Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles 7mm rem mag and 120 bt's???

ok fellas i need some schoolin' here please. i'm wanting to shoot 120 ballistic tips outta my tikka t3x 7mm rem mag at 3,400-3,500 fps for whitetail deer. what powder would you suggest for accuracy and not temperature sensitive please. also, i won't be loading them as i've not taken the plunge to do so. so, custom reloads of dallas is gonna do the loading for me. said he uses norma brass and i'm not sure of primer.
thanks,
Big Ed

I've always started off using Nosler load data and most of the time their suggested most accurate powder is generally correct.
My 280 ai loves them with H4831SC.
3400-3500 fps is pushing them I would say. Good Luck

H4350 will get you there easy. Start at 64 and work up slow. Good for at least 3400 fps.

Will 120 grain ballistic tips hold together at those velocities?

Rem280: So you have used H4831 with 120BTs in a 280? I would be interested in your results. Always thought it might be a little too slow for that light a bullet. Doesn't look like Nosler lists H4831 as an option for the 120BT on their load data website.... thanks

Yes I use it in a 280 ai.

300 yd group

Not very well.

Rem280: My bad. I missed the "ai" in your post. Thanks for the response.

120 ballistic WILL hold up at those velocities. I used to shoot them in a 7 Rem mag @ 3575 fps using RL-22. (sorry powder is a bit temp sensitive) Friend talked me out of the rifle. Killed a few wt at 100 to 725 yds and bullets always exited.

Steve Timms had great result with this bullet on quite a few animals including moose.

I,d try RL16 or RL17.

And a local friend used 120 Ballistic Tips very successfully out of a 26-inch barreled 7mm Remington Magnum to take a bunch of big game. He had no idea of the muzzle velocity, but liked his handloads hot, so am guessing at least 3400 and maybe 3500. He killed several elk with it, including at least one big bull, and said the 120s had always exited on broadside rib shots.

I must admit that I don't have too much experience in taking animals with the 120gr BT myself (I prefer the 160gr AB), but I have loaded the 120gr BT in a 7RemMag for one of my good friends for about 20 years. It has been long enough ago when doing load development that I can't remember the velocity, but I use H4831SC and 215's. My friend has never shot a big bull but get's a spike or a cow elk every year with this rifle and swears by the 120gr BT.

I used R22 for 120 Barnes X bullets. Now I would use R23 or R16. The 120 BT has a heavier jacket than most light weight BT as it was originally designed for silhouette shooting. It will work fine at those velocities, I found just under 3,500 fps as max and 3,400 is more comfortable in my rifles.

The 120s have been lights out for deer and hogs up to 250 lbs.

ok fellas would h4831 or h4350 be the easiest and accurate to get to 3,400fps? also, as i'm not a reloader,yet,is there a such thing as a powder being easier on the barrel as in less hot to keep from burning the throat out as quick as these loads will be humming between the 2 powders i've listed? i'm pretty ignorant to this so please be gentle with replies lol. also, chad from dallas reloads says that i could get higher velos from double base powders but the single base powders are more stable thats why i chose the 2 i did.
thanks,
Ed

For your reference when Nosler manual #7 came out I was going thru it looking at the new data. I was amazed that the listed loads in the 3500 fps+ range for the 120 bt. So I went out and got a box of 120 gr NPT's and R-19. The 120 nbt is a very stout bullet it was redesigned by Gale Root of Nosler's Eng staff. He basically thickened the bottom half of the bullet jacket because many of the handgun silhouette shooters whined that it was to explosive and did not give the dwell time on target to transfer the energy to knock down steel targets everytime cleanly. Because of the tough jacket it expands slowly on meat and usually exits. I have used it on 2 deer , the first a mule doe at about 70yds perfect broadside thru ribs holing the lungs and exiting it was an instaneous bang flop as I've ever seen. The second was a whitetail doe at just over 100 yds basically the same placement and same results. The bullets showed no sign of coming apart. I never chronoed those loads but Nosler did at 3570+. They worked well for me. I think if you can't keep your bullets in the ribs off the shoulders use something else. 120 at 3500+ in a guys eating meat won't leave you any to eat. MB

thank you magnum Bob for clarifying. ..... i would start with re-26. norma brass and wlrm.