7mm-08 or 308?

[4feathers]

I spent some time searching on these two calibers. In all honesty I'm more confused now!

This is what I want, a rifle mainly for deer. But if the situation becomes available I want it for bigger animals. There seems to be very little differnece in them, or is there? I am shooting a Marlin 336SS currently with open sights. I want a rifle/scope setup for my next gun.

What do you think?

[akbound]

Hi 4feathers,

I don't think there is enough difference between these two cartridges.....for either to have an over riding advantage. Though I am sure there will be more than a few people that will try to make that case.

Either have some advantages.....small though they may be.....over the other. The .308 is a military cartridge and as such brass and ammo will always be more abundant. The .308 has the ability to handle slightly heavier bullets when the game gets bigger than deer. And there is probably no caliber in North America, than .30 caliber, with a greater selection of component bullets.

The 7mm-08 on the other hand has the advantage of greater sectional density given same bullet weight. It may shoot slightly flatter with the most common medium game bullet weights. It is popular enough that obtaining ammo shouldn't ever be a problem.

Given either of their qualities.....I'd simply pick the one I happened to "like the most".....and let it go at that!

Good luck with your decision.

Dave

P.S. They are both great cartriges for the uses you have suggested!

[thndrchiken]

Couldn't have said it better. The one advantage the .308 has is the 180 gr bullet for game larger than deer and ammo may be more readily available. Otherwise either cartridge will do what is asked of it.

[James B]

Either on will do the job on animals up to and including elk. You would be well served by either. I could not decide between them so I bought both.

[frizzellr]

I have one of each myself. I usually give the nod to the 7mm-08 for deer but it is more to do with personal preference than ballistic advantage.

[JagMagMan]

For deer I'd take the 7MM-08, it has a little less recoil than it's daddy, the .308.
It also has a flatter trajectory. The benefit of the .308 is that you can use larger bullets.
Either one would be a good choice.

[BeltedMag]

Like everyone else said they are basically identincal. The smaller diameter bullet of the 7mm will make it a little faster and flatter, but not substantially. I would probably go with the 7mm for deer and if i was planning on using it on larger game, just handload some quailty bullets. Something like a nosler partition or trophy bonded bullet in the 150 grain and up line.

[bigbulls]

Flip a coin or close your eyes and point. There isn't a single animal out there that will notice the differance between the two. They are both perfectly capeable of taking all of the "deer" species this country has to offer.

As far as recoil goes I'd be willing to bet that given the same guns and bullet weight that you won't be able to tell a any differance between the two if you didn't know which one you were shooting.

As far as ballistics go the 7mm 140 grain partition and the .308 150 grain partition are identical to 300 yards.

[4feathers]

Thanks guys for your thoughts and opinions.

When I first was considering buying a rifle I was leaning toward the 7mm 08. This was based on what a friend told me. But since looking up information, I feel that the 308 has a much broader range of amo. I am not in a big rush, so I will continue to think about this.

If anyone else would like to give their opinion; I welcome it.

[4feathers]

I got another question for you. Why was the 308 caliber choosen as a snipper rifle?

thanks