Difference between 7mm wsm and 7mm-08
 

I'm new to precision rifles and honestly haven't even gotten my first one. I'm learning about certain rounds before I even have eyes on a rifle. I recently heard of the 7mm class and was wondering what is the difference between the 7mm Winchester short mag and the 7mm-08? Is it .223 vs 5.56 different or are there more differences then that? my only real rifle training is what the army gave me with the M4. Thank you for your time.

EDIT: The only thing rifle wise I am looking at bolt action. Because I know simi I well rush my shot and send rounds down range that will be unneeded and/or sloppy.

With a 140 grain bullet about 400 feet per second. The 7mm08 case life is generally longer for reloaders as most tend to load the 7mm wsm to it's hotter ranges. Some people have also experienced faster throat burnouts with 7mm wsm but that could be more to do with cheaper barrels than the round itself.

Within my ranges of ethical hunting (400 yards max) I can pretty much do anything with my 7mm08 as one can do with the 7mm wsm.

These are completely different cases. The WSM case holds quite a bit more powder than the 7mm-08 does. The WSM case has a rim of .535" and a length of 2.100", while the 7mm-08 has a rim of .473 and a length of 2.035.

This is not at all like the differences between a .223 and a 5.56.

What is the max affective range you have fired either one of the mentioned rounds? This is a round I would use to put food on the table, but my main intent for this type of shooting would be more recreational/competitive (I also think it would be unethical to fail to learn and master my limits with this type of rifle). Thank you for answering my question and for giving me more questions to think about, which is a good thing. :biggrin:

I'm not going to pretend that didn't go more then a little over m head, but it did answer my question. Which round would work better for longer range precision shooting for the recreational/competitive shooter side? I'm looking at hunting secondary for the time being. Thank you for your time and answering my question.

I guess I should have just said that the cases are not the same size. The WSM is bigger and takes a bunch more powder than the 7mm-08. The 7mm-08 is much more popular and has a much better chance of having rifles chambered in that cartridge. Neither one would really be ideal for competitive shooting but would do for recreational shooting - with the edge going to the 7mm-08.

If you are thinking about competitive shooting there are some good sources of information such as benchrest.com. Serious competition shooters should plan on spending a fair amount of cash on their sport. If you are going to shoot more casually (not competitively) there are many cartridges that have enough inherent accuracy to do the job.

What ranges are you planning to shoot?

I routinely shoot a couple of my 7mm08's at 700 yards on the 16" gong. For whitetail I wouldn't push the round further than 400. For Elk, 350 with a choice pocket shot. You could push the 7mm WSM further with a heavier bullet and cranking up the load a bit. As Uncle said, the case capacity is a bit larger for the WSM so you can get more powder in there for a larger bullet but once you past around 160gr bullet weight the length of the bullet will take up case capacity for powder.

Since you are new to shooting/hunting I doubt you will be jumping into reloading your own ammo so you will want to look at availability of factory ammo. 7mm08 is highly popular all across the country and I think the 7mm WSM is kinda losing steam with the masses. I may be wrong in that assumption and since I haven't bought any factory ammo except a box or 2 of something I needed right then in over 40 years I have very little knowledge of what the stores commonly have in stock for factory ammo.

Compare the "point blank range" for each cartridge (flattest).

Consider how much recoil you can handle, but still shoot regularly.

Spend more on your optic (target turrets), than you do on the gun.

Quality barrel (free floated), good trigger (+/- 2.5 lbs) and bed everything into the stock (many to choose from).

You know the last part........................Practice, Practice, Practice

Have FUN !!! :barmy:

What distances are you planning on shooting at? How about hunting at? Neither are on my list for long range hunting but the 7mm WSM would be my choice if I had to choose one.

A 7mm Rem Mag will give you many more "match" grade over the counter ammo choices.

Distance wise I think 700-800 meters is reasonable for a point target. Maybe 900 is a bit much, but worth working for if a range can be found. hunting I'd say half that for ethical reasons. (350-400)

I would stick with a 7mm Rem Mag if you aren't going to reload and want a .284 bullet...

