what are the differences and opinions ?

08 is a bigger piece of metal going down range. 270 is a fine caliber, maybe a hair flater shooting. 08 is definately my favorite, with more energy down range.

any recoil diiference ?

If you will go down to the Rifles/Shotguns/handguns topic area and look at its index, there have been several discussions concerning both the 7mm-08 and the 270, including comparisons of the 2 cartridges.

Given a choice between the two I would go with the 270.

lol I looked up the ballistics on the 2 for 140 grains and they are so close it's unreal. The advantage was the .270 on paper(literally by a hair). You get 30 ft-pounds more umph at 500yds with the '08 than the .270 but thats the only advantage(on paper).... BUT the .270 is 0.4 inch flatter shooting at 500 yards!!

Looks like the same round to me...

I love the 270 by far!!!

As I previously stated they are very similar. When you run the balistics be sure and use the same exact bullet for both calibers. Remington site and my software both show the 270 to be slightly faster,flatter, and harder hitting out to 500yards when comparing the same exact bullet. Either way you go they are both fantastic non-magnum calibers.

I think the .270 wins on availability of factory ammo. Every place that sells rifle ammo will have more than one selection of .270 bullets.

Here's a neat link regarding recoil:

http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

This thread really should be in the proper topic area.

270 is my choice and I agree with elkhunter7x6 the weatherby 257 magnum is a great choice if recoil is a concern

I don't know about that recoil issue comparison between the .270 and the 7mm-08. I say the 7mm-08 gives me less felt recoil than my .270 Win. I like the shorter action of the 7mm-08 and its fine if you reload. But .270 is a better choice I think because of the availability of ammo to the hunter that does not make his own reloads.

According to the Hornady reloading manual book that I have the .270 win will push 3000 fps with a 140gr bullet. The 7mm-08 will push 2900 fps with a 139gr. bullet.

Finding the energy of either is easy enough. I use this websight and their ballictic calculator.
http://www.firearmexpertwitness.com/customguns/calcnrg.html

Assuming your pushing the fps I listed above this is what you get.
7m-08 139 gr = 2595.16 energy ft-lbs
270 win 140 gr = 2797.20 energy ft-lbs


Either gun is awesome I think. I just choose my 7mm-08 because I always get better groupings from the three guns I have in the 7mm caliber versus the two that I have in a .270 Win.

08 for sure

Difference:
If you buy ammo over the counter, 270 is the way to go since it can be found everywhere. 7mm-08 is limited to 120 and 140gr at most places like Walmart and Academy.
If you hand load then the story changes as 7mm has a greater bullet selection from 100-180gr bullets vs the 270's 120-150gr. You will also save on powder due to the smaller case size. Recoil is a bit lighter with the 7mm-08 than the 270 if loaded with a 130gr bullet on factory ammo.
Opinion: Of the ten rifles I own including my 270, my two 7mm-08's see more action than all the rest combined. I hand load and prefer neck shots. I like short actions based on the 308 case. Less powder, better bullet selection, easy on brass make the 7mm-08 my choice any day of the week. That being said... 270 will work just the same when it comes to dropping deer out to 300yds.

Robcast, I beg to differ on your assumptions about what is available for 270 shooters in trying to make a case for the superiority of the 7-08.

Here are some bullets you don't seem to think exist that you might want to take a look at when making a comparison between a 270 & 7-08: I've been shooting factory loaded 100 gr 270 for 35+ years...and Remmy I know for sure still makes them and WalMart or Academy still sells them last time I looked. For handloaders: Hornady makes 100 gr Spitzers & 110 gr Vmax, Nosler makes 160 gr Partitons that can pushed at approx 2750-2800+fps - or about 100-200fps faster than a 7-08 can, Sierra makes 90 gr HP's & 110 gr spitzers, Speer makes 100gr spitzers & Hp's, Barnes makes 100 gr solids in X bullets, 110 gr TSX's & they scream outta a 270 at 3200/3300 fps! & 180gr Originals in a spitzer that max out at around 2650/2750 fps...or well over a 7-08 in 175's.

Nowhere do I see anyone in any of my manuals making a 180 gr 284 diameter bullet....what brand were you referring to? OBTW a 7-08 case will not hold enough powder to make the 175 gr 284 diameter bullet faster than about 2450/2500fps, and if that bullet is what you need I would strongly suggest you get into a 30 cal mag of some sort to get over 3000fps to be able to get any range out of it past about 250-300yards without a drop measured in feet and not inch's. Not that those 2400/2500fps speeds won't kill game but I prefer to use my 9.3x62 and 250gr & 286 gr bullets at those speeds to do the work.

Do NOT misunderstand ... There Are No fly's on a 7-08 when it used in it's most efficient bullet weight range of under 140 grs...but the weight savings of 4+ozs in a short action receiver does not IMO dictate a clear advantage one way or another over a long action 270 except in the mind of the shooter...and the difference of .277 & .284 at .007 is not that big a deal until you can get the same weight bullets to fly at 2-300 fps faster like you can in some 7mm cal long action Mags. Reported recoil advantages IMO also lay in the mind of the shooter and I won't argue either way about that. Nope the 270 IMO is the greatest compromise of all time in a light/medium caliber hunting rifle.

