Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game The 162 gr AMax is a big game bullet?

I shot some 162 7mm Hornady AMax's out of my 7mm's the other day and the groups were impressive. That bullet has an excellent ballistic coeficient of .625 which if close to correct is way up there!

The box is marked 1-8" twist but they shot well from a Brno and a M70 that must be twisted around 1-9.25 +-.

Anyone have any tests on media or game reports on the bullet?

I wouldn't use them - the SST is a much better choice. The A-MAX is designed for paper targets, the SST for hunting (thicker jacket and Interlock ring).

For that matter, I wouldn't use the SST's, either. At a minimum I'd choose a Hornady InterBond or a Nosler AccuBond. The 160g AccuBond has a B.C. of .532 and the 154g InterBond has a B.C. of .525.

In my own case I�ve weighed high B.C.�s against other factors and decided bullet construction and terminal performance are more important to me when choosing a bullet style. Since elk is a possibility with any of my big game hunting rifles, I�ve opted for the Barnes TSX, North Fork SS and Swift A-Frames as my bullets of choice.

That said, I do have a 110g AccuBond load developed for my .257 Roberts, just not sure what I�ll use it for. When it goes hunting a 115g TSX or 120g A-Frame will probably be in the chamber.


YMMV

I'm not real familiar with the A-Max, but doesn't Hornady say it is target/match bullet?

I'm right in line with Coyote Hunter on this one. If you want to shoot Hornady's, shoot the Interbond for hunting. Terminal performance is the most important thing with me. Otherwise, you're risking a wounded animal that can't be found and that's the worst of all scenarios.

There are some long range hunters that use the A-Max, from thier reports they seem to work fine for broadside shots in the lung area (rib cage shots,not shoulder shots) by all reports that I have heard the A-Max is rather fragile and does not penetrate very deep. I have never used an A-Max and have no first hand knowledge,I have used the TXS 30 cal 180 grain with great sucess all the way to 1035 yards on targets and as far as 777 yards on Antelope the TXS's have performed better for me than the 190 SMK on paper and I am extremely pleased with thier on game perfomance. You will get more feed back to you question on www.longrangehunting.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php or www.precisionlongrangehunting.com

Thanks for all the replys. What with the intense interest in MK's a few years back I wondered if the AMax's might be a little more reliable on expanding every time.

It should be pointed out that at long range the velocity will be considerably slower, dramatically altering terminal performance. A lightly constructed bullet like the A-MAX may perform admirably at low velocites, but I wouldn�t trust them not to at like frangible varmint bullets at close range.

You are correct I talked to a gentleman that used the A-Max last year in the 7mmWSM and took an Antelope at relitvely long range and a Deer at about 75 yards lung shot no exit and lots of fragmentation some people like this type of performance,but I lean more with the complete penetration crowd

Bottom line is, with the hunting you do, it's hard to locate a bullet that won't work. Jack Rabbits with horns aint hard to kill.

Chuck

Hornady says that the 162-gr 7mm A-Max and the 155-gr .308 A-Max bullets are fine for long range work on deer and antelope, because the velocties will have decreased quite a bit at 400 yards, and the bullets will hold together well.

Tim Biehle used to hang out on longrangehunting.com, and liked that bullet for long-range coyotes out of his 7RUM. I've used the 200 Wildcat out of my 7-270 WSM XP-100 handgun on 1 320 yd. deer,and it performed perfectly.