Exit hole question?

[baldhunter]

I really like the 150gr Nosler Ballistic Tips since Nosler beefed it up from the old days.I'm getting exits and DRT kills.I'm getting similar results with the 160gr Accubond,but I get a little bigger wound channel since it's not bonded.This is from the 150gr mv on this load was around 3100fps out of this rifle with 67.5grs of Reloader-22

 

[bamban]

Not mine, lifted it off errornet. It works well, hunting the senderos in SoTex, where the thick thorny brush and rattler infested on either side of the senderos are no go.

 

[nicholasjohn]

In my experience, smaller exit holes are attributed to bullets that expand with the petals held close to the shank of the bullet.
Good examples of this are Partitions, Vulcans, Hot Cor or Accubonds and Interloks.
I thought this would ring true with Remington Core-Locks, but they seem to give somewhat larger exit holes for me.

The largest exit holes I have witnessed are with Berger bullets.

Cheers.

I have had the same results with Partitions - exit holes that look just like entry holes; lung soup inside the rib cage. I think that you called it correctly about the jacket petals folding back along the shank to make a smaller exit wound. Not much for blood trails, but most of the animals went down right where they were hit and I didn't need a blood trail. I got the same type of performance from the Hornady GMX. They didn't turn the lungs to jelly like the Partitions did, but they scrambled them well enough to make the animals really sick.

By the way - I'm talking about shooting deer with 165 & 180-grain bullets in a 30-06. I started doing this a long time ago when I got tired of the baseball-sized exit wounds I was getting from using 150-grain factory loads in the 308, and throwing away both shoulders due to blood-shot meat. That load was the old "red-box" Federal, with the Hi-Shok bullet. This bullet was said to be a bomb, and when I moved to Montana everybody told me not to shoot elk with it. Of course, I did anyway, and it knocked down elk quite handily. I wouldn't have thought that a bullet that trashed the whole front end of the whitetails I had been shooting with it back in Pennsylvania would be stiff enough for the larger animals, but every one I ever shot into an elk held together well enough to get all the way through the animal. Most were rib cage shots, but I did break a few shoulders here & there. Hitting the shoulder on the way out is what produced most of the really ghastly exit wounds, in both deer and elk.

 

[wardog5]

Wow! I'd have to say I've had the opposite results with my 7 mag! I actually don't hunt Whitetail with it anymore because of the tremendous damage it has done! The best results I ever got was with the 154 SST. Small exit, the lungs where completely liquified and there was a cloud of dust from the deer dropping so hard on the spot! The worst results was completely blowing the front quarter off with a 140!

Ive been shooting the 7mag with 139 BTSP and SST for 40 + years and most where bang flops... maybe I just got lucky.. My 2 cents ...

 

[BoomFlop]

The posts about the 7mm Mag ... did you read my post? Comparing a 7mm Mag to my 7-08 are like comparing a 300 Win to a 308.

I'm looking for better terminal performance from my 7-08.

 

[mnoland30]

I started shooting Barnes Bullets because my butcher put the bullets she found on a tray on the counter. Every single Barnes looked just like the pictures in the magazine. No fragments, no jacket separations. I'm a big believer in high b.c. and high sectional density so I shot 160 gr. in my 7mm RM. I like to shoot SDs over .270. I switched to Bergers in my 7mm WSM, and have shot elk out to 340 yards, deer, javelina, and Barbary Sheep. One sheep made it 40 yards. The others died within a few steps. Years ago I used Nosler Ballistic Tips with good success on deer and sheep, but they exploded. Quick kills and lots of meat damage. Premium bullets are better for magnums, because they hold together at close range and high velocity.

 

[Jason lozier]

For a 7-08 look up Sierra 160 game king BTHP. Ole school smith turned me on to them 4 yrs ago and never looked back. Accurate with RL15

 

[nicholasjohn]

The posts about the 7mm Mag ... did you read my post? Comparing a 7mm Mag to my 7-08 are like comparing a 300 Win to a 308.

