Which do you pefer for shots under 200yds. on deer, black bear, and coyote???

For all three; without a doubt the 308 Winchester.

Which ever one is the most accurate.

For all three; without a doubt, the 7-08.

The 7/08 with 160 Accubonds would be hard to beat. It gets my vote.

quote:

Originally posted by mailmanmark:
Which do you pefer for shots under 200yds. on deer, black bear, and coyote???

Since you mention black bear and shots under 200 yds I'd have to give the edge to the .308

Paul..

My .308s have taken all three very satisfactorily. But then, again, I don't have a 7-08.

Namibiahunter

quote:

Originally posted by mailmanmark:
Which do you pefer for shots under 200yds. on deer, black bear, and coyote???

There are likely 2-3 dozen calibers that would work on these game animals with no difference in outcome. Take your pic.

I have a 308 and would use a 150 grain bullet on all 3. I have 150 btips loaded over Varget in Lapua brass right now and would use that combo on all 3. To be honest, I wouldn't even include the yote when making the decision. Anything would kill them inside of 200.

7x57 Mauser...I have a tang safety Ruger sporter.

Rich
Buff Killer

I really like the .308.
But there is nothing wrong with the 7mm08 either.
For your pupose inside 200 yards anybody who tells you one of the cartridges is much better than the other is in dream land.
The .308 has a little more power , the 7mm08 has a little less kick.
Put the bullet where you want it and the critter will die.
mabye just go find the rifle you like best and let that decide the round you shoot.
BUT ! if you do not hand load then clearly the .308 is the way to go.
I counted 73 Zillion loads on the shelf just yesterday.(give or take a couple zillion.)
The 7mm08 only had about 3.
...tj3006

another one for the 7-08... even at 300 yrds

I have both. Every weight and brand of factory ammo available for both, minimal recoil for both and both kill equally as well. Anyone who tells you there is any difference under 300 yards is splitting hairs!

Perry

308, won't shoot anything under 30 cal on game. Over 30 is another thing

The .308 will handle up to 180 grn bullets without the problems of lost case capacity you run into with the 7-08 and 160 grn bullets.

However I have both and for the animals you point out and the yardage you list.....flip a coin there is no comparable differance.

Above I state the .308 and the 180 grn bullet combo....this is not its best load....I also list the 7-08 and the 160 grn bullet this is not the best load for it either...just the heavy side of things for these cases.

.308/150 grn
7-08/140 grn

IMO, if you're going to be in Chipmunk territory you best be carrying at last a .375 H&H just in case you run into some of them lethal little buggers!

.308, 7-08, 257 Bob, '06 and any of it's siblings, 7x57, .35 Rem, .270 Win, WSSM, SAUM, 7mag, 350 Rmag, even the 30-30 - pick your poison. Any of them will work out to 200 yards.

IF you are talking 0-200 yards, where short shots are more common, I'd go .308 or .35 Rem only for Bear purposes. A little more bullet and a bit more shock. On the other hand IF we are talking 50-200 yards (ie, nothing up-close and personal), then 7-08 is more than adequate. For that matter, my .257 Bob would work fine.

Can't really go wrong either way. Until I sell it, my .35 Rem is my rifle of choice for sub-200 yard lower 48 states.

I like the .308. Great cartridge.

But then again, I am an American. For us, there is nothing like a thirty caliber!

Of the two, I'd pick a .308. I like the extra weight and frontal area on bears, black bear aren't the biggest of the species by far but they can be dangerous when wounded, so I like to throw a bit more heft at them.

That being said, I've done it with a 6.5x55mm and .270 with great results, so I see no reason why a 7mm-08 can't work. As said, the 160's may steal some powder space, but 150's ahould be okay. The 154gr Interlock would be a good choice and offer decent SD, won't come apart at 7mm-08 velocities, and shouldn't eat up powder space.

Either choice is fine well beyond 200 yards.

7mm-08 or 308 inside 200 yards?
As the English comedian Eric Morecombe used to say,
"There's no answer to that."

7mm-08

quote:

Which do you prefer for shots under 200yds. on deer, black bear, and coyote???

7mm-08, 140 grain A-Frames.

horse apiece...
sometimes it boils down to which gun do you simply like more. i have a few in similar rounds all good guns on mausers and i always reach for my 7x57 improved first, because i just like the gun more. built on a g33/40 med/light barrel and a minumal french walnut stock with thin schnable forearm and wrist. feels good and is a joy to shoot and carry. knowing i did all the work except putting the barrel on and chambering it helps alot, too. i actually built it more or less "lady sized" for my wife and it ended up my favorite rifle.

