I know a lot of hunters use the 140 and 150 grain Remington Core-lokts in 7mm Rem Mag for deer hunting and do quite well with them. I was at the range the other day, and ran across two shooters sighting in there 7 mags useing 175 core-lokts. I ask what they were hunting and thet replied...deer. I personaly like the 140's for deer but hard to find around here so I use the 150's. I always thought the 175's were thicker jacketed and made for killing Buicks. Has anyone used the 175's for deer? Will they expand as well as the 150's or 140's in the core-lokt? The reason I'm asking is they shoot darn well in mine and was thinking of useing them myself.

I wouldn't consider a Core-lokt of any weight a GIANT slayer.

You'll be fine

It's a killer in the underloaded 7mm Mauser. If anything I would be hesitant to use a cup and core from a 7RM.

How come? I have taken countless deer and several large hogs(350lb plus) with them.

Do you get good exspansion at 7 X 57 velocity's on deer?

IF, you are trying to run the bullet "bow to Stern" on every shot,go for it....You a good tracker?

I wouldn't consider countless deer and a 350 pound hog as giants either.

Point being is you seem to be thinking that the 175 Core-lokt is meant for mastodon and I wouldn't consider and one them as such.

Steelhead,
Yes I had been thinking that the heaver the bullet in 7mm the thicker or tougher the construction. Meaning deeper penatration for bigger game. In the past I used the 180 PSP core-lokt (30-06)on small Florida deer for years. Many times the bullet would stop just under the skin on the far side. Especialy on shots 150 - 250 yards. I was givin a handful of 220's and tried them. They just penciled threw and the tracking was on after that.After finding them, even though it was a good lung shot I had to look for the exit hole. Same size as the bullet. No exspansion.

Why would you need that heavy a bullet for deer in the 7 mag?

Bang flop, all you need is the 154g Hornady Sp. Use the same load that you use on the 150g on the 154g.

Buy youself a .257 Bob,6.5x55...25-06,115 grains will kill them deer...

duckster,

I don't believe you do by any means. I was just wondering because they shoot VERY tight groups out of several rifles. I was wondering with the .250 groups these guys were shooting with them and my gun as well.....how they would do on deer? Like I said before, I prefer the 140's but can't find them so I use the 150's But if they will work just as good,they shoot good, easy to find and there cheap to buy.

I have to agree that is a bullet weight that is a little heavy for deer. Our Eastern deer don't take much killing.

But....

If it is that much more accurate than your 150gr loads, have at it. You definitely won't have any issues busting through shoulders.

Dead is dead.

yep 154gr hornady does great in 7mm mag and 284 win

Got one, Ruger MKII VT in 25-06 Remington, Yep I shoot 115 Noslers in it. Best shooting rifle I own. But when I go hunting I like my little 7mag. It has NEVER failed to drop any game I have shot at. I just trust it. Personal thing I guess

Work up a good load with a 160 and use it on everything. As always, NP's would be a good first choice.

Yep, know what you mean. I used to load the 154 Hornady RN in my old 7 mag. That was one great round. But new job, don't have time to reload at the moment. With my new rifle I wanted to just be able to go to wally world or where ever and pick up some Remingtons and hunt with them. With the 150's I get 3/4 groups which is plenty good enough for me to hunt with. The 175's I get 1/4" groups. But have never used them to hunt with.

Never used the 175 Remington but have killed several whitetail deer in West Virginia with 175 Sierra SBT. No problems with expansion and have killed deer out to 1000 plus yards with them. This was of course with a 7mmMag Remington. Did everything from head shots at paces and long shots in lots of yards.

my old man uses them in his 7mm rem mag for moose so you should have no problems on a deer.

Knwh51,

Thank you, that was a big help. I have friends at Remington,They tell me in the 30-06, the 180 is the same jacket thickness as the 150. The 180 is just longer. So it works well even on small deer. I don't know if thats true with all calibers they load in that line

I was curious if the 175 in the 7 mag (factory load) was the same as the 150... just longer. Same Jacket thickness and hardness ? That's the magic question

They will kill deer just fine. The Core-lokt is a great bullet -not too tough and not to thin. I know lots of guys that use the 175 grain becuuse they think heavier is better and they have always done well.....despite rifle loonies thinking the bullet is too heavy.

