308 Winchester or 7mm-08 Remington? - Season 2: Episode 221 

I like the ballistics of the 7mm-08 but I like ammo availability of the 308.

Ron, you are a gentleman about the way you answer questions even though people don’t always ask them nicely

I don’t have the money or opportunities to hunt, or even buy a great rifle for target shooting, but I can just listen to you talk about all the different aspects of hunting and ballistics all day. It’s just a well done content each time by a regular but expert guy. I really enjoy it Ron.

I really wish the 7mm-08 was more popular. For the powder capacity it makes so much more sense to shoot a 7mm projectile over a 30 cal. But the 308 will always be more popular, and thats what makes the 308 great, is its popularity.

When my son was finally old enough to deer hunt, I bought him a 7mm-08 rifle and started with the low-recoil cartridge. He's now using the standard cartridge and didn't have to purchase another rifle.

Love them both but 7mm-08 is jst better. 😁👍👍👍👍👍

My brother-in-law and I both purchased military surplus Mausers back around 1970. He got an 8x57mm German k98 and I got the cheaper 7x57mm Chilian. Neither did well with factory loads. But then I started handloading and both rifles turned out to be nail drivers. My brother-in-law loved his 8x57mm and took several deer with it each year until his death.

I’ve been happy using a savage 110 ultralight chambered in 308 with a Burris 2-7 x 32 Scout scope. It does the trick for me.

Of all the magnificent 7evens, I can't think of a better balanced cartridge than the 7mm-08. It's useful and popular, and for a damned good reason.

The answer to which is better is YES!!! Lol. Both of these get a yes vote. They are so similar in performance within 350 meters that there is really no appreciable difference. You shoot ANY animal in North America in the lungs at 100 meters with either of these cartridges it will surely die quickly. Yes, even the largest bears will fell to the .308 or 7mm-08 when lung shot. They will die! They are both fantastic on African plains game at reasonable and expected hunting distances. Even the 2,000 pound Cape Eland has fallen to both of these cartridges. They punch WAY above their weight classes in most instances. You’d be surprised what a 7mm-08 will do to an elk!!!! So the final answer to this question is simply pick which one you like in which gun of choice you prefer. There is less than 1% difference in actual field performance on live game.

The 7mm-08 is a little more comfortable in an ultra light rifle. I prefer it for whitetail but either one are tremendous for whitetail.

I love the 7mm mauser which is pretty much the same ballistics as a 7mm-08. Having owned both just grab one. My eastern gun is a .270. Out west I used a .338 win mag because I wanted one gun for everything. 300 win mag or even a 30-06 is perfect

Haven't seen 7mm08 ammo in 2 years. 308 is every where

I have both and love my babies equally... same for the comparison between my 45-70 and 6.5 creedmoor... they all have a special place in the family.

I own both calibers but I tend to grab the 7mm-08 more

In the 308 vs 7mm-08 debate it comes down to ammunition availability for me. I find I have the widest variety of choice and can USUALLY find at least something on the shelf for 308. 7mm-08 is great but lately has been hard to find. For that reason alone I’ve settled on 308 as my go-to for everything.

Another great video. Thanks Ron

Pleasure to listen you as always. 👍🏻 Nice explaining 👍🏻

Enjoy your podcasts, look forward to the talk!

I love my 7mm08 but theres very little difference to 308 out to 300yards. After that i like the slightly flatter shooting of the 7mm08 as i dont dial up scopes. If you own one theres little reason to change to the other (excepting ammo availability)

7mm-08 is the superior cartridge in every way other than price Unfortunately 7-08 will never be able to compete on price, but for a hunting rifle it really is the way to go. My old man bought Ruger American on clearance last year for dirt cheap, suckers lol I'm buying one next!

Great scope info. Thanks.

