7mm Rem mag: Remington vs Hornady

[Texas Pride]

I am planning a South Georgia deer hunt around Christmas, and am planning on bringing my primary hunting rifle (Rem. 700 CDL) 7mm Rem Mag. I handload my rifle rounds, and was wondering what the consensus is for whitetail.

I have two bullet types that are appropriate for deer-sized game: the 140grn Remington Core-lokt Ultra Bonded and the 139grn Hornady Interlock. Which do you think is better in a 7mag for whitetail, and what ideal velocities should I be looking for?

I know some think a 7mag is a bit overgunned for whitetail, but I reduce my loads to fit my purpose. I don't plan on using anything near max loads. I know each bullet was designed with an ideal velocity in mind, and am wondering what those velocities are for these two.

I use H414 if anyone has a specific load they wish to share.

 

[flipajig]

Call Remington and hornady and they can help you with the velocitie isue as for the 140 or 139 bullet eather should be fine. I called both and Rem said that I need 2500 for a 140 corloc and hornady said I needed 2500 for a 120 grn SP for my 7-30 waters I cant obtain these velocities out of a 15in barrel so ive swiched to a 140 grn Nosler BT. I hope this helped.

 

[MCgunner]

I'd just shoot what's accurate. I've taken 5 deer (one mulie) with 7 mag and found the 150 Sierra Game King the most accurate and it worked. I don't seen deer as hard to kill with any good bullet from the 7 mag. I strive for accuracy, whatever your gun likes.

 

[dakotasin]

i am a fan of hornady bullets, and have used the 139's in my 7 rem mag in the past to kill deer.

i have shifted all of my 7's over to 162's, however, to capture better long range performance.

i don't download any of my hunting rifles. i run 'em at full honk, and i thoroughly enjoy the whoop-ass the 7 rem mag delivers.

 

[hardluk1]

Don't for get Hornady's 139Gr SST bullet. It is more like a toughend up BT and has worked well for me for some years. They also have there Heavy Mag version if hunting clear cuts where shots can reach out a bit longer. I can shoot a 300yard zero and say under 6 low at 400yards with the HM load and 2" groups.

 

[Texas Pride]

Thanks for all the tips. I emailed both companies and will post their answers here for future reference. I purchased 100 of the Remingtons for the hunt, but I received 300 of the Hornady bullets as part of their "Stay Loaded" promotion, and figured I'd do the research to decide which is the better choice. Letting my rifle decide based on accuracy is definitely a good way to go, but assuming they show equal accuracy I want to use whichever will work best on my game.

It's funny though, usually asking a question of X bullet vs Y bullet results in many people claiming that X bullet will barely pierce the skin of a squirrel, while Y bullet will act as a heat-seeking missile and drop any animal in its tracks, and an equal number of people claiming the exact opposite. The consensus here seems to be that either is a good choice. Must be a good sign.

 

[sumpnz]

I don't have a 7mm, but I did use the 6.5mm Hornady 140gr Spire Point to kill a fork-horn blacktail deer a couple weeks ago. Those western WA blacktail should as big or bigger than your whitetails on average if my understanding of TX deer size is at all accurate. I didn't chrono the load, but I'd estimate, based on load manual numbers, that 2700fps is probably pretty close.

From 50ish yards, one shot shattered both front legs and between bullet and bone fragments left about 4 holes in the off side hide. If that's anything to go by I'd have no qualms using the 139gr 7mm bullet for your hunt. I've never shot anything (besides paper) with the Core-lokt's but they have a reputation for similar performance. I'd echo the recommendation to go with the bullet that gives you the best accuracy. FTR, that's how I wound up with the 140gr Hornady's when I did the same thing ahead of my hunting season. I had hoped the 129gr Hornady's or the 120 Speer's would have met that criteria as I had more of them on hand, and in truth would have probably been more appropriate for the shot on that deer. But I was also hoping for an east side mule deer, where shots in the area I was at start at 125 yards and go up from there.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

For whitetails, it isn't going to matter. I will say this though. I used a 165 gr Remington corlokt in my .30-06 and took a 6 point whitetail at about 170 yds this year. I shot him in the shoulder quartering towards me and the bullet went through almost the entire deer. There was a knot on the off side where the bullet was almost coming throught the hide. I removed it and it was mushroomed perfectly to over twice it's normal size, with very good weight retention. It performed perfectly. It was a factory load by the way.

 

[nastynatesfish]

I used the 154 interlock and the sst bullets in my 7 and with 65 gr of reloader 19 it runs 3100. I switched to the barnes 120 and 140 gr tipped ts bullets and I killed a 8x7 mulie in nov 5 at 450yrds and was a pass through the neck and back shoulder. my gun is more accurat with the 120s than the 154s also

 

[ColeK]

I'd load a few of both with about 62 grs IMR 4831. And take what shot best.

