Here's something I've been wondering about for a couple of years. If all conditions were exactly the same, same deer shot placement ect. Using a 270 130 game king @3000 or a 7mm 160 game king @ 3000, would the 7mm cause more damage. I would like to use my 7mm more but also concerned with excess blood shot and such.
Or should I use a premium bullet in the 7mmRM?

Thanks Matt

My recommendation is to shoot a bullet like the Nosler 160 gr. Accubond or 154 gr Hornady Interbond. These bonded core bullets will hold together and not send secondary bullet fragments through the deer. Whatever you do, don't use Nosler Ballistic tips with the 7RM, they will cause way more damage then required to put a deer down. I shot 3 deer with BT and ended up throwing away a good portion of both front shoulders on 2 of them. Went to the 160 grain Accubond and I like the way it works. Much less waste. I now use the 160 grain Accubond in my 7x57 and like it even better.

With the 270, you'll be fine with the SGK.

BigBullet

If you use a good 160 gr. bullet such as the Nosler Partition in your 7mm Remington, meat damage should be no worse that with the .270, at least that's been my experience.

I have killed a great many deer (Coues, mule, and regular whitetails) with premium 180 gr. bullets out of a .300 Win. Mag. at around 3100 fps., and I haven't seen any difference in meat damage between those deer and the ones I've killed with the .270 Winchester, and those 160s out of you 7mm Rem. will behave in about the same manner.

AD

Your example isn't the most fair, because S/D will always favor the smaller calibre when bullets of like weight are compared. A quick check shows that a 130 grain .270 has a S/D of .242, vrs. .287 for the 160 grain 7m/m.

Clearly the 7m/m has the advantage in this case.
It will:
-penetrate better because it's heavier;
-expend less energy in a smaller animals body because it's of a heavier design and is intended for larger animals;
-cause less damage overall with all else remaining equal.

The .270 is a calibre that demands premium bullets, especially so with 130s. 7m/m on the other hand is a favorite of mine -especially with 160s. I do use Game King bullets, in fact I drive them to 3100+ FPS in my Rem. mag. Both the Partition and the Game King shoot to the same point of impact im my rifle.

MHWASH-

I killed two deer this year. One was with my 270 and one with my 7mag. I was sitting in the same spot both times, and the deer both presented me with a shot opportunity while standing in the same exact spot as one another. Talk about coincidence! Obviously, the yardage was the same-160.

Anyhoo, the 270 was loaded with 130gr Nosler BTs at about 3000fps. I hit the doe (very large) right behind the shoulders, and she dropped on the spot. The bullet exited and it appears that it actually held together quite nicely. 270cal hole in, silver dollar sized hole out. I process my deer myself, and I found very little bloodshot meat on that carcass.

The 7mmRemMag was loaded with 175gr Hornady SPs at about 2900. This time, the deer was slightly quartering away, and while the bullet hit him behind the shoulder, it exited just in front of the offside shoulder joint. He ran about 30yards and piled up. The bullet held together quite well, with an exit about the size of my thumb. Upon processing, I found an extreme amount of bloodshot meat. I lost an entire shoulder off of him. The surprising thing though was that the bloodshot area extended almost all the way into one flank!

This is by no means a definitive answer to your question; just my experiences from this season. One kill a piece does not provide enough insight to form a conclusion from.

I'd take whichever suits you at the time. That's what I did.

Regards - Gib

i would take the 7mm over the 270 any day. the rifles are the same weight and the same overall lenght. recoil is not that much more and no more than the average shooter can use. there are more bullets avalible for the 7mm and the bullets are heavyer. i have only shot 3 deer with my 7mm but none of them were shoot all that bad.

the 7mm is flater shooting and it hit harder. i dont see the need for 160gr bullets for deer. shot 2 with 150 swifts and one with 140 nosler bt's. the one that i shot with the nosler took it behind the shoulders and there wasnt that much meat damage to it.

i shot and watched over 25 deer taken with the 270/280/30-06 and the damage was the same with the 7mm. the worest that i saw was a muzzle loader through both shoulder.

my vote is for the 7mm.

Thanks for the replies. I tried working up a load of 160 Partions but the groups were inconsistent. One group would be around an inch then the next would be about 3 inches after the barrel had cooled. The GKs would group around an inch every time.
The rifle is going to the smith next week to get the trigger worked on. Hopefully this will help.
Matt

I've shot deer with both of these calibers and can't tell any difference in killing power or meat damage with any of the loads I've used. Both are great choices for deer.

There are so many fine distinctions on calibers and rifles. Once the bullet is out of the gun I would rather it be .375", starting at 2700 fps and about 270 grs in weight.

However such a load is going to take a heavy rifle to carry around. The standard 270 Win can be had in a Featherweight 22" barrel and that's sort of handy for woods carry and still hunting. Beyond that at longer ranges the 270 WSM and other magnums will hit a little harder.

I've shot more deer with a 7mm mag than any other cartridge and I've always had excellent results. Choosing a good quality bullet is important. This past year I used the 160 gr. Accubond and it worked really well.

Heck, I use a .300 Weatherby more than anything else now and I haven't experienced any excess meat loss with it. Of course I do try to shoot em' behind the shoulders and not through them.

Bloodshot meat and gross tissue damage is more the result of poor bullet selection than calibre.

3000fsp is 300fps & a gameking is a gameking, there would be little diff. in tissure damage. I think you need a better bullet when you are pushing the 300fps envelope unless your targets are along way off (read 300+yds).

Definitely will be using a better bullet in the 7mm. It is what I use for elk. Probably not a better bullet but am going to try 130 sst in the 270.

Matt