Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Your favorite 7mm 160gr loads speed for elk?

Any 160gr 7mm from 7mm/08 to 7mm RUM, I want opinions please? This goes hand in hand with my other post about the .270/160 going 2950fps load I have that "mimics" a 7mm Rem Mag, give or take a bit. I was aware that I would hear from more 270 users than 338WM users, it just is a fact of logistics. However, through the years, I have seen more 7mm Mags (all stripes) and 300WMs than 338WM "in the field" or 340W. Both dynamic rounds I know for a fact. In later years, with newer powders the 7mm/08 and 280AI. No one really doubts the effectiveness of a good Medium caliber, (could throw in 35 Whelen and such too) on elk. But "usually" when a person wants more than a .270/308/30-06, they will go to the 7mm Rem Mag. A lot will go to the 300WM.

I was comparing my 270/160PT @2950 with my old Mod 700 7mm Mag from the late 70's/to mid 80's I used. I tried the slowest I had available to me powders ( H4831 & H870, MRP) and my rifle just did not give good accuracy with the 160 partition. IMR 4350 best load did and according to the Nosler manual, it was "supposed" to be going right at 3100fps. I finally had it checked by a guy who had a chrono (PACT) and it was 2950fps. Plenty, but not the Bob Hagel/Warren Page/Les Bowman load I had been reading about. I was using the 150PT/3200/4350 as my deer load, so I wasn't hurting. I loaned the rifle/160 load to a friend and he did kill a midsized bull elk with it in Colorado. Hurray, my load worked just fine! I later in life got my 3100 and change ( a lot of change in both the 7mm STW and 7mm RUM) My best 160 load was 2800fps in my only ( though 22" bbl) 280AI and another friend used it on a huge cow elk, 1 shot and down.

So, you guys that have used any 160gr bullet ( which many will argue the 7mm caliber "balances" with) on heavy deer/hogs/elk/big game...what was your speed and how did it work for you? Since I threw in the standard 7mms, I won't ask for your rifles weight, that's irrelevant for my info. This is, again, not trying to say what is "better" than a 338WM or Medium load, or 30-06, etc but just how the 160 7mm did on heavier game? Thanks guys.

160 AB's running 3000-3100 (Retumbo, RL22) worked great on roughly 40 head of African antelope up through Zebra size animals. About half passed through.

162 eldx knocked the stuffing out of a big 6x6 elk. The next day my brother used the same rifle on a big cow elk. Close to 3k mv.





P

Have used about any cup & core 160's, also Partitions, out of 275 Rigby at ~2700fps with great success through the years.

Well I'm pushing the old 160 gr. Seer two core Grand Slams at 2910 FPS from my .280 Rem. 1909 Argie. Brass is Winchester nickel plated, WLR primer and powder the now long discontinued Winchester WMR. I have a good supply of that powder. Accuracy runs in the .75" range on average. It just might be the rifle I take for my elk hunt this year.
Paul B.

I've had good results on bull elk with the 160 Partition and 61 grs. H4831 in a New Ultra Light Arms 7x61 Sharpe & Hart. Muzzle velocity around 2900 fps.

Considering that I've taken more elk with it than any other load, I guess you'd have to say a 160g Speer Grand Slam. No longer build that load and haven't for years, but took my last elk with it using my buddy;s lefty 7mm RM and the 160g Grand Slam. 411 yards, 4 steps and down.

I've only killed two elk with my .280 Remington in my old Remington 725, 22" bbl, Both were with a Nosler Partition, 160 grains in front of 54.0 grains of IMR 4350. Chronographed at 2880 FPS.

One shot kills. No more than a couple hundred yards. Both were standing approx. broadside. Worked for me.

L.W.

160 grain Nosler Partition and IMR 4350 out my Model 70 Featherweight 7X57 works for me.

I've read God made the 160gr. Nosler Partition then he made elk. With IMR 7828 I can about get 2940fps, with R26 I get a little over 3000fps. out of my Win. Mod.70 .280AI.

