Best 7mm bullet out to 600 yds

[Orange Dust]

Both the 150gr Ballistic tip and the 154SST are outstanding bullets for deer in a 7RM to 600. I would shoot whichever one of those that shot best if it was me

 

[bpcrshooter]

160AB at 323yd cant complain.........
gun shoots very well out to 800yd but, thats as far as I've shot with it so far

 

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

Older thread, but I've had no luck with the eld-x. My rifle just didn't like them. In my 7mm weatherby, I'm shooting a 140 grain Nosler accubond at 3400 FPS. Can't really ask for more than that.

 

[WildRose]

so trying to decide on a bullet for hunting. Will be deer hunting Maybe maybe a elk but doubtful. Will keep the range at 600 or less. Most being under 400 Would you run 140 with some speed or something else. 7mm mag 24 in barrel I seem to have a hard time deciding on this. Not sure the heavy high B C bullet is what I need for this application Your thoughts. Thsnks

I'm a terminal performance freak. I want consistent expansion no matter what but I want the bullet to hold together giving me on average a golf ball sized exit or slightly smaller every time.

In this order assuming you have a standard 1:9 twist. You can go a bit heavier with a tighter twist.

150gr Peregrine VLR4

145gr Barnes LRX

154gr Hornady Interbond.

160gr Nosler Accubond

I have a great deal of experience with all of these shooting four different 7mm STW's and with all but the Peregrine in my old 7mm RM.

 

[cajun]

The 140 accubond is a great deer bullet. If you might shoot elk the 160 would be a good choice. I shoot the 150 BT for <300. No issues. The old 160 amax now eldm was a hammer at long range. But very explosive up close. +1 on the IMR 4350. Having good luck with R26 with 160's.

 

[Bravo 4]

Sorry, did not read through 10 pages worth. I will throw my $.02 in about the lighter (140gr/139SST) ballistic tips from my 7mm RemMag. I will not use these for deer, had 3 bad experiences where when the deer were shot broadside (instantly seen red rose of death) and the deer ran for some distance before expiring (one even went back to feeding!). All shots were under 200 yards and only made it to 1 lung, which was destroyed. After those I went to a heavier for caliber 162 SST, they always gave me great wound channels that left an exit hole (even when shot through shoulders).
For the ranges you mentioned it would be Hammer bullets. You wouldn't have to worry about elk with them either.

 

[Ingwe]

I'm a terminal performance freak. I want consistent expansion no matter what but I want the bullet to hold together giving me on average a golf ball sized exit or slightly smaller every time.

In this order assuming you have a standard 1:9 twist. You can go a bit heavier with a tighter twist.

150gr Peregrine VLR4

145gr Barnes LRX

154gr Hornady Interbond.

160gr Nosler Accubond

I have a great deal of experience with all of these shooting four different 7mm STW's and with all but the Peregrine in my old 7mm RM.

Just curious as to why you stick with the Accubond and didn't go with the Accubond LR??

 

[fightthenoise]

Just curious as to why you stick with the Accubond and didn't go with the Accubond LR??

Not OP but it's much more likely to get an undesirable result from an ABLR inside 150 than it is to get an undesirable result from an AB at 600. The ABLR is reported to be a very soft bullet.

 

[Ingwe]

Not OP but it's much more likely to get an undesirable result from an ABLR inside 150 than it is to get an undesirable result from an AB at 600. The ABLR is reported to be a very soft bullet.

YES, the ABLR is softer than the regular AB. Here's a pic of an ABLR from a Zebra at 180yards...broke shoulder, lungs, under skin on far side.
175gr from 7mm at MV 2,815fps. Recovered weight of 77gr.

Still going pretty fast at 180yds so I bet that at longer range it would have much more retained weight, and probably would have exited.

I like it too because the softness makes it a perfect deer bullet.

 

[fightthenoise]

YES, the ABLR is softer than the regular AB. Here's a pic of an ABLR from a Zebra at 180yards...broke shoulder, lungs, under skin on far side.
175gr from 7mm at MV 2,815fps. Recovered weight of 77gr.

Still going pretty fast at 180yds so I bet that at longer range it would have much more retained weight, and probably would have exited.

I like it too because the softness makes it a perfect deer bullet.

I have a couple hundred 168 ABLR's I'm going to work up a load for in my 280 AI and see how they do on game. I don't doubt they work great far out but I can't seem to avoid those pesky 80 yard shots that crop up from time to time.

 

[Ingwe]

I have a couple hundred 168 ABLR's I'm going to work up a load for in my 280 AI and see how they do on game. I don't doubt they work great far out but I can't seem to avoid those pesky 80 yard shots that crop up from time to time.

I think that they will be fine even at 80 since they are bonded and will stay intact no matter what they hit.

 

[bill_ebs]

160 gr accubond - At 40 yds last week hit a whitetail in the heart and it blew the heart into little pieces (mush). Nice hole in and bigger hole out the other side. Just what you would expect. Hit a mule deer in the neck in October at 130 yds and rolled it over dead - he did not even take a step.

 

[WildRose]

Just curious as to why you stick with the Accubond and didn't go with the Accubond LR??

At the ranges he's talking I've found them to be to frangible/explosive tending to break up with high velocity impacts.

 

[WildRose]

Sorry, did not read through 10 pages worth. I will throw my $.02 in about the lighter (140gr/139SST) ballistic tips from my 7mm RemMag. I will not use these for deer, had 3 bad experiences where when the deer were shot broadside (instantly seen red rose of death) and the deer ran for some distance before expiring (one even went back to feeding!). All shots were under 200 yards and only made it to 1 lung, which was destroyed. After those I went to a heavier for caliber 162 SST, they always gave me great wound channels that left an exit hole (even when shot through shoulders).
For the ranges you mentioned it would be Hammer bullets. You wouldn't have to worry about elk with them either.

Found the same to be true in the STW, 300wm, and 300 RUM. At longer ranges they perform well but are pretty much flying bombs at sub 400yds ranges hitting at high velocity.

Shot a big doe about eight years ago with the WM right at 300yds. Perfect shot midway between the elbow and shoulder just a bit back. She dropped like an absolute rock.

When I rolled her over I wanted to puke looking at the gaping hole in the offside.

Further inspection showed the toughest thing the bullet contacted on entrance was a rib.

Fortunately the shot was a bit back of the shoulder so there wasn't just a whole lot of meat loss but if It had been a perfect heart shot I'd have lost much of the opposite shoulder.