308 vs 7mm/08 for big game hunting in Africa or elsewhere

I enjoy comparing the performance and ballistics of different hunting cartridges which might be selected for hunting the same animals. In this case, I wanted to open a discussion of the 308 vs the 7mm/08 for use on African plains game or North American big game such as deer, elk, etc. I am not a PH but am a hunter with decades of hunting experience and have been to Africa a few times to hunt PG and DG. Even so, few hunters can amass a huge resume of hunting experience in one lifetime and I am no different. As such, my comments are my opinions based on limited useage of each cartridge on big game. That said, I wanted to share my experiences and observations to this forum which hopefully will prompt some of you to also share your hunting experiences with one or both of these cartridges.

What prompted me was a recent YouTube video posted by Joseph Von Benedict and Ron Spomer discussing all of the 30cal hunting cartridges and their attributes. Neither of them are fans of the 308, so it was rated pretty low on the totem pole. I was thinking about my own experience with the 308 and the 7mm/08 and how different those experiences were considering that the two cartridges were about as close to being the same as any two could possibly be. The 270 and 30-06 might be another similar example.

My early big game hunting experience on mainly deer and wild hogs was with the 308 using mostly 165g reloads and Nosler Ballistic Tip cup/core bullets. I chalked up an impressive run of one shot kills on both with this combo and only suffered one notable failure when using a Winchester Silvertip factory load that appeared to be unable to expand at close range on a deer forcing me to take 5 shots before killing the poor beast. I switched to a 270 after that and had similar good results. I have never lost an animal to either one. Fast forward to recent years and I took a nice old FN Mauser in 308 on my first African Safari for Plains Game. Loaded with Federal Fusion 180g bonded ammo, it took five animals from 30y to 202y, all with one shot and all with impressive terminal results. The little FN is not a tack driver. It is an ultra-lite pencil bbl model that is handy and capable of 300y shots on game but is usually a 1.5-2" group at 100y and about twice that at 200y. OK hunting rifle but nothing special.

For my 2nd safari, I was planning to hunt both Limpopo and the open plains of the Free State and was advised to bring a very accurate rifle capable of reaching out to about 400y as some of the critters in Free State were simply tough to approach. MY 308 has a clunky old vintage optic with a tapered crosshair and no provision for hold over or dialing for long range. That ruled it out. I have many rifles and considered my 270 Mauser but it is getting old and never shot the heavy for caliber bullets as well as it shoots the lighter 130g ammo. So, I ruled it out also. I considered a nice 30-06 but it is more of a mid-range rifle in many ways and in the end narrowed the choice down to my 7mm RM or my 7mm/08. The 7mm Mag was the logical choice but it has a 26" Looong bbl that is a bit unwieldy and since we were also hunting the bushveld of Limpopo, I liked the short light handy feel of my 7mm/0 a lot better. Both were the same rifle spec and both were legit 1/2 moa rifles. In the end, I chose the 7mm/08 despite its obvious lower performance over the 7mm Mag for a few logical reasons:

• The 7/08 is shorter and lighter
• Just as accurate
• Similar in performance to other proven chamberings such as 257 Roberts and 7x57 Mauser
• Better performance than the much loved 6.5CM by most measures plus 6.5CM was not allowed in Free State as 270 was the minimum where I was to be hunting.
• Able to deliver a 140g TSX to 400y at over 2000 fps
• Was so close ballistically to my 308 that I was expecting similar performance on game
• The 7/08 scope was more suitable for hunting in close bush conditions like Limpopo than the magnums 3.5-18x optic and it was still good enough to achieve adequate 400y accuracy.
• While the 7 mag is able to send up to 160 and 175g bullets at adequate velocity the little 7/08 was sending 140g TSX or 139g CX bullets at similar speed and ballistic drop and while lighter, I figured the copper mono ammo would still penetrate well enough for my needs.

The 7/08 was a compromise choice capable of enough performance for Free State and optimum performance for Limpopo where most of the hunting was planned to be. The actual performance was adequate but nothing like that of my 308. Every animal taken with the 7/08 fell but most required a finisher from either the rifle or the PH's 9mm pistol. One notable animal required five shots (Blesbok) using the Hornady CX ammo. It was well hit on the first shot but made a beeline for cover and thus the other shots were expended to get it down while still out in the open. I was not impressed with that result. I switched to 140g Fusion ammo for the rest of the hunt but never got another shot on game so, I cannot comment on the performance of the Fusions. This is unfortunate since that would have been the best apples to apples comparison with the 308. I had some 150g Sciroccos also but never got to use them either. Coulda woulda shoulda.