I'm looking for better terminal performance from my 7-08.

I think that what these guys may be saying is that they only have experience with the larger 7mm cartridges, and it you want more expansion with 7mm-diameter Hornady bullets, maybe running them at magnum speeds will get you what you're looking for.

I answered previously with comments about a bullet I have extensive experience with in the 308 ( a cartridge you also mentioned in one of your posts ) and it performed like what you suggested you'd like to see. Maybe Federal loads a bullet like that in the 7-08, or maybe trying that load in your 308 will get you where you want to go. A call to Federal might get you some good information, since they are selling their bullets for handloading.

I am a believer in using factory loads to try new bullets. If you don't like the terminal performance, you're not sitting on a nearly-full box of 100 bullets. Nor have you spent four or five range sessions to find out that the bullet doesn't do what you want when it connects with an animal. If you do like them, though, you can go buy a box and work up your own loads with them. You might also call Hornady with your question, and see if they have changed the internal construction of their Interlock bullet recently. They may have a solid recommendation for you. Good luck finding the terminal performance you're looking for.

 

[BoomFlop]

nicholasjohn

I may try Federal and see what they say. Hornady was zero help, they could not even tell me what bullet they used in the old Light Magnum 7mm-08 factory ammo that was absolutely amazing. I'm thinking it was a Spire Point and not an Interlock.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[nicholasjohn]

nicholasjohn

I may try Federal and see what they say. Hornady was zero help, they could not even tell me what bullet they used in the old Light Magnum 7mm-08 factory ammo that was absolutely amazing. I'm thinking it was a Spire Point and not an Interlock.

Thanks,
Steve

Good luck - I hope they have the answer for you. It was their High Energy load that I used to use in my 30-06, with the 180-grain Nosler Partition. I don't know what happened to that line of ammo, but I sure liked it. Very fast, extremely accurate in my rifle, and no longer available. Oh, well ………...


Nick

 

[den]

I am pretty sure the Hornady 7mm-08 139 light magnum was an sst

 

[MagnumManiac]

Tell you all a funny tale.
I have had more exits using 50gr 22 cal Ballistic Tip bullets out of my 22-250/AI and 222 than I have shooting 100gr bullets outta my 25-06 on the same game........go figure?

Cheers.

 

[nicholasjohn]

Tell you all a funny tale.
I have had more exits using 50gr 22 cal Ballistic Tip bullets out of my 22-250/AI and 222 than I have shooting 100gr bullets outta my 25-06 on the same game........go figure?

Cheers.

Are you talking about deer ? I've never used the Ballistic Tips on deer, but I have shot a fair number of deer with the 22-250. I have NEVER found a bullet in an animal - ALL were complete pass-through's. The bullet I've used the most is the Winchester 64-grain Power Point, loaded with a case-full of 4350. That gets you about 3350 fps. The deer were all small-ish whitetails ( 100 - 125 pounds ) and none took even a single step after the shot. The exit holes were all dime-to-nickel size, and there was no bloodshot meat around either the exit or entry wounds. For rounding up some eatin' meat, this has been the perfect combination for me.

Years ago, I worked a guy in eastern Montana who used to go over to his daddy's ranch in North Dakota and shoot his deer with a 220 Swift. He used whatever factory loads he could find at the hardware store, shot them all right behind the shoulder, and claimed to have never had anything get away. I have no idea whether or not his bullets exited - he wasn't much into detailed conversation. I do know that he did not consider the swift to be an elk rifle - he took out his "big gun" for that. It was a 6mm Remington. (!!!!!) When I asked him what kind of bullets he used in it, he said "The pointed ones. They work better." Jeeze Louise. If this guy is right, maybe we are fussing way too much over this stuff.

 

[jrock]

I've shot a few deer with my .243 with 100 grain interlocks and they didn't exit within the 200 yard ranges I shot them. Chock that up to being a .243. Found them on offside skin having done a good job.