the correct 7mm bullet for deer?

ok this is kind of a question that was spawned from another thread. what bullet for a 7mm rem mag would be best i.e. which one would have less chance of causing two much damage... (heavy vs. light or soft point vs. ballistic tip vs. other types)

to my thinking a light weight softpoint would be perfect for just about any whitetail in texas, but usually a light weight bullet is faster and more speed might not be a good thing...

would like to hear some opinions and experiences on this subject.

(and I know the saying if you dont shoot them in the meat you wont mess any meat up... but lets just say IM not perfect and there is a chance that I may make a less than perfect shot sometime...)

If you are going to shoot a "light" bullet then I would shoot a barns.

I would shooting something in the 140 to 150 grain personaly, and probably an acubond or nosler partitions.

Weight of bullet doesnt mean as much as construction of the bullet.

matt

I would agree with the accubond, but I might think twice before putting a partition in a 7mm mag at 140 grains.

Why? they work great!

x2

Im waiting to hear the reasoning behind this.

The bullet is designed to expand back to the "Partition" and no further. This leaves the lead in the bottom to drive on through and give good penetration. Total bullet fragmentation or failure is eliminated. However at close range and high velocity it will expand very fast and wash out the lead in front giving you a smaller diameter mushroom. Sometimes the entrance hole is larger than the exit. This is the way they are designed to perform

At medium powder charges in 140gr, the 7mm mag will push one over 3000 fps. On a close range shot the above scenario could happen giving you less than the total wound you were expecting. Now up that to a 160gr Partition, in medium powder loads you are dropping that down to 2800 fps where the partitions are awesome close, medium and long range.

I am not saying this always happens, but I recently made s similar choice and went with the accubond because of it. Reports on high velocity impacts with accubonds at close range retain up to 60% of their weight through the target. I guess we will see when I try it out on some pigs.

I shoot a 7mmstw and the only load I have used is the 140gr nosler partition. I have shot deer. elk ], and a nilgai last year. All were 1 shot kills. I recovered the bullet in the hide of off shoulder on Nilgai and it performed perfectly. I am not changing my setup any time soon.

I have been shooting partitions ever since I started reloading. I asked my uncle the person who got me into reloading about them he said they arnt cheap but you will like them. I have been reloading and hunting with them in 2 270's a 280 and a 300 wby and a 223 and so far have yet to find a bullet that I like as much as the partitos for either acuracy or on game performance. I have tried hornady cup and core and gmx, sierra, speer, nosler e and balistic tips original x bulit, tsx and have yet to find one that does as well as the partitions. They readily expand at slower velocity and hold together at high velocity if you want something better look at swift a-frames.

matt

I shoot 140 gr Ballistic Silvertips in my 7 mag. If you're concerned about meat loss, I do not recommend them. They will typically cause a massive amount of tissue damage. But for my purposes, which is strictly trophy hunting, them perform excellent.

I assume you're hand loading, so you might consider either a TSX or a TTSX. I don't have any experience with them in a 7mm, but I've used them in smaller calibers with excellent results.

Thanks for the replies. Yes I will be handloading and yes I am concerned about tooo much damage with the 7 mag. I have a 7mm 08 but I am going to kill at least one deer with the mag befor I sight it in with my elk load. I think I may just stick with the lighter 120gr bullets in the 7mm08 and just use a tsx in the mag

I used the TSX in my 7mm mag and hated them. They did not work at all. The only deer I have ever lost was with the stupid TSX bullet. I got a great pattern with them and everything seemed good to go. I shot 5 deer with them, never had a single 1 shot kill and as I said only found 4 of 5. I got tied up in the whole this bullet is better than that bullet BS so figured I would try the TSX. After 5 deer shots, I gave the rest away and when back to the silvertips by winchester 150 grain. I love them, my gun loves them and I will never use anything else. They work great for me. I killed over 30 deer last year with them (MLD ranch so yes I get to shoot that many) I shot most in head or high neck, some in heart/lung, none in shoulder, so meat loss is not really a big deal for me. Plus I get as much or more meat that I can handle with 30 plus deer.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but I typically shoot Remington Core-lokts. What type of bullet are they?

I don't guess I ever really gave bullet style too much thought. Seems like it'd be a case of paralysis by analysis.

150gr silver tips for me here. Love em. Usually shoot them in the neck so i don't get loose too much meat unless i shoot them in the shoulder, but i don't do that often.

You need to match the bullet to what your shooting. If you shoot behind the shoulder then generaly your bullet doesnt contace much bone or heavy muscle, and a standard cup and core bullet will perform great, shoot them their with an x-bullet or gmx or e-tip and you will likely get a pin hole in and out, but if you shoot directly into the shoulder the cup and core will blow up and more than likely not exit where a partition, tsx... will do much better. If you are neck/head shooting bullet choice means very little as long as it is accurate! Also with the faster shooting rifles.. like the 7mag you are going to want a better bullet like partition a-frame tsx or something along those lines.

Try the speer grand slams in 160 grain. I have had excellent results on deer, hogs and elk with this load.

I load the Swift Scirocco (sp?) 150 gr in a 7mm Ultra Mag at 3350 fps and have been very pleased with the results. Total penetration on deer and hogs (for a good blood trail, if needed) but doesn't "blow up" and damage too much meat, on close shots.

Find a good load for the 160gr Accubond. The weight slows it down as not to rip a deer to pieces. Higher BC for longer shots. Enough bullet for anything on the North American continent. Excellent all around bonded core bullet combination.

I shoot 140 grain Accubonds in both my 7 Mag and my .280. Performance has been great without excess damage or meat loss.
But then if I was overly concerned with loosing a few ounces of meat, I'd just shoot em in the ear.

yeah, not overly concerned, but dont want to blow the whole off side shoulder off

will probably stick with 140grn ammo for the mag, just dont know which one yet

My choice would be nosler partition, ttsx, tsx, accubond in that order.

good luck and let us know how it goes

matt

Just go 140gr and partition and be done with it! No offense but you'll be hard pressed to find the 'perfect' bullet for every scenario. Having said that, I've used the 7mag on deer from 6ft away to let's just say 'beyond 250yd' and I settled on Accubonds and Partitions. Now this is just an opinion, but once you use that 7-08, you'll probably sell the 7mag! 120's and 140's are fine in the 'little seven' as well.

had a 7-08 and i wouldn't give up my 7 mag for it. i gave it to my brother. I love my 7 mag, it hasn't let me down once since i started using it.

agreed, not really looking for the perfect bullet for all occasions, just looking for the right bullet with the right speed for the intended use of killing this smallish bodied west texas deer... from what I read just about any 140gr ammo will work as long as its not a hollow point or somthing like that...

its a long time till deer season so have a good while to figure which load my rifle likes, may have to find an axis hunt or somthing...

I use Remington Managed Recoil ammo in my 7 mag for the whitetails and hogs around here. Very minimal damage but enough to drop a deer stone cold. It has a 140 grain Core-lokt bullets and the ballistics are identical to a 7x57 Mauser, just a tad lighter than a 7mm-08. They are also inexpensive.

When your going for something bigger, you can use the full power rounds.

I've used a bunch of boolits in my 7 mag over the last 20 years (Core Loct, Regular Hornady, Partition, Ballistic tip, Speer Grand Slam, Win. Fail Safe..) & have settled on the 140 grain TSX for the last few years. It's been very accurate and has performed perfectly on around 25-30 deer, hogs & 'yotes. They can not nuke & they WILL penetrate.