In summary, I found the 7mm/08 to be more accurate than the 308 and capable of making longer shots on game when comparing my two rifles but it lacked the impressive knockdown capacity of the 308 and lacked the decisive terminal performance. No game was lost with the 7mm/08 excpet for one Warthog that was hit but made it to a hole before expiring and was not recoverable. But, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth despite my wanting to like the 7mm. I know if I keep hunting with the 7mm. logic would suggest that it will over a larger sample size perform very close to the 308 when using similar bullets. When I get the chance, I plan to test that hypothesis.

I am sure that many of you have experiences with one or both. Please post your stories about your favorite bullets in each and how they performed for you or your worst failures as both can be instructional. Below is the FN 308 in Walnut & Steel and the 7mm/08 in Carbon & Titanium. Which would you prefer to take hunting?

No one would be able to tell the difference between the two when used on small to midsized plains game. Both are effective, given similar bullet construction and velocities. That said, I haven’t used either in Africa. A 30-06 is a better choice than either the 308 or 7-08. It’ll handle heavier bullets than either of them.

Of those 2 choices the 308.
I took a 308 my first trip over. It accounted for one shot kills on Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Impala and wart hog. No tracking required.
With that said I would have taken a 30-06 if a left handed version of the rifle I wanted had been available.

on little stuff (30cal and smaller) the 30/06 is a better choice than the 308 7-08.

However the discussion is 308 vs 7-08. It you have a 7-08 with a fast twist barrel that will stabilize the heavier 175-180gr bullets (AKA modern 7x57) and shoots them well you will have a bullet that has proven itself in Africa since the late 1800. that would be my choice.

Doug3006 said:

No one would be able to tell the difference between the two when used on small to midsized plains game. Both are effective, given similar bullet construction and velocities. That said, I haven’t used either in Africa. A 30-06 is a better choice than either the 308 or 7-08. It’ll handle heavier bullets than either of them.

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I like the 30-06 as well and am working up to a hunt which may include mine. A recent polling of African hunters on top ten plains game cartridges listed the 308 as #2 and the 30-06 as #1. The 7mm/08 did not make the top ten.

I recently tested a load from Double Tap for my 30-06 loaded with 180g Swift Sciroccos. This load is rated at 2900fps and chrono'ed an actual MV in my rifle of 2790fps. That is within 100-150fps or thereabouts of the 180g loads for the 300wm. 30-06 has a lot to like. In hindsight, I would have been better off with it in Africa than the 7mm/08 but plan to keep hunting with the 7/08 when opportunity arises.

AZDAVE said:

on little stuff (30cal and smaller) the 30/06 is a better choice than the 308 7-08.

However the discussion is 308 vs 7-08. It you have a 7-08 with a fast twist barrel that will stabilize the heavier 175-180gr bullets (AKA modern 7x57) and shoots them well you will have a bullet that has proven itself in Africa since the late 1800. that would be my choice.

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Point well taken. I explored that option prior to the hunt but I do not reload for hunting rifles. Because, I simply do not shoot enough hunting rounds to justify the substantial investment in dies, powder, bullets, etc to do so in such small volume applications. Plus, I was unable to find any factory 7/08 loads heavier than 150fps and those were so slow that I ended up not using them.

I do reload for target competition ammo such as 308, 223, and 45acp.

I have rarely had any issues with my .308s and nothing has ever gotten away. The only time I’ve had to make follow up shots on deer was using some ballistic tips my dad had loaded but I’ve since used regular cup/core SPs from S&B, PPU, federal and Hornady and as long as I do my part everything goes good. The S&B and PPU shoots amazing as long as I match the bullet weight to my particular twist rate.
I wouldn’t hesitate to take my .308 to Africa or anywhere in North America.
My Ruger 77 Hawkeye 30-06 however gets first pick when going to Africa.

What the 7/08 offers is a light recoiling rifle that’s capable of taking small and mid-sized game. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it up to whitetail size but asking much more can be trouble. Just a case of “no replacement for displacement”.

I’d most likely choose a 308WIN over the 7/08…but secret option #3 would be a 300WM shooting a 165 grain TTSX at 3000+ fps.

My fiance came into our relationship with a 7mm-08. I bought her a .308. Not because I don't think enough of the 7mm-08, but rather because she needs to start her own collection and a .308 seemed like a solid first step.

Regarding this discussion, I think within normal shooting distances at the species class suggested, and with proper bullets, either is a good choice. Once I get her hiney to Africa, I will be good with whichever she wants to take. On my last trip I took a .300 Savage, which may be closer to the .308 but is somewhat between the two. It did just fine on a mature kudu and gemsbok (the one in my avatar).

In large part you're splitting hairs trying to decide which of these two calibers to take to Africa. As someone who shoots factory ammo, I appreciate being able to use higher weight bullets in the .308 than I can find in the 7mm-08. On my last PG hunt I took an eland at 75 yards using my .308 with 180 grain Swift Aframes, it didn't go but 40 yards. Next week I'll be back in Africa doing a cull and management hunt, I'll be taking my .308 once again.

JG26Irish_2 said:

I enjoy comparing the performance and ballistics of different hunting cartridges which might be selected for hunting the same animals. In this case, I wanted to open a discussion of the 308 vs the 7mm/08 for use on African plains game or North American big game such as deer, elk, etc. I am not a PH but am a hunter with decades of hunting experience and have been to Africa a few times to hunt PG and DG. Even so, few hunters can amass a huge resume of hunting experience in one lifetime and I am no different. As such, my comments are my opinions based on limited useage of each cartridge on big game. That said, I wanted to share my experiences and observations to this forum which hopefully will prompt some of you to also share your hunting experiences with one or both of these cartridges.

What prompted me was a recent YouTube video posted by Joseph Von Benedict and Ron Spomer discussing all of the 30cal hunting cartridges and their attributes. Neither of them are fans of the 308, so it was rated pretty low on the totem pole. I was thinking about my own experience with the 308 and the 7mm/08 and how different those experiences were considering that the two cartridges were about as close to being the same as any two could possibly be. The 270 and 30-06 might be another similar example.

My early big game hunting experience on mainly deer and wild hogs was with the 308 using mostly 165g reloads and Nosler Ballistic Tip cup/core bullets. I chalked up an impressive run of one shot kills on both with this combo and only suffered one notable failure when using a Winchester Silvertip factory load that appeared to be unable to expand at close range on a deer forcing me to take 5 shots before killing the poor beast. I switched to a 270 after that and had similar good results. I have never lost an animal to either one. Fast forward to recent years and I took a nice old FN Mauser in 308 on my first African Safari for Plains Game. Loaded with Federal Fusion 180g bonded ammo, it took five animals from 30y to 202y, all with one shot and all with impressive terminal results. The little FN is not a tack driver. It is an ultra-lite pencil bbl model that is handy and capable of 300y shots on game but is usually a 1.5-2" group at 100y and about twice that at 200y. OK hunting rifle but nothing special.

For my 2nd safari, I was planning to hunt both Limpopo and the open plains of the Free State and was advised to bring a very accurate rifle capable of reaching out to about 400y as some of the critters in Free State were simply tough to approach. MY 308 has a clunky old vintage optic with a tapered crosshair and no provision for hold over or dialing for long range. That ruled it out. I have many rifles and considered my 270 Mauser but it is getting old and never shot the heavy for caliber bullets as well as it shoots the lighter 130g ammo. So, I ruled it out also. I considered a nice 30-06 but it is more of a mid-range rifle in many ways and in the end narrowed the choice down to my 7mm RM or my 7mm/08. The 7mm Mag was the logical choice but it has a 26" Looong bbl that is a bit unwieldy and since we were also hunting the bushveld of Limpopo, I liked the short light handy feel of my 7mm/0 a lot better. Both were the same rifle spec and both were legit 1/2 moa rifles. In the end, I chose the 7mm/08 despite its obvious lower performance over the 7mm Mag for a few logical reasons:

• The 7/08 is shorter and lighter
• Just as accurate
• Similar in performance to other proven chamberings such as 257 Roberts and 7x57 Mauser
• Better performance than the much loved 6.5CM by most measures plus 6.5CM was not allowed in Free State as 270 was the minimum where I was to be hunting.
• Able to deliver a 140g TSX to 400y at over 2000 fps
• Was so close ballistically to my 308 that I was expecting similar performance on game
• The 7/08 scope was more suitable for hunting in close bush conditions like Limpopo than the magnums 3.5-18x optic and it was still good enough to achieve adequate 400y accuracy.
• While the 7 mag is able to send up to 160 and 175g bullets at adequate velocity the little 7/08 was sending 140g TSX or 139g CX bullets at similar speed and ballistic drop and while lighter, I figured the copper mono ammo would still penetrate well enough for my needs.

The 7/08 was a compromise choice capable of enough performance for Free State and optimum performance for Limpopo where most of the hunting was planned to be. The actual performance was adequate but nothing like that of my 308. Every animal taken with the 7/08 fell but most required a finisher from either the rifle or the PH's 9mm pistol. One notable animal required five shots (Blesbok) using the Hornady CX ammo. It was well hit on the first shot but made a beeline for cover and thus the other shots were expended to get it down while still out in the open. I was not impressed with that result. I switched to 140g Fusion ammo for the rest of the hunt but never got another shot on game so, I cannot comment on the performance of the Fusions. This is unfortunate since that would have been the best apples to apples comparison with the 308. I had some 150g Sciroccos also but never got to use them either. Coulda woulda shoulda.

In summary, I found the 7mm/08 to be more accurate than the 308 and capable of making longer shots on game when comparing my two rifles but it lacked the impressive knockdown capacity of the 308 and lacked the decisive terminal performance. No game was lost with the 7mm/08 excpet for one Warthog that was hit but made it to a hole before expiring and was not recoverable. But, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth despite my wanting to like the 7mm. I know if I keep hunting with the 7mm. logic would suggest that it will over a larger sample size perform very close to the 308 when using similar bullets. When I get the chance, I plan to test that hypothesis.

I am sure that many of you have experiences with one or both. Please post your stories about your favorite bullets in each and how they performed for you or your worst failures as both can be instructional. Below is the FN 308 in Walnut & Steel and the 7mm/08 in Carbon & Titanium. Which would you prefer to take hunting?

View attachment 783988View attachment 783989

Click to expand...

My beef with the 7mm/08 is that it purports to be a replica of a 7x57 mauser, but many are not. All the storied success of the 7x57 is based on the heavy for caliber bullets, typically the 175gr softs and 180gr solids.

Many of the 7mm/08 rifles either have too short of a throat to handle the heavy bullets, or their magazine well lacks the ability to feed and eject the 175gr bullets with sufficient powder remaining in the case.

Not all, but many of 7/08s are victim to this problem.

I'm a huge fan of 7x57, but this is why I'm less a fan of what seems to be a nearly identical caliber.

Andrew62 said:

In large part you're splitting hairs trying to decide which of these two calibers to take to Africa. As someone who shoots factory ammo, I appreciate being able to use higher weight bullets in the .308 than I can find in the 7mm-08. On my last PG hunt I took an eland at 75 yards using my .308 with 180 grain Swift Aframes, it didn't go but 40 yards. Next week I'll be back in Africa doing a cull and management hunt, I'll be taking my .308 once again.

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Well, I took both to Africa, just on separate trips. Splitting hairs or not, I was rather surprised how much better the 308 performed for me. Especially since they are so close to identical. The 308 is only 12% larger and 28% heavier. Since the sectional density is nearly the same, I was expecting near identical performance. For me, the comparison of the 7/08 to the 308 is about as different as the 308 to the 338wm. The first (7/08) kills adequately, barely. The 2nd kills efficiently and the last, the 338 kills suddenly.

My PH routinely has his clients who rent rifles from him us the 308 for all PG hunting and even uses Hornady SST ammo which is cup n core design. This includes Eland and he says it works great!

I did kill a nice Black Wildebeest with my 7/08 using the 140g Barnes TSX. Range was 314y by laser. May have been further as it is exceedingly difficult to get consistent laser ranging in the open, flat grasslands of Free State. For the record I much prefer hunting in Limpopo. Free State felt like Kansas.

