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

Exit side?

As opposed to this nice quarter sized exit from one of my antelope hunter's 7RM/160 PT loads at 225 yds. Probably 95% of the partition bullet's exits that I've personally seen have looked like this.

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That's the type of exits I generally see from Partitions, or even smaller.

I've seen massive exits like that from several Bergers. I like the way they group, fly and kill, but am pretty darn careful of where the exit hole might end up!

I've had this happen with a 140 AB from my 7 WSM moving at 3200. Shot 2 deer with them and started using 160 AB at a more sedate 2975 ft/sec.

If it were me, I'd go 160 AB, 140/150/160 Partition.

That looks familiar.



That VLD shot deer is just a mess. I don't mmd killing them but mutilation is not on the agenda.

Here's the ON-side shoulder of a Mule deer shot at 140 yards with a 110gr Accubond out of a 25/06, started at around 3,000fps. The bullet did not make it to the off-side shoulder.




My only point being, weird things can happen with any bullet. The Berger exits I've seen did not look like JG's, but were actually very small in diameter. Funny schit happens when stuff goes really fast and hits meat and bones.

Tanner

Tanner, I agree even a Partition driven very fast will give the blood shot effect at times but day in and day out what JG showed is typical with that 160.

I seem to see a mess with the Partition at distances under 100 yards and starting speeds of 3200+ fps...that is sort of arbitrary but approximately right and usually involves the lighter weights. I notice the 270-130 is easier on the chops than a 140 from the 7 mag inside 200 yards.

I think it's the faster twist...

But I have never seen the damage shown by that VLD from a Partition. Someone PM'd me a pic of the damage from a Scenar 180 that was about as bad, on an antelope

I have seen 30-some animals shot with Berger VLD's and sometimes there's a bunch of damage and sometimes there isn't. Usually it's on the far-side, in fact I can't remember much damage around any entrance hole, because typically Bergers penetrate a couple inches before starting to expand, while most expanding bullets start as soon as they hit hide. Usually there's just a pinhole at the entrance, so small you often have to part the hair to find it.

I've also seen zero damage on the far side with Bergers--if the animal is big enough for the disintegrated bullet not to get that far. But usually that's on animals of elk-size on broadside shots, though it happens on smaller animals with angling shots. It also depends on range, velocity, etc. of course.

Have seen all sorts of weird stuff happen when shoulders are hit with various bullets. My wife once shot a coyote at about 200 yards with one of the first 140-grain TSX's, started at 3000 fps from a .270 Winchester. (We were hunting elk, but were done for the morning.) The poor coyotes shoulder looked like the .25-06 110 AB shoulder in Tanner's photo.

Eileen also killed a 3-year-old mule deer buck this fall with a 100-grain TTSX at 3150 from a .257 Roberts, range just under 100 yards. The bullet went tight behind the shoulder, halfway up, and out the other side in the same location, yet several POUNDS of meat were lost. That's not supposed to happen with TSX's, and usually doesn't, but it did.

Anytime bullets are started around 3000 fps or more, lots of damage can occur, especially if shoulder bone is hit, no matter what the bullet, especially at shorter ranges. When muzzle velocity is no more than 2500 fps, meat damage is normally considerably less, no matter what the bullet, though even then weird stuff can happen.

If we're interested in less meat and hide damage, all we can do is play the odds. In general the more weight a bullet sheds, the more bone it center-punches, and the closer the range, the more damage will be done both to meat and hide. If the bullet doesn't shed much weight, and is started slower, odds are far better for less meat and hide damage.

But....

Bullets behave differently at different ranges and with different shot placements. If there is the luxury of an unhurried shot at a standing animal you can place the mono metal bullet through bone or the soft bullet through lung tissue at close range to get the desired wound channel and maybe even the desired exit wound.
Sometimes, one hunts of a life time, by the time you have stalked the critter, he has moved, or maybe while you are stalking one animal you jump another even bigger animal. Then, you might have a 50 yard shot at an animal going like hell through timber, and you are doing well to hit him somewhere in the front half, or the animal is a quarter of a mile looking at you for a few seconds and you have a front on shot where you have to drive a bullet through the front shoulder to get to the vitals.
My own very meager experience and all the anecdotal evidence that I have ever heard or seen points to the Partition as being one of the best if not neck and neck with the best bullet to bet on as getting the job done.

