my daughter uses a 7x57 to hunt. she is going to hunt Red Deer in the near future and right now i have a bunch of 130 grain Hornady SSTs loaded for her to use. do you think that this bullet is up to this or not? perhaps using the Scirocco or Ballistic Tip would be better?

Bill,
If memory serves me, Hornady designed this bullet for use on game. At the velocities a 7x57 usually operates at, it should be fine, especially if it's placed into the lungs.

George

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Shoot straight, shoot often, but by all means, use enough gun!

Bill,
The red deer near where I live run in at 400 lbs and can take some killing. The 7x57 is fine but that 130 grain pill is as light as I would go.

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Regards

Richard

The 7x57 is a classic deer round which will be fine on Red. Like Richard says, I would not go lighter than 130grain and I would avoid the balistic tip too, but thats just me! I have used standard 150grain Speer Hotcores in .308 and they work fine...I see no reason for your SST not to. Best of luck
to your daughter!

Bill show your daughter this picture.
Kasi shot this bull with a 270 with 130 gr hornady bullet at 2800 fps. Her 130 SST's will work!
Tell you daughter good luck and let us know how she does. As a dad I tell you good luck. It make you feel great as a dad. Ron

[This message has been edited by Idaho Ron (edited 05-18-2002).]

Evidently a 270 is good enough for an Elk if it is in the hands of a lady. Great Elk, daughter, and picture. You should be very proud.

I am. The one thing that she did do was she practiced! She shot over 200 rounds through that gun before we went on the hunt. (Stevens 110)
When we were at the range a lot of guys saw her shoot and she usually shot better than most of the men. The Bull was at 200 yards and never even acted like he was hit. I never heard a WHACK. She told me what the sight picture looked like when she shot. The bull never left a blood trail no nothing. He headed out of a deep canyon and over the ridge. He got to a forrest service fence and couldn't make it over. We never saw him after he went over the hill. We went over to the last place we saw him and he was about 50 yards away right on a old logging road. The guy I was with said he wanted her to buy him a lottery ticket.
Bill another thing you might want to go over with her is shot placement. This link is for bow hunters but it is still shot placement but it is for elk.
http://www.nbef.org/FEATURES1.CFM?featureid=14
One thing kids don't understand is where to shoot for. Like hard quartering shots you have to aim a little farther back than a side shot. I used old Bugle Magazines and clipped out "flash cards" for her and I to study. I think it made a huge difference in her confidence. I told her that she might have to pound him several times to get him down. After it was over she said NOPE just one. This is a picture of her first deer. Ron

Idaho,

Your daughter's trophies would put many men on this board to shame. Including myself! Does she have an older sister? Say....about 30?

Oh...and would your future son-in-law have unfettered access to your guns?

No she doesn't have a older sister "that I know of"
I told her she could not date until she found a boy that has shot a bigger deer and elk than her. I would make a exception if the boys father had several thousand acres of land with whitetails on it. Her gun is just a old stevens 110. She won't even let me use it! Ron

all: thanks for the advice and the information.

Russell: you are correct. the bullets are actually 39 grain, not 130 as i stated. thanks for the input. i'm sure we'll have a good hunt. who knows, my daughter may even get a shot.

Load those 139 grain Hornady's and don't look back. I shoot em in my Remington M7 and they do fine on deer. Only Red Deer I've killed was in Germany back in the mid- 80s' with a .270 Win and 150 grain factory loaded Remington Core-lokts. One shot through the shoulder and out the other side and he went down. Weighed just under 300 lbs. 400 lbs is pretty much the upper limit on a good stag. But their antlers will rival those of a good bull elk!