7mm Rem Mag Ammo for Elk??

[dkwellman]

Own a Browning a-bolt white gold with 26" barrel that's a tack driver, which I've used to kill many deer and antelope with clean 1 shot kills regularly out to 400 yards using federal premium trophy bonded 140 grain.

Just learned I drew a rare bull elk tag in AZ this fall and looking for advice from someone who has previously used a 7 MM Rem Mag to kill elk.

Never shot one before, so want to make sure I go with the best possible factory round, able to properly address a similar range shot if necessary. Thinking of stepping up to the trophy bonded 160 grain. Anyone with any real world elk experience using that round in 7MM Rem Mag?
J.R.
[email protected]

175 grain Nosler Partitions. Deadly

 

[AZHTR]

This little dinkster was killed in a hard-to-get AZ unit with a 168 Berger out of a 7 Mag. Shot was at 400 yards. Not much of a blood trail, but hammered the insides of this elk.

 

[Scott E Ames]

This little dinkster was killed in a hard-to-get AZ unit with a 168 Berger out of a 7 Mag. Shot was at 400 yards. Not much of a blood trail, but hammered the insides of this elk.

That is an absolutely spectacular elk! Did you have him scored? He looks like he's bumping up into the 390 to 400 class if I'm judging his size correctly. Congratulations

 

[AZHTR]

That is an absolutely spectacular elk! Did you have him scored? He looks like he's bumping up into the 390 to 400 class if I'm judging his size correctly. Congratulations

Not to derail the OP's thread, but he gross scored ~393. My "non-hunter" friend (in pic) shot him and he drew this premium AZ hunt with 2 points..........ridiculous

 

[JTH]

Own a Browning a-bolt white gold with 26" barrel that's a tack driver, which I've used to kill many deer and antelope with clean 1 shot kills regularly out to 400 yards using federal premium trophy bonded 140 grain.

Just learned I drew a rare bull elk tag in AZ this fall and looking for advice from someone who has previously used a 7 MM Rem Mag to kill elk.

Never shot one before, so want to make sure I go with the best possible factory round, able to properly address a similar range shot if necessary. Thinking of stepping up to the trophy bonded 160 grain. Anyone with any real world elk experience using that round in 7MM Rem Mag?
J.R.
[email protected]

The 160 grain trophy bonded tip was my factory ammo choice for a 7 Rem mag. Killed several bulls with that load. Sold the rifle to a buddy, he still shoots the same ammo and has stacked several bulls up with them as well. If you can find them, and the rifle likes them, you'd be hard pressed to find a better bullet. Similar construction to the Nosler partition with better BC, I shot these out to 500 yards (longest range I had access to at the time) with consistent performance. It's a tough enough bullet to take high shoulder shots, I had 2 bulls that were dead on impact with this load.

 

[Scott E Ames]

Myself and 2 other guys are going to Idaho in 4 months for an elk hunt. We were talking ammo selection the other day and my buddy needs to find a good factory round for the 7mm Rem Mag he just inherited. So what brand and grain weight would you guys recommend? He will not be reloading for this rifle. He's a pretty avid shooter, but not necessarily long range. Keep in mind this is a brand new rifle for him so I'm thinking realistically shots out to 400-500 yards will be his max.

I have killed them dead as a stone with both the Nosler Partitions and Accubonds both in 160 grain. Muzzle velocity at 700 feet of altitude is 2980. Ranges varied from 250-550 yards.

 

[Trm82]

This little dinkster was killed in a hard-to-get AZ unit with a 168 Berger out of a 7 Mag. Shot was at 400 yards. Not much of a blood trail, but hammered the insides of this elk.

That's a frigging awesome elk congrats

 

[WildRose]

Own a Browning a-bolt white gold with 26" barrel that's a tack driver, which I've used to kill many deer and antelope with clean 1 shot kills regularly out to 400 yards using federal premium trophy bonded 140 grain.

