7-08 Ammo shortage

[C-grunt]

I don’t look at it as a fad. It is a great round like many others. I look at it as incredible marketing.

Hornady does a great job of marketing. On the other hand it is also a great round. It is a phenomenal target round. Ive taken cheap 140 grain ball plinking ammo from American Gunner and S&B and shot them out to 1200 yards on silhouettes. In normal times that ammo was 12-15 bucks a box. On the hunting side it's proven to be a great medium game cartridge. Friends of mine have taken over 10 elk with it and one buddy says it works just as well as the 270 he had been using for the previous 20 years. Is it the "ideal" elk cartridge? No. But it works pretty much as well as as the other short action cartridges.

 

[Legionnaire]

Hornady does a great job of marketing. On the other hand it is also a great round ...

To pick a nit, there is no "on the other hand" here. Many think of "great marketing" as "great advertising." Great marketing begins with identifying a target market, assessing that market's needs, and developing products or services that meet those needs better than others' products. That's what happened here. Hornady has developed a rich understanding of the shooting community over a lot of years and identified the opportunity to introduce a well-designed product that took advantage of latest developments (long for caliber high BC bullets, improved propellants, and faster twist barrels) to produce a cartridge that improved on the ballistics and efficiency of comparable .264 caliber cartridges. I love the .260 Remington and .260 Ackley Improved. But the 6.5 Creedmoor definitely improves on the first, making the second largely redundant. Once they had a superior cartridge, then they shifted to the marketing aspects of price and promotion, partnering with gun manufacturers to gobble up market share among hunters and target shooters. Hornady did a great job of marketing and because of that, the 6.5 Creedmoor is a great round.

ETA: I still really like the 7mm-08.

 

[DustyGmt]

Damn, I had like 10 boxes of 7-08 and was seeing it at my LGS off and on and decided to help a contractor buddy of mine out with a few boxes since he got some crazy deal while he was in Maine, it was like "buy one scoped savage Axis scoped for $250, get the second one half off" so he got two scoped savage rifles for under $400 and he got em both in 7-08 but couldn't find any ammo. I sold him some ammo at cost because what he could find was like $80/20rd box so I helped him out.

Now that I'm hearing about this particular shortage of 7-08 I'm noticing that I'm seeing alot of long action cartridges available but 708 especially has been absent. What gives? Is it really that popular or what?

 

[DustyGmt]

I might sell my 7-08 and just get another .270. I can always find .270 ammo and I really rather like that cartridge but I also love having a nice ruger all weather compact 708.....sheesh. time to start loading for 708 I guess

 

[Barnfixer]

Around here it’s mostly 308, 450, 350 that’s most abundant. Next level is 30-30, 300 mag, 270 & 223. Down stream a little bit is .243, 6.5cm. And on occasion there’s the 30-06 & 7mm-08. But the shelves are starting to fill little by little and the prices are getting better.

 

[rabid wombat]

Ammoseek seems to have a lot…

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/7mm-08-remington

 

[DustyGmt]

This is my hoard. Got a few boxes of every kind but I prefer the NBT 120's 3rd in from left and Fusion 120's 4th from the left. But whoever plugged the ammoseek link was helpful for those who can't locate any, there's all kinds of 150gr for $22-$30/box which ain't bad. Last year I paid $50/20 of 150gr ELD's but they would not group worth a damn for me....

 

[3Crows]

I reload and I also stock up on the ammo I need. Hunting season is not the time to go looking for ammunition.

This thread has just become another typical I like my old unpopular stuff because it is better than the new popular stuff. Which it often is not.

3C

 

[kalielkslayer]

I don't know if delta in performance of 0.02" in frontal diameter between a 6.5 and 7mm is measurable on deer sized game. I'd prefer the 7-08 IF I was choosing between the two for elk, but pretty much all the .308 Win based rounds are adequate for deer.

All hunting ammo seems to be hit and miss now, as are bullets for reloading, but it's not any surprise as folks have been biatching about lack of availability for over a couple years now.

I don't buy factory, but am having the same problems with getting the bullets I want. I believe it's getting better though as I took delivery yesterday of 200 Nolser .308 180 ABs and 100 Hornady .358 200grn SPs. I'm now set for the next few years as far as hunting bullets go. Now I'm stocking up on my practice stuff and getting ready for the next shortage.

My method is to google search for what I really want, and place "stock arrival alerts", then pounce when I get the email that it's arrived. It works, a few days ago I received a notice that Midsouth had some Barnes bullets come in stock that I was looking for. I also received a notice that the .308 ABs were in stock from Midway.

That’s exactly how I got my 160 gr,.284 Nosler Accubonds I’ve been searching for 18 months.

Midway product notification.

So the 7 mag is set, still searching for the 150 (Rem 280) and 140s (7-08).

 

[BreechFace]

Keep the 7mm08 and buy reloading equipment. Count me as one who prefers 7's over 6.5's. I'll take a 308win before a 6.5.

But to say there's a huge difference in performance between 6.5CM, 7mm08 and 308WIN is stretching it. I am inclined to think that for my needs between the three the 7mm08 strikes the best balance, I want more cross section than 6.5.

Plenty of 7mm08 online, buy your needs for the next few years of commercial ammo using the link below and get your reloading setup up and running while you hunt with the commercial ammo. This is 2022, no need to grow a manbun and settle.

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/7mm-08-remington

 

[conan32120]

seems big box sporting goods only stock 2 calibers of rifle, .308 and 6.5 creed. It makes me feel as if its being forced on me and because of that I'm biased against them, but that's just me. I also told the powers to be I had no use for their vaccine either and to this day I am unvaxed and have never been sick despite being out in the covid plagued world dealing with the public every day. As for the 7-08, yes please. I am a reloader and a single trip to the range could supply me with enough resizable .308 brass to keep me busy for months

 

[d2wing]

Keep the 7mm08 and buy reloading equipment. Count me as one who prefers 7's over 6.5's. I'll take a 308win before a 6.5.

But to say there's a huge difference in performance between 6.5CM, 7mm08 and 308WIN is stretching it. I am inclined to think that for my needs between the three the 7mm08 strikes the best balance, I want more cross section than 6.5.

Plenty of 7mm08 online, buy your needs for the next few years of commercial ammo using the link below and get your reloading setup up and running while you hunt with the commercial ammo. This is 2022, no need to grow a manbun and settle.

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/7mm-08-remington

Yup, I found plenty and Ammoseek, and Midway now has the load I wanted in stock.

 

[Barnfixer]

Found some!

 

[kalielkslayer]

Today started out as a non-reloading day. The wife had a medical procedure scheduled 90 minutes away. So we left at 0530, granddaughter in tow.

everyting went well.

On the way home the wife was feeling the effects of being put to sleep, granddaughter was asleep too. I snuck into Scheels for some reloading stuff. They had SPP and SRP. I’m flush so I passed.

Didn’t have the bullets I was looking for. But their shelves were full of factory ammo. I only carry CCW with factory because I like the idea of going to court justifying using “critical defense” ammo. I bought 3 boxes of 20. 1st win of the day!

Wifey went to sleep when we got home so I had the grand. 4 hours later her Dad got home.

the frustration of not being able to get into the room must have pushed me. I loaded 5 boxes of skeet loads. I’m now at 12 full boxes and 16 empty ones, I need to get busy!

Then I turned my attention to the 22-250. I had a box of 50, all cleaned and primed. Only 25 had been trimmed, reamed, chaffered.

I did the other 25.

Not a bad day for a day I thought I’d be lucky to see a press at all.