skeeter 7MM

Back to the original post or reason for this thread; I have used a 7mm rem mag for coyotes to moose and never had a problem. I should mention I realize that a bullet used to shoot a coyote isn't probably the best for a moose and vice versa. Since we are talking deer my bullet of choice is the 150gr Nosler ballistic tip, close or far it works but the results (or damage) as some like to call it vary. That said my main hunting partner uses a 7mm rem mag as well and he stuffs it with only 160 NP. His results on the same critters mirrors mine, no problems. On shorter shots no doubt his NP does far less damage then mine and on long shots his does less. I refer to him as lazy not wanting to change loads like I did but really can't argue with his results either.

TOO BIG???? I guess I'm guilty of this b/c I used my 338wm with 225gr AB bullet to successfully harvest bull moose, bull elk and deer. The results where the same BANG, 2 holes, jello for lungs and flop. In fact the damage produced on the deer where less then what my 270 win produced in some cases.

I have used .25 to .50 cal ml's on deer, they all work if you do your work in the first place. Damage?? Shoot it in the shoulders, expect damage! If you want to minimize the damage to the shoulder and this is your shot placement of choice! Then use a better constructed bullet. However realize that if you take that shot behind the shoulder the bullet may not open up the same sized wound channel as a standard cup and core or polymer bullet..it's a give and take scenario and it applies to all calibers!

In terms of experiences unless you find the animal you have no way of knowing what happened with the shot. I can relate a fresh expereince from last week though it was on elk. A guy using a 300 RUM with 200gr NP made what appeared to be a good shot, lots of good blood at the hit sight and showed an exit wound as it was on both sides of his trail. Good trail continued 200 yards or so in the bush then petered out to droplets. I had noticed on the higher vegation at the start the blood was high, indicating to me it was a higher shot. With the trials inter twinded picking a route was near impossible so I went on my hands and knees searching for which way to go. To make the story shorter 300-400 yards later we found the bull elk, still alive but unable to get up so he was quickly dispatched with a neck shot at PB range. CSI showed the bullet clipped the upper lobe of the onside lung and exited 2" below the spine. The entrance and exit holes went between ribs - now thats luck, so the wound channel was fairly small and eventually sealed up. The distance of the shot was 300+ yards. On the flip side I called in & shot my bull right behind the shoulder at less then 50 yards with the 338/225gr AB, bullet smashed ribs, taking out both lungs, leaving a large wound channel and resulting in flop with only a few leg kicks to follow. I can relate other stories about the weird happenings of bullets or game, the fact is sheet happens and sometimes you'll need to work hard to find out why and other times you'll have to leave sctratching your head to what actually happened but more times then not its operator error vs equipment failure!