Opinions Please?

[7mmRemMag]

Yes I'm still talking about the 7mm. I was just asking because it was mentioned about bullet performance having a lot to do with an animal dropping right there. Plus to see wether not 160gr is a good bullet to use out of the 7mm. Thanks for the info guys. I'd like to use it on deer size- elk size game if given the opertunity. I'm hoping to see some pop and flop with this bullet to prove my buddy wrong about the 7mm lol

 

[Joe King]

So a friend and I were talking about experiences in the past specifically with the 7mm Rem Mag cartridge. Neither of us have ever lost an animal with it but have had animals run off 15-20 yards even with a very well placed shot. I love the 7mm Rem Mag myself but have begun to wonder why this happens all to often. Compared to 300 win mag or 300 wsm and even the 270wsm. Most if not all are DRT right on the spot. I've only had one do that with the 7mm and it was a neck shot. With The other cartridges even shoulder shot go down right there. Heck I only ever had one deer run with the 30 06 and that one was a bad shot, but dropped many a deer DRT with that too. I still have faith in my 7mm I love it, but it seems my buddy is not to excited about his anymore. So my question obviously is why don't they go down DRT as often? Is the bullet a little fast? Not enough energy being dumped into the animal? What can it be? Anyone else out there with similar experiences? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

-Jay

That's the very reason I stopped using SST's, just to many took it and either didn't notice or took off for 50+yrds. I know it wasn't bullet placement, when you stitch it through the heart, lungs or both, I had an antelope run for 50yrds after a quartering away shot that took out his heart and lungs. Every animal I ever shot with a partition has been a completely different story, 1 shot is all I've ever needed with Partitions, only 1 elk took a 2nd step.

 

[Jordan Smith]

I would echo what the other guys have been saying- the most important factor in how quickly a game animal goes down is shot placement. The second most important factor is bullet performance. The third most important factor is the individual animal's reaction to the shot. Somewhere down the list is headstamp. Animals seem to DRT almost every darn time when you use a high-shoulder/spine shot, whether the bullet is .243", .257", 7mm, .308", .338", etc. An animal can run for a while without any oxygen. By taking out the lungs and heart, you're effectively cutting off the oxygen supply to the brain. After several seconds, the brain shuts off and the animal falls. If you take out the skeletal structure or the CNS, the deer has a much harder time running

A simple, yet effective equation that was concocted by John Barsness:

G + B + 2*L = DG

where:

G = gun
B = bullet
L = lung
DG = dead game



It might take a few seconds and several yards before the animal falls, but when an expanding bullet goes through the lungs, it's game over. The more tissue you destroy, the better your chances are of finding the animal closer to the POI. Bullets like the Berger VLD or Hornady A-Max, etc, destroy more tissue in a shorter distance than a bullet like the Barnes TSX. One style has more violent expansion with limited penetration, and the other has limited expansion and deep penetration. The Nosler AB tends to be somewhere between the two.

 

[WildRose]

So a friend and I were talking about experiences in the past specifically with the 7mm Rem Mag cartridge. Neither of us have ever lost an animal with it but have had animals run off 15-20 yards even with a very well placed shot. I love the 7mm Rem Mag myself but have begun to wonder why this happens all to often. Compared to 300 win mag or 300 wsm and even the 270wsm. Most if not all are DRT right on the spot. I've only had one do that with the 7mm and it was a neck shot. With The other cartridges even shoulder shot go down right there. Heck I only ever had one deer run with the 30 06 and that one was a bad shot, but dropped many a deer DRT with that too. I still have faith in my 7mm I love it, but it seems my buddy is not to excited about his anymore. So my question obviously is why don't they go down DRT as often? Is the bullet a little fast? Not enough energy being dumped into the animal? What can it be? Anyone else out there with similar experiences? Thanks in advance for any info you can provide.

-Jay

Poor shooting and the wrong bullets is all too often the reson for animals running off.

For whatever reason lots of people choose bullets like the Nosler Partition for deer hunting when it's absolutely the wrong bullet because by design it down't expand very well.

Conversely if you use lighter constructed bullets that break up completely easily you don't get enough penetration to get enough severe damage to the vitals for the animal to go down instantly.

Being "in the business" I've seen that more often than not the average shooter under ideal conditons is at best about a 3moa shooter at 100yds and that's without a bad case of "Buck Fever"; and when the latter strikes it gets far worse.

