Need advice on 7mm-.08

[skeet]

Spent a bit of time up there. Mountain lions are usually pretty secretive. We have one that lives around here somewhere. Up one of the canyons in the rock wall we have here. Wolf up there too. Gummit trapper told me not to shoot it while he was up here asking about shooting the coyotes on the ranch.. He also knew about the lion..I've seen the lions tracks but never the lion..Seen the wolf a time or two though Actually I am not anti wolf..I am anti people interfering with the local ecology. Didn't need wolves here. They were already here. The ones here now though are surely not afraid of people. They actually come up and hang around while you field dress an animal. Actually try to chase you off so they can eat...The grizz on the other hand have been known to just come in and take it from you. Not a joke. The Yotes are bad enough killing stock(even cows)...but mostly when they are giving birth to calves. The biggest bunch of yotes I have seen at one time was 17 in one pack..but I had a rifle and they were gone out of range before I even got a looksee. Except for 5 all of the yotes I have shot this summer were with either my 45 auto or a Smith M-28 I have with a red dot sight on it. It's good for up to 100 yds..the 45 is ok to about 50 or so..then I am out of my element. The other 5 I shot with rifles..one with 22-250 and the others with the Bushmaster varminter in 223. Very accurate.

YG that 308 will do you good. When you get a set of dies for it..consider buying a set of small base dies for semi autos and pumps so they will always function through the rifle.. In fact before going out with the rifle..make sure the ammo you have loaded will function through the rifle. Just sit on the ol front porch and run 'em through the magazine with the rifle pointed somewhere other than your neighbors house..if they are that close I'm still jealous

[PJgunner]

When you start loading for that .308, I'll pass one a load that should put the quietus to any aggressive bear. it's not a high pressure load, yet can push a 220 gr. bullet to 2310 FPS in my rifle.
Now I'm sure that someone is gonna chime in and say you can't shoot a bullet that heavy in a .308. After all, all the "egg-spurts" in the gun rags say so, and they'd never lie, right?
Also, your rifle has a 1 in 12' twist which is too slow for a bullet that heavy, right?
Well, all I can say is my Winchester M70 in .308 has that same 1 in 12" twist and it will put three 220 gr. Sierra round nose bullets into .375 to .50" all day long at 100 yards ay 2310 FPS at the muzle. That's only 100 FPS from a 22barreled 30-06 using factory advertised velocity. I'd say that wasn't bad company at all. Another rifle with an 18.5" barrel does 2550 FPS with the same load. Now this is with a round nose bullet, not one of the overlong spitzers now available.
Now if I had to face a mean tempered Grizzly on the prod, I certainly would feel a lot better with my .35 Whelen in hand, but if all I had was my M70 .308 with my 220 gr. load, I wouldn't worry overmuch.
Paul B.

[skeet]

Actually PJ..I tried that in my old Winchester 88 yrs ago. Don't remember the particulars exactly but it wasn't that tight in it IIRC..but heck..It's a short range thing anyway. Angle of bear is just fine. I do remember though that old 88 kicked a mite but it had a regular buttplate and was a bit short for me..

Raining here again today. T-boomers. Almost an inch..woo-hoo

[Mike Moss]

Yukon Girl,

My suggestion is that you select a cartridge that has moderate recoil. This is important so that you shoot the rifle well and in fact enjoy shooting and practicing with it.

The 7mm-08 should be good for all your game when used with premium bullets such as the Nosler Partition. Such bullets will penetrate large animals and take them if your aim is good.

You can handload less expensive bullets for practice and smaller game.

Another thing is that I much prefer the new soft recoil pads such as the Decelerator. They make a big difference in felt recoil. Another thing is to use good ear protection.

I prefer rifles with three position safeties such as found on the M70, Ruger 77 and Kimber 84M's.

Such safeties allow the chamber to be unloaded while still on safe yet lock the bolt handle down when all the way back. Most versions of these rifles also have controlled round feeding which adds another level of reliability to the rifles function.

Get the length of pull cut to fit you. This is important. Another thing is to avoid heavy and long rifles. There are smaller versions of each that I mentioned and my favorite is the Kimber 84M.

Good luck and stay with us.