Author Topic: tikka 7mm-08 or 308 (Read 1052 times)

searsmann · « **on:** December 20, 2003, 04:24:14 PM »

my heart is set on getting a new rifle and it is going to be a tikka in ss and the problem is in deciding in which caibler to get. i will be using it mostly for deer but like to use this same rifle for elk also so any info would greatly be appreciated.

Omaha-BeenGlockin · « **Reply #1 on:** December 20, 2003, 04:51:21 PM »

Elk???

Go for the .308-----and maybe even consider a .30-06 or .300 Win mag.

Iowegan · « **Reply #2 on:** December 20, 2003, 06:06:02 PM »

My vote for your Tikka would be a 270 Win. In my opinion, they are the best all-around rifle you can get. What makes it so good is the long bullets have a very high sectional density and an excellent ballistic coeficiant. They are famous for long range accuracy, deep penetration and excellent terminal performance. Ammunition is available in several bullet weights.

The 7mm-08 and 308 are an excellent choice for deer but a little light for elk. I've shot elk with my 7X57 (about the same ballistics as a 7mm-08 ) and done very well. However, I restricted my shots within 100 yds because I knew the energy level wasn't enough for longer shots. If you're a good hunter and can manage good shot placement, then either should work for you.

I think the Tikka's are about the best gun for the money right now. They are smooth, accurate, and have a good trigger. Workmanship is excellent price is very competitive, and the design is simple.

longwinters · « **Reply #3 on:** December 21, 2003, 02:56:52 AM »

I have both .308 and 7m-08 calibers. Both are very accurate and can do the job. If you reload you can get a variety of bullet weights. The 7m-08 is know as the up and coming ideal deer caliber and the 308 has been in the top 10 for years. However, I would also think that elk are definitely on the high side for either caliber, although I know people have had little problem using the .308 to take elk for years. I would buy either one for everything up to elk. And then get something a little bigger later for elk etc... If you are going to be a one rifle guy then start with the 30-06 up thru say the 300 win mag.

long

helobill · « **Reply #4 on:** December 21, 2003, 08:40:03 AM »

I would vote .308...mostly 'cause I just bought one and I like company! The .308 can do it all, including elk out to almost 300 yards. Personally that's the limiting factor, not IF it's capable. No one thinks the 300 WinMag is too little gun at 300 yards, sooooo let's go to the charts!
300 WinMag: 180gr Nosler Partition, at 300yds, 2094 ft lbs
.308 Win: 180gr Nosler Partition, at 200 yds, 2039 ft lbs

The 300 WinMag drops below 1500ft lbs (pretty accepted that's the min you should plan on to cleanly take an elk) at almost 500yds - 1436ft lbs remaining.
The .308 drops below 1500 ftlbs at 400yds - 1485ft lbs of energy remaining.

Bullet drop:
300 Win Mag, zero'd at 200 yds drops 7.2" at 300 and 21" at 400
.308 Win zero'd at 200 yds drops 9.0" at 300 and 26" at 400

All these numbers are from the Remington factory ammo charts. Personally I'm starting to wonder why I bought a 300 RUM, maybe I was planning on a 500 yard+ shot during next years elk hunt...it still has over 2000ft lbs remaining at 500yds with a 180gr Swift Scirocco.

I'm thinking of selling it and keeping the .308
Bill

Zachary · « **Reply #5 on:** December 21, 2003, 09:00:00 AM »

If it's a T3, then you might as well get a long action.
If you plan on hunting deer AND ELK, then get at least a 30-06.

Zachary

helobill · « **Reply #6 on:** December 21, 2003, 01:05:11 PM »

Zachary,
I'm not arguing or bashing (hard to tell when you're just reading the words I know :-) ) but why? Everyone I talked to was like you and said, "at least a 30-06." but couldn't say why other than they thought it was the least powerful thing you should use, because that's what everyone says (so I bought the .308 just for spite! :grin: ).

Now I got nothing against the 06, it's a good round, served it's purpose in the military for a long time. And if you handload, there's 9 pages of reloading data for the .308Win in the latest Lee manual and 11 pages for the 30-06, both start at 100gr bullets and go to 250gr. However both rounds chambered in a Tikka have an 11" twist so I'm not sure they would stabilize a 250gr bullet anyway. But why carry the extra half pound, or so, of a long action for less than 100fps and 100ft lbs of energy?