Love you videos Ron..... I am 80 now and here in NZ I don't hunt any more. The whole country is pretty vertical and I am not as spry as I was 50 years ago.....But I still find them very interesting in these high-tech times where everything seems to be electronic. The 7-08 is extremely popular here in NZ (as is the 308)..... it's more or less a shorter 7mm Mauser and rifles for the Mauser calibre are getting hard to find. A friend of mine back in the 1960s had a little BSA "Hunter" in 7mm Mauser and it was a little tack driver. He never scoped it, just used the factory irons, and he always got his deer out past 300 yards at times. Back then few of us used scopes. I shot a P14 .303 and it was very effective as well. I later got a Brno 7 x 57 and it would launch 139gr Hornadys at 2950.....The 7mm shot a wee bit flatter on paper, but in the real world they were both "minute of deer" out to all sensible ranges. But as I said, latterly the 7/08 seems to have filled that niche in NZ.... ammo and brass are easier to find. We always believed in getting as close as possible 60-odd years ago, so scopes were not seen as necessary. Most hunters back then were shooting cut down Lee Enfields (you buy one for 5 pounds...$10!) so we used what we could afford. Only the well-to-do could afford Stigas and Shultz and Larsen (often in 7 x 61 Sharpe and Hart) or the occasional Winchester or FN. These days they snipe them with 7mm Mags from 600 yards..... almost seems unsporting to us old timers... 🙂 As an aside, when the cheap milsurp .303 ammo was no longer available, a lot of our government deer cullers (they are a pest species here) used the little .222 Remington, taking head shots mostly. They reckoned they were the ducks guts, but these were professionals and there were LOTS of deer back then... plague proportions in fact... so closeup shots were the norm. Eventually they had to bomb them up fro, helicopters with semi auto 308s, mostly FN FALs..... Keep up the good work my friend..... x

These two cartridges are both fine rounds for deer sized game. Out to 400 yards the difference in trajectory is not that much, few inches. I'm a 308 guy. I like the 150 to 165 grain weight bullets and under this 400 yard mark it's quite effective. I've harvested black bear that didn't take another step with it. I like the idea of the bigger .30 cal bullet with a little more weight behind it

Thx for all the good info on how scopes actually work!

If I owned one, I'd take the 7mm-08 up to Elk. For Brown Bear or Moose I'd go with the .308, if I had one but since I don't, I'd use my .300 Win Mag. The closest I've got to a 7mm is a 25-06 since I gave my .270 to my youngest son.

love the new back drop Ron.

These are two that I’ve seen a lot of hunters use. I’ve seen the 308 take deer and do a great job. I’ve only seen the 7mm08 used on videos, it seems to be a fine caliber for deer as well. Be interesting to see what Ron says on these two. Thanks again Ron 🎥💯👍

If your a reloader 7mm08 is hard to beat using 120-150g projectiles imo.

Good job Ron, I have learned some usefull info.

4 power on my old 94 from gramps to dad to me , its put a wall full of antlers in the old barn for decades and counting

I’ve shot deer with a 308 and 7mm08 and fellas the end result was very similar if you will.

Ron ur knowledge is really impressive ur the man ⭐️

The fixed power scope is also brighter because it has fewer elements to degrade the light!

Great education on scopes thanks

The more i use my 308, handed down to me from my grandpa, the more i like it. That round will take down every big game animal here on earth, with good shot placement.

I have a Tikka T3x Lite in 6.5 CM, and it works awesome against deer and pigs. The scope is a 3-9x Leupold and that is plenty. Light recoil, laser accurate. I love it.

Great information! Thanks!

I learned a ton fromm this. Thanks ron!

their so close to me it's whichever one you have is the best. But like many have said here, 308 is more common, available and usually cheaper because of it.

The Ron Spomer optical smackdown! 22:16 Wow, you owned him! 😉😜 As an optics professional, geek and snob, I think you nailed all of the Important/relevant points. Respectfully, I think Cracked needs to do a little more optics homework. Cheers

A comment on the 8-57 Mauser. I remember my stepdad used a Fajen stocked 8mm for shooting groundhogs in Indiana while acquiring his ammunition from Herter’s. The rifle was very accurate with the 196 gr. so ammo as he was able to take the whistle pigs well past 200 yards shooting the factory iron sites. That ol man was a great shot with iron’s.

My first hunting rifle is chambered in 8x57IS, have a 7x64 too but still go back to my 8x57IS. Have a 9,3x74R single shot falling block too but not using it very often. Regarding scopes ...for hunting I almost never turn to more than 3x even for 150m+ shots. Love your vids :)

You had a great point. Our "favorite" rifle has little to do with it's capability, and more to do with the feelings, memories, & emotions that carrying it brings. Or just the one we like. I've seen the .303 British mentioned a few times. Winchester actually made lever action rifles for Canadian use in that caliber as well. (military maybe?)

Jeepers Ron. You are a wealth of knowledge. Learned quite a bit about scopes. I’m not sure I’m going to need it but you never know. You are also a gracious person in the face of conflict. Boy oh boy we need more of that in the world

Ron, I appreciate how polite you were in responding to that over-the-top scope comment. It's really funny to me how the closing argument from that not exactly polite individual was that "it's been this way for a while so it's good enough!" 😆 That's the stereotypical FUDD approach. "This is the best ever and it'll never get better" 😂

The answer to cracked ? On rifle scopes was spot on . Thank you for explaining.

Ron I enjoy your videos. I have hunted with a Zeiss Conquest 3x12x56 illuminated on a 1980's Rem BDL with Slim barele in 22-250. This my go to gun here in Wi.

21:57; understandable on the neck shots. I am a totally mediocre marksman and do not practice enough, generally practice just before the season. But I have scored with neck shots and missed with neck shots. I am certainly sure that the .270 I was using helped a whole whole bunch with making the neck shot a success. Cull doe dropped and flopped! Flopped for about 10 seconds but never got back up.

308, 308, 308, in the current ammo shortage, the only calibers that are always available is 9mm, 5.56mm, and 308

7mm-08 is better than 308 but 308 is cheaper and more available which makes it overall better.

I love how u explain things . U break it down where it’s easy to understand. Thank u . Love watching your videos.

Finally someone mentions the properties of light when it passes through a medium. Every time light passes through a lens there is refraction, reflection, absorption and ultimately loss. Thank you Sir for touching on a little physics.

I''m with you Ron. I'd take which ever one I could get ammo for right now. Both are fine cartridges.

You have a tactful way to handle criticism. Thank you 😊

what gun! best campfire discussion

Neck shots are best when its trotting or walking, I like to aim higher than some and try to connect just below where the neck meets the skull. Its my favorite shot when I take a doe as there is no meat lost at all.

Look at the Savage Lady Hunter for a women's rifle. My wife loves hers in 7-08.

For some reason, during the pick of the pandemic mess, in my local sportsman’s warehouse the only ammo that always was in stock was the 7-08 or 6mm Creedmoor.

Ron you are a real encyclopedia.

Ton of 303’s in Canada, one in every house it seems. Would be great to see a video on it!

I use a 2-7x32 vortex scope love it I put it on my model 7400 automatic 30-06 works great

I’m a pretty big fan of the 7mm08. I don’t own one, but I do own the 7x57 lol. Loaded and shot a bunch of 7mm08 for others. For a whitetail rifle I like the 7mm08 better. No shade on the 308 though, great cartridge also.

Ron, you are completly right regarding the german hunting behaviours in relevance to that big scopes! … and at least regarding the disadvantages! ( I‘m from Germany)

I Ron from UK I use 8x56 on a mannliker 308 have done for years for low light work But used to use 8x42 years back both good magnificent in low light situation (s.m.scopes)great listen take care👍

Good stuff.

Good talk

I started out with the 8 mauser and still go back to it to hunt i have 2 mausers in. 8mm a very good cartridge

My favorite rifle is my savage axis in 243 winchester. Fits me perfectly and does great for my hunting of deer and coyotes

Thank you so much for taking my question into consideration, you made my day. I have a lot of experience shooting 8x57 and I saw the damage that can do. My girlfriend and myself are preparing for this years deer season and getting rifles for both of us, hopefully a Mauser M12 in 308, 270, 300 WM or my favourite 8x57. Greetings from Ireland.

I have a 308 and have never had the opportunity to shoot a 7mm-08 but I am sure it would make a great deer cartridge. My personal favorite is my 257 Roberts in a BLR 81. My last deer was taken with a bolt action 243 Winchester, it did the job on a young 9 point buck at about 80 yards. Clipped the heart and took out one lung, about a 40 yard run and then the work started. Your posts are very informative Ron as are your columns.

My favorite rifle is the one Im using that day. As we get older we have way to many guns to pick from. Ron I really enjoy this format. Love your stories.

All due respect to the guy that debates Ron Spomer....I wouldn't have a chance LOL!

Ron,, you hit it right on the head in the first minute or two, Use the gun your confident in. Again, for me, it's my 1970's Winchester Model 70 in 7mm Mag.. Great Video as alway's..

I hunt with a 7.62x39 and I have 1-4x LPVO mounted on it. It’s perfectly adequate for the kind of hunting the rifle is suited for. I’m thinking, if you’d like to do a little varminting with that 223, you might thing about something in the 15x range.

Ron, I saw the New HOWA you test fired, and yes sir, it was on target! I want one now! I have a Savage AXIS, but when I went to check my seating in the chamber I found a 2890 setting! That was unreal. I'm going to go back and recheck this because that much space is not good for reloading. I'll double check with a 130 and 150 grain bullet's from Sierra.

I was born and raised in Upstate New York and hunted groundhogs to white tails & black bears, I started life with a 22Hornet,32 Win,257 bob,243W,308W, and found the 7mm/08 was the best all around round Caliber. the ammo for the 257Bob was no longer around, the 308 was tooo much Gun for our 145Lb deer, The 243 with the 80 gr pill was just right for our deer, the moved to Fla, North Fl,deer mix with South Ga deer= a 200+deer. The 243 @ 250yd in a bean field was at a loss so, The 7mm/08 came in to play what a great caliber from deer under your feeder to 275+yd bean field...was meat in the freezer. And the 300Lb to 500Lb Black bears in Ga......They drop like Fly's with the 7mm/08 with the 152gr,pill .

I’m a new convert to shorter scopes. I finally found a scope that works for one thing however it’s old and not really suitable for hunting. I put it on a newer mini14 and having very good luck at the range.

7mm08 is what I hunt with love it

I am a fan of the 7mm-08. I have a Ruger American that shoots Hornady factory ammo sub-MOA. I bought it as my son’s first rifle, but I find myself using it in lieu of my .30-06 when he is not hunting. I like both calibers. I don’t think the whitetails can tell much of a difference.

I love to hunt hogs with old milsurps and absolutely fell in love with the 8x57. It has been my deer round of choice for the last decade or so. Reloaders get a significant bump over factory offerings, as well as a better tuned round for the rifle. My son's first deer rifle was a 7mm-08 and it is a real game getter and it will bang some steel way out there too.

I’m a devoted.280AI shooter/hunter, but most of the time when I’m deer hunting, I reach for my Browning X-Bolt in 7mm-08 loaded with my 140 AB’s in my pet load. To me where I hunt, the ‘08 is the perfect cartridge. Thanks

My favorite 2 short action cartridges

Ol mate "cracked" got one of the most polite verbal uppercuts I have seen/heard. Good on ya Ron lol

I built an AR10/308 lower and plan on at least two uppers, 7.62x51/.308 and 7mm08. Both are for the reasons you give, and I reload as well. Thank you for confirming my choice.

