Any opinions on the 7mm08 for whitetails. Area to be hunted calls for shots no more than 100yds. What weight bullet would you shoot. I will be reloading my shells. Thanks

my good buddy up in WI just got two deer recently with his new Ruger American in 7-08. he used 140 bullets but I don't remember the maker. both clean, drop dead right there kills. one was 80 yds and the other way out at 30 yds. he's had a Winchester 70 fwt in 7-08 that he could never get to shoot any load under 2.5 to 3" at 100 yds. the new ruger shot 1.5" groups with factory ammo and his hand loads brought that down to around an inch. good luck. I think it is a great deer caliber. lee

may be the perfect deer round.Flat trajectory,moderate recoil and will fit in a light weight,short action rifle.

Thanks for replies. I have a Tikka 7mm08.

I can't think of a better whitetail cartridge.

140 grain Sierra Game Kings work beautifully in my 280 Remingtons. I would expect the same from a 7mm-08.

th 7mm-08 is a wonderful little cartridge. I still have a remington 788 in 7-08, the platform used to introduce the caliber. It's a lovely deer combination. Use it with confidence.

Great cartridge. I'd use 140 ballistic tips.

My DIL zapped a nice whitetail at some 80 yds. with her Howa 7mm-08. Dead right there. I think she used Remington Core-Lokt 140's.

I bought a Remington model seven in 7mm08 a few years ago and really like the round. I can think of 2 doe that I shot with that rifle. Both were shot with 120 grain nosler ballistic tip and both passed completely through the deer. It still surprises me how little recoil the rifle has considering how light it is.

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What would Josey Wales do?

The 140 gr are killers on Elk, they surely should do the job on whitetails.

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Front sight and squeeze

I have a Browning BLR in 7mm 08 that has put a lot of venison in the freezer. It will get passed down to my granddaughter some day. Great cartridge.
Dave

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mr mom
Fire Chief, Retired

WDM Bell killed 1000 elephants with a 7m/m that is really no different than a 7m/m-08. Unless it is a whopper of a deer it shouldn't be a problem. The devil made me type that. Larry

The 7mm/08 has become very popular.

The 7mm mauser round is the fastest shooting caliber there is. The military rifles used the 174gr bullet. I purchased some 175gr Speer hot cor or magnum mag-tips. For deer the 140/150gr should be plenty in the 7mm/08.

We copied the 30-06 case from the 7mm mausers case because of its accuracy. Now the wildcat 7mm/08 is a 7mm bullet in a 308 case.
Isn't the 7mm/08 a tad more powerful over the 7mm mausers?

Two of the very best Deer and all-around cartridges are the 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser and 7x57 Mauser. 7mm'08 is little more than a modern iteration of the 7x57. In 47 years of hunting Deer I have shot over 30, (Utah has a short season and only 1 animal/yr). Most of these were shot using 6.5x55, 7x57, .45-70, .280 Remington, .35 Whelen and round-ball muzzle-loaders. Except for 1 with the 6.5, and several with the .280, all the rest of them were DRT. For some reason most shot with the .280 walked as much as 50 yards ofter being well hit. Typically the .280 would blood-shot both shoulders quite severely, while most of the other Deer were the "Eat-up-to-the-bullet hole" results on similar hits! Go figure.

The 7x57 Mauser in its original loading was a 173 grain bullet at 2300 fps. The 30-06 is not a copy of the 7 MM Mauser, it is about .20" longer and fired a 180 grain bullet at 2700 fps.

I always wanted a 7-08, but have three .308s. A friend warned me... Some day you will take a .308 out hunting and send a 7-08 round rattling down the tube, or have your 7-08 with you and find you cannot chamber the .308 ammo you accidentally brought with you. I decided to be happy with the amazing .308 Win. Now if I had a 7-08 I'd load a 140 gr Sierra SPBT Game King in it for deer.

A buddy of mine bought a 7-08 Remington BDL, back when Remington first standardized the round. That gun, with factory R-P ammo, may have been the most accurate light barreled gun with factory ammo, that I've ever seen.

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Wayne
Torn & Frayed

I can't speak to it for hunting, but for 1,000 yard target shooting it's excellent except in the worst wind conditions. In a properly set up rifle (Remington 700, 40X, or custom action) there isn't much better.

I owned a 700 BDL Varmint Special in .243, and thought it was the best all around gun for my use.

Well I was at a gun show, many years ago, and a guy was selling his collection of 700 BDL Varmint Specials

One of them was a 7MM-08 700 BDL Varmint Special.

The gun is crazy accurate, my new "go to" gun over .243.

I can not imagine how many guns the 7MM-08 700 BDL Varmint Special stopped me from buying.

"Nope, that one will not do what the 7MM-08 will do!"