Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Whitetail with the 7mm Magnum

My oldest son gave up his 30-06 to his younger brother and now he will use my 7mm Magnum. I have always liked the 160 gr Sierra HPBT
it shoots pretty tight at 200 yds.
However the 120 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip at 3300 fps shoots pretty flat and recoil is very mild. He would appreciate that and it should make a good antelope load too. He wants to hunt the edges this year and could get a longish shot.
Any thoughts?
whelennut

I can only speak for the 140 gr Nosler Ballistic Tip but out to 400 yds they work fine.

I use the 120 Bt in my .280AI (kissin cousin to the 7Mag) and it flat lays deer out.


It should work very well for your son.

120 TSX

I've used the 160 Sierra HPBT more than a bit for deer/elk/lopes, it's slam dunk one of my fav's from a big 7. I'd just stay the course with it.

But, if you feel the need to drive a 120 NBT by all means do so. I am sure it'll work just fine.

Keep in mind that driving it @ 3300 will pump the bump up very close to what the 160 would be at 3K or so. (make sense?)

Either load will shoot plenty flat for lope hunting and or whitey's in the open country.

Personally, for woods hunting in Minne I'd maybe just slow the 160 down to 2700 or 2800 and if and when he goes for open country then jazz it up a bit.

Just a thought

Dober

My kids and I took several whitetails in Nebraska and a couple in Colorado with the 7mm Rem Mag. with 140 Partitions and they worked as advertised. My wife started out using the 140 BTs in her .280 and switched to Partitions as the BTs were ruining too much meat. My kids and grand-kids use the 120 BTs in their 7mm-08s at moderate velocities and they work fine, but I would be hesitant to use them in the 7 Mags, especially if you are hunting primarily for meat...

We have killed many deer in our camps with 7 mags. Most with 140-150 grain soft points. Never needed more or less bullet.
I too wonder about meat damage with that BT at closer ranges.

stumpy

How far is longish?

I think he wants to hunt where he could see a deer about 300 yds away. He won a sitting rapid fire match when he was younger and has been prairie dog hunting with me and I am sure he could make that shot with a rest.
The 160 Sierra shot a little tighter at 200 yds when I tested both loads but only by 1/2".
I think I will try the Sierras and see how that works for him.
Thanks for the help guys!
whelennut

I currently own 3 7RMs and load for others, it's my favorite cart. I've taken piles of whitetails with that particular cart with several diff bullets. On midsized whitetails I prefer the 150 NBT and 140 NAB. Lighter pills would often not exit. I get exits on deer nearly every time with the 150NBT. Even the 140NBTs failed to exit on some deer when launched at 3200 fps.

I think you will find there is not much difference in the real world trajectory of the 150 NBT and 140 NAB when compared to the 120NBT, I'm talking around an 1" variance between all three in terms of trajectory and wind drift. That said, there is no reason to shoot the 120 because it may fail at high velocity.

Good Luck

loder

You're in good shape. Ballistics wise 300 yards should be a chip shot with most any reasonable 7mm mag load. It wouldn't bother me with my 150 grain 300 Savage loads.

Because of member comments like these, I would try a tipped TSX if going to a 120.

i only had breaf comming with the 7 mm mag bit the three i shot the 160 work the best because the 150s and 139 didn't group nothing like them 160s

Because of a lot of member comments I've been lead to believe the 120 BT is actually tougher than the 140.

I can speak from personal experience that the Hornady Heavy Mag 139 gr Interlokt and IB are devastating on deer sized game. I was initiated to the ballistic tip club back around 1988-89 when they first came out and they were a POS. I've never used them since.

I've seen what the 139 gr. flat base Interlocks can do from factory and handloaded 7mm Wby. ammo and they settle the hash, no doubt.

the 120 BT's are tougher than the 140's in fact they act more like a Partition than a ballistic Tip.

I've seen the thicker jacket photo, and Dogzapper has given us some history on why the 120 is tougher as well.

It's funny how folks experiences with various bullets differ. I have experience with that bullet and it was nothing more than varmint bullet performance at over 3200 fps MV on medium size deer. Nice entrance wounds and few exits even on broadside no bone hits. Maybe they were from soft lots

120NBT tougher than a 140 NBT? Anyone have the penetration data to back that up?

loder

Here's a link to a previous 120 Bt thread that has pictures, links, and details:


http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/2964296/page/0/fpart/1