If you are looking for a great cartridge for your next hunting rifle, then you need not look further than the 308 Winchester and the 7mm-08 Remington. One was forged for battle, and the other was designed with long range shooting in mind.
Is one cartridge superior to the other? When it comes to this caliber comparison, we are essentially splitting hairs between these two rifle cartridges.
However, the 7mm-08 Remington and the 308 Winchester are both potent hunting and long-range shooting cartridges and we will take a look at the history, ballistics, and defining characteristics of both.
Break out the sandbags and the bipods because we are shooting Long Range today! Let’s lock and load!
What is .308?
The Military Powerhouse
Following the Korean War, the U.S. Military was looking to upgrade their main battle rifle to keep pace with the Russian AK-47. They determined that they needed a select-fire battle rifle that could accept detachable magazines.
Although the 30-06 Springfield (7.62x63mm NATO or M2 Ball) had served America and its allies with distinction through two World Wars and Korea, it was clear that a short action cartridge was needed for reliable fully automatic fire.
Therefore, in the 1950s, the development of a new cartridge began with the objective to closely replicate the ballistics of the venerable 30-06 Springfield in a short action cartridge.
What came from this task force was the 7.62x51mm NATO that was accepted along with the M14 in 1958.
The Winchester corporation, which was part of the development of the 7.62x51 NATO, quickly saw its civilian application and adapted the round to its Model 70 bolt action rifle line. They renamed the cartridge the 308 Winchester and it quickly became hunting ammo of choice for whitetail enthusiasts and other big game hunters.
However, the success of the 308 Winchester did not end there!
Competitive marksmen quickly discovered that the 308 was an extremely accurate cartridge and the 308 Winchester quickly started dominating long range shooting competitions. So much so that the NRA had to shrink the bullseye on their high-power rifle targets to avoid ties between 308 shooters.
Although the 308’s life as the U.S. Military’s service rifle cartridge was rather short, being replaced by the 5.56x45mm NATO (223 Remington), it is still utilized by designated marksmen and snipers for its supreme accuracy and stopping power.
The proliferation of the 308 is beginning to decline with the rise of the 6.5 Creedmoor and the 300 Win Mag. That being said, there are still teams of military and police sharpshooters that utilize the tried-and-true cartridge in the line of duty to this day.
What is 7mm-08?
A Wildcatter’s Dream Come True
Do you know what happens when a new cartridge comes to market and becomes wildly popular? The wildcatters get to work.
It might be relevant to explain what a wildcatter is before we continue. A wildcatter is a handloader that likes to take existing cartridges and modifies them to shoot a different bullet. You can see another example of this when you examine .243 vs .308.
With the widespread success of the 308 Win, wildcatters had a new cartridge to work and make new and exciting ammo to meet their specific needs.
The 7mm-08 is simply a necked down 308 Winchester to accept a 7mm bullet. For many years, this wildcat cartridge was referred to as the 7mm/308.
In the 1980s, Remington decided that there was enough of a market to introduce a formal offering for the 7mm/308, and voila! The 7mm-08 Remington was born.
Remington has always had a bit of a soft spot for adopting wildcat cartridges and making them mainstream. Think along the lines of .35 Whelen, .25-06 Remington, .22-250 Rem, and the .257 Roberts, just to name a few.
The 7mm-08 offered several advantages over the 308 Winchester (which we will cover in a minute), but what it is more well known for is that it is a modern adaptation of the famed 7mm Mauser (7x57mm) round.
The 7mm Mauser cartridge was one of the first rimless, smokeless rifle cartridges of its era. Developed in 1892 by the German gunsmith and cartridge designer, Paul Mauser, the 7mm Mauser was the cartridge used as the basis for one of the greatest bolt action rifles of its time, the 1893 Mauser.
In 1893, the Spanish military and many other nations adopted the 7x57mm and the 1893 Mauser as their primary battle rifle. Referred to simply as the Spanish Mauser, the rifle saw extensive service in many conflicts in Europe, and more famously, the Spanish-American War.
During the conflict, the 1893 Mauser’s superior stripper clip loading design was showcased and eventually led to Springfield’s development of the 1903 Springfield, chambered in 30-06. The 7mm Mauser also saw extensive use in big game hunting. The British rebranded the 7x57mm to the 275 Rigby and it was used with extreme success by the Scottish big game hunter, W.D.M Bell.
Bell was the most prolific African big game hunter of his time, credited with harvesting over 1000 bull elephants for ivory (800+ of which he claimed with his 275 Rigby).
With its extensive military and hunting legacy, modern wildcatters have been trying to replicate the 7mm Mauser for years—this was accomplished in the 7mm-08 Remington.
The Comparison: 7mm-08 vs 308
Now that we are armed with a better understanding of where these two amazing rifle cartridges came from, let’s take a look at the specifics between each so you can make the best decision when you buy your new hunting rifle.
7mm-08 vs 308: Cartridge Specs
Let’s start off by taking a look at the differences between each cartridge case and their SAAMI Specifications.
As you can see, these two rifle cartridges are incredibly similar except for the bullet that they use.
Since the 7mm-08 parent case is the 308, they have almost identical dimensions. This means that they can both fit into a short action rifle.
This is important to note because it means that the primary differences between the 7mm-08 Rem and the 308 Winchester will be centered around the bullet that each cartridge fires.
7mm-08 vs 308: Recoil
In terms of recoil, it’s clear that the 7mm-08 is the winner in this category, but only by a small margin.
In general, the 308 Winchester will fire heavier bullets than the smaller 7mm-08 Remington. Bullet weight has a direct correlation to felt recoil and there’s no denying that the 7mm bullets fired from the 7mm-08 are low recoil.
On average, factory loads for 308 Winchester will have a felt recoil of around 22 ft-lbs of energy. Compare that to 17 ft-lbs of felt recoil for the 7mm-08 Rem.
That’s about 20% less recoil when comparing the 7mm-08 to the 308, and that is significant!
Shoulder wear is something that every shooter needs to consider when purchasing their new hunting rifle. Furthermore, talking about recoil is a “touchy” subject with some, suggesting that a low recoil caliber is somehow an affront to their manliness.
Rocky Balboa didn’t do us any favors when he said, “It’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward!”
There are proponents in each camp proclaiming that you should either “man up” and take the recoil or just accept that the 7mm bullet is the better option and can do everything a 30-caliber bullet can do with less recoil.
And they’re both right and both wrong.
The correct answer is that it depends on the shooter.
If you’ve been trained on your dad’s 308 hunting rifle since you could first safely handle it, then lock and load that bad boy with some Hornady SST or Barnes TTSX and hit the woods for that trophy buck.
However, if you’re dealing with a smaller frame shooter or someone who is recoil sensitive, then I would not hesitate to start them off on a 7mm-08 as the softer recoil will help enforce proper shooting technique.
Continue reading 7mm-08 vs. 308 Win: A Long Range Shootout on Ammo.com!
