Anyone killed a lot of deer with the 7/30 waters. How far was your longest shot. Any bullet failures. What king of velocity are you gtting out of the 90-100 grain bullets? Thanks Jess

Bullet failures: Sierra 120 grain Spitzer - not designed for handgun velocities - zero expansion. Two Pa. whitetails taken at 12 ft. and 62-63 yards. Have changed to Hornady 120 grain SSPB.

TC Nimrod. What kind of velocitys are you getting out of the 7/30 with those 120 Gr. bullets?

You should be able to get 2400-2450 fps (top-end loads) with the Hornady 120 grain SSP or the Nosler 120 grain Ballistic Tip, the only 120 grain bullets truly suitable for deer in the 7-30 and pistol-length barrels. ANother terrific bullet for this round is the Sierra 130 grain SSP. If you prefer more bullet weight or your barrel has a tendency to digest 140 grain bullets much better than anything else, the 140 grain Ballistic Tip does quite well.

The lighter bullets you mention are NOT a good choice for deer and should be relegated to varmints. Given 14-15" barrels, the 7 TCU, 7 BR (XPs only!), 7mm International Rimmed, 7mm Bullberry and 7-30 Waters are peas in a pod when it comes to deer hunting. You'll get solid 200 yard performance, and I've stretched the range a bit beyond that on a couple of occasions.

I should have noted that the velocities I mentioned are possible with a barrel length of 14-15".