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I sit here shaking my head that anyone would choose to use ballistic tips out of a 7mm mag and shoot an elk in the close range of the cascades!
I�m with you, JJ. My first centerfire was the 7mm Mag I bought back in 1982. Took my first elk with a 162g Hornady BTSP through the lungs. The bullet was recovered from under the hide on the off side. It had retained less than 50% of its original weight even though the challenge to its integrity was minimal (one rib on the near side). The following year I switched to the Speer 160g Grand Slams and have been killing elk reliably ever since. After 20 years I finally recovered one of the Grand Slams but only after it had taken out both shoulder joints of a 6x5 bull. Its weight retention was still over 70%.
These days I stoke the 7mm Mag with 160g North Fork bullets, the.300 Win Mag gets 180g North Forks amd Barnes TSX�s and the .45-70 gets 350g North Forks. The North Forks are not available in .257 so the Roberts gets 120g Swift A-Frames and 115g Barnes TSX�s for its +P loads. My hunting buddy switched from the 160g Grand Slams to 160g Speer Trophy Bonded for his 7mm Mag.
Obviously, I put a premium on bullet integrity after contact. But placement is still the key. When I read stories like the one you posted I feel sorry for the game animals.
