elkaholic
Well-Known Member
WOW! Hard to believe it did not expand after what mine did!
R700 SA build... 7SAUM?
- Thread starter catamountsierra
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WOW! Hard to believe it did not expand after what mine did!
I've had a deer with no internal organs in her at all run 200+ yds. Hit her in the brisket facing me with a 300gr SMK going 2800. Blew ALL of her chest and guts out the bottom of her paunch. Heart, lung, liver, intestines, stomach, kidneys and some stuff I couldn't ID laying under where she was standing. She still ran at least 200 yds.
IDK what people expect a bullet to do. Animals are tough and usually don't even know they are dead, they just go.
I bow hunted for a long time. A 75 yd blood trail was AWESOME.
Have you tested n570 in the 7 S.S. Or 6.5 S.S., just wondering if it would give more velocity than R26?
gillettehunter
Well-Known Member
I am on my 3rd 7 SAUM. This fall I killed 15 animals with it. 13 were in Africa where I used the 160 gr AB's. Longest shot was perhaps 200 yds to a short of 35. Bullet was right at 3000 FPS from a 25 inch barrel. Recovered 3 bullets with an average weight of 91 grains. Rifle was built as a carry weight that can go long when needed. With scope it is about 9 lbs.
I took 2 deer and a pronghorn with the 180 gr Berger hunting VLD. They are running 2900 FPS. Animals were from 75 to 325 yds. 2 were DRT's. The other didn't go far... Bullet exited on all. Exits were golf ball sized to tennis ball. That bullet rocks at that speed. Had 3 friends watching the pronghorn. He went down and never twitched. Pretty impressive preformance overall.
With the Berger be sure and check the tips to be sure they are not PLUGGED up. If they are they will NOT open up. Will go through w/o any expansion. Broz has suggested that before. My large box of Bergers has about 1 in 8 with a plugged tip. Just use a small drill bit to ck the tips. If you run the 180's faster they could get more explosive. I really like what I'm gettin at the 2900 FPS. Bruce
I took 2 deer and a pronghorn with the 180 gr Berger hunting VLD. They are running 2900 FPS. Animals were from 75 to 325 yds. 2 were DRT's. The other didn't go far... Bullet exited on all. Exits were golf ball sized to tennis ball. That bullet rocks at that speed. Had 3 friends watching the pronghorn. He went down and never twitched. Pretty impressive preformance overall.
With the Berger be sure and check the tips to be sure they are not PLUGGED up. If they are they will NOT open up. Will go through w/o any expansion. Broz has suggested that before. My large box of Bergers has about 1 in 8 with a plugged tip. Just use a small drill bit to ck the tips. If you run the 180's faster they could get more explosive. I really like what I'm gettin at the 2900 FPS. Bruce
catamountsierra
Well-Known Member
Last year I shot a deer with my 7mm-08 at 60ish yards. The 140gr AB went in the front left just below the shoulder joint and exited through the last rib on the other side. Caliber sized entrance and about golf ball sized exit and very little ruined meat. The heart and lungs were so pulped that I couldn't identify anything in there; it all poured out like hot jello. Granted, only one deer so not much of a sample, but it very definitely did what I wanted it to. The deer I shot a few years before was with a 165gr Partition out of a 30-06 with more meat loss and less damage to the heart/lungs even though that bullet entered through middle of the ribcage and exited through the breastbone/base of neck area. The deer I shot at the end of November with my brother's rifle I ended up pulling the shot high and raking the 230 Berger OTM through the top of the off side ribs, leaving a softball+ sized hole and a collapsed lung; second shot through the brain dropped it.
My thought with this build would be to base it on the 175gr ABLR or ELD-X; in either case I should have plenty of sectional density. I remember reading a thread shortly after the ABLR's came out about how fast people could push them and many people were finding the bullets did better staying below 3k fps. I was kind of counting on sectional density to carry it through if I had a close shot. Also, I tend to avoid shooting shoulders and prefer to shoot heart/lung if at all possible. If I give the Berger a try, I am looking at their new 175gr Elite Hunter. Maybe I could load the 150gr ABLR's I got to try in the 7mm-08 as dedicated coyote extermination rounds; I wouldn't expect much in the way of a pelt left...
My thought with this build would be to base it on the 175gr ABLR or ELD-X; in either case I should have plenty of sectional density. I remember reading a thread shortly after the ABLR's came out about how fast people could push them and many people were finding the bullets did better staying below 3k fps. I was kind of counting on sectional density to carry it through if I had a close shot. Also, I tend to avoid shooting shoulders and prefer to shoot heart/lung if at all possible. If I give the Berger a try, I am looking at their new 175gr Elite Hunter. Maybe I could load the 150gr ABLR's I got to try in the 7mm-08 as dedicated coyote extermination rounds; I wouldn't expect much in the way of a pelt left...
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
Good advice on the tips. I use a .040" bit and it works perfectly. It leaves the jacket pretty much original thickness before it was squeezed down......Rich
elkaholic
Well-Known Member
I have not used it myself, but some clients get excellent velocity in the 6.5 Sherman. I do not know of anyone who has tried it in the SS, but I probably will in a couple of months when I get some.......Rich
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I figured that those velocities it would have either expanded like normal, or done like your's, and exploded.
MudRunner2005
Well-Known Member
Yep, I've been bowhunting since I was 12, so I'm used to deer running and having to track them. I've spent majority of my life deer hunting, and based on my experiences with things not going to plan, I agree. People expect too much from a bullet, and don't understand that every single time you shoot an animal, that animal is going to react differently to it. Some run, some go into shock, some fall over... You just never know. I've seen them like yours where they basically were gutted and still ran for 100+ yards, and I've had a few bang-flops, too. But mostly they run (usually 10-25 yards) for me, even with perfect shot placement. I've had Hornady, Barnes, Nosler, and Berger bullets all fail on me. The Hornady SST was the only one that grenaded on impact, the rest were failures to expand. But in all instances, the animals were recovered. The Berger incident was the best by-far. Perfect high-vitals shot, hit the CNS, bang-flop. Pencil-sized entrance and exit, literally a dime-sized large drop of blood on the ground, and that was it. When we first pulled up to it, my uncle helped me load it into the Mule, and he (jokingly) accused me of missing, and said he thought it had a heart attack and died from the scare of the gunshot.
So I said, "No, I'm not you, I hit what I aim at..." (the day before he had missed a coyote, and a 10-point the day before that). When we ruffled the fur, we found the entrance and exit, so he had to admit I shot it. In his defense for the two whiffs, after some quick diagnoses back at the camp, we determined that he was having ammo issues with new ammo he had never used before...And hasn't used since.
Doghunter23
Well-Known Member
I have been shooting 7SAUM with Berger 180 target hybrids. I have been shooting some fun targets with them to see how they blow stuff up. The disintegrate a milk jug at close range better than a 220 swift AI! And they cut a clean hole through a new bowling pin with no expansion. So that leads me to believe berger's literature saying they penetrate 5 inches with no pitch or yaw. I have no fear of the hybrid coming apart too soon.