Remington doesn't load the Nosler in the 06 but if you compare the 180gr Core-lokt in both guns the 06 leave the muzzle 80fps faster than the 308. At 300 yards, the 30-06 has 1713 ft-lbs of retained energy and the .308 has 1601 ft-lbs. With 200 yard zero, the 30-06 rises 2.1" and drops 8.9". The 308 rises 2.3 and drops 9.5" over the same 300 yards. If you used the Nosler with a better BC the differences would be slightly less.

I'm not knocking the 30-06 if that's what you prefer to shoot, but the two rounds are virtual twins. So please don't discount the .308 as not powerful enough.

My vote actaully went to the .308 mainly for accuracy. The .308 has won more accuracy awards than any other high power round, and is still the military medium range sniper round of choice (out to about 500meters after that the .50cal is usually the one choosen but that's a beast to carry in the field :eek: ).
Bill

Bubba Jack · « **Reply #7 on:** December 21, 2003, 01:29:14 PM »

I love my new 7mm-08 t-3 ss. I consider it a great deer rifle and it got lucky and killed a coyote last weekend, It was the first one I have ever seen in the wild. I also killed a nice 7 point whitetail 2 weeks ago with it. It made short order of both, I think I saw the deer twitch one time. With the low recoil I was able to watch the kills in the scope.

I am sure the 7mm-08 is capable of killing elk, but I would consider it a tad on the light side as well as the .308 considering they are very close to the same. In fact the charts show a slight edge to the 08 after 100 yards. If I had a once in a lifetime shot at a nice elk, I would like to have enough power to make a quick clean kill or maybe a little over kill.

I think the 7 mag is an ideal Elk caliber shooting the 160 grain class bullets. Has quite a bit of recoil but not near as much as the 300 mag. It kicks like a 30-06, but deals out more medicine on the receiving end.

Check out Hornady's chart, 154 grain in 7 mag has 300 more pounds of energy at 400 yards than a 30-06 using a 180 grain bullet.

https://www.hornady.com/cgi-bin/web_store.cgi?
page=storehome.html&cart_id=

My point of view is a 7mm-08 is a great deer round and a 7 mag is a great elk round. Good luck in your decision. I just hope you get the good shot.

Bubba Jack

helobill · « **Reply #8 on:** December 21, 2003, 03:48:41 PM »

Bubba Jack,
If I take a smaller bullet with higher BC it will retain more energy eventually because velocity will decay slower (And using the Hornady Light Magnum loads you quote only if you compare the 7-08 in 139gr BTSP to the .308 in 150gr SP does the 7-08 ever get above the .308 at 100 yds. If you use the same type bullet, BTSP, in the 165gr .308, the 7-08 gets above the .308 in retained energy at 500 yards, when both are around 1200 ftlbs. This is the typical argument of do I move a smaller bullet faster or a larger, both in caliber and weight, a little slower. And which will be more effective.) 7-08 and 7mm Mag DO start off faster than an -06 or .308 (non-magnums). The 7 mag does have good sectional density (small hole = more weight per cross sectional area). Guess you could use comparible SD rounds to try and make a comparison, but wouldn't that lead to a conclusion that a really small bore bullet moving really fast would be best? If I could launch a 100gr 6mm bullet (like the Win SPBT with a BC of .448) at 4000fps it would retain more energy than a 7mm mag at any distance and about the same as a 300 Win Mag...but I don't see anyone lining up to say it would be a good elk round. All it's energy would go into making a real small hole all the way through the beast. I'm not a conventional wisdom type of guy, but 7mm is kind of a small hole, but with premium bullets I think it will do the job. There are folks that say you should use nothing less than a .338 of some type on elk to make a bigger hole. Ain't opinions great!
Bill

Wolfe · « **Reply #9 on:** December 21, 2003, 06:22:30 PM »

Hate to burst your bubble but all T3 tikka's are long action guns. One action fit's all. So you could've got the 06 with no extra weight.