7wsm more balls.

The 7-08 is everything you need for 400 meter/yards hunting and 800 target shooting. Factory ammo is available for the 7-08 and next impossible to find for the 7 WSM, also cost of ammo and rifle selection favor the 7-08.

I want to get into reloads, but I need a few things first and 90+% of that is knowledge and wisdom. Can't make a wise choice for a rifle without a rifle to shoot, can't shoot a rifle with no rounds to feed it. I understand what I want is going to be costly. I am coming to the conclusion that that long range precision marksmanship is chasing the rabbit, but getting close to it is worth it.

The rabbit isn't hard to catch, have caught many of them, but your correct, to do it efficiently you need to spend some money, time, and you need to study ballistics.
RR

Drop you can calculate & dial that, wind drift is the question ??

That's where practice/experience is irreplaceable !!!

I saw a chart on that that. the 7mm WSM showed the least amount of wind drift if I read it correctly. The 7mm-08 was the second worst, but still extremely superior to the .308 in terms of wind drift. Here is the mentioned chart attached.

Edit: here is a link to the larger picture. http://accurateshooter.net/pix/windchartx580.png

Charts can be manipulated to make any cartridge look better. I could make the 6.5x284 look better then any of the others just by changing the BC on each of the other bullets.

Unless the bullets used for the comparison are comparable then it doesn't mean much. A heavy for caliber high BC VLD type bullet will always have less wind drift then your standard cup and core hunting bullet.

Rarely will the wind blow from the same direction when taking "long" shots, unless you are hunting flat open prairies.

Where ever there are mountains, hills, valleys, wooded areas, even heavy brush the wind direction can change from shooter to "target" - no chart can account for that.

That "ability" only come from practice/experience !!!

I am going to go off track and suggest that you buy a reloading manual. They are not expensive ($25 or so) and will educate you on the basics of ballistics and give good descriptions of most of the available cartridges. Hornady, Nosler, Speer, etc. publish excellent manuals.

Go with the smallest cartridge that can do the job you need done, the more powder you burn down the hole, the less barrel life you will have, If you were well versed in ballistics, what affects a bullets flight, and how to compensate for them I would say get the biggest, baddest, flattest shooting MoFO you can find, but its no use burning up a barrel before you learn the capabilities of the cartridge along with your limitations.
The 7mm/08 will more than kill a deer at 400 yards, with a good bullet will remain supersonic beyond 1000, the only difference between it and the 7mm WSM on a long shot is a couple clicks on the scope knobs or 1 more hash mark on the reticle if you have the accuracy.
your talking about a big money chassis? you gonna build the barreled action to put it in? factoryrifle will normaly shoot 1.5 moa with factory loads, that's somewhere in a 6" circle at 400 yards, now if you wobble .00697" at the muzzle (yup just under 7/1000's of an inch) with that 1.5 moa shooter, you just missed a deers vitals. just something to think about.
RR

Another thing to think about is targets. When I am practicing with a rifle I already have dialed in for a particular round, I bang on an 8 inch "gong" out at 400 yards (my maximum allowed range for game). The 8 inch gong represents around the size of the vitals for a whitetail. Gong, can of quick drying spray paint and you are good to go. When I want to stretch my legs and bring out the .30-06 I have a 12 inch gong that I take out to 600-700 and a 16" that I take out to 1000. The Steel targets gives you visual verification of a hit at range without needing a spotting scope. 200 yards and in I use paper targets.

Ridge made a couple great points, but I wanted to be sure this one wasn't over-looked.

Long range shooting skill can be developed with a 22lr or 223rem, and doing so will save you a lot of money.

Jumping into a 26 Nosler, 6.5-284, 7mm Rem Mag, or WSM, or other hyper magnum without first developing your skill level is like buying a Top Fuel drag racer before you get your driver's license.

Out of the two, I'd prefer the 7 Rem Mag - and I know that it's not on your list. The 7mm WSM would be my choice off of your list. The 7-08 is a fantastic round, but it's a V6 in a class of V8's for super long range.

Added to my never ending reading list. Never a bad thing. :party: