7mm-08 Recommended Rifles

Just read through an animate thread where it seems quite a few folks in the community are avid gun carriers so I thought I would throw this out there as I have been going back and forth in my head for a while as to which model to buy.

Anyone have personal experience with a 7mm-08 rifle they can recommend? I am currently leaning towards the Browning Bar Short Trac. I like the fact that it is semi-automatic which translate to a lot less recoil then a bolt action (esp when coupled with 120 grain ammo.) Besides why come home with a sore shoulder when you don’t have to?

Just to be clear the purpose is not to debate the merits of the 7mm-08 vs. 308 vs. 30-06 vs. 270 etc. as I have already made the determination to purchase 7mm-08 rifle.

NAC,

I don't own a 7mm-08 (although I've been thinking about getting one), but
I note that this is by reputation a very accurate round.

Why would you compromise its accuracy with a semi-auto rather than go with an inherently more accurate solid fixed bolt system (bolt action)?

I also note that a 7mm-08 has a lot less recoil to begin with than the venerable 30-06 or 270.

regards,
Russ

Personally I think the 30.06 is the best all-around rifle with many choices of loads for every kind of game but if recoil is one of your concerns then it's not the rifle you want. The 7mm-08 is very accurate for what it is, just limited.
I recently was trying to figure out what to use for my son (8 years old) to deer hunt this year (I would have rather waited another year but his heart was set on it) and recoil, rifle length and weight were a big factor on a kid his size.
I found this site (http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm) and found it extremely helpful when judging recoil. Turned out I had the perfect gun already in my safe (.30 M1 carbine), low recoil, short gun. Without the chart I don't think I would have thought about it.
Hope it helps you with your decision making.
And my boy got his first buck on new years eve!

Personally I think the 30.06 is the best all-around rifle with many choices of loads for every kind of game but if recoil is one of your concerns then it's not the rifle you want. The 7mm-08 is very accurate for what it is, just limited.
I recently was trying to figure out what to use for my son (8 years old) to deer hunt this year (I would have rather waited another year but his heart was set on it) and recoil, rifle length and weight were a big factor on a kid his size.
I found this site (http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm) and found it extremely helpful when judging recoil. Turned out I had the perfect gun already in my safe (.30 M1 carbine), low recoil, short gun. Without the chart I don't think I would have thought about it.
Hope it helps you with your decision making.
And my boy got his first buck on new years eve! Originally Posted by djman

Congrates to your son on his first
buck. A memory that will last forever.
I wouldnt trade my 270 for anything,
unless I was going Elk or Bear hunting.

It's a sweet rifle, very little recoil,
it works great for where I deer hunt, down
in S. Texas.

Happy Hunting!!

Rocker

I would probably go with a Sako 85 Varmint Laminated Stainless. I don't think recoil on a 7mm-08 is going to be bad enough to need any reduction you might get with semi-auto. (But then I shoot a rifle that rated around 40 in that reciol table.)

I wish I could assist but I have never fired a 7mm-08.

I have a .270 and a .300 Winchester Magnum. Both are excellent!

Not to poo-poo the browning, but i'd go with a good bolt rifle instead...Winchester model 70 fw, remington 700 mtn...or spend the bucks to go with a kimber or something....lot of good choices out there.

oh...another one that will cost a few extra bucks is the Steyr safebolt....the synthetic ones show up used now and then for less than a grand...shoots great in that caliber

Personally I think the 30.06 is the best all-around rifle with many choices of loads for every kind of game but if recoil is one of your concerns then it's not the rifle you want. The 7mm-08 is very accurate for what it is, just limited.
I recently was trying to figure out what to use for my son (8 years old) to deer hunt this year (I would have rather waited another year but his heart was set on it) and recoil, rifle length and weight were a big factor on a kid his size.
I found this site (http://www.chuckhawks.com/recoil_table.htm) and found it extremely helpful when judging recoil. Turned out I had the perfect gun already in my safe (.30 M1 carbine), low recoil, short gun. Without the chart I don't think I would have thought about it.
Hope it helps you with your decision making.
And my boy got his first buck on new years eve! Originally Posted by djman

Congrats to your son bagging his first buck. I took my first one with an M-1 carbine as well, although I was 15 at the time. Brought back a lot of good memories.