Safe travels on your culling hunt to Africa. I am jealous as I did not get to go this year due to some other hunting travel trips instead. Africa is magical.

rookhawk said:

My beef with the 7mm/08 is that it purports to be a replica of a 7x57 mauser, but many are not. All the storied success of the 7x57 is based on the heavy for caliber bullets, typically the 175gr softs and 180gr solids.

Many of the 7mm/08 rifles either have too short of a throat to handle the heavy bullets, or their magazine well lacks the ability to feed and eject the 175gr bullets with sufficient powder remaining in the case.

Not all, but many of 7/08s are victim to this problem.

I'm a huge fan of 7x57, but this is why I'm less a fan of what seems to be a nearly identical caliber.

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You Sir are quite correct in your assessment. Both the 7x57 and the 270 out perform the 7/08 by a marginal amount. My 270 does not like the heavy bullets either but gets good speed from the smaller 130's and is a very efficient killer. I missed a chance to buy a lovely 7x57 custom Mauser about 10yrs ago and regretted my hesitation.

JG26Irish_2 said:

I enjoy comparing the performance and ballistics of different hunting cartridges which might be selected for hunting the same animals. In this case, I wanted to open a discussion of the 308 vs the 7mm/08 for use on African plains game or North American big game such as deer, elk, etc. I am not a PH but am a hunter with decades of hunting experience and have been to Africa a few times to hunt PG and DG. Even so, few hunters can amass a huge resume of hunting experience in one lifetime and I am no different. As such, my comments are my opinions based on limited useage of each cartridge on big game. That said, I wanted to share my experiences and observations to this forum which hopefully will prompt some of you to also share your hunting experiences with one or both of these cartridges.

What prompted me was a recent YouTube video posted by Joseph Von Benedict and Ron Spomer discussing all of the 30cal hunting cartridges and their attributes. Neither of them are fans of the 308, so it was rated pretty low on the totem pole. I was thinking about my own experience with the 308 and the 7mm/08 and how different those experiences were considering that the two cartridges were about as close to being the same as any two could possibly be. The 270 and 30-06 might be another similar example.

My early big game hunting experience on mainly deer and wild hogs was with the 308 using mostly 165g reloads and Nosler Ballistic Tip cup/core bullets. I chalked up an impressive run of one shot kills on both with this combo and only suffered one notable failure when using a Winchester Silvertip factory load that appeared to be unable to expand at close range on a deer forcing me to take 5 shots before killing the poor beast. I switched to a 270 after that and had similar good results. I have never lost an animal to either one. Fast forward to recent years and I took a nice old FN Mauser in 308 on my first African Safari for Plains Game. Loaded with Federal Fusion 180g bonded ammo, it took five animals from 30y to 202y, all with one shot and all with impressive terminal results. The little FN is not a tack driver. It is an ultra-lite pencil bbl model that is handy and capable of 300y shots on game but is usually a 1.5-2" group at 100y and about twice that at 200y. OK hunting rifle but nothing special.

For my 2nd safari, I was planning to hunt both Limpopo and the open plains of the Free State and was advised to bring a very accurate rifle capable of reaching out to about 400y as some of the critters in Free State were simply tough to approach. MY 308 has a clunky old vintage optic with a tapered crosshair and no provision for hold over or dialing for long range. That ruled it out. I have many rifles and considered my 270 Mauser but it is getting old and never shot the heavy for caliber bullets as well as it shoots the lighter 130g ammo. So, I ruled it out also. I considered a nice 30-06 but it is more of a mid-range rifle in many ways and in the end narrowed the choice down to my 7mm RM or my 7mm/08. The 7mm Mag was the logical choice but it has a 26" Looong bbl that is a bit unwieldy and since we were also hunting the bushveld of Limpopo, I liked the short light handy feel of my 7mm/0 a lot better. Both were the same rifle spec and both were legit 1/2 moa rifles. In the end, I chose the 7mm/08 despite its obvious lower performance over the 7mm Mag for a few logical reasons:

