7mm rem mag bullet advice

[deepportage01]

Hey guys, I thought I would post this here to get your advise on bullet weight for my 7mm mag.

This is my deer rifle and I'm looking for the perfect grain/style bullet for deer in this caliber.

Curantly I'm shooting rem core lock in 175gr, and my typical shot is 60-120 yards, so what do you guys think

[harvey lee]

I shoot a 162 grain Hornady SST bullet.I have shot deer at 50 yards and at 350 yards and this bullet does its job every time.

I shoot the same bullet in my 300 mag except I go up to a 175 grain.

[love to hunt]

Shoot what ever works best in your gun.

If it likes 175gr and you can handle the recoild run with it.

I my self like a lighter bullet for deer. 100gr in my 250 savage puts them down just fine.

[harvey lee]

Ed has it right with shoot what ever works best.My sons 7mm is the same rifle as mine and we shoot two different brand and weight bullets.

Only real way to find out is to buy some bullets or reload some and go to the range.The targets will tell which has the tighest group.You will be suprised the difference in brands for each rifle.

[deepportage01]

Thanks guys, I'm gona go play with some lighter rounds this weekend I'll let ya know what it likes. thanks!

[almostthere!]

At 60 yards, the lead in those core-lokts will disentigrate into the meat.

Try some barnes x-bullets or Winchester Fail Safes. They have no lead to contaminate meat. Federal makes a good factory load with Barnes Triple Shock X-bullets.

[Gissert]

I will double the suggestion of Barnes. I have shot three elk and numerous deer with them, and they have performed wonderfully.

[lawdog]

Quote:

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At 60 yards, the lead in those core-lokts will disentigrate into the meat.

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Boy I don't think so. I've shot TONS of deer with Remington Core-Lokt's at all kinds of ranges from 30-200 yards and never had any sort of problem like that.

[tealitup]

Just tried the Barnes in my 7mm WSM and absolutely loved the bullet. Two thumbs up

[HunterLee]

I agree with lawdog. Those are the only bullets i use to deer hunt. They might go through at 60 yds... but the ones that i have found in my deer are all there just not in the origial nice bullet look. Thats what they are designed for is to expand and kill. Also to stay together and not "disentigrate".

[Rotwieler]

I would stick with what you are shooting. the only reason i would change bullets is if you plan to extend your range beyond 200 yards. Then i would step it down to a 150 gr. for flatter shooting and less bullet drop. a 7mm mag has enough energy to take out deer at 500 yards.

just my thought off of my experiences and what ive read.

[mwal]

I have been using Federal Premium 150gr boattails for about 6 yrs now. Prior to that I used 175gr and tried 140gr. Neither was satisfactory. The 175gr hit a couple deer in the lungs and failed to expand and I had to track. The 140gr dropped the deer but literally blew up. The 150gr seem to drop deer quickly and ruin less meat. I have not seen these rounds for awhile so I may look at loads with barnes x etc in the future. I buy multiple boxes of shells when I find one that is accurate for my gun trying to get them from the same lot# so they are consistent. That is why I have several season worth left.

Mwal

[almostthere!]

Lawdog,

I've shot a deer with my 300win mag at 75yards and chest on and the recovered bullet had a a thin layer of lead attached to the mingled copper jacket. If the lead did not disentigrate, I have no idea where it went. And I do not know about the 7mm mag, but I think it would perform just like the 300 Win mag, hot. After that shot, I used the Core-Lokts for target practice and went with Barnes X-bullets.

All exposed lead cored bullets will lose some lead in the animals they hit. That is why recovered bullets weigh less than their original weight.

[woodview]

Federal 160 gr nosler partition!

Best accuracy and performance IMO.

Check some of the bullet performance tests out there that show bullet performance at the various speeds - meaning how one performs at 50 yards and the increments up to around 300-400. Excellent mass retention and expansion at various speeds (ranges).

Most (all) bullets have optimum performance speeds where they expand ideally and you can get quite a bit of play at shorter (exploding) and longer distances (non-expansion) with some bullets.

Partition has good accuracy and 160 gr is heavy enough to offset a lot of windshift, etc.

[deepportage01]

Ok, This is what I'm going to go and shoot this weekend

#1 Core lockt in 150gr

#2 160gr nosler partition

#3 Barnes 162 gr

My shoulder is going to be killing me by monday and my wallet to but all in all its worth it to find the best round.

I want to thank you all for your high qualty remarks on the topic Its nice having a place to go with with ? like this one Thanks FM.

[Dee.M.Zee]

I have to agree with Rott.When I use my 7MM Rem Mag for deer hunting I will use the 175gr Core Lokts if I am hunting thick cover.We hunt near the Grand Rapids area and it can get pretty thick up there! I have shot plenty of deer with this bullet and I can tell you first hand the lead does not "disintegrate" into the meat. That's the whole idea behind the Core Lokt bullet,they're supposed to retain 95% of their original weight.The bullets that I have found lodged in the deer I have shot have all been pretty much in tact,except with some expansion. Now if I am hunting "open" areas(fields) where the shots are 200+ yards I switch to Remington Scirrocco bullets in 150gr ballistic tip. This is an extremely FAST,flat shooting bullet.The Scirrocco comes out of the shoot(muzzle) traveling at 3110FPS with 3221 ft pds of energy!! Talk about SMOKIN'!! This is just my personal experience with these two bullets.Using the 175gr in thick cover I have noticed that there is not alot of "richochetting" off small branches,etc. that you'll get with a lighter bullet,usually just plows right through them.Hope any of this info helps:) Only 28 days to go!!!!!

[deepportage01]

Ok, here are the results from the three bullets put through my Ruger 77.

#1, rem core lockt in 175gr shot 3.25 group @ 100 yards

#2,nosler partition 3.00 group @ 100 yards

#3, barnes xxx 160gr, 4.00 group @ 100 yards

I'm no sharp shooter but all of these bullets performed well out of my gun, I think I'm going to shoot the Barnes just for the fact of the no lead bullet type.

I thought I would see more of a diference between the bullets there was no adjustment needed between the nosler and barnes XXX. Thanks all