mcknight77":3827no6g said:
It should sell at about $50 - $100 more than a comparable rifle in .30-06 in your area.
Not a big seller here in AK, but is near perfect eastern deer cartridge, IMO.
Yeppers, and in my opinion the 7mm-08 is a "near perfect" western mule deer cartridge as well. My wife has two of them, an old tang-safety M-77 and a fairly new Winchester "classic featherweight" M-70. Although, our oldest daughter has kind of laid claim to her mom's Winchester 70. Over the years both of my gals have put a lot of venison on the table using those two 7mm-08s.
I think mcknight77 is right too about a Ruger tang-safety 7mm-08 being worth a bit more than the same rifle chambered in .30-06. I've told the story before, but I actually ordered my wife's tang-safety 7mm-08 for her back in the 80's when the cartridge was first commercialized. It was a birthday gift. However, before the dealer could get it in, Ruger quit building the darn things. I was lucky and found a brand new one in a local pawnshop. I've never seen another one, which makes me suspect there aren't as many of them around as there are tang-safety .30-06s, .308s, .243s and such. I know my wife would never part with hers. It's relatively lightweight, its short action makes it handy, particularly for hunters who are smaller than average, such as my wife, it doesn't kick very hard, it's accurate, it's flat shooting, and it kills mule deer just as quickly as my grand old .30-06. For that matter, neither my wife's nor daughter's 7mm-08s shoot quite as flat as my .300 Win Mag with the right loads, but the mule deer still go down just as fast once they're hit. Which takes what – a couple of thousandths of a second longer for the bullet to arrive at 200 yards or so?
Disclaimer: If I was considering a rifle for all around big game hunting, particularly in Alaska where mcknight77 is, I'd stick with my .300 Magnum. But I'm just talking 7mm-08s and western mule deer. Besides, I only said the 7mm-08 is "a" near perfect western mule deer cartridges, not "the" near perfect western mule deer cartridge - there ARE others.