Hello again Ron. Hey, I noticed you mentioned the 8mm/06 Wild Cat cartridge. i bought an 8mm Model 98 Mauser about 22 years ago. I decided to rechamber it in the 8mm/06 cartridge. This particular Rifle had a 29 inch barrel on it. I cut it down to 27.5 inches and Sporterized it and put a really nice stock on it that I inletted my self. I took all of the Military iron sights off of it. It looked fantastic. Well the Rounds I loaded for it were the Hornady 125grn SP at 3400fps. 150 grain Hornady SP and the 175 grain Sierra Spitzer's. The 150's I loaded were doing about 3200 fps. The 175s I loaded were at 3001 fps on average out of a 5 shot string, both were with Accurate 2520 and IMR 4350. That's 300 Win Mag territory. It shot 1 MOA, and I was very pleased with it. Fantastic Deer and Elk cartridge. You're right. I would use the 308 Winchester over the 7mm/08 mainly due to ammo availability. In case anyone is questioning my Velocities. I used the Accurate Powders Reloading manual.

If you had to have 1 rifle... 338 Federal, 308 or 7mm-08 works, depending on the place. 308 Pump though, probably the best.

I reload and the 7mm-08 is a true joy to reload. 120gr is by far my favorite load. Speed kills and bullets have come so far" lighter bullets on whitetail does a great job. Yes elk need bigger bullets" not a problem when you reload ! I have hoped nozler would come out with 120gr partition" great podcast

Ron I’ve hunted deer with gun and bow for fifty years,,and I’ve always left the woods when the sun sets ,,that’s just a preference,,one that has not ever kept me from getting all my tags filled every year.

I love 7mm-08. I won't knock 308 though. For most hunters I just don't think it really matters much. I do see 308 readily available on most store shelves, but then again in my area I have never had any problem finding my preferred 7mm-08 ammo either. I guess others' mileage may vary on that though.

The choice is simple. Whichever rifle that you have that you also have quality ammunition for is the rifle of choice. In my case that would be the.30-30 through a scoped Marlin 336 . 160 grain Leverevolution ! Works great!

Ron would you mind doing a show on electronic scopes such as ATN Day/Night and Thermal scopes? Do some comparison on conventional scopes and how electronic scopes have excellent low light ability.

Just came back from a local long range rifle class. Stretched a bolt action 223 out to 1050 yards. Now, my skill let the rifle down a bit. Rounds were bracketing the target and it took a couple tries to get my wind hold right before I hit. Definitely didn't have much energy left at that point.

308 selection overall the best choice for all the reasons you gave .308 Amo is always available.

Have to agree with you, Jerad and others who commented. Love the 7mm-08 but like the availability of the 308, also I can pick up my hunting 308 for $26/box and if I can find it the 7mm-08 is $32/box.

Love watching your videos, would like you to do one on a comparison between a marlin ( .444 ) and a ( 45-70 ) are they basically the same. Thanks for the great work you do. Also could you recommend a scope for both Great bush rifles . Thanks

Thnx

I love my custom 284 Winchester as well. Suites me very well. Loading 120 gr. Ttsx At 3300fps. It would be hard to part with.

Ron here is my solution for selecting which rifle/Caliber to hunt with . A drawing from the hat it's the most fair way. This year it's going to be the Howa 1500 in 3006. I've scoped it with a Red field 3x 9 x 40. lol.

About 20yrs ago, I wanted to buy a new deer rifle and did some mad research and talked to a lot of friends. I ended up buying a Rem. 700 mtn rifle in 7mm-08. It's been by go to deer rifle ever since. Incredibly accurate and perfect for my needs for PA whitetail hunting. Fast forward to 2020-2022, and finding 7mm-08 ammo is tough. Ammo availability was a concern when I bought it, but who envisioned the ammo shortage and supply chain issues of today. If someone new to deer hunting asked me what a good all around deer rifle to buy would be, I agree with Ron, the .308 is a great choice, but so is the 30-06, .270, and .243. if they r new to hw sport, ammo availability is an extremely important factor to put in time at the range.