Thread: Short 7mm08?

Hey guys. Looking at buying my first rifle, and have settled on 7mm08 calibre. Considering a second hand Tikka, or new Howa. I have seen a fair few second hand rifles with the barrel cut down to 16.5 or 17" with a suppressor. I understand that you lose a certain amount of fps per inch, but does that make that much of a difference? I don't expect to shooting any further than 400m on the outside, and expect to engage in the 100-200m range. If the animal is further than that I will narrow the distance.
Cheers for your advice.

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Hey guys. Looking at buying my first rifle, and have settled on 7mm08 calibre. Considering a second hand Tikka, or new Howa. I have seen a fair few second hand rifles with the barrel cut down to 16.5 or 17" with a suppressor. I understand that you lose a certain amount of fps per inch, but does that make that much of a difference? I don't expect to shooting any further than 400m on the outside, and expect to engage in the 100-200m range. If the animal is further than that I will narrow the distance.
Cheers for your advice.

Sounds perfect for your intended uses. I have a 15 inch barreled 708 that is be happy shooting deer at 400 yards.

And a 17 inch barreled 284 with 162gr Amaxs that I'm happy with out another 200 yards further.

They make a very handy, compact and capable rifle

My 7/08 has an 18" barrel. Lost about 200fps from a 24" barrel. But I handloaded with 125gr Nosler BT and they are doing 2950fps.

Short barrel rifles are good if you reload as stud said 120Gr are best Nosler/Sierra or Barnes are all good. But I have yet to see that weight in a factory load.

I have a sauer 708 with a 16.5 inch factory remington coreloct 140gn does 2500fps Hornady 139 sst Superformance does 2700ish fps, the remington ammo does the job on fellow at 200m haven't shot anything else with it yet, calculator says should kill ok out to 350ish

If I was to go again I'd go 308 with 18-20 inch

just remember that a short barrel also kicks more and is louder. OK if you are running a silencer. if not I would be leaving a little more length in the barrel.
I had a short 243 when I had a carbine cut back 2" due to crown damage and a rust pit. it sucked but that was before I discovered silencers.
Zq

re muka's comment. 7mm08 at 16.5" gave 2500 with 140gr, my 20" 358win give's 2450 with 225gr. And that's loaded 1 gr under book max. both are based on the same cartridge.
As he suggests if you want to go short you are better off with a larger bore. 308 ammo is common and probably more efficient in a short barrel.

Not that I would ever refuse a hunting invite just because someone used a 708 shorty. just gives us a point of difference to discuss.
Zq

Mine has a suppressor on it and muzzle blast and noise is not bad at all, pros -handy as in the bush, really quick to point, light, looks cool,still shots moa with good ammo
cons cant shot passed 300m with factory ammo on a animal .

No offense guys but the comments go Napier, Auckland, Rotorua, handloader, Whangarei.

If you are a beginner in Timaru you will likely want to launch factory ammo (which is usually slower than the box says) at Tahr. You want every inch of barrel you can get.

Get one uncut. You can always cut it later but you can't add any.

Agreed I like short rifles but east coast tahr especially around Timaru area hardly require a short rifle. But I'm a hypocrite as I use a 16.5 inch 308 bergara for most of my hunting because i reload and I use it with subs as well. Otherwise I had a 15.5 7mm08 that was awesome longest deer was at 415 yards with factory superformance ammo. But If you shot. It without the suppressor you were deaf for a week.
If your not reloading a lot can be said for a 18-22 inch barrel rifle without a suppressor. Remember a 20 in 7m08 without suppressor is the same length or shorter as a 16 inch with most suppressors.

Both great rifles in an excellent caliber. In the open stuff shooting factory ammo stay with a longer length barrel if possible.

The tikkas come with a better(more rigid) stock but are significantly more expensive now days.

Save your pennies and if a good tikka come up on here buy that, if not grab the new howa.

Worth putting a wtb post up as well see what people have lying around

Thanks for all your advice, i appreciate it. I like the look of the Howa 1500, have seen a fair few good deals around, but have been seeing a lot of hate for the hogue stock. I held one yesterday and I liked the positive grip. Why don't people like them? Or am I better off waiting for a good Tikka deal to come up? My budget (once I sell my car) is around $1500, for the rifle and silencer. I already have a vortex diamondback scope and rings. If I spend less on the rifle I can try get a rangefinder as well.

Have a look in the for sale section @284 Gypsy has a T3 for sale full length barrel threaded for $1100

Originally Posted by CamFlatt

Thanks for all your advice, i appreciate it. I like the look of the Howa 1500, have seen a fair few good deals around, but have been seeing a lot of hate for the hogue stock. I held one yesterday and I liked the positive grip. Why don't people like them? Or am I better off waiting for a good Tikka deal to come up? My budget (once I sell my car) is around $1500, for the rifle and silencer. I already have a vortex diamondback scope and rings. If I spend less on the rifle I can try get a rangefinder as well.

Hogues can flex and touch the barrel if your shooting off a bipod or rest, if your shooting off a rest or pack make sure its up near the action. You'll also want to get a set of Talley's one piece ring/mounts the bases they come with are pretty bad.