Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Shot of a lifetime - 7mm Magnum Bullet

DakotaDeer,

That particular .280 was one of my very first custom rifles and my first real lightweight, built by the late Dave Gentry. The only reason it was a .280 instead of a .270 is Dave hated the .270 (don't ask me why) and talked me into the .280. That was back when I started selling a few gun articles, and I thought it might be a good idea to try something different so agreed.

Eventually I found the Ultra Light Arms rifles (now New Ultra Light Arms) by Melvin Forbes balanced better than the Gentry rifle, while weighing even less, so sold the .280. The rifle that replaced it was a NULA Model 24 .30-06, the rifle that took one of the caribou and the red stag on the list. (It has also taken a couple of very good mule deer, though not as big as the two listed, my two biggest.)

When Dave built the .280, I'd taken more big game with the .270 Winchester than any other cartridge, and Eileen continued to use the .270 for the majority of her hunting until about 10 years ago. I feel it's a gun writer's obligation to try a wide variety of stuff, and didn't feel any vast need to use the .270 anymore, since with a bunch of big game from pronghorn to moose taken by both me and Eileen I knew what it would do.

However, I've now experimented enough with various cartridges, bullets and rifles to just start using what I've found to work well for my purposes. Bought another .270 last year, when I "won" a fund-raising auction at the Jack O'Connor Heritage Center in Idaho, for one of the Model 70 Featherweight Commemoratives with fancy wood, engraving, etc. It turned out to be very accurate, and I used it to take a mule deer buck this fall. It worked!

Thanks for the update. Also noticed that there was a lot of 7mm caliber usage on your list.

Sounds like your ULA would be about the last one to give up on.

Yeah, I've used the NULA .30-06 and my Serengeti 7x57 on more big game over the past dozen years than any of my other rifles. But the NULA will continue to get more work, as this year I really started to feel the effects of becoming, uh, "middle-aged." I'm liking lighter-weight everything in my hunting gear these days!

It's the only connection you've got to the animal until it's dead. You can do everything else right, dance spinning on your head and saying voodoo incantations, but if the bullet doesn't perform then you go home empty handed, so yea, it is the one thing that determines whether you succeed or not.

Maybe four that stand out. I'm more curious where you found BC to be really important. My "long range" shots on game are limited to three or four (so I'm looking to learn) but in all cases I found BC to be relatively unimportant. Case in point the longest was with a 270 Win at just over 560 yds with a 130 TSX. Not exactly a slippery bullet.

I just published an article about all this. If you're not going to be shooting much beyond 500 yards, BC is such a minor factor it can be pretty much disregarded, given spitzer bullets. Many of the "low-BC," lighter bullets not favored by long-range hunters will drift as little in the wind as heavier, slower higher-BC favored for shooting beyond 500. The difference is even smaller, of course, at 200-400 yards.

But because of long-range hunting, many hunters have become absolutely fixated on high BC, even when it doesn't make any practical difference in wind drift at the ranges they shoot.

The OP states the guy building the 7mm RM is going to be shooting to a maximum of 450-500 yards. At those ranges 9and less) I'd rather have a bullet that expands and penetrates consistently when it hits stuff than a specialized long-range bullet that MIGHT result slightly less wind-drift, but may or may not perform correctly when it hits game.

The only more dependable than a Nosler Partition is a bigger faster Nosler Partition.

As far as "the ONE thing" that determines success or failure, I still maintain it's likely the least important of many dozens of "things." Your physical shape isn't a thing per se, but that would be at the top of the list followed by every sort of gear imaginable starting with boots, clothing, and optics, down to an ice axe/walking staff, rifle and ibuprofin.

Any old bullet will kill a sheep. Hell, I've seen barbed wire kill a ram.

Putting that "any old bullet" in the right spot is the ticket...

Yep. Go with the rifle you trust the most already, and put the time, effort, and expense into getting fit. That will pay dividends on the sheep hunt and far beyond.

The Campfire Crowd is obsessed with bullets. I get it. We're all rifle and rifle associated minutia nuts or we'd likely not be here. But it can go too far, like obsessing over a bullet to kill a 150lb Whitetail. Reference all the TSX's downing fragile whitetails. Group Think for sure

But we only have ourselves to please, and this is all fun and games anyway.

It isnt all because of LR hunting, in my case anyway.

Its because I shoot Bergers/Scenars/Amaxs far more than any other bullet.So I have those bullets so wrung/doped out its often what I use for hunting anymore,just because of familiarity.Also found they kill pretty damn efficiently too.

I often forget when making an endorsement that guys aint shooting thousands of rounds a year beyond 500 yards and have no need for such bullets.

If I could take back my earlier recommendation I'd say shoot 145LRX's, the velocity of the 7RM combined with the fast twist would make it a killer trio.

And the reason I suggested another Partition is I've never seen them fail in any way, as I have other expanding bullets of almost every sort. Plus, they do very little damage to a cape, which was one of the criteria mentioned by the OP.

Apparently a high BC number makes all bullets perform better at any range.

Shod

Good post Brad. Throw in honing your marksmanship and on game performance in any position and you just about got it covered. An extremely high BC bullet doesn't guarantee any Joe smuck to put a pill in the vitals of a big game animal at 600 yards. A very seasoned rifleman using old nosler partitions and a familiar rifle will do more good than an unpracticed Joe with a high BC bullet. Just sayin...

My friend is already in excellent physical condition. He is adapted to high altitude, and is ready for the task. I'm with you, bullets aren't everything, but can definitely make things interesting if not taking a good hunting bullet into consideration.

Were I spending the kind of money it takes for a sheep hunt, any sheep hunt, I'd certainly not skimp on the bullet. However, I wouldn't go out of my way to use an expensive bullet that doesn't shoot well either!

If you look at my bullet list, the Partition is at the top, Accubond 2nd, Speer Hotcore 3rd.

The Hotcore is the Poor Man's Partition. Great bullet, though they don't always shoot.

At the end of the day, I bet a guy could spend one lifetime shooting sheep with a Ballistic Tip, and another lifetime shooting Partitions, and never see any difference in either lifetime

Yeah, especially the 7mm 150 Ballistic Tip, and I wouldn't limit that to just deer-sized game either.

This years bull fell to exactly that bullet from my 7-08... one shot in the ribs that angled through 32" of elk and was under the scapula on the offside... I think 7 year old bull elk are bigger than any sheep

Nice bull!

Yeah, I've seen performance like that with several of the heavier-jacketed BT's. One reason I suggested the 150 Partition, however, is that I've also seen BT's leave bigger exit holes than Partitions.

And yeah, I still think other gear is more important than a bullet