7-08's were created 20 years ago as a wildcat benchrest shooter, but have lost their benchrest 600 & 1000 meter advantages to the better ballistically shaped 6.5's aka .264 diameter bullets especially when driven out of an 8 twist barrel and a 284Win piece of brass... and mebbe the reason Remington has not pushed the 7-08 label any harder than it has. IMO the 260Remmy (another 6.5 diameter bullet with bullet weight ranges from 85 gr to 160 grs) is a better choice in a 308 based round especially for a handloader...but I really like my 1894 designed 6.5x55 Swede better as it can handle a touch more powder than a 308 based case for better fps speeds in bullets larger than 140 gr's.

And while we are picking fly poop outta the pepper...FWIW a 270WSM in about the same length case as a 7-08 will shoot competively against a 7RMg in the same weight bullets....and 250+fps faster than a 7-08. FYI the 270WSM case is 2.10's long, with the loaded round at 2.860"'s long, whie the 7-08 case is 2.035"s long and the loaded round is 2.80"s long... so mebbe the REAL comparison needs to be made between those two rounds that will both fit in the same length & weight receiver. JMHO
Ron

The .270 & 7-08 are both top-notch deer loads. The .270 holds about 15 gr more powder and when loaded to equal pressures with similar bullet weights will get about 150 fps more velocity. This translates to somewhat better down range ballistics at the expense of more recoil. That being said, either has plenty of oomph for medium game out beyond 400 yards, especially for light framed game light whitetail. The 7-08 is a bit more friendly in light, short carbines though will recoil as much as a full sized .270 due to reduced gun weight. Basically, if I were looking for a full sized rifle with a 22" or greater barrel for all around hunting, I would choose a .270. If I wanted an abbreviated rig that is handier in the bush (or box blind), the 7-08 may get the nod. Probably the biggest advantage of either is how common factory ammo for the .270 is. You can find .270 ammo anywhere they might carry a box or 2 of ammo just like the .30-06.

Lou

i thought of the 7mm-08 as a .243 round of sorts, until i watched 4 deer get shot with it. plenty of umph.

don't let the scaled down rifles their chambered in dieceve you, its a killer.

but, i would't trade the best one for my .270 anyday

The 7mm08 gives up very little to the .270 infact most 7mm08 loads are right on the heels of the .270. I personally like both I enjoy both, like somebody said in another post, whatever it hits, its gonna be just as dead either way.

The 270 has been around a lot longer than the 28 years since Remington brought it out in the summer of 1982 as a SAAMI cartridge. Wiht only .007 inch difference in diameter there is really not mych difference in balistic coeficient or sectional densith between the two calibers.

Sorry if I get a little long winded on this post

If you look at the non magnum comercial cartridges between 6.5mm to 7mm there is not really enough difference between them to spark debate of you step back and look at it from a high level.

There are some old military cartridges that fall into this group the 6.5X55 has been killing moose in Sweedon for almost 120 years and has a much younger balistic twin the 260 remington. The old 7X57 has its modern balistic twin the 7mm-08.
The 270 Winchester is a product that I am not sure if anyone living can answer the question of why? Why would winchester decide to make a new caliber size of .277 inches when a 264 or 284 diameter would have worked just fine. Part of the speculation is Winchester did not want to use a metric designation in the US much like the English could not wee using a German cartridge name but the 7X57 and the 275 Rigby are the came round just a different name.
The 280 Remington a very good round ib its own right, due to some strange decisions at Remington has suffered from idenity chrisis 280 remington to 7mm express then back to 280 Remington.

If you study the balistics of all the above when loaded with simular bullets they all have plenty of power for any deer. I doubt there is one hunter in a hundred that can tell the difference in the couple inches difference in trajectory between them all at 300 yards from field shooting positions, if you can then you would probally qualify to use any of them at 400 yards where would all be very lethal.


All of the cartridges mentioned above are so close in preformance that it really doesn't matter which to choose or why. That is a pesonal decision we all make if we own or so not own one or more of them.

All that said I prefer the 7mm08 to all the ones mentioned, why I have a Remington 788 in 7mm08 that I have complete confidence in through 28 years of use. That rifle has accounted for more than 50 deer between myself and others I have loaned it to, all but 3 have dropped withing sight of the hunter, one fell back down the bank into the Lampasas River, out of sight of the shooter, the other 2 were shot low but recovered after a little blood trailing. I may be jinxing it for this year but every deer that has been shot with it and a drop of blood found has been recovered.

What a boring world it would be if we had only one choice in any grouping of cartridges, cars, trucks, blonds, brunetts or redheads.

A three year old thread wow! I guess that better than starting a new one.