• The 7/08 is shorter and lighter
• Just as accurate
• Similar in performance to other proven chamberings such as 257 Roberts and 7x57 Mauser
• Better performance than the much loved 6.5CM by most measures plus 6.5CM was not allowed in Free State as 270 was the minimum where I was to be hunting.
• Able to deliver a 140g TSX to 400y at over 2000 fps
• Was so close ballistically to my 308 that I was expecting similar performance on game
• The 7/08 scope was more suitable for hunting in close bush conditions like Limpopo than the magnums 3.5-18x optic and it was still good enough to achieve adequate 400y accuracy.
• While the 7 mag is able to send up to 160 and 175g bullets at adequate velocity the little 7/08 was sending 140g TSX or 139g CX bullets at similar speed and ballistic drop and while lighter, I figured the copper mono ammo would still penetrate well enough for my needs.

The 7/08 was a compromise choice capable of enough performance for Free State and optimum performance for Limpopo where most of the hunting was planned to be. The actual performance was adequate but nothing like that of my 308. Every animal taken with the 7/08 fell but most required a finisher from either the rifle or the PH's 9mm pistol. One notable animal required five shots (Blesbok) using the Hornady CX ammo. It was well hit on the first shot but made a beeline for cover and thus the other shots were expended to get it down while still out in the open. I was not impressed with that result. I switched to 140g Fusion ammo for the rest of the hunt but never got another shot on game so, I cannot comment on the performance of the Fusions. This is unfortunate since that would have been the best apples to apples comparison with the 308. I had some 150g Sciroccos also but never got to use them either. Coulda woulda shoulda.

In summary, I found the 7mm/08 to be more accurate than the 308 and capable of making longer shots on game when comparing my two rifles but it lacked the impressive knockdown capacity of the 308 and lacked the decisive terminal performance. No game was lost with the 7mm/08 excpet for one Warthog that was hit but made it to a hole before expiring and was not recoverable. But, I was left with a bad taste in my mouth despite my wanting to like the 7mm. I know if I keep hunting with the 7mm. logic would suggest that it will over a larger sample size perform very close to the 308 when using similar bullets. When I get the chance, I plan to test that hypothesis.

I am sure that many of you have experiences with one or both. Please post your stories about your favorite bullets in each and how they performed for you or your worst failures as both can be instructional. Below is the FN 308 in Walnut & Steel and the 7mm/08 in Carbon & Titanium. Which would you prefer to take hunting?

View attachment 783988View attachment 783989

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Do you have any shot placement data? Wound channel pics?

I know, they were all perfect shots. Nobody ever makes a bad shot. It always the bullet/cartridges fault.

I think the difference in bullets tell most of the story. Readily expanding conventional lead core bullets in the 308 vs much tougher monolithic copper bullets in the 7mm/08.

In my experience, lung shot critters with modest velocity monolithic bullets can cover some ground.

Lung shot critters with softer lead core bullets at moderate velocity tend to expire quicker.

Having said that, I do think bore diameter matters and bigger bullets make bigger holes in vitals. If everything else is equal, expanding 308 bullets have about 20% more frontal area than similar 7mm bullets.

In my experience, I think the 308 is a better choice for plains game, especially the larger species than the 7mm-08.

I used the 308 with 165 grains Trophy Bonded Tips in Africa with great results.

I have had better results as far as shorter tracking and better blood trails in the US with my 30 caliber rifles than my 7mm Caliber rifles. On critters up to and including elk as well as many deer and hogs.

Your mileage may of course vary.

Just about every African PH that I have met uses a 308 for plains game. I suppose they know something about the subject as well.

I do know one who prefers the 30-06, and another who is very much a fan of the 300 win mag.

But the 30 calibers are highly used and recommended in Africa.

AckleyHunter said:

Do you have any shot placement data? Wound channel pics?

I know, they were all perfect shots. Nobody ever makes a bad shot. It always the bullet/cartridges fault.

Click to expand...

Your apparent sarcastic tone suggests you did not want a reply, but... As for shot placement data, looking back, none of my shots were perfect with either rifle.

Some shots with each were very well placed. The rest/most were not. As a former National Champion rifle marksman, I strive for precision with every shot. Still hunting is a game of adequate precision while on the clock and the clock is not giving you that much time once the prey is aware of your presence.

