7mm-08 a not so hidden gem

[Mr. Zorg]

I've had some vegan-ish ladies unable to resist seeing everyone else at a gathering enjoying my BBQ, with the aroma permeating the area, but I'd never name names. Beef brisket is my standard as befits a Texan, but for holidays I smoke roast a cherry, walnut, and goat cheese stuffed brined boneless pork loin with a cherry sauce on the side to individual taste.

 

[CBH Australia]

Mr Zorg I reckon the beef would be just fine. I’ve seen them smokers on TV shows.
The trimmings of the pork sound nice. Does it come up differently being brined? Like more Like a ham or bacon?

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Chris the boneless pork loin has no marbling, think Canadian Bacon on a grander scale, but not cured with nitrates, simply brined.

The brine is key for me to have a moist end product. I trim all fat and sinew / silverskin, then scroll cut for stuffing. I make a brine on the range with heat for the aromatic elements to release their flavors using half the water, then add the other half water as ice cubes and stir. Once the cubes all melt it's perfectly cooled for contact with the raw meat, so it's poured over the meat in a 2.5 gallon zipper food bag and rests in the refrigerator overnight. My wife helps with tying the butcher's twine after I stuff and roll it, and it gets a light spray of cooking oil in addition to the grate to help with browning and sealing in moisture.

After that it gets about a 2.5 hour hardwood smoke spa treatment over indirect heat for internal meat temperature at the innermost section of meat of 145°F minimum, occasionally I'll overshoot as much as 150°F but still a good end product.

My mother-in-law thinks any food with grill marks is carcinogenic so fortunately I came up with this relatively early in my marriage for holiday meals.

I have to refresh myself on how to post photos here from my Google drive. I'm not doing it successfully ATM. I'll try pasting the hyperlinks for now before my allowable editing time expires. Hopefully these work, I have link sharing and availability offline on.

 

[gillettehunter]

Dang, that looks good. Any chance you'd share your brine recipe? Thanks
Bruce

 

[IvW]

Bob,

Maybe you might get a chance to shoot a 7mm vhse or a 28 Nosler some day. Big, long bullet screaming out the end of the barrel that mashes anything it hits. It also kicks pretty good with that snow shovel of slow burning powder out of a real long barrel.

I look at the 7mm08 as a pleasant round to shoot at moderate distance into the vitals of smallish game like white tailed east coast USA deer. I have sold many remington 7's and the like when loaded with middle of the road weight bullets.

Many years ago I plastered a almost 600 lb bear who was running for for his life as a father and son team were blasting at him with twin 7-08's and they did hit hom a few times. I hit him with a 350 rnjsp out of my 458 which made him go to sleep.

At what speed max loads I see at only 2450 fps....

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Mr Zorg I reckon the beef would be just fine. I’ve seen them smokers on TV shows.
The trimmings of the pork sound nice. Does it come up differently being brined? Like more Like a ham or bacon?

Chris 8 love using my smoker, double cooked sticky venison ribs with a,spicy bbq glaze.
Bob

 

[Von S.]

At what speed max loads I see at only 2450 fps....

2650 + and it does exactly what I want it to do.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Dang, that looks good. Any chance you'd share your brine recipe? Thanks
Bruce

Dang, that looks good. Any chance you'd share your brine recipe? Thanks
Bruce

Send me your email address by PM.

I have the whole recipe in an email for one of my wife's kinfolk, if I can retrieve it from our older laptop. If not I'll make a new email.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

A while back, I was chatting to a mate of mine about 308-derived cartridges and the topic ended on the little and obscure (at least in RSA) 7mm-08. Obviously the 243 win and the 260 were discussed to some extent, but with the proven track record associated with the 243 and the various 6.5's still being all the range in long distance, they need not be discussed here.

He was (is?) of the opinion that the 7mm is the ugly duckling of the family- neither here nor there (I'm paraphrasing). Well, I sort of got what the point his was making, but being an argumentative man, I did some digging and damn, I'm happy I did.

First, let me praise the champion that is the 308 win- short action, a fair bit of oomph and complete lack of originality (read "easy to get ammo and components), the little winnie is the boring cartridge that could. This versatility has been helped, substantially, by the myriad of awesome projectiles now available to us.

Moving on to the 7mm-08, I was playing with Sterlok the other day and the numbers coming out of the 7mil were damn impressive- hand loads with 160gr projectiles showed awesome velocity, retained energy and horizontal drift looked great. I spoke to a guy who had built an AI version for PRS type comps and I was really, really impressed.

All that said, I know practical and theoretical don't always gel, so I would love to here your thoughts and experiences. The man I mention above had some really hot loads (above 2800 ft/s with various 160 grainers) and with that kind of gas and the associated BC and SD values, I think this would make for an AWESOME short action allrounder.

