7mm mag loads and bullet recommendations

[Hardware]

I'm not taking it as an attack.

I only posted part of the article but if read you can push these bullets to fast causing performance issues. Below is the full article if you want to read. I think some of the negative reports could be caused by the user pushing the velocity to high resulting in less than stellar results.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html

This load has worked great for me since I only use on 200+ pound animals at distances under 300 yards.

[Shane]

I'm not taking it as an attack.

I only posted part of the article but if read you can push these bullets to fast causing performance issues. Below is the full article if you want to read. I think some of the negative reports could be caused by the user pushing the velocity to high resulting in less than stellar results.

https://www.ballisticstudies.com/Knowledgebase/Effective+Game+Killing.html

This load has worked great for me since I only use on 200+ pound animals at distances under 300 yards.

I'm sure they can work well when you're in their narrow sweet spot where bullet size, bullet velocity and animal size all match up just right. But you can't always control all of your shot opportunities when you're out hunting. Sometimes you get an opportunity that is outside the sweet spot for these bullets. You can control which animal you decide to shoot at, and you can base it on body size. You can control shot distance, and you can limit yourself to distances that your load will maintain high enough velocities for your bullet to perform as needed - even if you are capable of shooting accurately at longer distances. I'm sure the bullets have killed lots of deer. And if you're happy with those trade-offs because you like these types of bullets, that's cool.

But, for me, I'll stick with bullets that perform well in a wider variety of situations so that I can shoot any animal I want to shoot at that is in my effective range, based on my shooting skill and not a bullet's narrow range of effective performance. I might want to shoot a doe or a 50# pig at 40 yards. I might want to shoot a big buck at 400 yards. I don't want to have to pass due to having a bullet in my gun that might run a risk of a bad result in a given situation.

If you like them and do well with them in your hunting situations, I'm certainly happy for you to use them. They're just not for me.

[SabreKiller]

My model 70 that I purchased after they came back out with the controlled round feed loved the 162 grain Hornady BTSP and a max load of IMR 4831. I don't remember the recipe because I sold that gun after coming back from a Dall sheep hunt with it.

My only other 7 Rem mag, a Browning 1885, likes both the 145 and the 160 Speer Grand Slam over max charges of either IMR 4350 or 4831.

My 7 RSAUM loves the 140 Barnes TTSX over 59.0 grains of IMR 4350 and a Remington 9-1/2 primer. At 3070 FPS it kills like lightning.

For the TTSX debate, I've killed a LOT of critters with the 90 grainer in 257 Roberts and the 140 grain pill in 7 SAUM and I've never had anything take more than a step after being hit. I killed two aoudad with one shot with the 140 gr. at 186 yards. Everything has been high shoulder shots and they go straight down. The only critter that's ever taken more than a step was a big whitetail spike that I double lunged instead of high shoulder and he ran about 30 yards before piling up. Entry and exit holes aren't going to be huge and I've never recovered one. It doesn't really matter to me because the critter is dead anyway. I'm sold on Barnes bullets, but I don't load them for every caliber I have.

[Shane]

True. With good shot placement, it doesn't matter a whole lot what bullet you use. I dang sure wouldn't want to get shot with an all copper bullet or a lead/copper bullet.

[Shane]

Years ago, I used to use Sierra GameKings. They were great bullets. About 10 years ago, the last time I loaded some in my .240 Weatherby, I guess I got a bad batch of them. I shot 3 deer with them, and all 3 of those bullets fell completely apart. I dug empty copper jackets and small lead fragments out of all 3 of those deer. I pulled the rest of the bullets and replaced them with Partitions, and I haven't used the GKs since.

But even though I didn't like what the bullets did when they hit the deer, all 3 deer were DRT when I shot them. We probably do overthink a lot of the bullet debates. I imagine that any decent bullet that your gun will shoot accurately will improve your odds of getting the kind of shot placement you want, and that will improve the odds of a good end result.

I still like AccuBonds and Partitions though.

[SabreKiller]

Years ago, I used to use Sierra GameKings. They were great bullets. About 10 years ago, the last time I loaded some in my .240 Weatherby, I guess I got a bad batch of them. I shot 3 deer with them, and all 3 of those bullets fell completely apart. I dug empty copper jackets and small lead fragments out of all 3 of those deer. I pulled the rest of the bullets and replaced them with Partitions, and I haven't used the GKs since.

But even though I didn't like what the bullets did when they hit the deer, all 3 deer were DRT when I shot them. We probably do overthink a lot of the bullet debates. I imagine that any decent bullet that your gun will shoot accurately will improve your odds of getting the kind of shot placement you want, and that will improve the odds of a good end result.

I still like AccuBonds and Partitions though.

I got the same result with a 130 gr Sierra Gameking out of a 270. Hit the deer in the neck and found pieces of the jacket between his shoulder blades
near the spine. I haven't used them since.

I like 130 Accubonds in my 6.5 Swede and my 6.5 PRC. Swift Sciroccos in my Swede looks like a murder scene.