If you are willing to consider a bolt action, the trigger on the Savages is hard to beat without spending a bunch on having a gunsmith working it over. I have one of their LRP target rifles in 6.5 Creedmore and it is one sweet shooting rifle right out of the box.

I'm going to second the 700. Shoots well, very reliable. I once fired a T/C in 7mm-.08. Damn near broke my wrist, arm, shoulder and skull. I don't think I'll be shooting a hand cannon again.


Slotgoop, almost broke my monitor the first time I saw your avatar!!!

My first rifle for deer hunting was given to me when I was nine, and by further coincidence it was also the military 30-30. I remember getting up early in the dark and going out to remote places in the cold and waiting for hours till the sun came up for deer that never showed up [and it's not easy for someone that young to sit perfectly still]. It wasn't until four years later that I was able to see and hit a buck, with a 257 Roberts. I shot him twice as he was running up the side of a hill in San Saba county and hit him both times at over 200 yards. So I'd say the 257 Roberts worked for me.
After I dragged the creature for a very long distance to our camp I became incredibly sick with an intestinal bacteria I got [probably from drinking creek water] and had to be evacuated to the city, albeit with the 8-point field dressed creature on the hood of the car [city people didn't have trucks in those days].

I hope your son has a better time than I did...

Today I have herds of deer, including very large bucks, roaming all over my west Austin neighborhood around Mesa Drive. I would never harm any of them - they are my friends, and when I see one hit by careless motorists I'm pissed. I had to call the police to come shoot one last year that had it's back broken by a drunk truck driver who fled the scene [cowardly SOB].

PLEASE someone tell me if semi-autos are really less accurate than bolts because I'm considering buying a Browning BAR in 270. Will it be less accurate than my Model 700 or Weatherby in Win.270 ??

Isn't one of the most accurate rifles in the world the semi-auto Russian Dragunov? I've shot the Dragunov and it seemed rather accurate at 800 yards...

I guide deer hunts and every time I go shoot hunters in and they have a semi auto I quiver. Most of them have been the browning 30-06 and they always have terrible groupings. I will never buy a auto, I can work a bolt pretty fast when the pigs come in. If buying a gun I highly recomend a remington 700, they seem to be the best shooting rifle out of the box and the new accu trigger is really nice.

What worries me about the BAR is the short barrel, but it surprises me that a manufacturer as good as that, when they were made in Belgium, would have poor accuracy. Why is the Dragunov accurate then? The BAR was originally a close-in military weapon for 1918 conditions, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily inaccurate. Please someone tell me if I'm wasting my money on this BAR because I use the 270 only because of it's flat trajectory for shooting long ranges...

What about the semi-auto Remingtons like the 740, etc...??

To me anything bigger than a 22 that can't shoot over 800 yards is second rate, and that includes the venerable 30-06, 7mm, etc...

Can't comment on a remig auto, never seen one. Think I'm just prejudice against automatic rifles. If I bought a auto it would be tactical like the bushmaster or AR.

I can't think of any reason why an auto would be less accurate than a bolt, and there are many examples of highly accurate autos so I think the issue is settled.

IMHO bolt actions are as obsolete as ball and cap pistols - a relic from an earlier age that's been long since passed by.

I consider obsolete as well the old rifle calibers such as the 30-06, the 7mm and 8mm, the 308, etc., and have no use for these newfangled calibers such as the .17 or the 28 gauge shotgun shell. These are silly introductions which have no advantage over existing calibers.

The highest refinement of rifle calibers came with the invention of the Weatherby, which packed more powder behind existing popular bullet sizes such as the 270 and 300 to achieve less drop through higher velocities. Prior to that the Winchester 270 came closest to this, and I still prefer it to the Weatherby 270 because the Weatherbys suffer barrel damage from their high velocities.

Why anyone would use a bolt action and go through the trouble of manually re-cycling the action when they don't have to is beyond me. Similarly I don't understand why anyone would chose a round that has insufficient velocity so that it can't be shot at anything but close ranges, and that includes all but a few of the most widely-used rifle calibers.

I suppose it's merely tradition at work here.

One reason why Germany lost the war was because it failed to update the Mauser with an auto. The Germans were so sentimental about that obsolete Mauser.

One shot, one kill. Oh Brother!