Royce

Had a 7mm 180 scenar go in a bull elk at the last rib and exit just shy of the shoulder, I was impressed by it.

Also had a friend dump a big bull with a 180 scenar,hit the onside scapula passed thru..Both bulls had golf ballish exit wounds.

The pronghorn Bob referred to was mine..It was shot thru both shoulders from about 70 yards, 180 scenar started at nearly 3k FPS..I shuldnt have shot him there at that range..I think any bullet would have made a mess in that scenario..maybe not as big of one but who knows.

None of them took a step.

There is a guy that occasionally posts here under the screen name "Scenarshooter", who, strangely enough swears by Scenar bullets. Given his endorsement alone of them I would bet that they are the equal, at the least, of any bullet on the market. I have never laid eyes on a box of Scenars, much less shot anything with them.

Yeah I think I've heard of that guy..

Seems there's always a fantastic trophy, great pictures and no bullchit involved....

That's exactly like the damage I saw last year on a 30 yard dink from a 300 Savage hot loaded with 150 Hornady IL. I was being all cool with a high shoulder shot. Effective but messy. Not for me...

I shot a 200 lb mule deer buck with a berger at about 120 yds 4 years ago that was quartering and lost around 10 lbs of of side shoulder. For someone who likes eating the meat just as much as the hunt it was pretty discouraging.

Lately I've been using a 150 partition in my 270. With my new load Ive killed all game in the last 2 years with one shot and oddly enough I use the combo at distances often mentioned by the fellas shooting the higher BC bullets......such as point blank range and so forth.

The whitetail I shot the year before last at 530 yds sure died fast and the elk that I shot this year at 120 yds and hit off side shoulder sure has been good eating. All but about .6 oz of it.

Shod

Ive killed 30 or so big game animals in the last 5 years with 7mm 168 grain berger. Everything has just died. 50 yards to 776

35 years ago Sierra 7mm 160 gr SPBT's taught me why you don't shoot near side shoulders. When the 1st NBT's came out they reaffirmed what Sierras taught me. I like to eat my game, I know I can kill them and still eat them without blowup bullets with high bc's. Game shot to hell like some pictured in this thread only serves to remind me of the lessons I've already learned. If you have to shoulder shoot something aim for the far one to avoid ruining all your eating. Never ever saw a NPT thoroughly destroy the whole animal with one shot like some pictured on this thread. Flame away. Magnum Man

Folks, how about the 168gr Barnes LRX? BC .550 SD. 298, that gonna work?

That would be bad advice where bergers/scenars are concerned., shoot the onside shoulder with them it'll be fine..offside shoulder you might be able to throw a cat through if it exits..

I'm with you on the NPT tho, i've never seen them do anything too impressive either..Never anything better than a plain jane power point.

rosco1, I have experience with blowup bullets but not Bergers or Scenars my point was to get the vitals before worrying about breaking big bones. JB's first article on the Berger game bullets convinced me that they had nothing to offer of what I value in a bullet. When I get to a point in life(never will) that I can shoot with surgical precision like Scenarshooter I'll try the Scenar bullets. Until then I'll stake my shot of a lifetime with bullets that are accurate enough to go where placed, leave a good wound channel thru the vitals, break the far shoulder if asked to and leave an exit hole almost everytime. Bullets that blowup the eating are of NO value to me and I try to avoid at all costs. There is a lot of variables to contend with out there when trying to do a creditable job of killing an animal without destroying it. NPT's, Hornady IL, Corelokts, and power Pts have proven themselves to many times for me to stray from them. Magnum Man