7mm mag elk bullet

[elkaholic]

I kinda agree with you there but my thoughts were what would happen when hitting an elk sholder would it bounce off or blast right through.
I always comes down to personal prefference anyway. If one bullet was better than the rest the rest of them would be out of business.

Believe me, an AB will not bounce off of a shoulder! You are correct, there are lots of good choices if used within their window. Good shooting!....Rich

 

[Buano]

I really like the 160 Accubond. Performs well on anything from antelope to elk.

I've had a 160 grain Accubond fail from a 7 mag AT CLOSE RANGE. I shot a large elk at 27'. First shot went behind the shoulder & took out his lungs. Second shot hit the shoulder & the bullet fragmented — with none of it making it to the chest cavity!

An elk can be BIG. Penetration on less than perfect shots can be an issue, so be sure to use bullets that are sure to penetrate.

 

[Guy M]

Yikes! Twenty seven feet is CLOSE! Cool. Rut hunt?

 

[Buano]

Yikes! Twenty seven feet is CLOSE! Cool. Rut hunt?

Yes, it was during the rut. The bull stormed in looking for the cow that had answered his bugle (my guide, Greg Gilchrist, owner of Lake Upsata). I got to watch it for about 2 minutes as it looked around for a horny cow & it never noticed I was there. Afterwards my guide asked what took me so long to shoot & I told him once the elk was in the open that close & my cross-hairs were on it, it wasn't getting away, so I had time to enjoy the experience! That was the closest this outfitter ever had a big bull come in. People were initially more impressed by my ability to hold off shooting for that long than they were about the range.

 

[dakor]

That is exactly why I went to a 338Rum for less then perfect shots at close range. I am not going to count on my 7mm's or 30's making it to the vitals on hard angle heavy bone close range shots that is tough on little bullets. I still love my 7mm's and 30's just for broadside shots which we don't always get.

 

[Guy M]

Yup, a guy can go out with the best of intentions of taking a longish range shot, and end up with a bull in close, real close. I stayed with my 7mm mag for the elk hunt, but went to that long & lethal 175 gr Nosler Partition, just in case.

Barnes TSX's would likely be another good bet, just in case.

Last year I carried a .375 H&H... Just for fun!

Guy

 

[Buano]

Yup, a guy can go out with the best of intentions of taking a longish range shot, and end up with a bull in close, real close. I stayed with my 7mm mag for the elk hunt, but went to that long & lethal 175 gr Nosler Partition, just in case.

Barnes TSX's would likely be another good bet, just in case.

Last year I carried a .375 H&H... Just for fun!

Guy

All three are excellent choices. Partitions are great bullets, and IF a 7 mag will group their 175 grain bullet, it's an excellent choice. I like Barnes bullets, and although some of their earlier bullets occasionally had the petals break off on pass-throughs & made small wound channels, even that's preferable to fragmentation on BIG game. As they are solid copper, they will not fragment.

I've considered my .375 H&H for elk & will likely cary it if hunting timber.

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

Elk hunting with the 7mm I would stick to the premium bullets like the swift a-frame, barnes or some of the monometal bullets out there. The 175 partition mentioned works. These are some of the bullets you can drive through and reach the vitals of a large bull elk without blowing up. These will limit the risk of losing an animal.

 

[sp6x6]

Been so long that I hunted elk with my 7mm, I used to put them down with 175 grand slams, still have some ready to go gun)

 

[1300meters]

yep i have used em and they work but the 168 berger is most accurate so far and is .y.the most predictable on performance. ihaven,t tried yhe new polymer tipped barnes yet. gun) g00d shooting

 

[Long Time Long Ranger]

sp6x6, sorry I forgot the 175 grand slams and a couple more. I'm right with you. You can drive that 175 grand slam through an elk into the vitals from about any decent shot angle.

1300 meters, I have seen the 168 bergers blow into a thousand pieces to often. Not what you want on a big elk. I know of several elk lost because of this.

 

[1300meters]

Ive heard them stories but the ones i have been able to chec they were shooting the vld target bullets. im gonna try some of the barnes polymer tipped bullets. just wonder if there gonna tear up to much meat like the noslers and hornady.gun)1300meters

 

[elkaholic]

Ive heard them stories but the ones i have been able to chec they were shooting the vld target bullets. im gonna try some of the barnes polymer tipped bullets. just wonder if there gonna tear up to much meat like the noslers and hornady.gun)1300meters

Anything that works properly is going to tear up some meat but I agree with LTLR that Bergers and the like are NOT good consistent close range elk bullets. People will argue that point on this forum but sooner or later they will have problems......Rich

 

[338 LEGEND]

Im shooting the 175gr SIERRA spitzer boat tail. Its not to bad for long range work and holds up good for the short stuff. I have tryed the berger 180gr but they dont shoot to good over 3150fps. The 160gr accubond works good out to about 600 but after that the wind starts to work it over. there isnt to many good bullets out there that will cover the gamit of needs im looking for.