Just learned I drew a rare bull elk tag in AZ this fall and looking for advice from someone who has previously used a 7 MM Rem Mag to kill elk.

Never shot one before, so want to make sure I go with the best possible factory round, able to properly address a similar range shot if necessary. Thinking of stepping up to the trophy bonded 160 grain. Anyone with any real world elk experience using that round in 7MM Rem Mag?
J.R.
[email protected]

If it were me I'd start right now working up an accuracy load with the 150-162gr class Accubonds if you intend to laod your own, great bullet for thick, heavy muscled game. If you intend to stick to the factory ammo the Trophy Bonded is an excellent bullet. The Terminal Ascent looks like a great bullet on paper and in the testing I've seen but it's like finding fairy dust and unicorn horns as a component bullet to load your own. I'd really like to give it a ride in the STW's though if I ever luck into a few boxes of them.

 

[J.R. Yooper]

That's a frigging awesome elk congrats

That's a frigging awesome elk congrats

That is really nice! Curious what AZ area that bull came out of. I drew area 27 in late September.
Have been using the Federal Premium trophy bonded tip 140 and 165 with exceptional accuracy on big northern whitetails out to 400 yards. But unsure if I should try the 165 grain version in my 7mm Rem Mag or move up from the 165 to the 180 grain in my 300 win mag. After seeing the size of that bull.......now thinking the trophy bonded 165's or 180's in the 300 win mag makes more sense, should a 400 yard shot be necessary.
J.R.

 

[Trm82]

That is really nice! Curious what AZ area that bull came out of. I drew area 27 in late September.
Have been using the Federal Premium trophy bonded tip 140 and 165 with exceptional accuracy on big northern whitetails out to 400 yards. But unsure if I should try the 165 grain version in my 7mm Rem Mag or move up from the 165 to the 180 grain in my 300 win mag. After seeing the size of that bull.......now thinking the trophy bonded 165's or 180's in the 300 win mag makes more sense, should a 400 yard shot be necessary.
J.R.

I wouldn't of hesitated with trophy bonded in either of the bullets you mentioned as long as you can reliably put them in the right spot at a reasonable distance say 500 yards and in.
Unless it was some sketchy terrain where a follow up shot is not an option.

 

[J.R. Yooper]

I wouldn't of hesitated with trophy bonded in either of the bullets you mentioned as long as you can reliably put them in the right spot at a reasonable distance say 500 yards and in.
Unless it was some sketchy terrain where a follow up shot is not an option.

Thanks. Federal marketing implied similar, but good to hear from someone with actual experience.
J.R.

 

[WildRose]

Thanks. Federal marketing implied similar, but good to hear from someone with actual experience.
J.R.

I've shot quite a few of them with very good results in the STW's. I love Federal Brass and for about 20 years I was just too busy to do much reloading.

 

[bomberodevil]

That is really nice! Curious what AZ area that bull came out of. I drew area 27 in late September.
Have been using the Federal Premium trophy bonded tip 140 and 165 with exceptional accuracy on big northern whitetails out to 400 yards. But unsure if I should try the 165 grain version in my 7mm Rem Mag or move up from the 165 to the 180 grain in my 300 win mag. After seeing the size of that bull.......now thinking the trophy bonded 165's or 180's in the 300 win mag makes more sense, should a 400 yard shot be necessary.
J.R.

I wouldn't hesitate to use the 7mm in 160-165 bullet range or the 300 WM in 180 bullet range. My decision factor would be which rifle is more accurate to 500 yards. Unit 27 has a lot of cuts and draws, and you have a decent chance of shooting across a canyon with some cross winds. Whichever of the two rifles is the most accurate with a medium to heavy for cartridge bullet, with a decent BC, would be my choice. I'd have the other rifle in camp for a backup rifle, as you may be slipping and sliding on the hillside!

Ps., forgot to include, use a bonded bullet, not a lighter ballistic tip. I use AccuBond but any bonded bullet will do in the above description.