A friend asked if I could help him set up a load for a 7mm Remington that would just not shoot factory ammo consistently. I have never loaded for the 7 Mag so I thought I would ask if there were certain powders that seemed to work better than others with this caliber.
I have 140gr and 150gr Nosler Balistic tips on hand as well as a few 140gr Swift A-Frames and 154gr Hornady Interlocks. He is looking for a load to use for deer hunting on a powerline right of way where he could shoot up to 300yds+-.

For deer either the 140 or 150BT will work fine. My powder preference is MRP or RL22 another choice is 7828. Every 7mag I have loaded for prefered slow powders.

160 Accubonds in my 7Mag over H4831 with mag primers

IMR 4831 & Fed 215 Mag primers works well with 140 grain Hornady interlocks & NBTs in my 7mm Rem Mag. Just over 3000FPS per chrono, which is more than enough for TN whitetails. I use around 63 grains which is close to the Hornady book max. I think there is still a little room to increase in the Hodgdon 2010 manual, which uses a 140 gr Sierra bullet.

I have several pounds of RL22, H4831 and IMR4831 on hand so it sounds like those are the ones I will start with. For deer, I think the 140's and 150's should be just fine. Thanks.

quote:

160 Accubonds in my 7Mag over H4831 with mag primers

X2 Mine likes 59.0 grains Federal or Winchester Mag primer an once again is SMOA using it .

This one seemed to work pretty well for me:

+1 for the 140 or 150 grain NBT's and are the perfect whitetail medicine.

The flatter trajectory is worth trying the 140's first.

I've had 4 different 7mags. None were fussy.

My favorite load is 68.0gr imr7828 under a 160gr Nosler Partition. Work up to that.

How much difference would there be between a 140 and say a 160 at 300 yards?

I appreciate the help. I tried 63.5gr of H4831 with the 150gr NBT's with 3.30"OAL and the first group measured .45" in a perfect triangle. The 140's would shoot sub 1" but the gun seemed to really like the 150's. Since he needs it for hunting a powerline next week, I plan to load a number of rounds with the 63.5gr of H4831 with the 150's and zero it for 200yds this weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
How much difference would there be between a 140 and say a 160 at 300 yards?

Not enough to worry about. When I was rifle poor. I used the partition 160gr for both deer, and elk. I wouldn't shoot the BT's at animals bigger than deer. Others might.

Looks like you found your load on the first try ES.

At one time I use to go to the range, and sight in between deer, and elk season because I shot 140 sierras for deer, and 160 NP's for elk. The first elk I shot was with a 140 sierra. I had to chase him around a bit because the sierra blew up on the shoulder. I made the change to the Noster Partition the next year.

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Originally posted by da_sidewinder:

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
How much difference would there be between a 140 and say a 160 at 300 yards?

Not enough to worry about. When I was rifle poor. I used the partition 160gr for both deer, and elk. I wouldn't shoot the BT's at animals bigger than deer. Others might.

Looks like you found your load on the first try ES.

At one time I use to go to the range, and sight in between deer, and elk season because I shot 140 sierras for deer, and 160 NP's for elk. The first elk I shot was with a 140 sierra. I had to chase him around a bit because the sierra blew up on the shoulder. I made the change to the Noster Partition the next year.

A wise move. I have seen such bullets blow up on elk ribs & not completely penetrate on broadside shots. Loading the 160gr NP for everything solves the problem for deer & elk combo hunts. Not enough drop diff between 140gr & 160gr to matter much out to even 400yds, my self imposed limit for hunting.
I also like H4831sc & 140-150gr bullets if just after deer, but still prefer a bonded or other premium bullet if you think shots may be under 150yds or so. High vel impacts require that IMO.

My question was retorical.


I've never seen a bullet "blow up" on an animal but then, I'm a born again believer in heavy for calibre bullets. In the case of the 7mag, I shoot a stout load of 4350 behind a 160gr NP. With it, I've killed antelope to elk. Find your good load, learn it's ballistics by actual shooting, and use it for everything.
The difference in drop between a 140 and a 160 at 300 yards when sighted in at 200 yards is about an inch. Most of these folks that think using a light for calibre bullet at warp speed will trump proper range estimations are pretty much kidding themselves.

Speaking from personal experience, I was next to my uncle when he shot a doe at 100 yards using my hand loaded 160 grain Nosler Partitions from a 7mm mag. The load for reference was 64 grains of Rel. 22 for Approx. 3100 fps. The Doe was hit perfectly double lung center chest behind the shoulders. She was knocked clean off her feet but got back up and ran another 20 yards. The fact that she could get back up tells me that the bullet was to big for deer by failing to expand enough. I think that it is the perfect elk or larger load but the deer size critters don't offer enough mass for such a bullet.

All bullets kill from the too small to the too large but there is an optimum zone that is perfect for a given situation. The 150 Gr. Nosler Ballistic tip would have been a much better choice and would have expanded that much quicker destroying more tissue in the process making it that much more difficult for the deer to get back up. Unfortunately, like many of us, he couldn't be persuaded.

Everyone wants that one bullet to do it all but I don't believe there is just one. Just like one golf club can't finish a round of play selecting a bullet should be on par with selecting a club and it isn't like theres a lack of choices. I am a big fan of the nosler Ballistic tip and it has proven itself quit effectively across a wide range of critters for decades but it has its limitations.

Did you track the wound channel thru the deer and are sure the bullet penciled thru w/o expanding?
Shooting to the big middle, ie double lung shots, often allow the animal to travel quite a distance before falling. who knows, perhaps with a lessor cartridge the deer wouldn't have lost it's footing.
Folks that try to compare golf to hunting or even shooting are suspect. Your analogy of one golf club versus one bullet doesn't compute. Sorry.