stubblejumper, what would you suggest for a 7mm Rem mag for our whitetails. (Manufacturer, GR., etc )B/C I have decide on a 7mm Rem mag for my new rifle of choice for deer. My buddy only shoots 160 gr federal Sierra boat's out of his 7mm.

I don't profess to be a bullet wiz, like most of you, so I wouldn't mind some advise. I don't reload, I may get back into it...just to busy right now...so over the counter is what I will use for the next while.

I guess these miniature southern deer must be alot tougher than those canadian giants. Heres a couple of examples of what I have personally seen that convinced me that a tougher bullet would have been in order. Last fall my girlfriend shot a small buck broadside, right in the center of the ribcage with a 150 gr ballistic tip at about 2800fps, that bullet hit a rib going in and exited in three pieces. Two years ago a friend shot a buck that field dressed just 150. He shot that deer in the lower neck as the deer faced him. He was using a 280 with 150gr ballistic tips also. The blood trail was very sparse for about 200 yds where he jumped the deer an hour after the shot. At that point he came and got me and we called a guy with a tracking dog and about 1am, six hours after shooting that buck the first time, we caught up with him and finished him off. I helped him skin that buck the next day, and that bullet had come completely unraveled before it got into the chest cavity.The direction and the angle of the wound cavity was headed right for the heart, but just never got past the brisket. Another guy in a club I was in shot a buck in the neck with a 270 using a 130 gr ballistic tip, that bullet flew apart when it hit the spine, the deer fell at the shot but before he got to it, it got back on its feet and was motoring away at a pretty good clip when he gutshot it running to finish that one.When we skinned that one, we found that the bullet had hit at somewhat of an angle and went through about four or five inches of meat before it hit the spine.There was only some jacket fragments at the end of the wound channel, and the vertebrae were not broken. Now, while its true that all of these bucks were killed, I still think a tougher bullet would have made the job alot easier. Im not trying to disuade anyone from using these bullets, I use them myself. All Im saying is that you need to bear in mind that they wont "always" penetrate very deep and are subject to come apart on bone or tough tissue occasionally. I have shot deer with them and had very good results as well, but they have not impressed me with consistency of performance. So no matter how many cases I hear of that experienced perfect performance on game, my own personal knowledge of the performance of these bullets remains unchanged.

Skeeter7mm-I only use one bullet for my 7mmstw and that is the 140gr ballistic tip.Driven at3500fps deer usually drop on the spot but do occaisionally make a few steps before falling.Out of thirty head or so taken with ballistic tips no animal has covered 50 yards after being hit so no tracking has been required.I take lung shots only but due to angles ,shoulders are sometimes hit resulting in more damage than desired but a dead deer nonetheless.Several friends also use ballistic tips in their 7mm mags with similar results.In all cases when lungshots are used the bullets almost always exit.With extreme angles and texas heart shots results may not be satisfactory with theses bullets and if you really want a bullet for these type of shots go with a premium such as the partition, failsafe or barnes x as no conventional bullet can be fully trusted in these situations.If you are prepared to pass up these shots ballistic tips will work fine.

stubblejumper...

where i hunt these deer can come at any angle. i have no problem with taking a shot at a deer coming dead on in the neck. ( i have and used a win ballistic tip ). dropped like a sack of potatoes.the exit wound was that if a racket ball.
larry338...

my buddy had a simular problem. used a 130gr. and shot in the shoulder. took for ever to find that buck with a broken shoulder.

all in all them seem to be a good bullet but i am a guy who dosen't see that many deer like everyone esle who hunts on friends and there own land. i have to drive 3 hours to scout in maine. starting to cost me about $350.00 every weekend. so i think with my sierra gamekings 165gr. getting 1.080" groups will do. cause i would hate to finnal have that 18 pointer i have hunted for the past 5 years pop out and have the round ( might not do it )break on the shoulder or penetrate not enough to hit the vitals.
i truly beleive that the nosler ballistic tips and SST's are fine deer bullets but i think better suited for shots over 100yds. i seen the pic of PLLOPY's buck he took and the hole was enormous.
i bought some for my father this year and let's see how he does with them this year. and look at his experience with them.

i appreciate you all for your help. i think if i reloaded they would be alot better in my 35 whelen since it has more copper in the bullet than a smaller caliber like a 25 or 284.

