OK, what is the difference between the 7mm-08 and the .284 Winchester? I always like the .284 Winchester but found it hard to find one in a bolt action. Why did the .284 fall on hard times and the 7mm-08 get accepted by so many? Which is better and for what reasons do you think so? I already have a Savage 99DL in .284 but I have located a Win. M70 chanbered for the .284 that looks to be 95% or better for $550.00 including sling and Leupold scope mounts(no scope). I am just trying to figure out which 7mm to get. This M70 .284 or a 7mm-08 or a 7mm WSM in a new Savage. Lawdog

The .284 has a fatter case and hence a larger capacity..It is essentially equivalent to the .280 Rem, which will produce velocities a couple hundred FPS faster than the 7mm-08 with equal weight bullets...

20 years ago I built my first custom rifle on a med sako action. It had a ss shilen barrel set in a Brown precision stock. Right up to the very end,I couldn't make up my mind 284 or 7/08. I went with the 284 and the extra 100 fps. Big mistake, in that med action I had feeding problems with the short fat case. It shot great, but only one at a time, reliably. Live and learn.

I have built a number of 284s and if you have feeding problems then that is the fault of the gunsmith not the cartridge as they can be made to feed properly...They have a rebated rim, but several cartridge have rebated rims...

the 284 failed because the gun writers mislead the public on it...they wanted to put it in long action (06 length) actions so they could seat the bullets out further thus they missed the whole point of the round, we allready had a .280 and a 270...

It was ment to turn the short actions and lever actions into 280s or 270s and it did this beatifully..Prime examples are the Sav. m-99, Win. 88 and 100 and the browning lever action...

That was a travasty of ignorance...

Ray is spot on anent the 284. I have a custom 284 on a Arg 09 action that feeds fine after being properly modified to do so. I had it throated to accept 3.1" OAL cartridge. The 284 was way ahead of its time, being a rebated rim design, with sharp shoulder--35 degrees if memory serves. From what I gather, brass sales are still good because of the plethora of wildcats that have been and still being made on the case. It is too bad that between the gun rags and the marketing plan, it failed to be popular as Ray stated so well. Some other good cartridges fell by the way for the same reasons as well.

The .284 win will hold about 11 grains more powder than the 7mm-08.

Lawdog, I have one of the new Savage Weather Warriors with Accutrigger in 7mm-08. It shoots under 1/2" out of the box with the trigger set at its lowest setting--about 2 3/4 #'s on my gun. I have another 7mm-08 Remington 700 with 3 different barrels for it that is extremely accurate. In my chronographing, my 7mm-08's get as much velocity as my Remington 700 .284, which I also like a lot. I may have a "slow" .284 barrel, but this goes with the territory. I had the same result when comparing a "fast" 6.5 Swede barrel--21 1/2" from a Rem. 700 mountain rifle--to a 26" Shaw barreled 6.5-284 which was decidedly slow. I really like both calibers, but the 7mm-08 is my favorite of all barrels under .338 bore. Either way, you will make a good choice and have a lot of fun.