7 stw deer hunting

[jdwelch10]

Posting on here to see if anyone has had a similar issue. I'm currently shooting 140 gr partitions through a 28" barrel at 3600 fps. Its a hot load of 90 gr of retumbo and at times does show pressure signs but they group well.

Anyway ... Ive shot 4 deer this year. The two I shot at close ranges ... 200 yards and less dropped where they stood. The buck I shot at 350 ran about 75 yards. I hit him in the lungs and got a piece of the heart. What concerns me is there was no blood trail and if he had run 10 more yards I never would have found him because of a cliff. this past weekend I shot a doe at 400 yards. Pretty sure I hit her well. I know I did hit her because of dad was spotting for me and saw her hit. There was no blood trail and I never found her.

I picked the partitions thinking the bullets would make it through and I would always get some blood but this is not happening. I'm thinking of switching bullets to either some 162 gr sst's (I broke the barrel in with these and know they shoot well) or some 168 bergers in hopes that I will have more deer drop where they stand at longer ranges.

Any input would be appreciated,

Thanks Josh

 

[MudRunner2005]

Posting on here to see if anyone has had a similar issue. I'm currently shooting 140 gr partitions through a 28" barrel at 3600 fps. Its a hot load of 90 gr of retumbo and at times does show pressure signs but they group well.

Anyway ... Ive shot 4 deer this year. The two I shot at close ranges ... 200 yards and less dropped where they stood. The buck I shot at 350 ran about 75 yards. I hit him in the lungs and got a piece of the heart. What concerns me is there was no blood trail and if he had run 10 more yards I never would have found him because of a cliff. this past weekend I shot a doe at 400 yards. Pretty sure I hit her well. I know I did hit her because of dad was spotting for me and saw her hit. There was no blood trail and I never found her.

I picked the partitions thinking the bullets would make it through and I would always get some blood but this is not happening. I'm thinking of switching bullets to either some 162 gr sst's (I broke the barrel in with these and know they shoot well) or some 168 bergers in hopes that I will have more deer drop where they stand at longer ranges.

Any input would be appreciated,

Thanks Josh

Horrible mistake. Very fragile, and will explode on impact, just like an Amax will.

The 168 Bergers would be much better than anything you have listed. But the 180 Bergers would be an even better option.

 

[jdwelch10]

I thought the partitions were suppose to be a pretty tough bullet? Guess I was wrong, thanks for the info. Josh

 

[MudRunner2005]

I thought the partitions were suppose to be a pretty tough bullet? Guess I was wrong, thanks for the info. Josh

The Partitions are supposed to be, I was referring to swapping to Hornady SST's or AMaxs at those velocities as being a huge mistake.

 

[jdwelch10]

Oh ok got ya, Thanks.

 

[MudRunner2005]

Any bullet can be frangible at 3,600 fps other than a monolithic (solid copper).

However, I think slowing the STW down some with some heavy bullets like the 180's would yield much more predictable results.

Results you would most-likely enjoy, provided shot-placement and all other conditions were ok. The reason I say that is because freak-things happen, sometimes bullets fail, and sometimes we don't really hit them where we think we did, so that's why I added in the all factors into proper position part. Therefore, I can't really guarantee you will like the results. Because if something weird were to happen with the shot, and something didn't go as planned, and the bullet failed, or you lost the deer, then you wouldn't trust my judgement anymore. Get what I'm saying?

 

[Varmint Hunter]

I've killed quite a few whitetails with my 7STW and the 162gr A-Max bullet. Most kills were between 100yds and 450yds or so. Shots to the shoulder dropped them like rocks and bullets did not exit. Shots just behind the shoulder resulted in silver dollar sized exits and deer that typically ran about 30yds before they realized that they were dead.
I never had a bullet disintegrate on the surface or to fail to kill quickly. IMO they act much like a Berger hunting bullet which I also use quite a bit.

 

[Rick Richard]

I know this is a 7 STW forum, but had to tell you my experience with Berger.

