I sell guns, wholesale, for a living. I have seen all kind of gun fads come and go, most with a shrug and a smile. Usually there can be some reason attributed to the fad, be it real or imaginary. This year we saw the return of the hunting rifle. our hunting rifle sales have been poor for the last several years, but this year we sold through almost everything we had in stock. The question comes with 7mm-08. These seemed to be the first to go out the door and I was asked for them long after they were all gone. And then all the 7mm-08 ammo went away. I know we have sold this caliber before, but why so many this year? I would love some THF insight.
Thanks!!!
Matt

Bought mine for daughter it's a great step up from the .243 and will suit her well til she is ready for a .280

I have been using a 7mm-08 for 28 years, and have seen more discussion on the forums this year than I remember in the past. It is a great round IMO. Not sure why the surge in popularity but perhaps this new interest will get more ammo available in the future.

No idea why all of a sudden. My sister got a Model 7 in 7-08 back in the 80's and I bought a 700 Mountain back in the 90's in 7-08. We have had great sucess with them.

I bought one last year and really like it. I think the main reason i bought it was for a change from the normal calibers 30-06. .270..etc..but I also bought it becuase you can load big game rounds and it does not recoil like the magnums, its a really good round for reloading

I bought mine 3 years ago when discussing reloading and ballistics comparisons with other larger calibers...
I would not chose a different round for most of n. America....

Maybe folks in your area are just now figuring out that it is pretty close to the ideal caliber for hunting in Texas. I have used one for years. It has also gone to Africa for plains game and Canada twice for black bear. It is a short action with "just enough punch".

Hunters are starting to realize that the 7-08 is just about the perfect deer caliber for Texas. Put it in a short action rifle with a kevlar stock and a 18.5" barrel and load up 130 gr Speers to 3000 fps, and you have the handiest outfit imaginable for hunting in a truck, UTV, or cramped blind.

When I started deer hunting in the mid-60s, I was shooting a .30-06 in a sporterized Springfield. Then, I jumped up to a 7mm Remington Mag, but it was too long, too loud, and too much! Since then, I've shot over 10 deer each with the 22-250, 6mm, .243, 25-06, and probably over 100 with the 7x57. I've even killed deer with the .223, .284, and .338 WM. This represents lots of trophy bucks, as well as deer culling inside, and outside, of high fence properties. Around 1990, I grudgingly put away my 7x57 in favor of the 7-08, mainly because I found it shorter and lighter, and it killed just as quickly as my beloved Ruger 7x57.

Actually, the world is full of "perfect" deer calibers, but most folks who've tried the 7-08 are still using it, I bet. (Just my .02 and YMMV, so please refrain from flaming.)

the 7mm08 is basically a modern short action version of the old 7X57. Not a bad round to duplicate.

I wont flame, I promise, still scared of the missus...........

It's basically a step up from the .243, and in the recoil department it's similar to the .243 shooting a much bigger bullet, so younguns and recoil shy people can shoot it and it has similar balistics to the .270 but again without the recoil of the .270 and I know some will argue that there isn't a difference but I've owned both and the 7mm-08 didn't kick as hard as the .270 in the same rifle.

I've found that what ever I hit with it the animal went down and didn't get back up.

I've heard someone describe it as a sexy round, and that pretty much says it!

Compare recoil using this chart!
http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm

My missus or yours? She calls me pinhead too, FWIW!

both......

X2 what was noted above….

I got my 7mm-08 as a first versatile game rifle for my kids. From a ballistic perspective it can bag almost anything in N. America and it is easy to manage the recoil through reloading. I wanted my kids to focus on the precision of shot placement and not about getting pounded. The approach has work for me. For example, my daughter can group three shots at 100yrd under a .5 inch consistently with the 7mm-08. She focuses on placement, knows the rifle will have some recoil, but all of her concentration is down range. When she took her first deer at about 80yrds, she got both lungs and the heart. Additionally, compared to my .280, it is much lighter and easier to handle. I am now increasing the powder charge a little to get good delivery at 250yrds and will work with her and my son to ensure recoil does not become an issue. Placement is everything.