There's no inherent problem with the 7mm mag, just too many people shooting it that don't shoot well enough to put it where it belongs and who don't know enough about bullets to pick the proper one for the job.

 

[Joe King]

Poor shooting and the wrong bullets is all too often the reson for animals running off.

Completely agree with that

For whatever reason lots of people choose bullets like the Nosler Partition for deer hunting when it's absolutely the wrong bullet because by design it down't expand very well.

I like em because I've gotten a far higher percentage of dropped in its tracks then with any other bullet

Conversely if you use lighter constructed bullets that break up completely easily you don't get enough penetration to get enough severe damage to the vitals for the animal to go down instantly.

yessir heavy for cal for me please

Being "in the business" I've seen that more often than not the average shooter under ideal conditons is at best about a 3moa shooter at 100yds and that's without a bad case of "Buck Fever"; and when the latter strikes it gets far worse.

There's no inherent problem with the 7mm mag, just too many people shooting it that don't shoot well enough to put it where it belongs and who don't know enough about bullets to pick the proper one for the job.

Thats true for about 90% of folks that hunt

 

[WildRose]

Completely agree with that

I like em because I've gotten a far higher percentage of dropped in its tracks then with any other bullet
yessir heavy for cal for me please


Thats true for about 90% of folks that hunt

Joe my issue with the partition and similar bullets is that unless they hit heavy bone, they tend to simply punch straight through a deer doing very little damage.

Now for heavier bodied game they perform pretty well but are not a LR bullet due to the flat base and low BC's.

Picking the right bullet for the job is really important.

Also you get into the problem with a lot of novice hunters who dont' even realize they've made a fatal shot and the animal goes down after a 50-100yds run and is then lost because the shooter didn't realize they hit it or hit it fatally and thus fails to even attempt to track it.

 

[7mmRemMag]

I'm a believer in shot placement as well. Every deer I've ever shot with the 7Mag have been in the vitals. I like breaking both shoulders to slow the deer down like someone mentioned earlier. I've never lost a deer with it. I shoot the deer in the same place with every magnum I own. Its just interesting how I've never had a deer run with the 300win Mag, they are always DRT. Shooting Nosler AB as well. I'm thinking the 160GR AB's are moving pretty fast and the 180gr AB's in .30 cal dump alot more energy into the animal. But I don't know I just know what I've seen. Don't get me wrong I love the 7mm Rem Mag so much I got a couple of them. I will continue to shoot it. It's my most accurate and go to gun.

 

[Joe King]

WR that's the exact opposite of what I've seen time after time. The 5x5 muley I shot last year at 100yrds was quartering away pretty hard and moving out, the bullet never touched bone till it exited, he dropped midstride and the small white tail doe I shot 2 weeks later at 400yrds dropped so fast my daughter was wondering where it went. That bullet touched one rib going in, and coming from my 270 with a MV of about 2750 it sure isn't setting any records for retained velocity.

Not trying to be argumentative about it mind you just find it funny (odd) that folks can have such consistently different results from the same product, now on the other hand I've not been overly impressed so far with the terminal ballistics of the AB. It works just as advertised but, critters tend to walk around a bit after taking one. BTW I try to avoid heavy bone, but I'm about filling the freezer 1st, so when the opportunity presents I'll take a neck/head shot every time.

 

[7mmRemMag]

WR that's the exact opposite of what I've seen time after time. The 5x5 muley I shot last year at 100yrds was quartering away pretty hard and moving out, the bullet never touched bone till it exited, he dropped midstride and the small white tail doe I shot 2 weeks later at 400yrds dropped so fast my daughter was wondering where it went. That bullet touched one rib going in, and coming from my 270 with a MV of about 2750 it sure isn't setting any records for retained velocity.

Not trying to be argumentative about it mind you just find it funny (odd) that folks can have such consistently different results from the same product, now on the other hand I've not been overly impressed so far with the terminal ballistics of the AB. It works just as advertised but, critters tend to walk around a bit after taking one. BTW I try to avoid heavy bone, but I'm about filling the freezer 1st, so when the opportunity presents I'll take a neck/head shot every time.

I recovered a 140gr Accubond from the 10 Point white tail I shot last year shot out of my 270wsm. Its a perfect mushroom, It looks pretty awesome. I haven't weighed it yet but my guess is it didn't loose much if any. Overall I like shooting bonded bullets better especially when they have a high BC like the Accubond. I haven't shot any game in the head yet with my 7mag but I have a few under my belt with my 270wsm 325Yards has been my furthest headshot and of course DRT