As for wound channel pics? I was not shooting clear ballistic gel and we did not perform post hunt autopsy of any of the game. What have you shot with a 308 or 7/08? How did it perform for you? What bullets did you use and at what ranges?

My opening post was never meant to be a scientifically balanced comparison of one cartridge to the other. Instead it is merely a discussion of my general observations that two nearly identical cartridges performed noticeably different for me in a very limited number of game hunting events and wanted to hear how others have done.

I suspect that the copper mono bullets kill game more slowly and it is not as effective as a good bonded core bullet or a well placed cup & core bullet. The advent of newer products such as the trophy bonded tip and terminal accent bullets are examples of companies attempts to design a bullet that still penetrates like a copper mono but kills more effectively. What I am saying is that since all of my game killed with the 7/08 was done with the copper mono bullets, that fact may be tainting my results somewhat. I do not know and am not attempting to pass judgement on the two cartridges.

What it has done at least for now is to push my hunting rifle choices in the direction of heavy fast calibers over the smaller, lighter options. I am not talking about deer hunting now but more related to Elk and Moose sized game, Eland, Kudu, etc. I plan to use a 338wm for an upcoming Elk/Moose hunt this fall.

Below is one of the victims of the 7/08. Shot on the run at 60-70y quartering hard away. Shot with 139g Hornady Superformance CX ammo. Rifle had just been re-zeroed and shot a 1" group at 200y zero. This makes it about 2" high at 100y. Shot entered behind ribs and opened him up with a large entry wound. Tracked diagonally thru the chest cavity and exited the front of the opposite shoulder. The pig dropped and rolled once and lay kicking. I shot it with the PH's 9mm to finish him but he was not going to recover. That was one of the better performances with this rifle.

I’ll be following this thread, as my daughter is taking her M70 7mm-08 to Africa next year. I’m working up loads for her rifle now, waiting for some H4350 to arrive. Bullets I’m working with are 160gr Speer Hotcore, 160gr Speer Deep Curls, 140&160gr A-Frames, and 154gr Hornady Interlocks, and

JG26Irish_2 said:

What have you shot with a 308 or 7/08? How did it perform for you? What bullets did you use and at what ranges?

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Sorry to come off sarcastic, it was ment to be more tounge in cheek.

By wound channels, I mean you can take pictures of the animal were the impact was and you can see the damage (that is the heart in my fingers):


I have shot many things with my 7-08 with great results. I posted my african experiences in the bullet preformance data base using the 156 gr norma oryx. Worked great.

I've seen no difference between 308 and 7-08 with similarly constructed bullets.

AckleyHunter said:

Sorry to come off sarcastic, it was ment to be more tounge in cheek.

By wound channels, I mean you can take pictures of the animal were the impact was and you can see the damage (that is the heart in my fingers):
View attachment 784456

I have shot many things with my 7-08 with great results. I posted my african experiences in the bullet preformance data base using the 156 gr norma oryx. Worked great.

I've seen no difference between 308 and 7-08 with similarly constructed bullets.

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Thank You - no worries. Unfortunately, I did not get any direct damage assessment data from the hunting so far with the 7/08 simply because it was all in Africa and the skinners did all the field dressing and skinning back at home base and I was usually off with the PH at the time doing something else. While I got to hang around sometimes, it was never long enough to examine internal damage. I always asked them to watch for any recovered bullets but all of mine were complete pass thru.

Below is a pair of heart shots from other rifles recently taken. The first was of a Eastern Whitetail taken with a 338rcm using 225g SST bullet. At least on that one, you can still tell what the organ was, lol. The 2nd is from a larger Texas Nilgai taken with a 338wm using a Barnes 225g TTSX. Results were similar in both cases, so I know the Barnes ammo is sometimes capable of sudden bang flop results. But, on the Nilgai the heart was shredded. There were four of us hunting from KY together on that trip and all four tagged big blue bulls. Three of us hunted with the 338wm and all three of us recorded bang/flop kills and all three hit the hearts. The guides said that in all their years of hunting, they had never seen that many Nilgai dropped literally in their tracks before.

The fourth hunter used a 300wm and double lunged the animal and had to track it for about 150y to finish it. So, bullet placement matters more than caliber or bullet choice. But, if the impacts are all in the correct place it is still nice to hit it with a bigger fast bullet than a small fast bullet.