What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

I am going to have someone reload some bullets for me and was wondering if anyone was reloading this caliber and what they were reloading with. The guy that is going to reload for me has a love for the Nosler Ballistic Tip. He reloads this bullet in just about everything. Someone also mentioned the 168 gn. Sierra Game King Match grades. Can someone give me some starting information so I can determine which bullets my rifle will like the best?

Thanks

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Stone,
I like the Hornady 7mm 162 GR SST. IMHO.....

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

If it were my 7mm Ultra Mag, I'd be tempted to try the 140 grain Barnes Triple Shock X-bullet for everything up to elk. My 7mm STW is on the back burner until I get out to Colorado, but that's the bullet I plan on loading for it when I finally build the rifle. If you want it purely for deer, the 120 grainer might also be just the ticket as well...very high velocity combined with high weight retention and deep penetration, what's not to like?

Mike

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Barnes Triple Shock

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

The only thing that I am worried about with the Barnes X is what kind of exit do you have with it. It looks like it would be a good neck shooting bullet but how does it react when you get a chest shot. What kind of blood trail do you get.

Thanks

Stone

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

While I've never used them on game, I have a few friends who rifle hunt deer in Missouri and one who goes out west for elk, mulies and anything else he can get a tag for any chance he gets that say they rarily fail to shoot through the animal no matter how you hit them because they stay intact and retain their weight so well. So the exit wound would be the diameter of the expanded bullet or larger.

Mike

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

wow, can believe nobodies mentioned the noslers, I mean a 7mm ultra witha 160 gr accubond!!! Wow! or even a 140 gr ballistic tip, you cant go wrong with the noslers IMO and just a suggestion, start off with H1000 for powder, between me and my friends we are using H1000 on 300 ultras, 7stw's and 7 ultras.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Id go with a barnes X bullet, started loading them in my 30-06 and havent looked back yet.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

I'd shoot the 140gr sierra gameking or 140gr partition.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

140 TSX if you want a bullet for everything.

If you REALLY wanna trick it out, order some 120 Lazerheads (tweaked TSX') from Lazzeroni. They can be stoked up in your UM and son you will wonder if you have died and gone to heaven? ;) You dont have to worry about what size exit hole they leave either, I've been shooting 130 Xs and now 150 Lazerheads from my Warbird for a couple of seasons and I have yet to see ANYTHING that will stop them, whether its a chestshot at 45 yds or a lenghtwise "texas heartshot" at over 400. The Barnes' simply won't stay in the animals when driven too extreme (over 3500fps) velocities. And even when I drove the 130s too nearly 4000fps, I NEVER had so much as a hint of bullet blowup. They simply stay together and you would be surprised how little meat damage you get.

If you deadcenter a shoulder ball then you will get alot of bone fragment, but I have yet to have the first piece of bruised meat in over 50 animals (whitetails, a muley and a antelope). I have buddies that shoot Warbirds and a couple of Firebirds also. Like rockheads they are hellbent on the partitions vs the Lazerheads/TSX'. Some of the wounds they get on deer are gruesome! [:'(] theres just no need for that kind of damage when its un-necessary!

GOOD luck and let us know what happens,
RA

ps
Don't get me wrong, the Accubonds are a GREAT bullet. I just don't think they are the bullet for supermags. Even they will come apart with heavy shots at close range with extreme velocity.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

I am currently shooting the Nosler Partitian. No one has mentioned what kind of blood trails these bullets leave with a chest shot. Every bullet mentioned I have heard good and bad. The Barnes I know will stay together but what kind of mushroom do you have? Most of the guys I know that shoot it has the same size holes on the exit. This can lead to a hard time of tracking a blood trail.

I don't like the partitians because of the failure to pass through. I have seen the work of the Nosler Ballistic tip and it has done well but I would like to get more information on the bullets that you guys have mentioned. How are they at down range accuracy, down range effectiveness with a chest shot and how do the exit wounds look and what kind of blood trail does it leave....if it leaves.

Thanks

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

The Barnes Triple Shock and the Lazzeroni Lazer Heads were developed by the same engineers and look exactly alike. Can someone tell me what the difference is in these two bullets.