Zachary · « **Reply #10 on:** December 22, 2003, 03:45:08 AM »

Hellobill,

Actually, I agree with you that the .308, generally speaking, is more accurate than the .30-06. There is no disputing several records won with the .308. However, when shooting game the size of elk, if a 30-06 has 1/4" groups larger than the .308 at 100 yards, then that won't make much of a difference. Also, I'm sure that you realize that some guns shoot certain loads better than others. As such, there are some loads that are more accurate in a .30-06 than a .308.

So then, why the .30-06? Don't get me wrong, the .308 is an excellent cartridge. In fact, I have two .308s and only ONE 30-06. However, I have other guns for my potential elk hunt in the next two years - a .300WSM or my .338WM, or my .300 WM.

The main reason that my vote goes for the .30-06 is because, with High Energy or Light Magnum loads, the .30-06 has almost the same power as a .300 Win Mag. As such, you can use a regular powered .30-06 for deer (heck, you can use a regular powered .30-06 for MOOSE if you wanted to), but you can have extra insurance with the light magnum loads.

Another reason is that the .30-06 can handle heavier bullets better than a .308. That's not to say that you can't shoot 200 grain bullets in a .308. I'm just saying a .30-06 can handle the 200 grain bullets better. :grin:

Zachary

helobill · « **Reply #11 on:** December 22, 2003, 05:20:13 AM »

Wolfe,
You're right on the Tikka, I should have specified that I was talking in general. The Tikka Lite at 6lbs 3oz is lighter than most short action guns already, so the weight was not an issue in my choice. As I said I went with .308 because of the better accuracy history.

Zachary,
In the Tikka, both have a 1 in 11 twist and with about the same MV, they should stabalize the same length bullets. I too own "better" medicine for long range elk, a 300 Remington Ultra Mag (but I am second guessing whether or not I "NEED" it). It will be interesting to see what rounds shoot best through my new Tikka. For the reloader, the 30-06 with a larger case capacity, can be made to do things the .308 can't. Especially when it comes to heavier bullets.

If I keep the 300RUM, I think I'm going to see how it likes HEAVY bullets.

Good discussion!!
Bill

308TIKKA · « **Reply #12 on:** December 22, 2003, 07:43:30 AM »

HELOBILL--

I agree with you on the 308. I am biased because i own one but I have owned a 30/06. People think a cartridge needs the word "magnum" in it these days to do a good job killing. I think the marketing machines have brainwashed the avaerage joe hunter into thinking they need all these different calibers to kill different animals. I think the 308 could kill any animal in N.A. Yes it would not be "ideal" for grizzly or polar bear but I think a 308 loaded correctly with the right bullet could do it as good as a magnum out to a certain range. How many elk are we shooting at 500 yards?
I like the 308 because its short action, lighter, accurate, wide variety of bullets and kicks less than most would think. I dont see why anyone would need a 7-08 but thats just me.

Desertrat · « **Reply #13 on:** December 22, 2003, 02:54:04 PM »

I agree with Iowegan on the .270....but I will throw in my probably unpopular vote for a .243 also. I am one of those who was lucky enough to get my elk with one, although it was 24 years ago...when I lived in Washington state. You can take any 4-legged game in the lower 48 with it except for moose, (I believe that would be irresponsible)...but if you are a hunter who limits your shots to 200 yards give or take, I vote for the smaller caliber every time. My elk was at about 125 yards, down a canyon, and bullet placement was the good old "slipped one behind his last rib"....anyway, my 2 cents from a 40 year experienced hunter.

searsmann · « **Reply #14 on:** December 30, 2003, 12:20:44 PM »

thanks to everyone for there input i finally went with a sako 75 stainless/syn in 7mm-08 it will be my main deer rifle next year. as for a scope i am going to wait for spring and see what leo has to offer with there new line of scopes. i will purchase a elk rifle sometime later next year after i get this rifle setup and fine tuned.

woodseye · « **Reply #15 on:** December 30, 2003, 12:29:18 PM »

Very good choice! With 175grain Nosler paritions the 7mm-08 can be good elk medicine.

woods

old06 · « **Reply #16 on:** December 30, 2003, 03:47:57 PM »

Until you said elk it was 708 but since then 308 nosler 165 partion