Thanks guys...just what I was trying to get across to a fellow the other day...a 160gr (.270/7mm) are so close in diameter that they are the same, in the field for sure. Yeah the 270/160 isn't as BC as some 160/7mm, but close enough that under 400yds it doesn't matter. And for a "point and shoot" guy it sure doesn't matter, ha. I guess I'm excited that this is the "very first" 270 I've had (this is #6) that shot the 150/160s well! They all shot well ( well, one Mod 700 MR was a shotgun) with 130-140s. A few shot the 110 OK, but not tight enough for prairie dogs & such. And I just can't get over how fast this rifle shoots those heavies! I "cut my teeth" in bolt guns/reloading with a .280 then on up through the AI to magnums and I learned how to trust a 7mm bullet on game. Anything comparable gives me a warm fuzzy.

[quote=super T]I've read God made the 160gr. Nosler Partition then he made elk.

I can't find the scripture for that...but you could be right! I "know" God packs a 10mm!

I've never been elk hunting or shot a round loaded with a Nosler Partition Bullet loaded in it YET. But you can take this to the bank, if I ever have occasion to go on an elk hunt I will be armed with a Nosler Partition Bullet. And it may be in a 7mm of some flavor. Or who knows, it might be my lowly .270 Winchester.

1,000 experienced hunters can't all be wrong. And I've read at least that many comments by experienced elk hunters that recommended the Nosler Partition. I've heard dozens of arguments over the subject. And I just have to go by the sheer volume of positive comments in favor of the Nosler. Yeah you can say its old technology but its old technology that works and works good. So why change? Dont kick that sleepin' dog.

Now on Deer and hogs and such, I've shot the 160 Sierra Game King in my .280 Rem. and 7 Rem. Mag. They're very accurate and a deer has a lot thinner skin and thinner bones than an elk.

Jim, I don't know how they're calculating that BC but I always wonder about such calculations. If you compare the same brand and style bullet, one in .277 and one in 7mm, I would think the .277 bullet would have a slightly higher BC, all else being equal due to its slightly smaller diameter.. Now if you're comparing something made by Berger with different profile to a SGK or Nosler Partition, yeah maybe, but Berger makes VLD bullets in .277 as well.

High B.C. values are highly over-rated at normal ranges. For me the .387 B.C. of the Speer 160g Grand Slam hasn't been a hindrance in any way. Every elk I've aimed them at has gone down quickly,

A reasonable B.C. value gets it done at typical ranges.

So far, I've only heard from a couple guys way up North that have used the 270/160PT. That's another reason I asked you 7mm users, for sure, elk country is 7mm country! Thanks guys for the feedback, it "satisfies my soul"...:)

I believe there are only three 7mm cartridges I have not owned or worked with. Of the whole lot I am a hardcore 280 user. I have taken several Axis with the Nosler Combined Technology 160 Partition. Result? Bang - Flop.

Running 160's at 2900 fps in my 280's & 3000 fps in my 280 AI. Though my 7 Wby will push 160's to 3200, I have yet to need that speed. I'm a 300 yard shooter.

Never hunted Elk, but have hunted Red Stag in Argentina and quite a bit of African plains game over the course of ten safaris. The Red Stag went down quickly after being shot by a .300 Win Mag loaded with a 200 grain Swift A Frame, as have many species of African PG. Last year, hunted PG successfully with a .30/06 and factory loaded Barnes 168 grain TTSX.

Am also partial to the Woodleigh Weldcore, a bonded bullet that worked well on African PG. My 7x57 shoots their 160 grain pp quite well.

The reason you shave seen more 7mm Mags (and particularly the Rem Mag, I would guess) and .300WM rifles is because they are so much more flexible than the .338 magnums. They get the job done with significantly less recoil. And again, particularly the 7mm RM.

My 160g Speer Grand Slam loads were running a max charge of IMR4831 (1g under the old Speer manuals, 1g over more current manuals) for what - after many years of use - I eventually chrono'd at 2874fps. It took me 20 years to recover one. That one wrecked both shoulder joints on a nice bull elk and was peeking out of the bone on the far side.