I agree 100% I may hand load for the target range but when it comes to the deer woods, Core-Lokt is VERY hard to beat. I have just never tried the 175's Thanks for the information. I might just give them a try.

BF;

Lemme guess.... you're sub-25 years old, right?

Having shot more than a few deer in VA and NC, you don't need either a 7RM or a 175. The 140s and 150s work fine, as does much less in caliber/cartridge.

Do yourself a favor, and learn first; speak second.

Lemme guess, you think every one should shoot what you shoot.. Are you sub-25 years?


No I have not been 25 in as many years! I guess if you want to shoot deer with a 22lr be my guest! I have taken deer with about every caliber known in the US of A . What will kill a deer and what a shooter likes to shoot are two different things.

Shoot what you like, heck bow hunters shoot sticks at them and take meat home. No need to start kick'in dust around.

Try again, dipschit.

The list of what I haven't shot deer with, is a HELLUVA lot shorter than the list of what I have with.

You act like you're a kid, with the post and question, and the guess was made off that.

If you've taken deer with as much as you say you have, you'd likely have known what a 175 via the 7RM could/would do. Hint: it ain't rocket science.

Good luck figuring it out.

Yes, Every one knows if you poke a hole in a deer with anything it will......sooner or later die of blood loss or infection. You sounds like you found something that you liked and stuck with it. Thats great. Nothing wrong with that. Before I moved to NC, I had endless deer targets in Florida. I too had a favorite caliber, the little 243. I have a wall full of horns that fell to that little caliber. When I moved to CO. during my stint with the military, The elk were a little bigger than the Florida deer that I was use to hunting. Enter the 7mm Mag. That has been my primary round ever since. I have used a gun store full of different loads bullets and calibers AFTER I filled my freezer each year. Point being I KNOW what works and what don't. My post on the 175 was an inquiry for use on deer as it was a bullet weight I my self had not tried on game. But alot of people around here use. I was looking for other peoples opinion who had used this piticular load on deer and the results they got. Personally I like to watch my game fall with in a short distance after the bang be it 25 yard head shot or 500 yard hit in the air box. Something you could not always do with a lesser caliber

I have shot lots of different game w/ my 7mm mag w/ 175gr Core-Lokt. I live in Alaska and have taken moose, bear, caribou and a goat. The only picture I have semi-availabe is the moose on Black Ice Coatings web page http://www.blackicecoatings.com/Feedback_Form.html

if the 175 cl is accurate in your rifle, use it. you'll get a little more recoil, but if you can handle it, go for it. as others have stated, 150 and 160gr will easily take any deer anywhere. accuracy trumps bullet weight!

7 Rem mag is one of my favorites.
If it [bleep] thru a meat ass, the 175 CL will put it down. Go fill the freezer dude.

I'm an accuracy guy myself, sometimes head shots are all ya get.
You might have to put one up the 10 ring....

My thoughts also. I've never understood the logic behind buying a fast stepping round like the 7mm rem mag then loading so heavy a bullet that it brings it down to 7mm-08 speeds. Pick a good 140 grain bullet and load them to 3200-3250 fps then go shoot some deer. Any good 140 gr bullet will penetrate far in excess of anything required for deer.

Now on the other hand, if someone gave you a bunch of 175 gr core lokts and you just wanted to get rid of them then sure, shoot them at deer. They wouldn't be anywhere near my top choice for deer out of a 7mm mag unless that was the only thing the rifle would shoot well, then I'd probably rebarrel the rifle instead of being stuck shooting that bullet for deer.

7mm mag is a great caliber for just about everything, but IMHO the Core-Lokt bullets are crap, in my experiences (plural) they are very inconsistant weather they open up and explode or pencil thru and you start a hard tracking adventure? I went with 175 grain NP's and have been happy ever since. I didn't start out with the 175's, the 160's didn't group that well, and so after alot of different bullets, weights, the 175 NP's gave me -3/4 inch groups @ 100 yds consistantly. Good luck!