As a perspective, my kids have gone much farther more quickly in their rifle skills than I did at their age. My first “deer caliber” rifle was as 30-06 with a 150 SP on top of about 53 grains of IMR 4064 powder – if my dazed memory is accurate. For an early teenager that first shot was a surprise. Back then the only bullet was a Hornady 150gr SP, the only powder was IMR 4064, primers were Remington and your brass was military (loved de-priming that stuff) you walked to school bare foot in the snow up hill both ways and you liked it…. Well you get the point…. I blessed the day when my dad took out his “old 7x57” for a day at the range. I spent the day lobbing 175 gr round nose at 100yrds with Williams peep sites and never quit smiling. Sorry if this gives any one a “flashback”…. LOL

It's just a great round and I think folks are just starting to relize it. Perfect for all Texas game.

They recently stole my 7x57

Remington reinvented the 7x57 in 1980 and marketed it as the 7mm08 offering it in the 700.

Its is a great round.

I bought my 708 (Rem VLS) about ten years ago. Never regretted it for one minute. I bought it to whitetail hunt with, but then ended up kinda setting it up as a varmint rifle. it has seen just about every use that a rifle could do. It's been on PD towns, yote hunts, whitetail hunts, pretty much everything but mountain hunting, and it's just too heavy for toting around in the mountains all day.

Not sure why the 708 has seen such a recognition in the last few years. but I have noticed, even on this forum, that more and more people are using this caliber. I think it's simply because it's a great middle of the road caliber that is friendly for just about any shooter to use. And it just flat out works.

On the recommendation of a local gunshop i started my wife out on a Rem. Model 7 youth in 7mm-08, then one son on a Stainless Model 7 7mm-08 and the other son on a T/C Encore 7mm/08. I found myself leaving my 7mm mag and 300 win mag at home and borrowing their rifles, so I ended up getting a Rem 700 Mtn Rifle in 7mm-08. Over the years, combined we have taken many deer, 10 or 11 cow elk and 4 red deer with the 7mm-08. We always have used the Hornady Light Mag, but now will have to switch to the Superformance. We have never had a problem killing any animals with the 7mm-08 and the rifles are much more handy to use.

I'm about to buy either a Remington 700 mountain rifle or a rem 700 cdl sf. Have'nt made up my mind yet. But I have figured out, it's going to be chambered in 7mm-08.

Look at the Rem Model 7 before finalizing your decision. It's smaller, lighter, and handier...same as the 7-08 cartridge. I own several of both--the Remmy 700 and 7s--and the 700s are best for the LA and the 7 for the SA, IMO.

I traded for a Rem. Model 7 in 7-08 last year and have been impressed with it. It's accurate and fairly flat shooting. I got to agree with "dawaba" the model 7 size is noticeable, I hunted with a Rem 742 Woodmaster 30-06 for the last 35 yrs and the Mod 7 is a much better handling rifle and lighter. Guys on the lease that have handled it commented on how they like its size and the way it handles. The Woodmaster is now retired!

I bought mine 9- 10 years ago a big fan of the .270 thought it would do it all I ve been a handloader for 40 years. When in dec of 02 thieves broke into the house and cut the safe open witha quicky saw. 35K in rifles pistols shotguns. Ive had every caliber, sorta speek sakos win rem sav ansulzs? anyway I looked and studied the loading manuals, a 100 year history of the 7x57, killed thousand of african plains animals, and the 7mm-08 beets it, told myself a gun to do it all, I bought a rem 700vls 26 bull a little long in a blind but it works so far, 100 gr sub.5, 120 can be cranked to 3100 fps. my fav, is the speer 145 49gr rl,19 , 2850 150 and 160 speer, all shoot .5, and I killed elk, carribu, pigs. the right bullet in the right place. its a gun you can shoot at the range all day and for some reason in kills , the not smoken factor, like a 270 @ 40 yards. you can crank the 130 spreer to the same vel as the .270 and with better b.c. 140 is the norn for most .485 b.c. nosler btbt. and you can get the ammo anywhere. 7mm08 been around a long time .

"?" y would u have to step up from a 708 period, doesnt anybody believe in shot placwment these days and if your already killin deer with a 243 y would u need to jump up from a 708 again.

Cause I want to