7mm-08 Remington - Cartridge Comparisons

Cartridge Comparisons

There are two primary reasons a 7mm recoils less than a comparably effective .30 cal. cartridge: (1) to match the 7mm's BC requires a significantly heavier .30 cal bullet; and (2) to drive that heavier .30 cal bullet at similar velocities (for kinetic energy and wind resistance ("time-to-target")), requires more powder. This combination of heavier bullets with heavier powder charges significantly increases the recoil of the .30 caliber. The flip side of this is that "when you compare heavy bullets, grain for grain, the 7mm-08 offers better ballistics. In other words a 168-grainer fired from a 7mm-08 will exhibit less drop and less windage than a 168gr bullet fired from a .308 Win."

Edward A. Matunas, who was involved in developing reloading manuals for Lyman, says, "The 7mm-08 Remington is an efficient round and competes effectively against the 308 Winchester."

The 7mm-08 with 139-140gr loads does well against 150gr .308 Win. loads. That said, in rifles with equal barrel lengths, top 140-160gr handloads in 7mm-08 do not quite match retained energy levels of top 180gr handloads in .308 Win. It, however, does provide good energy levels with usually less recoil than the .308 Win., which were early motivations for developing the cartridge.

The 7mm-08 invites a ballistic comparison with the veteran, highly esteemed 7x57mm Mauser. American rifle handloading writers such as Ken Waters, Frank B. Petrini, John Wootters, Clay Harvey, Bob Milek, and John Barsness vary on which cartridge generates higher velocities with top handloads in modern rifles with equal barrel lengths. Any significant difference perhaps reflects more variations among individual rifles than a clear winner between two quite similar cartridges. Layne Simpson, a handloading gun writer who has worked with the 7mm-08 since 1979, considers it and the 7x57 as ballistic equals.

One assessment seems curious: while Norma Precision says that the shorter-cased 7mm-08 loses 100–150 ft/s (30–46 m/s) compared to the 7x57, its own reloading information for the 156gr Oryx shows the 7mm-08 as having slightly higher speed than the 7x57.

Its comparison with the 270 Win. is complicated. Clay Harvey, for instance, says the 7mm-08 is "definitely inferior ballistically." Remington Arms has its 140 grain load producing 2,960 ft/s (900 m/s) which is better than the 2,860 ft/s (870 m/s) produced by the 140-grain 7mm-08 load. The complicating factor is that, according to Edward A. Matunas, the .270 Win. "is not well served by factory ammunition. Velocities often vary widely and frequently are well below advertised levels."

An example: Remington's own ballistic tables lists its only 150-grain 270 Win. loading, a Soft Point Core-Lokt (not a Pointed Soft Point Core-Lokt), as having a MV of 2,850 ft/s (870 m/s) and retaining 1,587 fpe at 200 yards. A 7mm-08 load with a more efficient 150gr Nosler Partition at 2,700 ft/s (820 m/s) MV retains 1,790 fpe at 200 yards and 1,525 fpe at 300.

Careful handloading with a bullet of higher BC should restore the gain the 270 Win. brings through its larger case. John Barsness says, however, that his wife Eileen has "recently discovered that the 7mm-08 kicks noticeably less than her old favorite the .270 WCF with similar results in the field."

The .30-06 is significantly more powerful in its 165-180gr loads, especially when handloads or factory loads with bullets of good BC are used.

However, Remington lists its .30-06 150gr PSP Core-Lokt as retaining 1,445 fpe at 300 yards, while listing its 140gr 7mm-08 PSP Core-Lokt with 1490 fpe at the same distance. In 1981 Ken Waters looked at Remington's (then) PSP loads and had this to say about the 140gr 7mm-08 PSP: "From this we must conclude that it betters the 150-gr. 308 in all respects, and is about equal ballistically to Remington's 150-gr. PSP loading for the 30-06. Quite a billing, wouldn't you say?"

In January 2002, Dave Anderson of Guns Magazine compared four of his favorite 7mm cartridges (7x57mm Mauser, .280 Remington, .284 Winchester, and 7mm-08 Rem.), and concluded:

Jeff Cooper was impressed enough by the 7mm-08 to give it unqualified support for use in a scout rifle -- "A true Scout comes in .308 or 7mm-08".

Bob Bell says "the little 7mm/08 equals or surpasses a surprising number of popular loads and is so close to the others that it makes one wonder if their edge is worth their attendant muzzle blast, recoil and rifle weight" when hunting deer, antelope, and caribou.

The caliber has also found some loyal adherents in Europe especially among British munitions enthusiasts keen to point out the development of the .280 British round shortly after WW2, which ironically was ultimately rejected by the United States.