Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting favorite 7mm elk bullet

There are many �preferred� 7mm bullets, just as there are many 7mm shooters. My 7mm Mag has been shooting 160 bullets exclusively for 25 years. The 160g Grand Slams work very well at 2900fps for elk at and under, haven�t tried them any faster. All have been pass-throughs except one that took out both shoulder joints of a nice bull.

A couple years ago I switched to North Fork bullets and won�t be going back to the Grand Slams.

IMHO the best bullets on the market are the North Fork, Trophy Bonded, A-Frame and TSX. The new MRX looks very good and will probably replace my TSX loads in various cartridges. You don�t need the best under most circumstances, problem is you never know in advance.

People will ask why spend the money for premiums. I suggest that the money saved with cheaper bullets will, after several years of hunting, allow you to buy a cheap glass of wine with your dinner. Or allow you to retire 10 seconds earlier. I�ll hunt with the premiums, practice with less expensive bullets.

7 STW, nope, havnt used the IB.. My dad shot a cow behind the shoulder with a 150 out of a 308 at about 150yds...she ran a little ways and fell over..through and through, not much of a test though!! I think I would choose them over the Accubomb though...

220 yards, dropped a nice 5x5 with 160 partition out of the 7wsm

One elk last yr. 154 Interbond 200yds performed ver well
great expansion and deep penetration

i have run the man yweights of IB's and partions in my 7 mag, 7 STW and now 7 RUM, but all three fo my guns thus far have liked the 150 NP. of course my RUM shows a prefernce to the TSX in the 140 gr, so that may be the new deer bullet as it flat out hauls the mail

Seems the 140 TSX has quite a following. Does it not shear its petals like the rest of the Barnes bullets?

Think I'll just grab some popcorn and get a good seat for this one <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

No expert here used the 140TSX to harvest 4 animals last fall. Have only found one bullet that was recovered from my bull moose on the underside of the hide after punching through the opposite shoulder. Approx. 70 yard 1/4ing shot, bullet recovered weight 127.8gr (91% retention) and cross measured diameter of .714. It did loose 1 pellet. MV 3250fps averaged from my 7mm rem mag with this load.

Have you guys looked at the .270WSM????

Interesting....but the ballistics are are very similiar to the 7mm Mag.

What do you think?

I think it is a 7 RM wanna be...nice round though

Mark D

Wilderness,
I say, buy the 7mag. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Why follow the 270 Band Wagon ? Buy the 7 & you'll be glad you did.

Well maybe I hold the Barnes to a higher standard than other lead core bullets. I know of the Pt's effectiveness & yet no one seems to question the fact that they lose thier top lead core. Everytime the talk turns to Barnes I always hear those users speak of the Barnes losing its petals. Thus my comment about them being drill bits. For whatever reason, that just does not set well with me. I won't use them.

Were I to look for a bullet that would not shed its upper core, I would look to the A Frame, Tbbc or North Fork.

For now, the Accubond has all I need !!

From what I've read, Barnes has made improvements in the design of the TSX as to minimize the "petal-shedding" effect seen in the earlier X bullets.
As for real world experience with the TSX, I can only say that targets have been my prey. With the old X bullet, I've drilled through both shoulders of big Canadian WT bucks, BH sheep, and shot completely through antelope on quartering shots, and have only ever recovered 2 of them. One was dug out of the dirt after shooting through a WT (160 gr 7mm), and the other was a 85 gr .243 that entered behing the last rib of a doe WT, penetrated rearward, shattered the femur, and buried itself in the roast. All petals intact, looked like a picture from the Barnes reloading manual.

all though i just acquired my 7mag, i have experience loading for it and my dads 7RUM. the 7mag of mine, before i floated the barrel and worked on the trigger, shot the 140 accubonds under an inch. my dads hard hitting 7RUM spits out 140 accubonds at either 3400 or 3600 fps, cant remember anyways. we kicked up a buck and he shot that thing runnuing at 150 yards right in the nargas. bullet came in left haunch, smashed the bone, traveled through the body ripping up the liver and everything else and exited between neck and shoulder. deer went about 100 yards, but with a tracking job, found him easy.

if i am looking at carrying my 7mag as my elk gun ( have a 30-06 with 180 accubonds for that right now) i will look at the 160 accubonds through it. but i think i will split deer hunting time between my 270wsm (also shooting 140 accubonds) and my 7mag shooting 140 accubonds.
Casey

Yeah, my favorite 7MM RM Elk round is a 180 grain Accubond too. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

This evening just because it was nice outside and I wanted something to do, I shot three different bullets into the clay and shale bank about 270 yards behind my place. The first was a 150 core-lokt, which turned inside out and shed it's core. The second was a 160 speer, which also shed it's core and turned inside out. The third was a 140 accubond which made a nice mushroom. Not textbook but pretty good. I can only imagine what the first two would do on an elk. The 140 accubond would probably be o.k.