Also, What is the difference in the Accubond and the Ballistic Tip? Is it that the Accubond stays together as the Ballistic Tip explodes?

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Stone the Nosler Ballistic Tip was/is simply a hollowpoint boat tail with a polycarbonate tip that doesn't deform while being chambered or handled roughly and there is a tiny airgap behind the tip. When the tip contacts the target it is jammed backinto that airgap to initate rapid expansion. At that time its job is done and for all intents and purposes the bullet is then nothing more than a normal hollowpoint.

The Accubond is a ballistic tip on steroids. The lead core of the bullet is bonded into the jackets of that bullet. They (the jackets) are also thicker and stronger. Think of the Accubond as a hunting "ballistic tip" that exhibits typical accuracy and velocity retention (because of the great aerodynamic shape retention) with penetration more similar too bullets like Partitions, InterLoks etc...

As for the Lazerhead it IS a TSX. But it is tweaked from that point. A TSX (like all other Barnes X type bullets) are solid copper. BUT the "grooves" (which technically are gas checks) are there to lesson the bearing surface, decrease friction and lesson copper fouling. What Lazzeroni has done to his bullets is they are actually put on a lathe and turned down in size and then brought back up too proper diameter with a plating process known as NP3 plating. Its a much harder finish than commonly coated bullets like Fail Safes, Silverballistic tips, XLC etc... The coating does a couple of things. First is it practically ELIMINATES copper fouling. I have shot 200rounds through my Warbird, all of them NP3 plated and there simply isn't any copper present when I scrub for it. Another thing the coating does is it decreases friction/heat and when combined with the decreased bearing surface/gas checks of the TSXs it allows for a more efficient use of propulsion. That being you get more velocity with the same amount of powder versus a non-coated bullet. It also allows you to actually increase velocity since you decreased the pressure. So you can "load it up more" to get more velocity with say a set standard amount of pressure like say 65k.

Clear as mud? :D
RA

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Actually coated bullets produce less pressure and less velocity than the same uncoated bullet with the same amount of powder.You can however increase the powder charge with coated bullets which does produce more velocity than uncoated bullets without exceeding the design pressure.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

The ballistic tip does not explode.Rather it expands more rapidly and sheds more of it's weight than the accubond which has a bonded core.The ballistic tip penetrates less but provides a larger wound channel on average than the accubond.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

For mostly deer hunting and shooting at 300 to 500 yards would you prefer the Ballistic Tip or the Accubond?

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

For deer only,I would use whichever shot better in my gun.For larger game,I would go with the accubond even if it didn't shoot quite as well.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Stone I haven't seen a TSX or Accubond yet that wont shoot equally with any Ballistic Tip. Thats the beauty of these bullets. You aren't giving up any accuracy yet you are gaining MUCH in the terminal performance area. When shooting 300-500+ yards you WILL have to give up some shot opportunities with a Ballistic Tip because of the fragility of the bullet. The TSX' and Accubonds take that problem out of the equation. With the TSX especially you need only envision the animal in a true 3D perspective and "shoot for the vitals" regardless of shot angle.

IMHO that is partially why you want a caliber like the RUM. The bullets also allow you to maximize all the super mags have to offer. What good is a 3500fps rifle if you have a bullet that will come apart on a shoulder/ham or wont penetrate the intestines to make its way into the chest cavity? At that point you aren't getting all from the gun that you paid for!

Again, just my .01/2c...
RA

ps
LOL I like to think of supermags as the REAL "drilling guns" and like John Lazzeroni calls his personal gun... "Its a MEAT SEAKING missle"!

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

I have two 300ultramag rifles that shoot consistant 1/2" groups with the 180gr ballistic tip but only average 1" with accubonds.They are very similar in construction but they do not shoot the same.I have not tried the tsx in these guns but I do plan to do so this spring.

RE: What bullet for the 7mm Ultra Mag.
 

Thanks to everyone that replied to my post. You guys have jumped on everything that I had questions about. Looks like I need to load up three different bullets and see how they shoot.

Thanks Again.