My .300 WSM has a short action and short barrel too. Weighs 7.4 lbs all in. Since I can shoot it well, I’ll stick with it for elk and larger game.

Can’t believe these threads where folks have to convince everyone that .30 cals are basically useless nowadays.....

Not saying they are useless. Could you please show the rest of us how/where/when they are necessary? I bought a 300 wby with the intent of elk hunting, if/when I ever get to go I don't know if I will take it or not, might take my 270 even though it weighs 2 pounds more and is smaller bullet, it shoots better and I have no doubt what so ever that a 270 throwing a 150 grain partition will kill an elk just as dead at any distance I have business shooting at.

I agree and disagree to a point also. Its one thing to compare a 223 and a 270 for hunting white tails and call one bigger. To me it is a completely different thing to assume that same superiority accompanies a 30-06 when comparing it to a 7mm08. Using similar style and weight per caliber bullets in both I think the results will be undiscernible.

Have tracked a gut shot deer with a 223 for hundreds of yards. Have tracked a handful of gutshot deer with a 270 none made it past 50. I don't think you can expect the same difference to exist with elk and a 7mm08 vs a 30-06.

A all around rifle for cloven hooved North American game animals does not end with elk

I would not really want to bring a 7mm-08 on a aoudad hunt, nor a mountain goat hunt, not really an elk hunt, nor a moose hunt, nor a bighorn sheep hunt, nor a mule deer hunt in the desert, etc.

In any of the above instances, I would reach for my .270 or .257 wby, or 7mm R.E.M. First.

I was glad I had a .338 and not a 7mm-08 when I anchored one on a ridge and (at the very least) saved a huge pack out job out of a deep bowl.

My brother was sure wishing he had a larger caliber when he shot one in the shoulder with his .30-06 that we never found. Would we have found him if he had a .300 WM/WSM or a .338 Win Mag?
I can’t say for sure.
But I can say he would love to have that shot over again with one of those to find out.

Are aoudad and mountain goats that hard to kill? Don't they typically weigh less than 300 lbs?

Just asking because I wouldn't think they would be anywhere near comparable to a 700 lb bull elk or 1200 lb moose.

Does it really place a higher premium on shot patience and marksmanship? What makes the 30-06 more adequate?

I would wager that anywhere you could shoot a moose with a 30-06 and a 220 grain you could shoot it with a 175 grain 7mm-08 and achieve the exact same result and even at the same distances. Bullet in the vitals is a bullet in the vitals and it will die.

what's your favorite bullet for the 7mm08?
I shot one doe through the top of the head (from a tower blind) at 100 yards, done.
Shot a doe yesterday through the neck, dead center and it went down instantly but got up and ran when I went to get it.
I assumed it was dead, it was not. Must have "just" missed the spine. I was shooting the Hornady Full Boar ammo with the GMX bullet.

Never in 40 years of hunting have I seen a deer get up from a center neck shot. I suspect the bullet simply didn't expand, there was blood pouring out of a 1" hole and it would have bled out of course (my bad for moving in too quick). After thinking about the other deer, the bullet went in top of skull and exited the neck right under the lower jack, same size hole. I realize it is just two deer but I think the bullet is just too stout for 7mm08 velocities on thin skinned whitetail. I am sure it would work fine on a high shoulder shot of a big buck and anchor him. Out of all the loads I shot it and the 120 Fusions shot the tightest groups. I will probably run the 120 Fusions this weekend. I have some Nosler ammo with the 140 ABs and killed a lot of deer with that bullet out of my 280AI. It just didn't group tahat great, right at 1"

Heck the .280 ballisticslly is much more versatile and shoots the same bullet



It's a great round, no doubt, but it's popular for being popular, not because it's ballistic magic

Those online calculators are pretty close to worthless/meaningless.

Having owned and shot plenty of rounds with both in hunting weight rifles, a 243 with 80 grainers is significantly less recoil than a 7-08 with 140 - 160's in comparable rifles such as R700's.

A 7-08 is a significant increase in recoil even compared to a 260 with 100 or even 120's.

The 7-08 I owned and others I've shot were much closer to a 308 level of recoil than a 243.

Those online calculators are pretty close to worthless/meaningless.

Having owned and shot plenty of rounds with both in hunting weight rifles, a 243 with 80 grainers is significantly less recoil than a 7-08 with 140 - 160's in comparable rifles such as R700's.

A 7-08 is a significant increase in recoil even compared to a 260 with 100 or even 120's.

The 7-08 I owned and others I've shot were much closer to a 308 level of recoil than a 243.