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Old 05-16-2011, 10:16 AM
lclund1946 lclund1946 is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Rimbey, AB
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Quote:
Originally Posted by twisted canuck View Post
I'm going to throw this out just because I think there are too many people that underestimate the 7mm08 next to the 7 Remington Mag., specifically your claim that the -08 is only good inside of 200 yrds and the Mag is much flatter shooting.

Comparing apples to apples now, shooting a Hornady 139 gr SST, the 7mm-08 is leaving the muzzle at 3000 fps, at 500 yrds it is going 2087 with 1344 lbs of energy, and a drop of 38.4".

The 7mm Rem Mag with the same load/bullet is leaving the muzzle at 3250 fps, at 500 yrds it is going 2300 with 1633 pds of energy, and a drop of 32.6".

While the Mag clearly comes out ahead of the -08, it isn't by some huge margin, and considering how much tamer the 7mm08 is to shoot, it hangs in their very respectably IMO. You are still well over the 1000 lbs energy mark that seems to be the 'industry standard' for humane kills on deer size animal, so there is no reason one couldn't use it at the 500 yrd mark assuming they are profficient with their shooting. (I wouldn't do it, I know my limits, and my -08 will do more than I will). As far as flat shooting, there is less than 6" of drop difference between the two. Of course, other bullets/loads will give different numbers, but used this comparison because it is one of the hotter factory loads for the 7mm-08.
Good post. Great to see the potential of the 7mm08 being recognized. I have been hand loading for 7mm08's for close to 25 years. Longest shot on moose was 600 yards with 140 Nosler Solid base, target pictured below, which took out both lungs and exited after passing through off shoulder blade. Moose took about 10 steps before dropping dead.
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A few years back I wrote an article "Why We Chose a 7mm08 over a 257 Weatherby". Here is a chart I put together, for that article, comparing some of my 7mm08 hand loads to 270 Win Factory loads and loads for the 257 Weatherby taken from an article by Layne Simpson, “In Praise of the .257 Weatherby Magnum”, in the April 2006 issue of Shooting Times. The accompanying chart shows a number of loads for the 7mm08 that shoot almost the same trajectory at the Speer 145 Spitz BT that I chose for my Remington SPS. I topped this rifle with a Burris Euro Diamond 3x12x50, Ballistic Plex reticle. Sighted 3” high at 100 yards allows me to shoot point blank to 303 yards, on a 7” target, which is perfect for deer or moose. The first hatch puts me +1.5” @ 300 yd, the second +2.43” @ 400 yd, the third +2.17” @ 500 yd and the post is +2.18” @ 600 yd. I can consistently shoot groups less than 4” into the bear silhouettes at 500 meters but have to compensate 9.5”. Groups at 400 meters can be held to less than 3” and strike 4” low. I have not had a chance to try this rig in the field but with Harris bipod attached it weighs about 9 pounds and will punch a bullet through the lungs and probably out the other side of a moose. “No other rifle in any caliber will kill the moose any deader”.
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I have many loads that develop more the 1000 ft/lbs energy, that Layne Simpson eludes to as the energy needed to kill a deer size animal, at 600 yards. You will note that most of them have much less recoil and groups are much smaller than what Layne experienced in his rifles.

While I concede to the fact that the .257 Wby shoots much flatter than the 7mm08 Rem I find that this is not really much of an advantage to an experienced hunter if he uses the scopes, reticles and range finders available today. The following chart illustrates how I set up for gophers with my Rem 700V. A maximum ordinance of 2.87” allows you to shoot point blank on a 5 Ύ” target which gets a standing gopher. In this example the 7mm08 shoots point blank to about 305 yards which is only about 40 yards less than the .257 . Aiming at the head will get a gopher to 350 yards with either caliber. The US army mil dot reticle gives you 3.6 MOA at 100 yards so moving up one dot puts you 1.55” high at 400 yards with the Speer 110 TNT. The second dot will do a number on a gopher at 550 yards and the bullet is accurate enough to place groups just over an inch, at that range, if conditions are right and I am having a good day. The 87 grain factory load in the .257 Weatherby rifles that Layne used would be hard pressed to do 6” groups, at 550 yards, on the best of days. While quite adequate for deer or moose I think that you will find groups like that quite disappointing if you want to have a dual purpose rifle.
Bullet----------Velocity Max Ord --100yd 200yd 300yd 340 yd 350 yd
Speer 110 TNT --3300 - 2.87” --- +2.35” +2.33” -2.38” -3.31” -4.25”
Wby 87 Factory -3825- 2.87” ---- +2.10” +2.73 -0.10” -2.43” -3.12”

The following target shows how my Rem 700V shoots the Speer 110 TNT at 100 yards and 600 yards, from bipod. It also has a 600 yard target shot with the Hornady 162 V-Max at 2750 fps from the same rifle.
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This target was shot, by me and a friend, in the field at 500 yards. Although I had never shot this load past 300 yards, at the range, it came very close to the bulls eye when dialed up according to my ballistics program. My old legs twitched, causing the high right shot, but still 6 bullets that would have killed the elk that never walked in front of the target as I was hoping.
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Would I choose a powder burning 257 Weatherby over a 7mm08? The short answer is NO!
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