Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game One load, 7mm Rem Mag for deer, elk, and antelope?

lemmings form in mass also but not really a pack I'd like to be part of...

Taking elk out of the equation, my pet deer and antelope load for the past several years in the Hornady Heavy Mag 139 gr IB w/moly. Wicked performance, fast, flat, and very tough.

so what was the point of that condescending comment?

Sorry ya took it that way...

Actually, I've been reloading for a 7mm Mag for about 30 years. My favorite bullet for general usein a 7RM is a 154gr Hornady SP.

It isn't too tough to open up on deer/antelope size game, and has enough integrity for elk. As a cow elk permit is a meat permit, and most guy in their 70's are pretty careful shots, there's really no need for premium bullets, if there ever really was. I've also had very good luck with the Hornady 162gr BT if more weight gives you confidence. I think the best comparison I can think of is the fact that the 154gr Hornady has the sectional density as a 180gr/.30 caliber bullet, and that's a well accepted standard.

I use NP's from time to time, and at one point used them almost exclusively. With experience, I've come to feel that if I need "more", I can pick a bigger bullet, from a bigger hole. Since I bought a couple of Whelen's, my 7RM has seen a lot less use.

I started out handloading with an old Remington 700 BDL in 7 mm RM. It's not a tough cartridge to start with, but does have some quirks. It shot most loads quite well. I finally settled on 160 grain Nosler Partitions, Remington cases, Fed 215 or WLR primers and a top load of IMR 7828. Re 22 works almost as well.

That load accounted for 2 elk, a couple of mule deer bucks, and several antelope.

My new favorite 7mm Rem Mag load is 160 grain Barnes TSX using RL 22 pushing 2985 fps. With this load my T3 shoots .7 MOA..

I shot many game animals with that same bullet, and have recently switched to the 140gr TTSX. I don't foresee any penetration problems caused by going to the lighter bullet...

I use the 140gr mrx out of my 7mmstw for all of my big game hunting.

I don't use one bullet in my 7MM Remington because I found that the heavier bullets 160 plus have a tendancy to just pencil through without much expansion on deer and smaller game.

My load for deer/antelope is the 139 Gr Hornady Interloc the load is in Hornady volume II 3400 fps out of a 24" barrel. Bang flops them everytime.

While I did decide to slow them dwon a little, my 7 RM pushes the 140's out at 3400+ average. I was pleasantly shocked. At first I was in disbelief. But it continues to do so.


Pretty cool.

I've used the 140 and 160 Partition a lot; the 140 and 160 Bitterrot as well.Today,I'd use any of these, but my pick of contemporary premium bullets would be a Swift Aframe,140 or 160.Likely the 140 would see the most use.

Couple of decades ago I was loading for myself and several family members. Everyone was shooting either 30-06 or 308. I bought a box of 1000 150 Grain Core-Lokts to use for everyone. Well over 100 deer, elk, and antelope kills later it must have been a OK choice. We butcher our own, and meat damage is better than some of the so called Premium bullets with terminal results seeming as good or better than I have read here and there in these forums. As far as accuracy goes I have several different makes of rifles in several calibers that will ALL shoot MOA or better with those reasonably priced Remington bullets.

Go buy whatever makes ya feel good and you feel confident with, it;s your money, gun and hunt, and I will stick with what works fine me. I just don't buy into this fancy-dancy superduperX100special bullet is what you hafta have or your waisting you time. Remington and Federal spent a lot of time and money some where around 40 years back figuring out what is needed for good clean kills and are still making them and their still fine.

Learn when and where to shoot your game, use a bullet made for the job at hand, and you will be fine without costing 2+ bucks a bullet.

Forgot to mention, case life is great, too. My 7mm RM leaves a small scratch in the cases after they are chambered. The scratches don't polish out in the tumbler but they are not deep enough to hurt anything so I've never had the problem fixed.

A bonus of the scratches is thay I can count exactly how many times a case has been chambered, which generally equals the number of times it has been fired.

At 18 firings I tossed my brass and started over.

Nothing wrong with 2900fps - it has downed everything I've shot with that rifle with authority.

Bob,
I really like the 140 A Frame a lot. Both my 7 Wby & new 7 RM like them. I have yet to make a kill with them but I am confident they'll do the job. The Wby load is running 3224 fps & the RM load is clocking 3350 fps.

I gave 150's the all-american effort in both guns but it was not to be. I don't see any reason for the 160's. I figure that since I have NEVER recovered a .284 bullet, what difference does it make how heavy it is?

In a 7 Mag, with Rem Brass, Win Mag primer, 73-74g of R#25 with a 154g Hornady sp @ 3200 fps is all you will ever need. This load has been extremely accurate in MANY 7 Mags.

I can't even count the bull elk that have been accounted for with this bullet from the guys that I know.

On deer, the bullet performs flawlessly, no need for any kind of special high tec bullet because these bullets do not fail you!