I've had one of my 7mags since I was a teen in the late 80s. The only time I've had deer run over 10-20yds is when shooting Nosler Ballistic Tips (140s) and Hornady SSTs (154s). The ballistic tips made a mess and I soon replaced them with Sierras and Nosler Partitions. The SSTs shocked me because they blew up on does so I certainly never tried them on larger bodied bucks.
I bought a 280 back in the late 90s and the first hunting rounds I used in it were 139SSTs Light Mags. I shot an old 154 inch 14pt southern Missouri buck in the boiler room at 40yds with one round. The buck staggered then ran about 30yds and stopped. I was just about to pop him again when he went down. The bullet hit him perfectly and it did dispatch him quickly but there was no exit hole nor any blood trail had I needed one.
I prefer Barnes Triple Shocks, you'll NEVER have to worry about exit holes and bloodtrails with them! If you don't want to shoot Barnes then look at the Nosler Accubond. I've only taken one deer with an Accubond, a 200+# cull buck I busted lastyear at 120yds with 150 ABs from my 300Wby Mag. The bullet held together, raked the buck nearly lengthwise and he barely made 20yds before he piled up.
Todays "super bullets" are pretty amazing and they dont require weight to still reliably penetrate. That allows you to utilize max velocity and trajectory which is the reason for shooting magnums in the first place as far as I'm concerned! (Mags have their place, usually I'm in the dark timber of my west TN swamp so my 35 Marlin or 7-08 Savage get the call. But when I'm "going long" I'll reach for my 280 or one of my various mags, depending on my mood that day)
If there's a critter on the North American continent that a 7mag firing 160 Triple Shocks or AccuBonds wont kill inside of a 1/4 mile, then I can't think of it!
