Which would you choose and why? In my opinion the 30 caliber has an advantage in building light loads with cast bullets and cheap 100 and 110 grain jacketed bullets for same. It also can use bullets up to 200 grains if wanted. The 7-08 has a lot of bullets with higher ballistic coefficients which make wind deflection and drop less. At least when you compare 139-140 grain bullets and their slightly higher velocities to bullets with comparable SD which in 30 caliber are around 165 grains. Both are easily elk cartridges.

Easy- 308 Win... If you put a 7-08 and a 308 Win side by side with same barrel length pushing the same weight bullet, the 308 Win will be a faster round. Of course you know you will start a 9mm vs 40 cal debate here. But as you mentioned, the 308 has bullet weights from 78 grains to 250 grains and has by far the most projectile options.

On BC... BC DOES NOT MATTER inside of about 300 yards. Inside of 300 yards, an average BC projectile vs a high BC projectile fired at the same speed and same weight will have minimal difference of POI or wind drift in field conditions. I've run the numbers for customers and it's often 1/2" to 1" or less difference between the two. And when probably 90-95% of game is taken inside of 300 yards, some good hunting bullets are often over looked for other "match" bullets that do not perform as well on game. But there are plenty of good match bullets will work well as a hunting bullet. But may shooters get hung up ONLY on BC. They look at a BC chart and select the highest BC because that's what they think they need.

Both are very good rounds, and I have shot and played with both of them on multiple occasions. But the 308 Win is an easy answer between the 2, IMO.

Take your pick. I've used 140 TTSX in the 7mm-08 and 155 Scenar in the .308 both did the job on elk. Whitetail 120 BT and 7mm-08 hard to beat and I would use the same combo on elk.

I'm emphatically going to say 308, my current go-to hunting cartridge, even though i don't own a 7mm-08.

Probably more than good with both. But when compared i'll always take the fatter bullet for hunting. I almost never hunt past about 200yards so ballistic advantage is very low on my priority list. Loves me some 308

308 vote from me as well.

I've killed a lot of critters with my 7-08 and 165 grain Tipped Gamekings. From squirrels to elk.

I've hunted with both. Shot both a lot at the range. If you know what you are going it's just a matter of pulling the trigger and filling the freezer. The minor differences in them are not noticed by the game.

300 yards and less. Either one is fine.

I shoot all my center fire rifles, long range. 7mm-08 with a 162 to 168 gr is the clear winner, 400 yards and greater. Less wind drift and more energy than .308 Win and 6.5 Creedmoor. Ackley Imrove it, and nothing touches it, in that action size.

7mm-08 A.I. is what I have beside me every day.

Between the two, I'd likely choose one based on what bullets are readily available that I like and would work well. Or flip a coin, maybe.

OTOH, I'd be more likely to be trying to choose between .30-06 and .280 Remington since I am a handloader. A little more is a little "better," even if it won't make all that much difference in the field.

For hunting purposes at normal distances, .308. If you’re a reloader, you can load it up or down for coyotes up to moose, if you wanted. Factory offerings are available for anything that it’s considered capable of killing. If this rifle had a strict purpose of killing whatever animal at a far greater distance, then I would probably go neither. I guess it really comes down to is which do you want? I think either will do the job of 99.99% of what normal hunting folks do.

I chose the 7mm because I’m invested pretty deep in it. I have in the past been impressed with the .308s performance on game. Given reasonable distance, it will outperform the 7-08 with same type bullet. Although I’ve never found the 7-08 lacking.

Flip a quarter...the 308 will make a .024 bigger entrance hole

How does it out perform?

I would normally say 7mm-08, but with the .284 bullets getting so expensive, I'd probably lean more towards the .308 for ease of access.

At a 100 yards a bullet of the same weight and construction going faster has more energy. Period period.

I recently went to the 7-08 ai like you did long ago and I wouldn’t chose the .308 over that at any time. It’s amazing how much the 40° shoulder woke this cartridge up.

It helps that it is now the second most accurate rifle I’ve ever owned.

308 more versatility, availability, lower cost, longer barrel life, basically everything is better unless you are going to do a lot of long range shooting. And if lr shooting is your bag, might as well get a 6 or6.5 cm.

Or just get a 3006

7-08 is the easy button for me. If you can gather up 120 BT's, 140 partitions or accubonds, you're good to go for anything up through and including elk sized game.

The 7mm-08 and 140 grain accubonds are a winning combo.

Interesting.

The doe hunt I went on for 11 years straight was a .308 Win in my hunting partner's hands and a 7mm-08 or 7mm-08 A.I. on my hands. If either one of us shot heart/lungs, there was going to be some kind of tracking to do. Could be 10 yards, could be 200 yards. His never did better than mine, and vice versa. He was shooting 200 yards and less, and most of the time so was I.

308 is my favorite. Jack of all trades, master of none. Just like me.

Lessor recoil load in accordance to the specific rifle set up assuming same accuracy . Out side of that it’s mental gymnastics

Since I have two 7mm-08's and also a 7mm-08 AI, the only choice is which one this time!

I lean towards the 7mm-08.

If you look at Chad’s reasoning a 308 makes more sense since it has a higher sectional density than the 7mm for bullet weight. You have got to respect that larger caliber with the higher cross sectional bullet at the same velocity. Inside of realistic hunting distances the 308 just makes better sense.

For me I still prefer the 7mm-08, especially with the good old 140 gr. Remington Core-Lokt. I have never witnessed the 308 or the 7mm-08 being better than the other at reasonable distances.
And this is coming from a high B.C. junkie.


I just have a soft spot for 7mm bullets. You might notice in the picture that the only non Berger bullets are all 7mm.

7-08. I like the lesser drop.

In reality, no animal will know the difference. In fact, most cartridges work great within ranges most people shoot big game.