School me on velocity in regards to expansion

The bullets/factory ammo that my dad, my son and I have been using has "worked" fine. No lost animals in 20 years of hunting, however, I feel there is something we are missing in bullet performance.

15ish years ago I purchased my Rem 700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm-08. I shot factory Hornady Light Magnum 139 gr bullets with incredible performance. DRT with pretty large exit wounds. Since they discontinued them I have yet to find a replacement that provided that performance on deer. I even called Hornady and the gentleman I talked to didn't know what bullet it was. If was not the SST however. If memory serves me it was just a Spire Point, but I'm not positive.

Thanks everyone.
 
I'm not gonna reply with a long winded answer, but this is the gist of it in my eyes.

I like bullets that go in and make a 1 caliber hole, and come out out just a little larger.
A bullet that keeps the expanded jacket close to the shank, imparts a large permanent cavity roughly in the middle of it's penetration, then it shrinks some before exiting. (The wound channel shrinks, if you cut it perpendicular to the travel, it resembles a trumpet that tapers off to the exit.)
A bullet that opens wide, often imparts a very wide permanent cavity early in the penetration and punches a large exit wound, such as Berger's when the velocity is about right.
This is not to be confused with bullets that fail to hold together. They tend to make a remendously large wound on entry and often fail to penetrate more than a couple inches at best.

Use the correct bullet and you will have many kills and no losses.

Cheers.

P.S.
Sorry for the long winded post.:D
 
elkaholic,

It must be a different bullet than the current Interlock used in the Whitetail line? Because that ammo shoots very well, however, the performance on game is drastically different than what I seen prior.

Thank you Sir,
Steve
 
Yes, it was their spire point interlock design
That's the same bullet Weatherby uses in the 270 Weatherby 150gr ammo. I was given 5 boxes of it when I had my rifle built. Haven't used a box yet, fired 5 rounds to see velocity........it is fast!!

Cheers.
 
MagnumManiac,

What you described is what I would say has been the typical wound channel we have been seeing over the past 7 or so years in our 7mm-08's. We just find that the large deer we are targeting tend to travel more than we like with less than ideal blood trails with perfect shots. We hunt in very hilly/steep terrain and we do not drive any vehicles/atvs on our lease. Having them die on the ridge versus running 125 yards down the back side away from the truck would be better!
 
elkaholic,

It must be a different bullet than the current Interlock used in the Whitetail line? Because that ammo shoots very well, however, the performance on game is drastically different than what I seen prior.

Thank you Sir,
Steve
Don't know I haven't used the new ones.
 
The bullets/factory ammo that my dad, my son and I have been using has "worked" fine. No lost animals in 20 years of hunting, however, I feel there is something we are missing in bullet performance.

15ish years ago I purchased my Rem 700 Mountain Rifle in 7mm-08. I shot factory Hornady Light Magnum 139 gr bullets with incredible performance. DRT with pretty large exit wounds. Since they discontinued them I have yet to find a replacement that provided that performance on deer. I even called Hornady and the gentleman I talked to didn't know what bullet it was. If was not the SST however. If memory serves me it was just a Spire Point, but I'm not positive.

Thanks everyone.
Have you ever tried the SST's ? At 7mm-08 velocity, they shine. As mentioned also, the Partition by Nosler is one of the best bullets for the ranges you hunt. Both bullets are very available in factory offerings for the -08.
This year is shot a mule deer doe with the SST's in 139 gr. It was a pass through, fist sized hole. 7mm-08 A.I., but I was fireforming a factory Hornady round. Our mule deer does are not small animals either.
 
Agreed. SST or Ballistic tip. I've got more Nosler partitions in my personal inventory than all other bullet types combined. Hunted with them exclusively for many years. Great bullet, but in my experience they will only do what the OP is looking for at higher impact velocities (like 2800fps and up).

Winchester power points come unglued pretty reliably too, if someone is really looking to make a mess.
 
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