Does the 7mm-08 measure up?

[Kingstonman]

I love poring over the reloading manuals , ad naseum almost . Inoticed in the Speer #12 manual that the 7mm-08's max velocities are virtually the same as the .280's . With the lightest bullets it seems to be about 80 fps behind , 20 to 40 fps behind in the mid weights and 30 fps or so ahead of the .280 with the 175 gr . Almost seems to defy hte laws of physics given the smaller case capacity . Other manuals show the 7mm-08 behind in every case . Whats your experience ? I dont own either one , but I' thinking about that 7mm-08 !

Kingston, the 7-08 is a good cartridge. It comes that close, partly because the 280 has a lower max pressure rating, and partly because the 08 case is quite efficient. If you load the 280 up to full pressure, and use heavy bullets, it starts pulling away.

The end result, though, is that the 7-08 is an excellent choice., particularly with the lighter bullets. HTH, Dutch.

[Catfish]

Your right about what you say. The .280 has a case about 28% larger than the 7-08. This means, all other thing being equal you should expect to get about 14% more velosity from the .280. If your getting 2900 fps from the 7-08 with a 140 grn bullet you should get around 3300 from the .280, but as Dutch said, the SAMMI on the .280 is 50,000 cpu and I believe they load the 7-08 to 60,000 cpu.

[srab]

The 7mm08 is a great little cartridge, but it can't touch
the .280 Rem! Some will say that it can't even keep up
with the 7x57!

I've always been surprised by the variability between
the different manufacturers' reloading data, especially
with respect to the 7mm08. Several manuals list the
7mm08 with 140 gr. bullets at 2600 fps max. Others
list it at 2900 fps max with the same weight bullet!
If barrel lengths are equal, what's up with that?!?

The .280 Rem data ALWAYS seems to be anemic. Truth
is, most can be safely loaded to higher pressures/
velocities. 3100 fps with 140 grain bullets is well within
its reach. And, there's NO WAY that the 7mm08 can shoot
the 175 grainer faster, in part because of the short-action
restriction, necessitating the seating of that long bullet
deeper into the case of the 7mm08, further restricting
powder charge. Even the 7x57 (which doesn't suffer
from this same restriction) SHOULD be able to deliver better
muzzle velocities than the 7mm08 with this big bullet
in modern actions. The .280? SHOULD be no contest!

I'm not trying to down-play the 7mm08, mind you. Fact
is, it is my FAVORITE deer cartridge. It IS efficient.
It can be had in a nice short light rifle and does
not need 24 inches or more of barrel to deliver the goods.
It delivers plenty of energy for most reasonable shots at
game. It is a joy to shoot and tends to be very accurate.
But, it's not magic!

[Kingstonman]

Thanks for the responses you guys . srab , you're right on the same page with me , it seems the the reloading manuals vary quite abit on this caliber . speer has the .280 only 20 fps ahead of the 7mm08 with the 160gr. 2735 and 2755 . I haven't seen figures even close to Speers (whom I normally consider pretty conservative ) from anyone else except for that guy who has the web page for the little cartridge . I just wondered if any of our riflemen out there had chronoed thier loads , and were they getting anything like what the Speer manual showed . Maybe the Speer guys had a high performance chrono that day . Another question would be do rifles vary that much ?

[cliffs]

I used my chrony on some Hornady light magnum 139 gr loads, in my 7-08, which were supposed to be 3000 fps. As is usually the case, they came in 100 fps under that or 2900. I can almost always deduct 100 fps from what is listed on the box for factory ammo. They use 26 inch test barrels which we don't use for hunting. On some Hornady 300 win mag loads, they were SUPPOSED to be around 3100 fps and actually came in at 2880. I tried them 3 different times and came up with the same results every time. This with a 24 inch A-bolt.

[srab]

Kingstonman>>Rifles do vary, both with respect to
chamber dimensions and barrel lengths. The factories
are usually shooting a load using "tight" chambers
and, as above, they sometimes are using barrel lengths
that are greater than what the factory offers for that
particular cartridge. At roughly 30-50 fps per inch
of additional barrel, they can get velocities that you'll
never see.

FWIW, my handloads for the 7mm08 using 140 gr.
Sierra SPs and 45.0 gr. IMR 4064 (this is below max
in Sierra's manual!), get 2930 fps 8 ft. from the
muzzle of my 21 in. barrel and 2965 fps from my
22 in. barrel. I have a third 7mm08 (I TOLD you it
was my favorite!) that likes H 414, driving those
same bullets at 2815 fps (22 in. barrel) using Hodgdon's
max load. ALL of my 7mm08s seem to prefer,
from an accuracy standpoint, loads in the higher end
of the powder charge spectrum.