I am thinking Barnes TTSX but maybe I need a little softer bullet for whitetails, I tried the Hornady SST last Fall with unsatisfactory results (too soft)My shooting ranges rarely exceed 100 yds but an occasional 200+ yard shot is possible, so I need a bullet that will perform well over a fairly wide range of velocities...Thanks HB

Take a look at the120 grain Nosler BT. I run it out of a .280AI at over 3300fps and it works famously on deer near or far.

We've run TTSX and MRX from very close to about 300 yards on antelope and deer. No problems with expansion using 100g/.257 Roberts, 168g/.308Win/.30-06/.300WM.

Very good, My first thought was to the TTSX bullet but I wasn't sure about expansion at closer ranges......Thanks HB

Does the Nosler BT exit?.............HB

Try 140 Sierra Game Kings or 140 Accubombs they work for any species of deer.

You certainly don't need a fancy bullet to take a whitetail, but with your ranges and the speed the 7 Mag can generate a tougher bullet wouldn't be bad. Of course you could load it down since you say the majority of your shots rarely exceed 100 yards. Then you could easily get by with a less expensive bullet. Hornady Interlock and Winchester Power Point come to mind. There are many others.

I have shot 2 deer with the 120g NBT out of a .284 Win. The first a whitetail buck at 35 yards. Took his heart out, but did not exit. The jacket was perfectly mushroomed, but there was no core left. The 2nd a mule deer doe at 281 yards. The bullet glanced off her shoulder carried on through the neck and exited her head. MV was 3200 FPS.

Whitetails are easy to kill with a stick & string. I don't reckon they're to discriminant on bullets.

Hornady Interlock or Remington CoreLokt.

I do the same thing with my 7 mag. Entrance hole and exit hole have been about silver dollar size.

I think any 140 gr bullet would work, I like NoslerAccubond,
Hornady Interbond, Swift Scirrico, and Sierra Game King in that
order. When I was in my teens I shoot quit a few deer,with
the $9.95 Federal power points in 150gr, in 30/06 and 308. Seemed
to kill every time.

I have killed ("Harvested" HA!)many deer over the years with cheap bullets, mostly Remington Core-Lokt's but I have used some Hornady stuff including their SST, Interlock and Interbond along with the mighty Sierra Gameking BTSP when I used to reload, I don't reload anymore as I don't shoot near as much as I used to, I spend most of My spare time these days scouting for trophy Whitetails so I want a factory load and don't care to buy premium ammo, since I shoot so little (2 boxes a year or so for each rifle)it doesn't hurt so much to buy the pricey stuff. I definitely want a bullet that will crash on through a big Whitetail and a bullet that is capable of doing it at not the best angles, I have learned that a big buck will not always offer a perfect broadside shot and many times you will only see one of these ghosts one time over a whole hunting season or none at all so you better be ready to take a shot with a good bullet and with a cartridge that has plenty of azz, if I see a buck that I will shot these days it is rare indeed so I want him down and out ASAP, I want a bullet that causes as much damage as possible and leaves an exit hole...........HB

After 20+ yrs. using BT's I recovered my 1st one this yr. Aug. 20, 150 BT out of a 7RM, probably only weighed 70 gr., stuck next the skin behind the ribs,shot almost facing me, high shoulder, ran about 2-3 ft., totally trashed top of lungs and bottom of spine, DRT.

That's some great results but I want a bullet that will exit and leave a good blood trail, also I think I will go for shoulder shots this Fall instead of the classic behind the shoulder shot, I am curious if I will see any different result............HB

I have yet to see one stay inside a deer. The ranges have varied from 40 yards to right at 300 yards.

The exit holes are roughly the size of a silver dollar and the innards are nicely blended.

160 AB's and 150 Partitions.

Will break bone, will exit, will not cause massive meat damage, but do open nicely.

JM

Federal factory stuff.....140 Nosler Partition.Think Federal still loads it.

Lost count of the deer killed with that bullet, from several 7mm cartridges;mostly grown up deer,and from distances of under 50 yards to about 500....Have yet to recover a 7mm 140 NPT...you will get exits.Shoulders don't slow them down.

Who needs a blood trail?

I found the 120 Ballistic Tip too hard for whitetails. The 120 V-Max or 140 Ballistic Tips worked just fine.

Lets see sub 100 yds maybe out to 200 and one whitey's out of a 7. I'd take a look at a 150-175 round nose at moderate speeds would do just fine. Gotta think that Hornady makes something like this.

Sort of like taking the Porsche to the grocery store but it'll get you there.

