vanguards in 7mm-08, in the Camilla model stocked for women, are standard issue. Even beginners have no issues with recoil, and these rifles have accounted for a huge assortment of game…of all sizes.

There are other choices. Wife Donna has a 7mm-08, but she’s a .270 Winchester girl. The .270 shoots flatter and, with more speed, delivers more energy. I’ll never argue against the .270. As a matter of physics, it produces more recoil, and requires a longer action, adding gun weight and longer bolt throw. The .308 Winchester is also in the running. Wonderfully versatile. And powerful. Especially in a light rifle, the .308 is a big gun. In 7mm-08 versus .308, the .308 is superior for game larger than deer. The 7mm-08 shoots flatter, kicks less, and is also suitable for game up to elk.

How about the 7mm-08 against my beloved 7x57? The 7x57 has greater case capacity, so should be faster. However, the playing field is not level. The 7mm-08 is loaded to 61,000 pounds/square inch (psi), while the 7x57 is held to 51,000 psi. Out of concern for older actions still in use, published load data for the 7x57 has been quietly downgraded. The 7x57 loads I whomped up 40 years ago are long since off the table. The 7x57 remains a great cartridge but I concede that the 7mm-08, as loaded today, is faster, thus more versatile…and much more available. Also: The 7mm-08 is intended as a short-action cartridge. The 7x57 cannot be housed in a short action.

The 7x57 does have one advantage: In 1892 it was designed around a long, heavy-for-caliber 175-grain bullet. So, both action length and barrel twist have always been suitable for heavy 7mm bullets. With standard 1:9 twist, the 7mm-08 can stabilize most 7mm bullets up to 175 grains. However, you can run out of magazine box space with long, heavy bullets.  From the start, most 7mm-08 factory loads have been limited to bullets of 150 grains and lighter. This is not a problem for me; I’ve never considered either the 7mm-08 or 7x57 as ideal for pachyderms. Most of the game I’ve shot—and seen shot—with both cartridges has been with 140-grain bullets. Want to ring steel at long range, get a 6.5 Creedmoor. Want a great hunting cartridge that performs far beyond what its paper ballistics suggest? Get a 7mm-08. You’ll like it.

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