After getting some .30-06 caliber rifles, in which I use 150g AB and 165-168g North Fork and TTSX bullets and all of which have worked on elk, I've pretty much gone to 140g in the 7mm RM and .280 Rem. A 140g/3214fps North Fork from the 7mm RM exited a cow on a 400-yard broadside.

For Daughter #1 I've worked up a .270 Win/150g ABLR load at 2912fps for her Rem M700, with less than 18 ft-lbs recoil. It maintains 2000fps and 1500fpe well past 700 yards. That should be adequate for elk at her self-imposed 400-yard limit. Her hubby's brother is in the Navy and I have his .270. After replacing the scope I'll work up the same load for his rifle (Savage, shorter COL required) and he will use it on our elk hunt this fall.

While the Partition was the Gold Standard for many years for some people, the proliferation of mono's bonded and hybrids like the A-Frame, North Fork and Trophy Bonded have provided hunters with more options to achieve the same results - often with lighter bullets and less recoil. And higher B.C. designs have allowed them to stretch the effective ranges for their loads. Given that most loads will work most of the time, many people obsess over possibilities with small (but non-zero) probabilities. (As a fan of the premium bullets, I'm probably guilty.) The fact is that, at least for elk and smaller, just about any well-placed shot will work, regardless of load details.

160 partitions at 2750 fps or so with H414 in 7x57 works quite well.

May be it's in The Shooter's Bible.....?

I am pretty much done hunting elk, but I have killed a bunch of them with Nosler 160 Partitions, over R25, at 3000 fps.

I used my 30-06 on my 2018 elk hunt, but had my 7MM Weatherby all ready to go loaded with 160 grain Barnes TSXs. Barnes 140s and 175s also shoot very well in that rifle.

On my first trip to South Africa ( 1996) my Afrikaans Hunter/Outfitter friend had a bad taste in his mouth for 7mm Rem Mags. it seems some squirrel came over and used the then touted 165 Extended Range ( memory fuzzy) which was a simple cup n core, very soft. the guy wounded a few head before my friend insisted he use his rifle ( 308 win and 180 Mag Tips) I explained to him that the caliber was a very good one...with the right bullets. I was using a 35 Whelen Improved with a 250X, so no problems! I didn't shoot anything, in four hunts, that I couldn't have killed with a good bullet in 7mm08-7mm mag and in between! It was just a good excuse to use a bigger caliber, cut bigger holes, ha. My Afrikaner buddy got a big "eye opener" on how cold temps affect South African Somchem powder/loads. He went to the Drakensburg mountains to cull some eland. His 308/180 Speer mag Tips barely broke the hide! He luckily had some 7.62 hardball military ammo ( he was a former soldier) and they worked swell on head shots..

This forum seems more reasonable on claims of MV than most other forums. On some forums I see all kinds of wild claims. I shoot several rifles in assorted chamberings. I've come to suspect this optimism of MV is caused by cheap chronographs. I have a Chrony and while it's consistent, I believe it reads about 100 FPS high on the top end. It reads my .270 Winchester with a 22" barrel shooting a 130 grain bullet with 57 grains of IMR 4831 at just a shade below 3200 FPS. This is about 100 fps faster than most books allow for the same load with a 24" barrel. It reads my 280 Remington with a 150 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip at just a shade under, 3,000 FPS. It has a 26" barrel but even at that it's about 50 FPS above what most books show. It also reads my .30-06 with a 150 grain SGK at 3100 FPS. It has a 24" barrel. But most books I've seen show a max of 3,000 FPS with the same load and same barrel length. So I really believe cheap chronographs are the main reason for overly optimistic velocities being reported on forums. Maybe I'm mistaken here but at least my Chrony is as such. But these velocities I see on various sights correspond suspiciously close to what I see on my Chrony.