Dober

Kinda like a 7x57, can't really think of a bullet from a 7mag that would'nt work in those parameters other than the light varmint bullets....Russ

140 gr. accubond is what I use. I never could figure the logic behind using 160 gr 7mm bullet on deer.

I am surprised no one has suggested the 154gr Hornady IL. A plain jane bullet that works well. I'm not sure how hard it would be to find since I only handload but Hornady does make it...

7mm-Rem-Mag-154-gr-SP

Ignore the price listed, they are always ridiculously high on Hornady's website.

RH

Or...you could just go on down to WallyWorld, buy a plain vanilla box of Remington 150 gr. spitzers, and go kill all the deer you want.

Yea they just kill them and leave leaking holes on both sides of lung shots....Russ

160's work just fine on antelope, deer and elk.

Hornady 139 SP, Sierra 140 flat base, Speer 145 hotcor, or in factory ammo 150 Fusion.

140 grain ballistic tip will knock the snot out of deer in a 7rem mag. It is plenty tough.

Barnes TTSX will work just fine.

If you want a bit softer, run a 156gr Norma Oryx at less than light speed.

Lets see!! 7mm Rem Mag-- mid size thin skinned animal--bullet cooking around 3,000fps--I suppose you could use about anything thats out their.
G

I like 150 grain Nosler ballistic tips in my 7mm mag. for both whitetails and mulies. I use 65.0 grains of IMR4831 with a CCI BR2 primer. I have found this load to be rather accurate and deadly on deer out to 350 yards. I have not shot at anything farther than this, and so cannot give extreme range performance results. Also, while I use 65.0 grains of IMR4831, this is the maximum published load, so I would suggest starting below this and working up for your particular rifle. Of all my guns, this is the only one that performed best at a maximum load. All of my other guns (including pistols) perform best at a grain to a grain and a half back from maximum. Hope this helps.

The TTSX will probably expand more at closer range. These bullets love speed.

140 NAB is a good one. 150NBT works as well.

I've shot deer and hogs from stem to stern and broken off shoulders on exit with 160's out of a 7 Mag.

If I see a 260 lb buck of a lifetime or a 500 lb Russian and have to send one up his pipe to get to the vitals, I know a 150 Part or 160 AB bullet will do it.

IME, they don't usually produce super quick kills if put behind the shoulder, but expand reliably and will leave 2 holes from any angle on the animals mentioned.

I usually go for the shoulders or the neck and they kill like lightening when put there.

I also don't like subjecting bullets to their velocity design limits, as I make mostly 70 yd and under shots.

Just my reasons for using them.

JM

Why screw around??

175 grain Hornady RN...

160 Accubond

Wierdo.

I've had the same results out of the 140's so I don't see any reason to have a fast rifle and slow it down with a heavy bullet. If I go after elk I've got a couple of boxes of 160 accubonds sitting on the shelve, but I'm not worried about penetration from any angle out of the 140's on our small whitetails. To each his own.

Why, because you've NEVER killed a [bleep] thing with any of the aforementioned bullets?

There is no bounds to what you haven't done.

Thanks for the great advice men, I think I might try some 160 grain Accubonds, this bullet sounds as if it will perform to my satisfaction. That way if I do see a buck big enough to shoot this Fall I can shoot through that SOB from end to end if need be ..................HB

I often have this same dilemma (140's vs 160's) in the 7mags I have kinda concluded that damn near everything in 7mm works good,which is why I frequently get conflicted on which bullet to use....

I agree with both views....so over the years,I've used the 140's in Partition, AB(only once),and Bitterroot a good deal in the 7 mag;the 160 NPT as well.

I agree with John Moses about the 160 frequently exiting;but this also happens with the 140 NPT....the 140 does seem to kill lighter game a bit quicker.Itdrops large northern whitetails and muleys with authority....it almost isn't fair

If the rifle might see service on both deer and something larger in the same season I just load the 160's and forget it....if just for deer, I can see the logic in the 140's,especially for smaller southern deer,which I have never hunted.

In the 7mm Mashburn, I will likely never load anything lighter than a 160,because I can start that bullet easily at 3200 fps+,which is plenty good enough for about anything.

This one on the left doesn't know how good it really is!!One of the best 7mm C/C bullets I've ever used on deer!!!

The 140NPT is another jewel. It exits most of the time, though frequently small as the front turns to shrapnel at HV. Still gives em a loose drain plug.

