7mm-08

[deputy338]

Okay guys/gals. I am looking at purchasing a lighter caliber for mainly whitetails, bear and predators. I shoot a 30-06 now and it works great but my kids will be joining me soon and I just kind of want another rifle. Thinking the 7mm-08 but I have no personal experience with it. Any help or other caliber ideas are welcome.
Thanks, Deputy

 

[Coyotes-R-Us]

Bout the SAME as a 06

 

[deputy338]

I was thinking the 243 but then I dont think I would hunt bear with it. I think for the kids it would make a good deer gun/predator rifle for me. IDK

 

[mtmuley]

Do a search on the 7mm-08. mtmuley

 

[Big Fin]

My 7mm-.08 killed two good black bears last May, Alaska and Montana. Wouldn't hesitate to use if for bears or elk. Shoot good bullets and make good shots and it will be a great hunting rifle. Recoil on a 7mm-.08 is about 65-70% of a similar bullet in a .30-06.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I think you will find the 7-08 has a loyal following on here. There is hardly anything it can't do in a light weight outfit. If you go with something ultra lightweight it may have a descent amount of recoil but what caliber wouldn't that is heavy enough for elk or black bear. It is a flat shooting gun with similar performance to a .270 or its parent the .308 without quite as much recoil. Check out chuck hawkes for a recoil chart. There are not as many bullet options with factory ammo as I would like but there are tons of options for a reloader. For kids I would recommend hornady reduced recoil loads. I do not like the remingtons because the bullet is not traveling fast enough to get a corlok to open up, the sst in the hornady has worked great. A kimber montana would be hard to beat if its in your price range unless you would do a custom gun. It would be short and light for a kid but dependable for you too. Thats just my .10¢

 

[TheJason]

I personally think it would be one of the most versatile rifles out there. If I wasn't on a budget, I'd own one in a heartbeat.

 

[Gunner46]

I've taken six different species of game (soon to be 8, I hope), with an assortment of more than a dozen various cartridges, over the past 45 yrs. The fact that I've hunted exclusively with my 7-08 for the past 15 years sez it all.

I recently bought a Ruger American Wolf and I'm really starting to like it, although it's destined to be re-bored as soon as I get back from WY in a few weeks.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Okay guys/gals. I am looking at purchasing a lighter caliber for mainly whitetails, bear and predators. I shoot a 30-06 now and it works great but my kids will be joining me soon and I just kind of want another rifle. Thinking the 7mm-08 but I have no personal experience with it. Any help or other caliber ideas are welcome.
Thanks, Deputy

If you reload, you can power it down for the crumb snatchers.. But don't overlook the .260/6.5 creed, .257 bob, or the .243.. With today's bullets, you're looking at all kinds of potential with "lighter" cartridges/calibers..

 

[belly-deep]

If you reload, you can power it down for the crumb snatchers.. But don't overlook the .260/6.5 creed, .257 bob, or the .243.. With today's bullets, you're looking at all kinds of potential with "lighter" cartridges/calibers..

Might be some reduced recoil factory loads around too

 

[pseshooter300]

I have one in tikka t3 I like it

 

[7mm08mo]

I have a savage model 11 trophy XP. Love it deadly accurate light weight and low recoil. Had to buy my 13 yo son one this year so I could get mine back he kinda hijacked it on me. Great imo for kids and deadly on deer that's all I've used it on so far. Ammo isn't through the roof either, mine likes hornady superformance 139gr sst. Don't think you would regret the purchase of one.

 

[deflave]

7-08 is a great round and shines pretty well with the 120's.

If it's legal to do so, and you want something for your kids to shoot a lot, I'd look at something in the .224 realm.


Travis

 

[What Map]

Shoot flatter with a .260 Remington. Just saying. Not many guns are chambered in it any more, unfortunately. My wife has had very good results with it.

 

[HowaHunter]

Great caliber. My wife loves it. Did the job with one shot on a moose with a 139gr bullet

 

[BucksnDucks]

I went with a rem 700 7mm-08 in a youth model when my son started on big game around age 11. He is almost 18 now and still shoots it. I put a Timney trigger on it and dropped in Bell and Carlson stock. I LOVE this set up, with a 20 inch barrel its around six pounds, great mountain rifle.

He has taken a couple pigs and four deer with the set up. All single shot kills from what I remember. It didn't shoot factory ammo that great but I started reloading and found a couple answers.

The rifle shoots tight groups of 140 grain Nosler Accubonds and 162 grain Hornandy SST. He has been looking for a black bear lately and I'm confident a well placed shot will put one down

 

[Croz]

My .243 is the go-to coyote gun. Would certainly use it for deer as well. There have been whispers that a 100 gr core-lokt would put a black bear down without much issue, but I'm not sure that it would be worth risking.

7mm-08 sounds like a heck of a gun! With the following it has on here, it doesn't sound like you could go wrong.

 

[BuzzH]

I hear the 7-08 works well on large wyoming buck pronghorn...

 

[1_pointer]

For a kids gun, I'd consider the 7-08 if I was a handloader as it would be easier to tailor the loads for their tolerances/needs. If not and relying on factory ammo, I'd go with the 243. More lighter bullet/recoil options and plenty of full power 100gr loads with good bullets.

 

[sbhooper]

I hear the 7-08 works well on large wyoming buck pronghorn...

Where did you hear that tidbit, Buzz?

Don't underestimate the amount of recoil a kid can handle. I see some pretty young kids on tv shooting heavy-hitters. I would say that a 7-08 with 140-grain bullets should be manageable for about any kid that is serious about hunting.