I have a Beta Chrony, but my "check load" is one particular box of .22 magnum ammo from my old Marlin bolt rifle that has consistently given 1930fps for 2 other chronographs (one was a friends PACT) too. Its as close as I can get w/o springing for a high-dollar Dopplar Radar, or whatever, ha. The main thing is, even if it is 100fps slower, from the testimonies, seems a lot of loads (160/7mms) are in the high 2700-2800s range. that seems to be way plenty for the game they're used on. I figure if I have a case full ( or close :)) of a good, known powder and great accuracy, I can't do anymore on "my" end, except aim it right, ha. You do bring out a good point though that wild claims can usually be narrowed down to be "less than". Take my old 7mm Mag load that I "thought" was going 3100fps, but was 2950. It was so disappointing...to my "idea" of what it should be. It was nothing, as it killed a nice bull for my friend, with gusto, he said. Of course, all he owned at the time was a 243 and he had reservations of using it on elk. Well, if all I had was a 243, I would limit myself to head/neck shots, which mean I probably wouldn't get my elk that year! But I bet a lot of yesteryears gunwriter reports were "typrewriter" speeds. If I was a Long Range shooter/hunter, I'd be more vested in exact muzzle speeds, but for my style, it isn't that important to me, but accuracy/consistency/ and temp stability ( I like Late Season cow hunts...cold)

Filaman- my .243 friend lived/worked in Sabine Pass and I worked out of Liberty, tx at the time, mid 80s! Small world, ain't it?

Yeah Jim, I went to school in Beaumont at Lamar. I had gone to school in Victoria for a couple years and took a couple years off. Then I went to Beaumont to start school there because I had friends going there. I was going to sign up for academic courses and finish my degree and I got talked into checking out the Diesel School on the vocational campus. I never went back to the main campus and got my Associate of Applied Science degree in Diesel Engine Technology. I had worked in the Marine field in engine rooms going through college so I gave it a whirl. I graduated 2nd in the class. I worked at a truck shop for awhile thinking it was like the marine field where there were upward opportunities until I figured out that working in truck shops wasn't like marine work and I would be a blue collar hourly man making just above minimum wage for the rest of my life. So I went back to work in the marine field albeit making more money, until I got an opportunity to go to work around home at Union Carbide as an operator where I retired after 28 years. I did go back and get my academic degree later in life in Legal Studies. I feel I had a well rounded education. But I never moved back to the Golden Triangle area. I remember going through Dayton and Liberty on my way to see my first wife at Huntsville when she was going to Sam Houston. There was a speed
trap and they got me for a ticket one morning. There was a hill and right at the top of that hill just far enough down the road where you couldn't see it from the bottom was a drastically reduced speed sign with a cop about 100 feet down the road. I wanted to tell the cop what I thought but Tom T Hall's song about spending a week in a country jail was fresh on my mind so I shut my mouth. I never went through Dayton and Liberty again. I went 20 miles out of the way to avoid it.

I just ran some Hornady 162 gr SST and Retumbo out of my 7mm Rem Mag through a chrono. They were loaded to 10 thou off the lands at 3.365" OAL. I got good accuracy at 69 gr and 2925 fps, 70 gr went just under 3k about 2980 fps also with good accuracy. The next increment group of 71 gr went 3175 fps! and the accuracy went south. That jumped up fast and wasn't what I was expecting at all. I had rounds loaded to 75 grains... I will be pulling those rounds to salvage the components. While I may may work a bit more with the Retumbo about 69 gr I'm not sure I like how touchy this powder is at the top end.

I too have found some of the newer powders a bit wonky at the higher end. They are great stuff, you just have to slip up on the right combo, ha. I kind of agree with Jock O'Connor that wrote its "doubtful" any bullet going more than 3000fps adds anything...in the field, on game. It was something like that. LR, why sure, it has to help some, especially for a point and shoot guy like me. I know I certainly enjoyed using some rounds that gave me 3200-3500fps, from 6.5/284 and the 120NBT to the .240W(90x) 257W (115NP) to 338RUM (180NAB) but I never shot past 375 with any of them. I'm looking forward to trying out the 110TTSX in this .270, should be wicked on deer/antelope!

Filaman- the "best thing" I liked about Dayton and Liberty, back then, were the Rodeo Queen Barrel Racers! I do miss the BBQ crab that Sartins used to make at Sabine Pass. Hurricane Allen wiped them out there. I still have an uncle living in Victoria, Marshall Knight. Tell him I said "Hey" if you see him!

7mm STW ....160 Partition started at 3300.

Flattens elk

Tony