The question is: Is the difference between the 7mm08 and 308 enough to sacrifice the universality of the latter or is this just another case of unnecessary splitting of hairs?

Cheers

I don't know if I can answer your question, but I will give it a shot. I have never been a huge fan of the .308. The guys I hunted with tended to think of it as a cartridge that wants to be a .30-06 when it grows up. Now I own many rifles (have you guys noticed that rifles tend to multiply like bunnies in your safe?) and I like good walnut and blued steel. After I moved to Western Washington where things tend to be continuously wet during the deer season and the country is steep, I thought that a light short action cartridge in a light stainless, synthetic rifle was called for. I had read that the 7-08 with 140 gr. bullets would shoot a little flatter, and hit a little harder than a .308 out past a couple of hundred yards, so I bought a Remington Model 7 in 7-08 with a 20 inch barrel. It has been easy to carry and I don't worry too much about it in the muck and wet foliage. A couple of seasons ago I was coming back to find my buddy and I spooked out a buck that was following a doe. They went up a ridge through the timber not giving me a shot. I threw the rifle over a stump and tracked the buck until he came out of the trees at the top of the ridge. He stopped for just a second, quartered away. I put the cross hairs on ribs and fired. He threw his head down, lunged forward and was swallowed in the huckleberry. Not wanting to lose where the blacktail had been at the shot, I directed my friend in to where he had been when the rifle went off. While I was waiting and knew the exact spot, I used my range finder. It read 196 yards. When my friend got to the spot I yelled over to him that he was there and look for blood. He yelled back, "Oh, just come on over!" The 140 gr. Accubond had taken the buck just in front of the last rib and exited the side of his neck.
Now as much as I hate to admit it, I can't say that the story would have ended any differently if the rifle would have been chambered in .308. A good hit with a well constructed bullet is pretty much lights out for anything. So my thoughts are that if you have a .308 and like it, there isn't really any reason to change to a 7-08, or vice-versa. If, however, you want to get a new rifle, and the 7-08 suits your fancy, go get it. You won't be disappointed.
Doug

 

[Alexandro Faria]

That actually summed it up nicely, thank you. If I ever shoot out the barrel on the .308, I think I'll make a fun project out of it and do the 7mm thing. For now, I'll stick with the boring winnie- it does what it's meant to do and I can't ask for more than that.

 

[RayAtkinson]

Great caliber, challenged by the 308 and 7x57 so take your pick, I pick the 7x57. My saddle gun, that gets more use than the rest is a 308 in a Savage 99F fwt. wt...Id be just as happy with a 7-08 but it showed up to late for this old curmudgeon...were I a young buck, it might be an options for sure! who knows

If I intended to use factory ammo Id pick a 7-08 today, if I handloaded I pick the 7x57 as it has more powder capacity and gets better velocity with all bullets, but its factorey ammo is weak as a new born kitten..

I see the 7-08 and the .308 as good choices for short actions and lever actions..thats what they were designed for, and they are close to perfect..otherwise I prefer the 30-06 over the .308 but its not a runaway, both pretty close, same for the 7x57 and 7-08, depends on the action involved..

 

[bruce moulds]

ray,
I also prefer the 30/06 to the 308 in bolt actions, but in a similar manner prefer the 280 to the 7/08.
bruce.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

ray,
I also prefer the 30/06 to the 308 in bolt actions, but in a similar manner prefer the 280 to the 7/08.
bruce.

@bruce moulds
Bruce why don't you just admit it if it goes bang and is attached to a piece of wood or plastic you want it.
Bob

 

[bruce moulds]

bob, I am pretty selective these days.
bruce.

 

[HWL]

If I intended to use factory ammo Id pick a 7-08 today, if I handloaded I pick the 7x57 as it has more powder capacity and gets better velocity with all bullets, but its factory ammo is weak as a new born kitten..

Forget about american made factory ammunition,.....try a RWS or Norma... its like the step from a Crysler to a Mercedes....

HWL

 

[bruce moulds]

I think norma makes 280 rem, not sure about rws.
bruce.

 

[shark_za]

.280 Rem and 7mm-08 are not big in South Africa.

Dont think they do anything the 7x57 and 7x64 dont already do well.

 

[HWL]

I think norma makes 280 rem, not sure about rws.
bruce.

https://www.livingactive.de/rws.280-rem.-id-classic-162gr.-20-stk

HWL

 

[thriller]

I had a 7-08 For years and while it worked the gun had many issue( probably soured my view) but I also was not a fan on how it did with headshots on hogs don’t get me weong it worked just not a well as I would have liked so I went to a 308 to get a heavier Bullet.

 

[bruce moulds]

thriller,
a 130 gn 270, 140 gn 7mm, and a 150 gn 308 are all ideal on pigs for both body and head shots.
the trouble with headshots on pigs is where their brain is - high in the head.
bruce.