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Originally posted by kk:
So the question is obvious: why would a hot cartridge like the 7 mm Rem. Mag. run out of gas after 18 inches or so of soft tissue?

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I'd say the bullet over-expanded due to the high impact velocity and the fact that it was too lightly constructed. I'd say it was a 140-150 gr., just due to the fact that most(not all)160 gr. bullets are built stoutly enough to hold together on deer.

I'd say the bullet didn't fail, but without seeing it or knowing it's retained weight, it's nearly impossible. If it expanded so much that it came too a stop inside the animal, it obviously expanded quite wide, or fragmented. This bullet would have been better for a broadside shot, but a tougher design is needed for a quartering away shot, or any shot that requires deep penetration.

If you could give us more info, like bullet weight and type, it would be easier to find out maybe what happened. If it was a Ballistic Tip, I'd say it performed as intended. If it was a tougher style, I'd say it failed. Couldn't of been a Partition, they don' fail

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Originally posted by Harry:
Then again there is that old saying, "At what point in the death of the animal did the bullet fail?"

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Originally posted by todbartell:
I'm sure if he was shooting a Nosler Partition in this instance, the deer would of made it much less than the "several hundred yards" it did cover, with a good blood trail to boot from the exit.[/QB]

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I agree with the Nosler partitions, they are my favorite soft point bullet in everything up to 375 H&H. What I don't understand is this facination with blood trails, I'm 66 years old, and have been shooting deer since the age of six, and I have only had to follow one deer by blood trail in my life. He was shot at nearly 400 yds,in the bottom of "THE HOLE", a canyon we have killed many large muledeer over the years, and jumped at the same time the trigger was pulled, hitting him too far back, still he only made about 50 yds, before dieing. Most drop in their tracks, or stumble no more than a few feet! Then, again, I wouldn't shoot at running deer that was not already wounded! Maybe that's why I haven't had to trail any!

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Originally posted by Ray, Alaska:
If he would have used a solid bullet, then it is possible the bullet would have passed right through the deer.

I hope I have been of some help on this subject.

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Ray, I could be wrong but Alaska is the only state I'm aware of that allows the use of solid, non-expanding bullets on game animals. Does anyone else out there know of a state that allows solids on deer?

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Originally posted by eldeguello:
For a bullet of any given construction, except for perhaps a long, roundnose solid that is well stabilized, the faster it goes, the less it penetrates. (This is true down to a speed of around 1500 FPS or so.) An expanding bullet "loses sectional density" the more it expands.

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Correct, but a Nosler will expand until it hits the "Partition", then the forward part(ogive) of the jacket peels back along the shank of the bullet. Recovered Partitions usually have a pretty small foward area, not too much more than a caliber. That is why the NP has such a good reputation for deep penetration. Nosler has come out with a remedy for this problem(I guess it's not really a problem ), with the CT Partition Gold, with the beefed up front jacket. Supposed to have a "larger diameter" mushroom. Game I've shot with the Golds were just as dead as the ones taken with the regular 'ol Partitions.

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Originally posted by kk:
He was using 150-gr. Federal factory loads. He had also written to Federal, and they had responded that he should try using the 175 gr.

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