The 175's are real accurate from my 7RM also. I don't hunt with it though so I don't know how they do on game.

That looked like a good day! How far was you when you took him?
How long did it take you to get that moose out of there?

The last 175 grain bullet I would want to shoot deer with out of a 7Mag would be the nosler parition. Talk about a recipe for penciling through, I can't think of a bullet that is more apt to do so than that 175 NP. Regarding the Core-lokts my brother has over 100 deer to his credit with one bullet and one bullet only -the 140 grain 7mm out of a 7mm-08. I've witnessed multitudes of his kills and have killed deer with this load myself. These bullets are not crap, they are exceptionally reliable in their performance.

Whether you're talking about Core Lokts or NP's, they have too good of a track record to believe that. I do agree that a good 140 in a 7-08 is some serious deer medicine.

Bangflop, I was kinda on your side until you started shooting 3/4 and 1/4" inch groups with store bought ammo. Are those groups of 1 or 2? FYI: I'm over 25.

Not saying the 175 Core-Lokt won't work, but if you want an opinion I'd say pick a Nosler or a bonded 160, work it up and point it at everything you want to hunt. IMO, the 160's are the cat's arse in the 7RM.

CLB

Used the 175 Core-Lokt, Nosler Partition and 175 Barnes X. They all resulted in dead deer and hogs. They all performed well but would not be my first choice, I was just burning up ammo from other hunts and they shot to the same point of impact as 140s and 160s.

These all would be good for come what may types of shots but the lighter bullets will kill more quickly in general. They are less destructive regarding meat loss but not always. Mostly use 160's for everything that I would use a big Seven on now.

No, 3/4 and 1/4 are correct. Off the bench with the Remington 150 core-lokt I get about .750 most of the time, It will throw a flyer once in a while and throw one out of three and make it a 1.250 group at 100 yards. The 175's, I shot two 3 shot groups that measured .257 and .270. A little over 1/4" but close enough. Why?, what does yours shoot? I can think of at least 7 shooters at my range who shoot 7mm Rem mag with factory ammo and all shoot 1/2" or better at 100 yards. It seems to be normal to me.

a 139 hornady, 140 nosler, a 140 berger. faster and flatter

I was just looking at the 139gr interbond loading from Hornady.
Looks pretty good on paper. I have a local Hornady dealer next to me. Think I will see how they shoot next weekend.
http://www.hornady.com/store/7mm-Rem-Mag-139-gr-InterBond/

Best bullet for deer out of the 7 mag? 150 NBT gets my vote. It's a heck of a coyote slayer too...

I'm not trying to dog you, but an occasional .250" group does not mean that the rifle is a 1/4" rifle. I once owned a ruger 7mm mag that was a legitimate 3" at 100 yds rifle, yet I ran so much ammo through that rifle that it shot several 1/4" groups. Unfortunately the next group with the same ammo would be 3". I've never made the claim that it was a half moa rifle, it wasn't, it was a 3 moa rifle.

I've owned and sold a lot of rifles over the years. I can only think of two factory rifles that were legitimate 1/2" at 100 yd. rifles and one of them is sitting in my gun safe. Both of these rifles are heavy barrel savages and you can only get that performance out of them with handloads. I have a really, really hard time believing that out of 7 guys with factory rifles shooting factory loads all of them will shoot consistent 1/2" groups.

My 7mm is an 1981 BDL that I had a new laminated stock put on and a new (old stock) black stainless steel barrel installed at Remington. I shoot 20 rounds every other week to stay "in touch". I shoot 3 shot groups with it then allow the barrel to cool. Out of six groups for the day, 4 will be 3/4 and two may have a single flyer. making the group open up to 1 to 1.25 inch. I clean her after 20 rounds back to a copperless bore. I have a factory origanal M700 PSS with a 5-R barrel in 308 I have had for some years now. It shoots in the .300"s all day with out a single flyer. I also have a Ruger 25-06 in a Varmint target that with the nosler 115NBT's I have shot several groups in the mid .100'S .200 is it's average.

