bullet questions 7mm rem mag

[robertsjd]

hey guys so last season '2013' I shot a deer at 460 yards with my 7mm rem mag with a 150 grain federal nosler balastic tips... prior in 2013 I shot a bear at 420 yards and dropped him with a shot through the shoulder and exiting through the neck he didn't move . but on the deer however he ran about 400 yards and died . but I was not able to find him until 12 hours later on the next day ... shot him at 6:00pm and recoverd him the next morning and he was eaten by one of the FEW  methow valley cougars  ...so my question is should I try something else ? I feel like these balastic tips are just punching through animals and not doing tons of damage? I shot 3 bears and 3 deer with the same exact bullet in the past 3 years and all of them have just passed straight through the animal leaving no severe wounds ... just nice placed shots besides this deer in 2013 ... I made a good shot on him he fell hard really hard rolled 2 times down hill tried getting up chin on ground front legs under belly kicking finally got his feet under him and made it into heavy timber cover and laid and died .. I just wasn't impressed with these balastics tips any suggestions ?? yayayay I know shot placement shot placement shot placement I know but wouldn't hurt to have some help from a bullet ;p thanks for any input guys appreciate it few pics of 2013 bear straight pass through

[deaner]

hornady sst bullets do some serious damage.   see if you can get them to shoot from your gun maybe

[arrowflinger]

I have heard the Ballistic Tips will exploded. I shot a deer at 420 and there was shrapnel all thru the body cavity. It was a 120gr out of a .264 Win Mag. I'm reloading for my 7mm Rem Mag and using 140gr ttsx bullets. just my 

[bobcat]

I doubt you'll find a bullet that will expand better than a 150 grain Ballistic Tip out of a 7 mag. I sure wouldn't think there's any way that bullet at that speed would pass through without doing any damage. For longer range shooting I might suggest a heavier bullet because it will have a higher ballistic coefficient, so wind will have less affect. You could also go with a bonded bullet that will retain more weight. The 160 grain Nosler Accubond would be my first choice.

[Bob33]

I'm not a fan of ballistic tip bullets. They are designed to shed half of their weight, creating secondary projectiles within the animal. If the remaining half of the bullet hits something solid it may fail to penetrate or veer off course.

That said, drawing conclusions about any bullet based on one incident is a fool's mission.

[PlateauNDN]

Hornady sst.

[buckfvr]

Take the time to read this...........
http://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/7mm+Remington+Magnum.html

[robertsjd]

Thanks everyone I might just try some sst in 2014 )

[deaner]

Finding the perfect bullet when you are regularly shooting almost 500 yards is a tough find.  There are a lot more variables when that bullet starts to drop below 2,000 fps.  One of the better 7mm shooters I hunt with shoots SST's with great success and performance at that distance.  My 7RM guns hate it!  Not sure exactly why   If I were to shoot at animals at that distance regularly I might have to start looking at the new AccuBond LR.  Gives you some low and high velocity security most of the others do not.  And my gun likes it!  Though I don't expect I'll be doing much 500 yard shooting at big game animals.

looks like this guys shooting tends to put him in the 400-500 yard range, which is where the sst shines, as far as what ive heard and read.  sounds like it doesnt really perform the way its supposed to until about 300 yards or so.  but i will tell you, i shot my whitetail with a 300wm 180gr sst at just a hair over 100 yards this last november, and it put about a golf ball sized gaping hole in the far side of that deers chest.  pretty impressive for not having reached the proper range / velocity for its peak performance.  that buck sure couldnt tell the difference!

[Greenhorn]

I use Berger 180gr vld for my 7mm's.  In the last two years I have shot 2 deer and one Elk without any problems of them not expanding.   I do not have much to compare them to though since that is what I mainly hunt with.

Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk

[robertsjd]

wow awesome feedback thank you everyone looks like I have some $$$ to spend at the range this year im going to give some 162gr sst maybe some Amax's aswell a shot this year

[buckfvr]

All thats left to do is find some......................

[robertsjd]

hahaha so true

[jamesjett]

I've shot 7mm for 20 years now. I switched to 150gr TTSX several years ago from Nosler.  I still think Nosler makes a fantastic product but I have had better results with Barnes. I load it with IMR4831.  Dropped all three deer in their tracks with one shot since switching with similar bullet placement. Everyone has their fav's. Mix it up and you will find yours...

[huntnphool]

The 7mm has been my go to caliber for years and I've been fortunate enough to take my share of game with it. I have never needed to hit any of my trophy's with more than one shot using Nosler Partitions, and that includes last years mule deer at 485 yards.