Most effective 7mm bullet

[hogpatrol]

Berger 168 HVLDs. I'm not in to that tracking stuff.

 

[AckleymanII]

In my 280 Remington 700, I loaded 58.5g of IMR 7828 with a fed 215 primer and 160g Sierra BTSP at 2930 fps, deer flop. I have only seen one buck move after the shot and it was a frontal shot with him on a flat out run toward me while he was chasing a doe, 325 yards. This is a load that I got right out of the NOsler manual for use with partitions, but it works well with the Sierra's. They lowered the powder charge on later manuals because of pumps, auto's.

 

[rcol317]

I'm with Hogpatrol. I've hunted for years with 280 AI and the 168 H VLD's seem to always get job done. My son killed a 185" Muley @ 385 yards and went 20 yards. I was very Skeptical but have yet seen them fail.

 

[NCVarhtr]

I used a .284 on Deer for over 20 years. I started with the 140 Gr. Sierra Pro Hunter. Good bullet. Then I used the 139 Gr SST Hornady--another good bullet. When Nosler came out with the 120 Gr Nos. BT, I called Nosler an asked them if that bullet was tough enough for Deer. This is what I was told. "We actually cut the 140 Gr Cup down to make the 120 gr BT. So, the jacket is somewhat thicker at the nose than some other bullet". My partner and I used the 120 Gr Nos. BT for many years after that and it is truly a great bullet. Very accurate, easy to tune and performs perfectly. Less recoil, higher velocity =flatter trajectory
and does a superb job. I couldn't ask for better performance...If I ever feel the need to use a 7mm cartridge again on deer, I would even think about another bullet. In fact, I still have several hundred left...

 

[sbhooper]

I don't think that you can go wrong with the 120BT. It has worked for lots of people. Deer are not that tough. You do not need a mono-metal bullet to kill them quickly. I am a real fan of the 139 Hornady Interlock for the 7mm for deer. I have killed a small dump truck full of them with that bullet at 3100 fps in my 7 mag. For elk, I prefer a 160 Partition. The plain old standard type bullets work real well on deer. Don't overthink it. Heck, lots of people like to use target bullets on them-which I generally don't. Dead is dead.

 

[Steve morgan]

I have personally had good results with Nosler ballistic tip bullets when used for deer. I have killed deer with them using a 243, 260, 270, 7mm-08 and 30-06AI. Probably near 20 deer and all but one dropped in their tracks. The one that didn't drop fell within 30 yards of where he was hit. All were hit in the front shoulder. From what I have seen in 42 years of hunting, the whitetailed deer has got to be one of the toughest animals to anchor. I hunt in two, sometimes three states. Where I live is a shotgun only county.
Any animal that can take over an ounce of solid lead thru the chest and run off is a hard SOB. I have helped guys track deer that trailed onto my land. They left a decent blood trail for a while, but got away. Some were hit multiple times {probably not the best hits though} and still were not recovered. The point being, the Nosler BT must be a decent bullet as I have never had one get out of sight.
It has always amazed me that the number one choice gun for big bear protection in Alaska is a 12 gauge slug......maybe bear are different, but based on what I have seen out of slugs on deer that for darn sure aint my choice for no bear!!!!!

Nosler 140 great ballistic tip is bad news in a 7wsm

 

[7887mm08]

Been shooting a 7mm08 since 1984. Currently own 3. The 139 gr hornady softpoint (flat base or boattail)
is about as good as it gets. Cheap, Accurate and tough as nails.

 

[Drakehammer]

My daughter and I have taken 4 big bucks with her little Savage 7mm08 since Santa Claus brought it to her. 120 gr NBTs running 3075 fps anchored them all DRT. There were no pass throughs and all were taken from about 25 - 100 yards. I liked the 7mm08 so much, I got Santa to bring our family two more.

 

[Bryan Webster]

I am loading my 280Rem to just over 3000 fps MV. I have only recovered one bullet on the far side of a buck and it weighed 95 gr. My ex wife was shooting the same bullet out of her 7mm08 with similar results. The wound channels are very wide, causing lots of trauma in their passage.
When I first hand loaded the 120gr. 7mm bullets, I was told that the Bal. Tip Noslers were not "hard" enough to get penetration. I have not found this to be true and in fact the bullet is the best quick killer that I have used and I have been taking deer since the 1950s with everything from 243Win. up to 45-70.

What has your experience shown?? Steven
I am loading my 280Rem to just over 3000 fps MV. I have only recovered one bullet on the far side of a buck and it weighed 95 gr. My ex wife was shooting the same bullet out of her 7mm08 with similar results. The wound channels are very wide, causing lots of trauma in their passage.
When I first hand loaded the 120gr. 7mm bullets, I was told that the Bal. Tip Noslers were not "hard" enough to get penetration. I have not found this to be true and in fact the bullet is the best quick killer that I have used and I have been taking deer since the 1950s with everything from 243Win. up to 45-70.

What has your experience shown?? Steven

In my 7mm Rem Mag with 162 grain ELD-M bullets, deer drop darned fast. Performance is good al around and my rifle likes them. It will do well in a 7mm-08 as well on deer with the limitation that efficient killing decreases when velocity drops below 1300fps.
If we can ever get some of the new 180 grain ELD-M bullets those will be the best for longer range hunting.

 

[normmatzen]

I used Hornady 162 gr A-MAX (now called ELD-X effectively) a couple years ago in my 7X57 VZ-24 actioned rifle using a WWII surplus German barrel to kill a Black tail deer and a small pig within a half hour. The A-MAX was very accurate in this rifle and dropped both animals promptly with one shot but the exit hole was huge! I changed to Barnes TTSX 140 gr and got better accuracy once I learned to seat short.