I don't even intertain the thought of keeping one that won't group well under an inch. That's not to say I don't go threw a few to find them. As far as 7mm Mags go. I know several A few from Savage, Remington and one Winchester that shoot around 1/2 and all factory. Kinda normal from what I seen.

Most 7mm mags are pretty darn good shooters as are the 280's and 7mm-08's. Of course I have seen some junk as well.

You never did say what kinda groups your 7mm gets?

The front end of a 175 partition is pretty much like the front end of the 140-160's. Experience shows that it expands just fine on anything that the 140's will open on. The difference is the depth of penetration which is exceeded only by the Barnes type bullets. The 175 were very devastating on everything I shot in Namibia and RSA last year. MV was about 2950. Whoever thinks not has no experience. I got about 25-30 critters. Thanks Dober for the bullets.

Thanks for the info....More food for thought! Bullets are funny things. The ones that don't look that good in the ballistic charts sometimes turn out to be the best game getters. I will admit though, I like the blazing speed and flatter trajectorys of the 140's with a high BC. But in the deep woods I would not hesitate to launch one of those 175's just to see what happens. My favorite swamp bullet for the 7mm is Hornady's 154 RN. Works great!

The 175 spitzer partitions @ 2950 are very flat out to 450 yards which is the limit I impose on myself. The really great benefit is how little they are moved about by wind. There is a lot of emhasis placed on trajectory but not much talk about wind drift. I have, over the last 43 years, concluded that it is easier to handle drop than drift hence I have gravitated to higher bc at reasonably high velocity. Within 450 yards it is not too hard to consistently hit a cantalope which is my maximum size target. 450 yards/cantalope...go hunting

P>S> I believe the 175's @ 2950 are the equal of any of the Big 30's in terms of terminal effect and are more gun than any 7x57, 708, or 280 load with the usual 140-150's. It is a really great big game outfit not a varmint gun.

That's a good point, And I agree with you. Speed is what I look at hunting out to 300 yards. I have had more instant kills with bullets launching at or above the 3000 fps mark that shower ones. Of course matching a some what fast expanding bullet to go along with it. But I do like your thinking, It is easier to hold high a little more than trying to figure where a lighter bullet may drift at 450.

Do you know off hand the differance in drift a 140 vs a 175 has at say 400 yards in a 10 mph wind? (both being spbt bullets)

Hmm,
I ran the number on a balistics caculator. 139 inter bond BC .486 with a MV of 3200. Wind drift at 500 yards with a 10 mph wind about 15"

175gr Sp at a mv of 2900 and BC of .462 Wind drift at 500 yards with a 10 mph wind is about 19"

Looks like speed still wins. Less time in the air.
More time it takes to get there the more time the wind can move it. Looks like a good 140 in the 7mm is going to be hard to beat.

P.S.
Of course that's on paper, that does not account for terminal effect..... as you said.

I used to worry a lot about what the calculators showed and decided that familiarity trumped having a lot of data. Long and extensive use works best for me. Now I use fewer different combinations but I shoot and hunt much more.

7mm rem mag,,,, any size bullet or type will work for deer

Of course, the 139g bullet will drift less- you started it faster and used a bullet with a higher BC. Do the same calculation with a 180g Berger and tell me which one has the most drift.

Speed doesnt win, at some point BC wins.

My brother in law shoots 175 grain Corelokts from his 7mm Rem. Mag for deer and he alway kills a pile of deer and hogs every year with no problems. Today he may be hunting over a soybean field and tomorrow he may be hunting in the thick nasty stuff and he wanted one gun to do it all. He tried 150 grain bullets and got too much expansion at closer ranges so he went with the 175 grain Corelokts. The deer I've seen him kill always had a quarter sized exit hole with very little bloodshot meat. We did find one bullet last year in a deer shot from a lasered 388 yards and it was a very nice, wide mushroom with a good portion of shank left, so I definetly wouldn't worry about expansion. It appears you are wanting to use them so I'd say try a box of them and if you don't like the results you can always change back to something else.

Your right,

I ran the numbers on the partition in 175gr at 2950 fps. Only 16" BC was .516 if I remember. High BC and weight will throw a hammer pretty far.

Thanks for the reply. Thats some more good information,

Thank you.