New to the community. New to hunting. Looking for some suggestions for a rifle in 7mm-08. In reading Jim’s blog post about his favorite rifles, it seems most of his favorites in the price range of the Bergara Premier Divide, Fierce Rogue, Springfield 2020 Waypoint, etc are not made in 7mm-08. Any suggestions for similar quality rifles in 7mm-08? Something a step up from the Tikka Roughtech Jim mentions (which is made in 7mm-08).
My all-time favorite cartridge for hunting deer at least around these parts. Have several of them.
We’ll start off by saying that while Tikka might make the roughtech in 7-08, they don’t import it. At least they didn’t a year and a half ago because I tried to get one from my local Tikka dealer. I was looking to get a new one with the threaded barrel, and everything they Import in 7-08 is just a standard Barrel T3. I’m willing to bet they shoot just fine, just very basic.
For a good, no nonsense, basic rifle but with the added feature of a nice threaded barrel, and threaded 5/8x24 at that, look at the Bergara Ridge.
Browning makes the X-bolt in a variety of configurations. If you’re going to use their muzzle brake, not a big deal but if you’re wanting to put a suppressor on it or another maker of a brake on it, you’ll need adapters which I really hate having to have more connections than necessary. Why they have to use that wonky metric threading is beyond me.
A little more pricey are the Christensen rifles. I have a Ridgeline in 7-08. It’s a good gun. But I should note that of all the five Christensen rifles I’ve owned, it’s the only one I still have as the other four had significant issues.( different calibers and models)
The model I’ve killed the most deer with is a Winchester model 70, made right when they went back to using the pre-64 action and were still made here in the states. Nice rifle, very basic and classic.
And if you want to take it up another notch to an absolute wonderful rifle, there is Fierce. They make several different models in 7-08, all with 5/8 x24 threaded barrels. Since I couldn’t get a Tikka that’s what I ended up settling on a couple of years ago and it’s an absolute joy to shoot!
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I’m not sure about rifles specifically chambered in 7mm-08; however, have you considered 6.5PRC? It’ll fling the same weight class of bullets at the same (or slightly faster) speeds with the same recoil. If you were to pick 6.5PRC, you’d have just about any rifle model opened up to you.
Pre-COVID the 7mm-08 was pretty much everywhere near me. During and since, I’ve only seen 2 or 3 on shelves since most manufacturers seem to focus most on Hornady cartridges in the newest rifles.
Other rifles worth considering that weren’t already mentioned are the rifles from Howa/Weatherby Vanguard, Ruger American if you’re on a really tight budget, Seekins Precision (unless they stopped accepting custom orders if it’s not still a regular chambering), then there was also a Steyr option as well, or you can always modify a Tikka with a custom pre-fit threaded barrel from a reputable barrel maker.
At this point, if I didn’t go with a full custom in a harder to find cartridge then I’d probably choose a semi-custom Tikka with an aftermarket stock/chassis. I don’t think you’d be disappointed with that either.
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