7mm Bullets for Whitetail

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jethro75

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I started reloading just after deer season last year and I am loading sierra Gameking 160 grain HPBT's in a 7mm stw. I friend told me of some bad experience with them at close range deer because the jacket is thin and made to expand at long range, so at close range they really open up fast with poor penitration and sierra doesent make a prohunter in 160. Has anyone else had any experience with this and what would be a good middle bullet one that preforms good close to far on deer.
 
nosler accubonds

My buddy at work swears by them. He shoots a 7mm Rem though. I dont know how they would shoot in your rifle, but they are probably worth looking into.
 
Nosler Partitions...standard by which others are judged

I'd suspect most anything "controlled expansion", but you can pretty much end the search at Partitions if they shoot in your gun
 
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At the velocities of the STW, any of the bonded bullets would be my recommendation. I use Hornadys Interbonds and expansion has been excellent at my closest shot at 45 yds to the longest at 280 yds.
 
I've used 140 gr. 7mm Nosler "Accubonds" in my 7mm STW @ 3300+fps and the same bullet @ 3150fps in a 7mm WSM. Accuracy is on par with "Ballistic Tips"-which is outstanding. I did experience bullet "blowup"/inadequate penetration with a 140 gr. "Ballistic Tip" out of the 7mm STW. Shot was @ close range-80+-yds. and struck shoulder of Whitetail, lousy penetration.
 
Thanks for all the help. I think I am going to go with the 160gr Accubonds. I got out my box of Federal Premiums yesterday to see what they were loaded with(couldent remember) ,because I shot three deer last year from 60 yards to 228 yards and dropped all three in there tracks with great penitration and expansion. Got the box and it said 160gr Nosler Accubonds.
 
I would like to know what is meant by "lousy penetration." Did the deer die at some point during the hunting encounter? If the deer died, I would say penetration was adequate.

I also think too much is made of expansion. Elephants and Cape Buffalo are taken with solids that aren't supposed to expand at all. Then there are the cast bullet users whose bullets don't expand much but get excellent penetration. I would take penetration over expansion any day. If you put a hole in the right place, the deer will die expansion or no expansion.

If they shoot accurately in you gun, I would recomment Barnes Triple Shocks. Great expansion and penetration and no lead to poison the meat. The ideal would be violent expansion in the vitals of an animal with no exit on the off side. That's hard to do consistently. The result can be a huge exit hole with a lot of ruined meat (if you care about that).
 
One case was when he was using his 7mm rem. The first shot at about 60 yards hit the shoulder knocked the deer down and it got up and ran the second shot was put behind the shoulder and finished the job. He said when he removed the hide the bullet just flattened on the shoulder and never went through it. He called sierra and they told him well it’s a long range bullet it’s thin so it opens up at long range. At close range it opens faster.

That’s why I want something that’s going to perform well far and near. I hunt Public lands and if I get a shot at a buck especially early season when there are a lot of people around I go for the through the shoulder shot to anchor it so it doesn’t run 100 yards or so down over the hill and then you hear bang, bang, bang, bang. Then you don’t have to worry about following the blood trail to the guy tagging the deer with one hole in it saying it fell when he was shooting at it. It’s happened to me and friends.
 
In general: Boat-tail bullets have thinner jackets than flat-base of the same weight. I found that the Sierra 150-grain SPBT would blow up in a mule deer's neck at 30 yards. MV around 3,000 ft/sec.

The Sierra folks, in a thread about this issue back at TFL, said that the SPBT does better for impacts below some 2,800 ft/sec That fit in with my success on deer out beyond 100 and 200 yards, where the SPBT performed as desired.

Not at all knocking premium bullets, but picking the right design in a standard bullet can give very good results.

Art
 
Did the deer die at some point during the hunting encounter? If the deer died, I would say penetration was adequate.

A part of the sportsman's oath says to use the tool most likely to effect a quick and clean kill. Penetration is very important. A gaping wound only 3" deep is torture, not in line with sportsmanlike principles.

That said, my vote is for the Nosler Accubond or Hornady Interbond at 7mm STW velocity levels.
 
Lousy penetration in this case meant: Bullet blew up on interior of shoulder, resulting in about 6" penetration-MASSIVE superficial wound. I proved to my satisfaction that I won't push a 140 gr. Ballistic Tip at 3300+fps and hunt deer. Yes, the deer "died at some point in- blah, blah", as a result of me blood trailing and putting an additional rd. in his neck.
 
I've been shooting the 7mm STW in 2 Laredo's and 1 700 for 4 years now and have found that any bullet works great, even the nosler 140 ballistic tip.A spine shot at 300+ yards drops deer fast, with any bulklet-providing you don't want ALL the backstrap:evil: . That stated, hornady AMAX work best @ max speeds(for me). But I usually shoot below top speeds and get desired accuracy with 7828 and plain old (cheap:eek: ) remy bulk bullets. The STW round is pretty much enuff gun any way you slice it. I don't want to step on any toes, but after shooting deer with just about every caliber up to 376 styer, I've realized that some of them just don't play by the rules:scrutiny:
 
I never had trouble with the 140gr Combined Technology Ballistic Tips at 3400fps. The newer Ballistic Tips have a much tougher jacket than the original runs.

I did, however, have a 160gr Partition grenade in a doe at a velocity much less.

Either way, most deer just fold up with this caliber......at least the one's I've shot in the last 15 years with it.
 
I've been using either Rem. 150 gr. Core Lokt or Win. 150 gr. Power Point type bullets for my 7mm Mag. They get the job done with proper shot placement and are a lot cheaper than premium bullets, which makes it more affordable to practice with. There are better bullets, but there are no better cheaper bullets:eek: !
 
berettashotgunner; guess you haven't shot a deer with the 140 gr. B.T. 3400 fps @ 40 yds. Perhaps Nosler has "beefed up" their B.T's., but I'll stick with a "bonded" bullet in case I get another extreme close shot.
 
I have not shot (AT) a deer inside of 255 yards in a few years with a STW. I usually take the 270 with me when they are close. I hunt a open area- and I mean wide open. I don't think I'll get a close shot anytime soon, but I stay away from the combined technology bullets just because they always go thru deer from this caliber and the hole out has been way too small for my liking, but to each his own. I'd like to see a h.p. bullet about 145gr just because it ( 6mm 70 gr hornady HP)worked in the 243 my kids used . And that load was very fast 3200+
 
I've shot deer under 50 yards with the CT Ballistic Tips with no problems. They actually hold up better than Partitions at that range. The Nosler Ballistic Tips wore thin jackets for a few years and then got beefed up quite a bit. They never lost the stigma, though.

I've shot some bonded bullets, but quit after a Swift Scirroco pretty much failed to open up a all at 400 yards and I almost couldn't track a lung shot buck.

For softball exit holes the 139gr Hornady spire point is the supreme champion out to 300 yards.
 
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