 

[ImBIllT]

All of the old BTs were the equivalent of today's BT Varmint. They resulted in spectacular kills when either correct shot placement and/or heavy bullet weights were used. I believe most of the failures were a result of using light for caliber bullet weights combined with poor shot placement. The heavy bullets achieved good penetration due to a combination of lower impact velocities resulting in less fragmentation, and the fact that fragments from a 180gr bullet are usually larger and more capable of penetrating than those from a 120gr projectile. Nosler tried to eliminate complaints of poor penetration that were occurring due to poor bullet selection combined with poor shot placement(light varmint bullets work wonderfully for double lung shots) by bring out the BT Hunting line which features a thicker tapered jacket. It somewhat straddles the line between fragmentation and penetration. I'm my experience BT hunting bullets are not quick killers on the double lung shot unless they are driven at very high velocities. On the other hand, a friend barrowed my gun that had been leaving small wounds in deer that didn't even react to being hit and required tracking and got 180 degree opposite results. He simply placed the shot on the shoulder. The 150gr BT Hunting opened up inside the near shoulder and removed the lungs through a softball sized hole in the far shoulder, and the deer simply dropped like a sack of potatoes. I too like exit wounds. In the case of a poor shot you can get better blood trail, as well as decreased chance of clotting which results in a faster bleed out even on a poor shot. All the deer I killed with 150gr BT hunting bullets had excellent blood trails that led straight to dead deer. With 120gr BT Varmint bullets and 85gr Nosler Solid Bases, well hit deer were dead right there, but a poor shot resulted in very little blood and difficult tracking to deer requiring follow up shots.

168 Berger VLDs resulted in two deer not reacting to the shot, and upon collection the bullets had behaved as FMJ's. One was even recovered after driving from the rear leg to the neck, and was completely intact. An email to Berger resulted in the response that they were aware of a small percentage of bullets that had that exact result. They requested what was left of my box for testing, sent me a new box of bullets of my choosing, and assured me that I would not experience the same problem again. This year with 185VLDs the results were spectacular. Large exit wounds and immediate incapacitation, including a running hog that was gut shot. I cannot imagine that big dying where he was shot, with that shot placement, using any other bullet.

 

[expiper]

just to add to the inquiry,,,,I have used 150 gr sierra BT's in 7mm-08,,280/280 AI,,7mmRem Mag with perfect results,,,Roger

 

[msinc]

.........and while they worked wonderfully they sure bloodshot a lot of the deer! I've always been a fan of the Sierra gameking bullets as they don't bloodshot near as bad.......

Pardon my ignorance...but what exactly is a "bloodshot" deer????

The one ShootsDots said and the king of kill, at least for me; the Nosler Partition!!

Unfortunately, they are for sure not the king of accuracy.

 

[Ksmirk]

Bloodshot is when the shock of the bullet causes the blood to get into the meat and it pretty much ruins it, it's a nasty slimy mess! I know that my 284 would cause an area of about 10-12" that was just ruined. Later,

Kirk

 

[Barlow]

I've killed a bunch of Whitetails and two bull Elk with my old Ruger ts 7x57 and various bullets. The Hornady 154 IL works great for deer and I wouldn't hesitate to use them on Elk either. But the bullet that has knocked some deer off their feet is the Hawk 160 gr. It's the same bullet I killed the Elk with, and it did penetrate thru both of them. I could never get good accuracy with the 140's and lighter bullets, so I just feed it what it likes. Barlow

 

[Rustystud]

I think LarryH123 is completely correct. Barnes TTXXX or LRX are as good as it gets.
That is what I load for myself and for my customers.

 

[Jay Christopherson]

Every deer I've ever taken with a Barnes Triple-Shock X has been DRT and pretty clean. I took an elk with a Berger 180 and while it died pretty quick, there was considerable bloodshot.

My hunting partner shoots a 280 Remington that I helped him with and the Hornady GMX (similar to the Barnes TSX) that he shoots out of are also very effective.

 

[dsculley]

I have used various bullets in my 7 Rem mag. My favorite is the 168 Berger hunting old. All but 1 deer were drt. One deer was too close, a pass through shot and he went maybe 40 yds. No matter what you shoot, placement is key.

Dennis

 

[284winner]

All bullets cause a certain amount of bloodshot meat and obviously impact location is a part of that equation but the biggest part is bullet design. All of the match type bullets cause lots of bloodshot meat including berger hunting bullets. If your goal is "DRT" regardless of meat quality in the end, then the match style plastic tip/hollow point bullet is for you( provided the bullet/game size/range are accounted for). For some people, bloodshot meat is not acceptable to the extent that those type bullets perform. All of the bonded core type bullets( partition, inner bond, eldx, swift, TSX etc) are the prefered style for maintaining a one piece driven bullet, minimizing extensive bloodshot meat. Personally I would rather have a clean very minimalized bloodshot wound. In the end where at the longest ranges are sometimes the only shot option, I'll ONLY take those match type bullets and deal with some bloodshot meat AND a shoulder mount VS putting alot of vacation time into a hunt only to have to take home a tag because the animal was 350 yards out of range. It's happened and killing is NOT necessary but certainly makes the hunt sweeter.

 

[onelastshot]

I'm in the process of developing new loads for four of my rifles; with all four I've decided to go with a heavier bullet. Did some reading on Africa, specifically plains game hunting. Some of their animals can be pretty tough and simply don't like to roll over and die. From what I've read they swear by the heavier bullets, for the 7mm cartridges they like the 175gr class of bullets. They speak of excellent penetration through bone and shoulders with terrific penetration, an excellent wound channel with no blood shot meat.

One of my rifles is a 7x57, I've just ordered some Swift A Frame and North Fork bullets in 175gr. Now the key for me will be finding the right velocity to give me the best accuracy. I'm hoping I can push these at 2600 fps.