I like the .308 Win. 130gr TTSXs are showing some serious promise!!

I've owned several 308s over the years and hunted with others. Can't say the same about the 7mm08, though I've spent enough range time with a buddy's Remington Seven Custom Shop KS to notice it kicks just as much as a 308 of the same weight. These days the 260 makes more sense to me than the 243 or 7mm08. For your purposes I'd pick the 308 because while most anything will work for deer and coyote a 180-200 gr bullet is probably a little better for bear if you hit him around the edges.

quote:

Ganyana, in January, 2009, Rifle magazine:
...shot placement and bullet construction are far more important than caliber!

Which is easier for you to shoot more accurately? This may pertain more to the particular rifle than to the cartridge.

The one with the cheaper ammo.

LOL!

I would pick the 7mm-08.

I have some convoluted thinking to get there though.

I think of the 7mm-08 as a SA 270 Win.

I have been a pretty big 270 fan for many years.

quote:

Originally posted by Thomas Jones:
I really like the .308.
But there is nothing wrong with the 7mm08 either.
For your pupose inside 200 yards anybody who tells you one of the cartridges is much better than the other is in dream land.
The .308 has a little more power , the 7mm08 has a little less kick.
Put the bullet where you want it and the critter will die.
mabye just go find the rifle you like best and let that decide the round you shoot.
BUT ! if you do not hand load then clearly the .308 is the way to go.
I counted 73 Zillion loads on the shelf just yesterday.(give or take a couple zillion.)
The 7mm08 only had about 3.
...tj3006

Here is the question you need to answer prior to deciding on which of the two calibers you should go with. If you're a handloader, go with the 7-08. If you shoot factory ammo, your access to a wider variety of ammo will be the .308 route. I own multiples of both and would not want to decide which one I must give up if I could only have one.
If pressed, I'd say that I would most liekly keep the .308 for the reason given above, even though I handload.
There, that should be confusing enough for you.

7-08!!! Anything that's not 30 caliber. I have had great success on deer and antelope out to 400 yards. I prefer 140 pills for the 7-08.

Practically speaking, both catridges are so close that it's a preference between 7mm vs. 30 caliber; Ford vs. Chevy. Lou

Because you included black bear, a potentially dangerous animal, .308

7/08 without a doubt!

Add another for the 7mm-08

Tit for Tat, that is like comparing a 30-06 and a .280. Given the game you mentioned, either will do the job just fine. The .308 will give you the chance to use 180gr. bullets should you get a chance at something bigger, especially a really large black bear or moose, also, ammo for the .308 is a lot more common if you dont reload. But they are both great, and fun short action rifles to shoot. I own a .308, but not a 7mm-08. I love my .308, and have cleanly taken many head of game with it... With no regrets.

Get you a rem. model 7 7mm-08 and whichever 140 to 150gr bullet shoots best.I bet there will be some sad singing slow walking and coffee drinking around the deer bear and yote homes.

I really like the 7mm-08.

I personally think if you're going to shoot a bear bigger than a well placed shot from a 7mm-08 can handle, you should probably be shooting a bigger gun than a 308, too.

I took a bear (roughly a 6' hide) last fall with my 7mm-08. I shot from 80 yards away, and got a double-lung shot with complete penetration. The critter ran headlong for about 30 yards, piled up hard, and never twitched again. To my thinking, you can't argue against that kind of performance. Oh, and I wasn't even using expensive bullets; just the cheapest 139-grain Hornady's. JMO

Davis

I don't have any experience with either but the 7-08 comes mighty close to the 7x57 which is my all time favorite so I vote for the 7-08.There's nothing it cant do well.Wouldnt be my first choice as a stopper for dangerous game but neither would anything else less than a .338 Win mag.

7mm-08. Better sectional ballistics and ballistic coefficient.

Facing the same choice, I saw little difference in recoil between the .308/150 and the .284/140, my most likely factory loads in each. I finally chose the 7mm-08 due to the Nosler .284 120g Ballistic Tip in my handloads.

Now that is one fine bullet - a thicker jacket than some other BTs, so it holds up well to the ~3,000 fps MV velocities, drops deer DRT, has noticebly less recoil than the 140/150g choices, and I can always load a heavier bullet if I want. It's actually replaced my M70 FWT 6.5x55 as my go-to deer rifle.

As I don't expect to hunt big bears with it, this rifle has everything I need - I may want another rifle and caliber, but I sure don't need one.