Bullet Weight for Deer Hunting

The one buck I killed with an Accubond 140gr hand load ran about 30 yards. Shot him @ 40yds with meat-saver bullet placement behind the shoulder. 7mm entrance. No exit wound. Bullet essentially disintegrated with jacket found under offside hide.
 
Your meat saver shots must vary from ours slightly, usually ours involve brain matter…lol
To each their own but after seeing a head shot slightly off I refuse to take them. Behind the shoulder wastes no meat and much greater room for error.
H shots are effective but risky for as much as the target moves compared to the chest.
Just my .02 and not trying to offend anyone.
 
They are very few and far between for me but on occasion I'll have a doe hang up less than 100yd and act a fool. Very very selective on those shots one place I hunt a very steep steep ridge and can't let them run or they're nearly impossible to recover by myself. If I drop them in the logging road I can grab them with tractor easily. I'd never attempt one much further than that because of the minimal room for error. All is well though have a good one
 
I was thinking 140 grain Accubond. Would hold together on a 50 yard chip shot but still have enough energy to expand way down range.
Nope. It won't handle close range well. Double lung shot behind shoulders, lead core will pretty much disintegrate and you might find some copper jacket shrapnel under hide. Mine did not exit at all. Bounced 35 yards across the barbed wire and into the brush and piled up. Just enough to be a royal pain in the arse.
 
I am about to start reloading the 7mm STW when I can get some powder and primers. I exclusively deer hunt and I am considering 140-150 grain bonded style bullet for the higher velocity and forgiveness on ranging shots out to 300 yards.

What weight bullet do y'all load for deer hunting with the 7mm STW?
150 gr Barnes TTSX with H1000
 
Shooting 140 NBT's in both my STW's and everything I've shot over the years has either been a bang flop or expired within 30yrds at all ranges out to 350 .
 
I'm interested to hear about bonded bullet failures, I'm not happy to hear, just interested.
 
I started out with my 7STW running 150g Ballistic Tips, I was sceptical as I have seen them not withstand high velocities, but was amazed how accurate they were and how they didn't over expand at all. The core was dislodged every time and found under the hide most times intact, very few exited. Our deer here and in New Zealand are about the same size as whitetail, some smaller, but we also have Sambar that run about the same as an Elk doe weight.
I would consider them for whitetail if you can find them.

Cheers.
 
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