7mm-08 for Plains game?

[rookhawk]

7mm/08 - good for smaller plains game, as is 308.
not so good for bigger plains game.
not if you want to guarantee a poleaxe death, as we are morally obliged to do.
scratching thins down should have no place in hunting, and while you can sometimes kill big things fast with a little gun, you cannot guarantee this.
you really need to match it with something like a 9.3 or 375, as plains game comes is so many sizes.
bruce.

Mark Sullivan, is that you?



I say that reading a bit. He says you need a .577NE for dangerous game so i’d Say that your 9.3/.374 advice for plains game sufficiency matches as a logical extension.

The 7x57 and it’s clones have been proven optimal for many tasks from African safaris to San Juan Hill. To suggest a 9.3 is needed is pretty intense reasoning.

Heck, a 300H&H was plenty for bull giraffe. Bullet construction and shot placement are key. A bad shot with a 375 is as effective as a bad shot with a 7mm.

In Africa, most of the locals I know spent their life neck shooting kudu with 243 to preserve meat. A 7x57 for heart/lung shots was thought of as more than sufficient, as was 303, 308, 06, etc.

I’ve never failed to recover game with my 7x57. It’s hunted with me on two continents for bears, hyenas, kudus, warthogs, a dozen or more impala, waterbuck, and many other species.

The only thing it is illegal and insufficient for I can think of is eland and giraffe.

 

[bruce moulds]

plains game comes in many sizes.
and we are not all karomojo bell.
bruce.

 

[JPbowhunter]

Mark Sullivan, is that you?



I say that reading a bit. He says you need a .577NE for dangerous game so i’d Say that your 9.3/.374 advice for plains game sufficiency matches as a logical extension.

The 7x57 and it’s clones have been proven optimal for many tasks from African safaris to San Juan Hill. To suggest a 9.3 is needed is pretty intense reasoning.

Heck, a 300H&H was plenty for bull giraffe. Bullet construction and shot placement are key. A bad shot with a 375 is as effective as a bad shot with a 7mm.

In Africa, most of the locals I know spent their life neck shooting kudu with 243 to preserve meat. A 7x57 for heart/lung shots was thought of as more than sufficient, as was 303, 308, 06, etc.

I’ve never failed to recover game with my 7x57. It’s hunted with me on two continents for bears, hyenas, kudus, warthogs, a dozen or more impala, waterbuck, and many other species.

The only thing it is illegal and insufficient for I can think of is eland and giraffe.

I didn't realise a 7x57 was illegal for eland, what southern countries would this apply to? That's really the one animal i want to hunt in Africa and I wanted to take my 275 to do it.

For what it's worth you could have this discussion every day with blokes in Australia. Obviously not the OP but a lot of guys here use big calibres to justify poor shooting. When i had my 275 built a sambar hunter i know told me all I'd be doing is watching wounded deer run off, he uses a 375 H&H mind you. Didn't bother explaining most of my sambar have been shot with a 130gn pill from a 270. Can't think of a time I've ever needed a second shot to put one down.

 

[rookhawk]

I didn't realise a 7x57 was illegal for eland, what southern countries would this apply to? That's really the one animal i want to hunt in Africa and I wanted to take my 275 to do it.

For what it's worth you could have this discussion every day with blokes in Australia. Obviously not the OP but a lot of guys here use big calibres to justify poor shooting. When i had my 275 built a sambar hunter i know told me all I'd be doing is watching wounded deer run off, he uses a 375 H&H mind you. Didn't bother explaining most of my sambar have been shot with a 130gn pill from a 270. Can't think of a time I've ever needed a second shot to put one down.

Some countries have minimum calibers, others minimum joules or foot pounts of energy. Some have both.

Some broad-stroke statements to frame the discussion:

In most of Africa, the minimum caliber for dangerous game is .375H&H. If the country was a German colony or a central European colony, sometimes the minimum is a metric 9.3x62 or 9.3x74r which is just under .375 energy and diameter.

For countries like Zimbabwe, they group Eland and Giraffe into a class of game that requires a larger caliber than Kudu and Wildebeest, for example. In Zimbabwe, the smallest legal caliber for Eland and Giraffe by my calculations is 300 H&H. (so everything above that is legal) Also in Zimbabwe, the smallest legal caliber for leopard is 7x57 / 275 Rigby.