 

[MCgunner]

I used to shoot H4831, but RL22 does a bit better for me. 150 at 3200 fps with MOA accuracy and very consistent (low) standard deviation of shot strings.

 

[JimKirk]

My son shot a 7mm mag until he traded for a Win 270 WSM. He killed plenty of deer with it using both of the bullets you have, both worked great. He also shot Nosler 140 gr partition, Sierra 140 gr gamekings. The Nosler 140 gr BT(old style) is the only one that he had problems with, they either blew up before doing much damage or they blew the shoulder all to peices(bloodshot). I hear that they have made the BT more robust as far as jacket thickness. Don't down load too far or you lose the flat trajectory and GA deer are not all bambi sized either.

Jimmy K

 

[ColeK]

Quote; MCgunner, Today, 06:12 PM
“I used to shoot H4831, but RL22 does a bit better for me. 150 at 3200 fps with MOA accuracy and very consistent (low) standard deviation of shot strings.”


MC, you are correct about RL22. A max or very near max load will get a 150 gr bullet to 3200 fps.
H4831 is also a very good powder for a 7RM.

 

[shaggy430]

Either will do fine on deer. My favorite 7 mm Mag Load is 150 gr Nosler Partition over a max load of IMR4350.

 

[Texas Pride]

Factory Responses

As promised, here are the responses from Remington and Hornady concerning ideal velocities:

Remington: Thank you for you interest in Remington, factory specs for this bullet are as follows muzzle-3175, 100yds-2934, 200yds- 2707, 300yds-2490, 400 yds 2283, and 500yds 2086. I hope this helps. Aaron

Hornady: Steve, I like the rounds to have a muzzle velocity between 2900 and 3000 fps. Thanks

So it looks like they're pretty close in requisite velocity, enough so that it shouldn't make any difference in selection. If I were having trouble getting them up to speed, I might side with Hornady. Tomorrow I go to test fire several loads with each of them. Whichever shoots the tightest group with my rifle will serve as my deer load this year.

Thanks for all the info.

 

[hardluk1]

I never had much interest in loading my hunting loads as i don't shoot that many a year and i found that hornady's sst 139gr heavy mag was so accurate that i have never changed. It will shoot bt well but do like the way the sst works ,up close or way out. Now there comeing out with some light and fast barnes x loads for tough game ,will have to try them.

 

[tommyintx]

my brothers 7mag likes 61 grains of 4831SC out of a 140 nosler btip.. 3083 fps.
the 139 sst is pretty much identical. the load i posted is a medium load.. start about 57.5 and work up.

 

[Horsemany]

I don't see the need for Corelokt "ultra bonded". I'd use standard corelokt first. There's no need for a tough bullet on a Georgia whitetail and you'd benefit from more mushroom IMO. Between the two I'd still got with the Interlock.

 

[Texas Pride]

After doing my testing today, I absolutely agree Horsemany. Not only did my rifle like the Interlock better in terms of accuracy (about .7 MOA at 100 yards using sandbags), but my loads are running just over 2900fps at max loading, and I don't trust the "ultra bonded" to open at that velocity. I could of course buy a new powder and work up new loads, but this close to my hunt I'd rather just go with the bullet designed for those velocities. Load is chosen, scope is sighted, deer are praying.

 

[Todd1700]

I use the Hornady interlock 117grain bullet in my Tikka 25-06 and it is really a very accurate bullet. Hard not to like them when they shoot like this for ya.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Either will work equally well. My preference would be the Hornady as most of the deer are under 200lbs.

In S. Georgia, the big question usually is whether to use a "NightBlaster" or "Q-beam" spotlight, and whether or not to run from the gamewarden.................
Both are bad choices........
Sorry, couldn't avoid a little humor.......

 

[Tang419]

I really like the Hornady Interlocks. They don't have a super BC, but they work well, and have always proven accurate. My wife's 7mm Rem Mag likes the 154gr Interbonds though.

 

[JimKirk]

In S. Georgia, the big question usually is whether to use a "NightBlaster" or "Q-beam" spotlight, and whether or not to run from the gamewarden.................
Both are bad choices........
Sorry, couldn't avoid a little humor.......

Next big question is... if I shoot that deer with the Qbeam and he runs into that big "mary jane patch" .....do I just go in ....and take a chance getting shot myself.....or ....call the game warden .....to get my deer

Jimmy K

 

[GooseGestapo]

Depends on whose grass patch it is, and how bad do you want to make GON's "hall of shame".......

 

[Texas Pride]

I just returned from the hunting trip. Though the Interlocks were perfect for the job, those deer prayers must be mighty powerful. 3 days of waiting patiently, and all I saw was a few squirrels, a rabbit, and a woodpecker. Hunting at this time of year is never promising, but I was still expecting something to show up. Next year I'll be able to get out there at the beginning of the season, instead of the end.

At least I had the right tools for the job, if the opportunity had presented itself. Thanks for all the input.