I share your sentiments Quilly, the chances of losing a buck because of bullet failure might be very slim, almost non existent, but there is a slight chance of it. My thoughts on this whole matter are that if you want to use soft bullets, you need to stay above about 160 gr for deer. Knowing the capabilities of your equipment and good shot placement are the keys to sucess. I have been criticized for hunting with a 338/06 because its "too much gun for deer" as they have told me. Well, I tend to want to prepare for the worst that might happen in hunting. For example a boone and crocket buck that is leaving the area and only offers me one shot from the rear. I sure as hell dont want a 243 in my hands if that ever happened. And in the final anylysis, I think that is one of the things that makes hunting interesting, you never know what is about to happen. I try to use the boyscout motto, be prepared. It makes me feel good to read stuff that people like you and stubblejumper and others here write that show they understand their equipment and have taken time to learn what it will do. Perhaps its more that you have paid enough attention to see what your equipment will do. So many seem to just blindly overlook the performance factor and trust that if they just hit a deer it will die. After all, even a 243 has a ton of muzzle energy and a deer only weighs 200 lbs! how could it not kill? Well, you and I know theres more to it than that.

Call me crazy, but I plan on using 180gr Nosler Bullistic tip out of my 300RUM for analope and mulies. I wanted the Scirrocos to work so bad since, they have a high BC, and two they had extreame high wieght retention, three, they were affordable, compared to A-Frames and Bear Claws , but I can't get them to fly. Also, with that thick jacket, they show pressure signs alot faster than Nosler's or Sierras.
2" or more groups are the norm with Scirrocos at 100 yards with my 300RUM.

I had the same experience with my 280 Bigcountry, after last year I vowed to find a tougher bullet for that rifle. The scirocco bullets were among the ones I tried, but like you, about 2" groups was the best I could get it to do. I also tried failsafe, two weights of speer grand slams, nosler partitions,barnes x and all the 160 grain bullets of regular construction. That rifle was pissing me off! It would shoot 150 grain ballistic tips into little biddy groups and everything else into patterns. I shot it in the walnut stock and also in a brown precision synthetic bedded free floated and with forearm contact in both. After all that I noticed that it shot slightly better with forearm contact and I went back and put about 8 lbs of upward pressure in the forearm bedding. Eureka! Now it will shoot sub moa with 140 gr barnes x bullets over 57 gr of AA 3100 or with 54 gr of reloader 22. I have been shooting a group or two every now and then all summer and have now shot about 50 shots with that load and its still averaging just under moa. The scirocco bullets still wont shoot well in it though. All this bs took me six months and cost about 400$ for bullets, but at least now I have the load I want. I cant imagine that you will have any trouble with the 180 gr bullets though, they should have plenty of mass to get on into the boiler room of even a large mule deer. Thats the good thing about ballistic tips, they are about the most accurate bullet available in alot of calibers and weights. I just wish they would stick together a little better. When barnes first came out with the x bullets, I had three rifles that would shoot them as good as anything Ive ever had, then about 1994 they redisigned the x and those same rifles would shoot consistent 4 to 5" groups. Barnes has since started making the x again without the secant ogive and I am getting usable accuracy again with the 7mm 140 gr and the .338 185 gr. My .338/06 will still shoot ballistic tips better than anything though, several times I have shot five shot groups with it in the 1/2" range. It will average about .9 inches with them. But the x bullet is the most consistent performer and the damnest killer I have ever seen. Well, I didnt mean to write a book here, just on my lunch break and this is something that I like to talk about.