what is the best 7mm round for Wi. whitetail??? I know everyone has what they think is the best . Iam just looking for something that will not put a hole the size of my foot thank you all for your input. Stay on top broz
Big Game Hunting
7mm
The difference is CONTROLLED expansion. The Barnes bullets are designed to expand, but not fragment. This enables them to retain their weight and carry through with less energy loss.
If you look at the pic of the recovereed bullet, you see it expanded. They are NOT full metal jackets or piercing bullets that do not expand
If you want a more concentrated hole, get as far away from using fragmenting bullets as you can. Like you, I hated softball sized holes and all the fragmented lead/copper in the meat.
I got turned onto Barnes Bullets - non fragmenting solid copper. The performance of these are incredible. They stay nearly perfectly intact after mushrooming, retain the vast majority of weight, and retain more energy after impact.
The wound channel is most impressive. I consistently see less flesh damage and a major increase of vitals bruised/blown up.
Pictured is a rare recovery of a 130 gr 270WIN. Shot an antelope high neck, just blow chin. Bullet passed through the neck, re-entered through the back, passed through the backbone, and embedded in the liver.
Second is a 168gr Barnes bullet that passed through an elk. The bull was bedded directly below us and it was nearly a straight down shot. Bullet passed through the backbone, through the lungs, and out the lower cavity and stuck in the hoof. We cleaned that bullet up and put it on a gr scale. Weighed 166.X gr. That is amazing retention
One of my absolute favorite websites:
Search for '7mm' and do some "light" reading. Spoiler alert, the Hornady 139 grain InterBond sounds like it would be of great interest to you.
Good day!
Have been using 7-08 for about 10 years 140 Rem Core-lokt. Very happy with it. Was using 300 win mag, had a change in hunting area. (all woods no open area). The 300 was wrecking deer with 180 Core-lokt or 165 Nosler partition. The shots were too close. After using the 7-08 hunting and at the range, I would be comfortable out to 350 yards no problem if I had a good rest. Which was why a had the 300 Mag.
My go-to rifle the last couple years has been a Weatherby Vanguard carbine in 7mm-08 with 139gr bullets. Short action, compact, lightweight, etc. Very nice to carry while walking and still hunting. 7mm-08 is an incredible caliber with great ballistics- will take any sized deer at most ranges with minimal recoil as well.
The 7mm family is a great and probably underrated caliber- well constructed, high BC. My father has also carried his 7x57 for as long as I can remember. Another great, lightweight 7mm caliber.
My uncle uses a 7mm Rem. Mag. and uses Hornady Custom ammo loaded with 162 grain InterLock. Great all-around bullet for whitetail, mulies and even elk if needed. They hold together very well and the heavy bullet bucks crosswinds very well. Ballistic tip anything (other than monolithic/copper offerings) are going to make a mess at 7mm Mag. velocities.
I shoot a .270 Win. and tried the Hornady Superformance 140 gr. SST's...bad idea. Killed everything I shot with them, but ruined a LOT of meat. I was taking double lung shots behind the front shoulder and the whole front half of the deer was bloodshot! I now shoot the Hornady American Whitetail 140 gr. InterLocks and love the results! They shoot well and hold together. Ballistic tips and speed (3000+ fps), in my experience, are not good on deer, especially if you hit bone. Good luck this fall with whatever you choose!
Actually for whitetail. Two fairly modern rounds and one legacy round comes to mind.
7mm-08
.280 Remington
7X57 Mauser
All will do the job easily with 140 - 150 slugs, 7mm Reg Mag is a great round but brings more recoil and velocity required for all but the longest range shots.
I have two .280's and both handle 140 - 160 grain slugs, and I have taken antelope to elk with this cartridge with many deer in between.
Good luck
I have shot about 10 or 12 deer with my 7mm rem mag. Distances from 20 yards to 150 yards with most shots being in the 50-80 yard range. Ive always used federal premium ballistic tips 150 gr. The exit hole when shot is placed behind the shoulder without bone hit is not overly excessive golf ball size or less. Longest track job was a spike that made it 50 yards but other than that they have all been a shot and flop for few yards or just dead right there. Ive never needed a reason to change. My dad uses the 139 gr hornandy and I am not impressed I think its too much speed and not enough mass. I would stick in the 150/160 gr range ive also seen some 180 gr exit holes that have darn near gutted the whole deer to me the 180s just seemed like to much for a whitetail in this caliber.
Shortly after I got mine I used if for whitetail and used the 139 grain hornaday ballistic tip, and was less than impressed shot a doe in the front shoulder and lost it only thing I can figure is the bullet disinigrated on the bone then I shot a mature buck at 75 yards internal damage was amazing only chunks of lung and half a heart but it still ran 70 yards in thick cover, there was absolutely no blood trail because the bullet never exited if there wasn't 2 feet of snow to follow the tracks and I had a good idea where I thought it went down I may not have found it so now I just stick with the 45-70 but if I did go back I would look into a heavier round
My dad and my uncles have been shooting the 7mm mags for as long as I can remember and they've shot a lot of deer over the years. They use the Remington Coreloc in either 150gr or 180gr. I used a 7mm mag for a few years and was shooting the Hornady Superformance in 139gr. I dropped few deer with that bullet without issue.