I would always prefer a 7x57 to its ballistic twin 7-08 for the simple reason that twist rates and action size of the 7x57 makes it a sure-thing that it will load, feed, eject, and accurately place 175-180gr bullets, whereas the 7-08 often times operates functionally with 140gr bullets...sort of missing the point of the entire heavy-f0r-caliber, deep penetration strategy of the cartridge. Neither the 7x57/7-08 are stunningly powerful, they get the job done by deep penetration, controlled expansion, and "hang-time" in the animal where both the sheer and hydrostatic shock begin the damage, and controlled expansion finishes the job by expanding into a mighty big hole. Lighter bullets in these two guns undermine some of the elements of why they worked so well for a century, a shame because we're not listening to the 100-year case study of our ancestors as we change things around without asking "why did it work so well for so long?". (Same can be said for the 6.5x55SE)

 

[Albert GRANT]

Last year I took a 300 WSM and a 6.5 Creedmoor and both performed fantastically on plains game. I have a chance on a great deal in May of this year and I have booked my trip for 2020. As of now I will be taking a Tikka 7mm-08 and a Ruger Hawkeye 77 African in 375 Ruger. Not 100% certain on the pills but I am doing my load development with Peregrines on both.

You won't be disappointed with the peregrines in either of those. Great bullets!

 

[WAB]

In our last two safaris our 7x57’s have taken 3 wildebeest, 4 zebra, gemsbuck, kudu, bushbuck, springbok, baboon and I’m sure others I am not recalling. One shot kills are the rule. I load 175 gr Swift A-Frames. I use a 9.3 or .375 on eland. I’m sure the 7x57 could do the job if a good shot is offered. However, eland are big, skittish and typically in the thick stuff. I don’t want to pass a hard earned shot because I brought a light rifle.

 

[JPbowhunter]

Some countries have minimum calibers, others minimum joules or foot pounts of energy. Some have both.

Some broad-stroke statements to frame the discussion:

In most of Africa, the minimum caliber for dangerous game is .375H&H. If the country was a German colony or a central European colony, sometimes the minimum is a metric 9.3x62 or 9.3x74r which is just under .375 energy and diameter.

For countries like Zimbabwe, they group Eland and Giraffe into a class of game that requires a larger caliber than Kudu and Wildebeest, for example. In Zimbabwe, the smallest legal caliber for Eland and Giraffe by my calculations is 300 H&H. (so everything above that is legal) Also in Zimbabwe, the smallest legal caliber for leopard is 7x57 / 275 Rigby.

I would always prefer a 7x57 to its ballistic twin 7-08 for the simple reason that twist rates and action size of the 7x57 makes it a sure-thing that it will load, feed, eject, and accurately place 175-180gr bullets, whereas the 7-08 often times operates functionally with 140gr bullets...sort of missing the point of the entire heavy-f0r-caliber, deep penetration strategy of the cartridge. Neither the 7x57/7-08 are stunningly powerful, they get the job done by deep penetration, controlled expansion, and "hang-time" in the animal where both the sheer and hydrostatic shock begin the damage, and controlled expansion finishes the job by expanding into a mighty big hole. Lighter bullets in these two guns undermine some of the elements of why they worked so well for a century, a shame because we're not listening to the 100-year case study of our ancestors as we change things around without asking "why did it work so well for so long?". (Same can be said for the 6.5x55SE)

Hmm that's something to think about. I wouldn't be able to afford another rifle between now and going to africa without postponing it another couple of years. If i couldn't use that, well I dunno!

 

[Ridgewalker]

I’d suggest you check with your PH or outfitter just to make sure he’s Ok with your choice.

 

[Hoss Delgado]

I can't speak for African Game , but here in the states 7mm-08 is used VERY SUCCESSFULLY on moose. It is very flat shooting from what l have seen . A local Hunter here gets one shot kills on feral hogs with his.

 

[rookhawk]

I’d suggest you check with your PH or outfitter just to make sure he’s Ok with your choice.

Honestly, the last folks I would check with is the PH community. I know of more caliber infractions from PHs than I can list in an hour.

Meet or Exceed what is legal minimum. Make sure the gun feeds well, is durable, and that it isn’t over-scoped.

Many PHs don’t observe minimum caliber rules. All well and good until you have the compounding effects of an illegal allegation, plus one, plus one. Don’t add to an opportunity to be slandered.