Which 7mag bullet

[Purebred Redneck]

Guys, here is my dilema

I have always used Winchester 150 powerpoints. I love the killing performance of this bullet. I get wonderful expansion and penitration on neck and shoulder shots - exit holes you can stick your fist in. 2 inch groups at 100 are plenty accurate for deer kills at 300. However, I am looking into doing some more long range target practice and I'm looking to find a bullet that can group at 200-300 instead of pattern. I'm not looking for wonderful accuracy - just better accuracy.

Here's what I want
I want a 160ish-170ish bullet with a high ballistic coefficent that I can hot rod at the range. Now, I want this bullet to shoot deer with - and of course as we all know...most deer are shot under 100 yards. I would like this heavy bullet to have about the same performance as my mid-weight powerpoints. I guess I'm looking for your typical 7mag performance - 2 huge holes, a bullet that does explode yet will retain enough of itself to break down both front shoulders. So I'm definitly not looking at things such as some of the Barnes line.

What bullet do I need? I'd like to look at mid-priced and under. I'm also interested in exploring ballistic tips.

thanks

[HPBTMTCH]

Redneck, i have had good luck with sierra 160 spbt. The 180 gr. hpbt match bergers really put the hurt to them, but are a bit pricey anymore. I use the 140 gr. win. ballistic silver tips the most, but again, a bit on the expensive side. Any 140 gr. bullet will exit most of the time, and shoot a little flatter, don`t rule those out in your choices.

[Purebred Redneck]

What difference do you think wind drift would be in a 140gr compared to a 160gr? say 10mph at 300 yards.

[Jack]

The difference in wind drift at 300 yards between a 140 and a 160 isn't going to be enough to worry about, in real world terms.
For the bullet you want, I might take a look at Speer's 160. I think they make both flat base and BT's - frankly, BT doesn't mean much at the ranges you're using it, so I'd probably go with the flat base.
Hornady's 154 would be another possibility.
Can't recall if Nosler makes a BT in 160, but, I might stay away from it.
I think the Ballistic Tip is a terrific deer bullet in a standard velocity cartridge. Not so sure about under 100 yard shots out of a magnum, tho.

[Purebred Redneck]

I agree about the 140 ballistic tip being borderline for what I want. That's why I was looking for some heavier rounds.

I was also looking for a sleeker bullet to get me a couple more inches at longer ranges - regardless of weight.

One could really hotrod the 7mag with a light bullet and a good BC so long as the bullet holds up with a close range shoulder shot.
I think a lot of the problems with the 7mag and ballistic tips is the fact that people don't know how to track deer.


I might look at some of the more "traditional" bullets. Perhaps the power points were just not what my rifle liked.

[Dutchboy]

I'd look no further than the 140 gr. Barnes TSX. You won't have to worry about blowing up at short range. The ballistics are rather nice, and you can get additional velocity to boot (compared to 160's). You also won't waste near as much meat as with the 150 gr. Winchesters. HTH, Dutch.

[Rocky Raab]

I concur with the TSX. You won't get your "huge holes" but you will get dead deer. The TSX is very long for its weight. That means you get the best of both worlds: high BC as well as high velocity.

Randy Brooks says he only makes boattail bullets because shooters think they need them. But he'll try to talk you out of them. If anybody knows bullets, it's Randy. Buy flatbases.

[Esox357]

My buddy used 140 grain Nosler Ballistic Tips last year on Nebraska deer and harvested three. He had two bullets pass through and the last one was found in the paunch after shooting through length wise. All shots were 50 yard or less with .5 grain loading over the max of H4831SC. All bullets worked and killed the deer with little to no bloodshot meat. He gets about 1 1/2 to 2 inches at 200 yards with this. I was impressed. It sure makes one think if they are as fragile as everyone makes them out to be. Esox357

[Cossack]

One more vote for the TX. I've used Barnes X exclusively on large northern deer for years. Eighteen consecutive one shot kills, using 5 rifle and a handgun caliber, with no losses and none traveling over 50 yards of hit, says it all. From work-up I found the new TS not only more accurate but less fauling. Judging from my last kill, it retains the same terminal performance of the X.
I practice with Sierra and Hornady but hunt only the very best: Barnes X, and now the TS.
Break both shoulders? A 130 gr X traverse the LENGTH of a big buck - front to rear - using a 7/08! (Needless to say he didn't leave his last tracks).
A 150 gr X I loaded for a friend's 7mm SAUM passed through BOTH shoulders of a big bull ELK at a measured 265 yards last year. Big explosive holes, may result in kills - IF the bullet lands in the right spot - they definitely do not contribute to the edibility of the game harvested.

[Rapier]

I use the 140 Sierra FBSP in my 7mm Mags (have 3) and the accuracy is superb. The best group so far, 3 shots at .096 and five shots at .198 Velocity was 3133 load is on this site at 66 grains of IMR 4350 with bullet seated .003 off. The load is in the old Lynman book as the accuracy load with this bullet.

After 50+ years of shooting I have found that the flat base is more accurate than the boat tail, as Rocky said in a prior post.
Ed