A month ago I shot a whitetail buck at 200 yards with my 300 Win mag using Berger 215 Hybrids and the damage it caused was phenomenal. It looked like a hand grenade exploded within the chest cavity.

With this type of performance, I will be sticking with Bergers.

 

[riemer]

This is my experience with 180 Bergers from my STW at 204 yards. Deer went about 15 yards.

 

[frequent misser]

I've killed quite a few whitetails with my 7STW and the 162gr A-Max bullet. Most kills were between 100yds and 450yds or so. Shots to the shoulder dropped them like rocks and bullets did not exit. Shots just behind the shoulder resulted in silver dollar sized exits and deer that typically ran about 30yds before they realized that they were dead.
I never had a bullet disintegrate on the surface or to fail to kill quickly. IMO they act much like a Berger hunting bullet which I also use quite a bit.

I have had the same results with the a max on over 70 whitetails. I have two stws and run them at 3210 out of a 26" and 3320 out of a 30".
I have shot them from 25 yds out to 816. I have only had one take a step. She went 30 yds. Bergers are not a bad choice either. I have become a hybrid fan as well, however the killing ability of the 162 is impressive especially at range.

 

[MudRunner2005]

I've killed quite a few whitetails with my 7STW and the 162gr A-Max bullet. Most kills were between 100yds and 450yds or so. Shots to the shoulder dropped them like rocks and bullets did not exit. Shots just behind the shoulder resulted in silver dollar sized exits and deer that typically ran about 30yds before they realized that they were dead.
I never had a bullet disintegrate on the surface or to fail to kill quickly. IMO they act much like a Berger hunting bullet which I also use quite a bit.

I have...It was a factory loaded Hornady 139 SST loaded for 7mm RemMag. It was pretty explosive on a whitetail. We found the deer, but it messed it up good, and it ran forever. Looked like a frag grenade hit it on the insides, ruined a lot of meat, and didn't exit. I never used them on deer again. I swapped to a heavier (slower) bullet and never had another problem, till they discontinued that ammo back in the early 2000's (around 2003/2004). This was all before I handloaded.

 

[jdwelch10]

Well I found some load development packages of some 168 and 180 berger vld's that i'm going to load over some retumbo and see how they shoot this weekend. The Amax's seem to be more difficult to come by. Josh

 

[WildRose]

Posting on here to see if anyone has had a similar issue. I'm currently shooting 140 gr partitions through a 28" barrel at 3600 fps. Its a hot load of 90 gr of retumbo and at times does show pressure signs but they group well.

Anyway ... Ive shot 4 deer this year. The two I shot at close ranges ... 200 yards and less dropped where they stood. The buck I shot at 350 ran about 75 yards. I hit him in the lungs and got a piece of the heart. What concerns me is there was no blood trail and if he had run 10 more yards I never would have found him because of a cliff. this past weekend I shot a doe at 400 yards. Pretty sure I hit her well. I know I did hit her because of dad was spotting for me and saw her hit. There was no blood trail and I never found her.

I picked the partitions thinking the bullets would make it through and I would always get some blood but this is not happening. I'm thinking of switching bullets to either some 162 gr sst's (I broke the barrel in with these and know they shoot well) or some 168 bergers in hopes that I will have more deer drop where they stand at longer ranges.

Any input would be appreciated,

Thanks Josh

Due to the design of the partition they tend to make no more than a 2x caliber hole on exit unless they strike bone. The permanent wound channel inside is also rather small for the same reason.

The bullet is designed to penetrate bone, particularly heavy boned animals like big hogs, elk, bear etc.

You'd be much better off shooting Accubonds or Accubond LR's in the Nosler offerings or the Hornady Interbond or Swift Sirocco II.

Those bullets will expand well with or without striking hard boned yet unlike many others they hold together well rather than heavily fragmenting.

As a result you get good penetration, plenty of internal damage and rapid blood loss/trail without excessive meat loss.

They will all fly better as well due to the higher BC's than the flat based Partition.

 

[WildRose]

I thought the partitions were suppose to be a pretty tough bullet? Guess I was wrong, thanks for the info. Josh

They are. Too tough for your application is the problem.