# is the 7mm-08 in the new ruger m77 compact good for deer.



## lil_lee_hunter (Nov 28, 2003)

i am thinking about getting one of the new ruger compact and was wondering if anybody had one or know anthing about them. does the 16.5 inch barrell make a diff? in acuracy and balistics.
:sniper:


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## muzzy (Mar 21, 2002)

It would be fine, it is a well built rifle and a good cartridge. However, you said you already own a .308 and it will do anything and more than the 7mm-08 will do.


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

Many 7mm fans like the 7mm-08. Going down in size from the parent case doesn't mean you have to give up big game capability. The 7mm-08 cartridge is fine, but take a look at the .260 Remington once before you make up your mind. The ballistic coefficient is so high that it retains nearly as much energy at 500 yards as a 30-06. If I remember right (fat chance) it has more energy than the parent .308. Take a look, you might like what you see. Very good sectional density, and good game penetration.


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## varmiterkid (Jan 22, 2004)

the 7mm08 is .284 in diameter and i have heard it will take down ne thing u might encounter in u.s.a the shorter barrel wil work fine :sniper:


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## lil_lee_hunter_7mm (Jan 21, 2004)

i know it is 284. i am not really asking about the cal. im asking about the gun its self.


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## muzzy (Mar 21, 2002)

Barrel length does effect ballistics. The shorter the barrel, the slower the bullet travels, up to 100fps per inch, sometimes less depending on the rifle.

Barrel length in regards to accuracy is often times misunderstood. In the days when people used iron sights, longer barrels often produced better accuracy because of the longer sighting plane or distance between the front and rear sights. The further the distance between these, the more precise you can be. In fact if you look at people who shoot BPCR (black powder cartridge rifle) events, they often use a tang mounted vernier peep sight. This puts the rear sight behind the action instead of the common mounting of in front of the action.

When you are using a scope, the distance of the sighting plane now has no effect. Shorter barrels are ultimately more accurate when you take the human variance out of the equation. A shorter barrel is stiffer and vibrates less. The bullet can exit when the barrel is at the middle or vibrating in any direction, causing an increase in group size. This is the same theory as a bull barrel, varmint barrels are often long to squeeze all of the velocity they can out of the round for extended range shooting. Thin long barrels will not shoot as accurately due to the extreme occilations in the barrel vibration. Therefore, they use a heavy barrel to stiffen up the barrel. Also, the heavy barrel will not heat up as fast when shooting a lot of consecutive shots. To theorize the importance of these barrel vibrations, is the BOSS system by Browning (also available on Winchester rifles) the system improves accuracy because when you do your testing and trying the system at different settings, you are finding the optimum sweet spot where the vibrations are minimized and the bullet is exiting the barrel at the same period in the vibrations.

To answer your question, yes the short barrel can be quite accurate. Other factors in your rifle will also determine accuracy, such as bedding, trigger weight, does the rifle barrel prefer to be free floated or a little upwards pressure, is the action and bolt square to the chamber.


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