I have shot several whitetails with a 139 Hornady BTSP over IMR 4350 and the cup and core bullet worked great. All were shot thru the lungs with a 1 1/12 hole on the other side. None went anywhere after the shot...Russ

+1

The 154g Hornady Flat base Interlock is one tough bullet. It will penetrate on quartering shots, shoot through both shoulders on broadside shots.

On our first trip to Texas, we were doing hog extermination. All of the hunters were using 7 Mags and I had loaded them all with 63.0g of IMR 4350, Rem brass, 9 1/2 primers, 154g Hornady Interlocks. We shot holes through both shoulders of large boar hogs shoulders...ranch owner was very impressed. We were not worried since we had killed many Bull elk with the same load.

The 154g Hornady interlock is listed in their "Custom" line and will not break the bank.

If you like a little premium bullet, then the 140g Nosler Partition and 150g Nosler partition will give you added confidence...your gun will have a weight that you like.

i find that 120-140grn bullets in my 7mag destroy to much meat. going up a bit in weigh really stop some of the damage and kills very well.

162 gn Hornady BTSP, have hit many many deer with that bullet in an old 7 mag I used to have.
It was very accurate and gave excellent penetration and expansion.

Gunner

Hi Bob,

Almost all of the deer in our area (Soutwest Mississippi and all along the river) are descendants of whitetails that were brought in from Wisconsin in the 30's.

Big difference between them and a Texas buck regarding size. Combine this with the fact that these deer live in a rich agricultural area and have excellent native food sources and you end up with some big animals if allowed to reach maturity.

JM: I thought some of those deer you have posted pics of looked sorta big to me...

Now I know why!

The problem you are running into is that the "soft" bullet you used was going too fast. None of the cup and core bullets work well at much over 2800 fps.
You can deal with this either one of two ways. Slow down your favorite 120-160 gr. standard bullet or run a premium at maximum velocity.
I kinda like the "slow down the standard bullet approach." That comes from killing lots of stuff with the 7X57, the .280 and a couple of 7mm magnums. Using a fast powder, you get less recoil as well. E

We've killed loads of big whitetail and mule deer with Hornady 139 gr SST's, IB's, and soft points and several others. It's just a deer......they're easy to kill.

John M......it would probably surprise lots of folks to know that the bucks we've killed over the past 12 years, way up in the TX Panhandle, have an avg. field dressed weight of 170lbs.

My mistake JG. I was referring to the South Texas bucks that I had hunted with Steve Kennedy some years back.

One thing you guys have most everyone beat on is symmetry. Our deer don't net score very well because they lack the symmetry you guys have in spades.

Best,

Jm

I'm just poking fun at you JM. You've been around the block enough to know what you're talking about. I don't question that.

I have used 160 Accubonds in a 7 Mag with good results,before that I used 160 Sierras and 160 Partitions.

They all worked and all exited close or far.


Before that I used 150 Core Lokts,they were often under the hide of the far side of dead critters.

These four bullets killed a bunch of critters over the years without any problems for me,mostly dead right there.

I think I will try a box of Federal Premium 160 Accubonds, I have searched and not many factory loads available using this bullet, a Nosler factory load is the only other I could find, I quit reloading many years ago and sold all My equipment as I didn't really shoot enough to fool with it, and when the premium factory loads that we have today hit the market I found that several were as accurate as My reloads in any given rifle.................HB

VA, I have shot those on occasion. Look and make sure the nickel plating is not flaking off at the mouth of the case or you may possibly stick a case in the chamber.

Don't ask me how I know....

They're fine, just be sure to check and make sure the nickel isn't peeling before you chamber one.

Best,

JM

No need to get fancy on Deer, there just not that tuff. I have been getting really good results with Federal Fusion factory ammo. I use the 150gr in my 30-06. I know they make a 150gr, 7mm Rem Mag load as well. They are accurate, and expand but don't explode...nice silver dollar sized whole through the rib cage..
just my $.02

Thanks JM, I will give each cartridge a looking over before I chamber a round............Mark, I think for the cheap ammo you are right, the Federal Fusion stuff is very effective, I have taken a few medium size does with the 165 Grain .300 WSM stuff with very good results, both had nice exit holes, I have also been curious as to how Winchesters new Power Max bonded ammo performs it is also very reasonable at Wally's...............HB

The 7 Mag load I have been using on deer has 160 grain sierra game kings sitting on top of some good ol H4831. So far they have done a great job.

Try the Sierra 160 SBT it just works.
Mouse

It's hard to beat the 175gr Hornady SP interlock. Works perfectly in 7x57 and 7mm mag.