hunter24605

New to the forum here, 30+ years hunting experience under my belt and still learning. So to my question:
I recently acquired a NIB X-Bolt 7 RM. I want to carry it this year for no other reason than to change things up a bit. However, my hunting involves heavy woods where 75% of my shots are sub 100 yards, with the majority falling between 30-70 yards. So with these short distances and 7RM velocities, would a heavy for caliber bullet be a wise choice to maintain the bullets integrity at high impact speed? I've read a lot that whitetail don't offer enough "resistance" to expand heavier bullets, but I don't know if I'm on board with that.
I don't reload, and I'm looking at 175gr fusions, but any suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks

Oldtimr

My ranges are from 15 yards to about 50 or 60 yards and I use a 45-70 with a 325 grn hornady lever evolution cartridge. I aim for the crease behind the front shoulder and the damage to the meat is no more than my .308 Winchester with a 150 grain Remington coreloct round. It does make soup of the heart and lungs though.

super_hunt54

His is a totally different situation though Oldtimr. Your 45-70 is big and slow (I like those too) but his is/can be medium weight and still fast. Hunter,,,welcome to the site first off. As to your question, it really has little to do with the weight of the bullet as it does towards the construction of the bullet. Bigger/heavier doesn't necessarily mean tougher. More often than not the bigger bullet slows the velocities down enough for the bullet to hold together better. I take it you don't roll your own ammo so what you need to do is search for good hard bullets. Anything with a monolithic bullet would serve well more than likely. Those fusions are SUPPOSED to hold together well at short range impact velocities but I haven't personally tested them so I can't speak to the honesty of that. Barnes has a cartridge loaded with their TSX bullet that does hold together exceptionally well. If your rifle will shoot it accurately, that would be the first round I would try. https://www.midwayusa.com/product/15...free-box-of-20 there's you a link for it. 160 grain is a pretty good weight for the 7mmRM.

Game Stalker

My suggestion is that 150 grain standard ammo should be all you need. Federal Power Shock, Remington Core Lokt or Winchester Power Points should still handle the situation from any angle. Heaviest bullet I would go to is the 154 gr. Hornady interlock American Whitetail ammo.

Rob in VT

I use the same ammo for deer and elk. I have a Winchester Model 70 in 30-06 and shoot a Barnes TSX 180gr. Have killed many whitetails with it and it mushrooms nicely. Have found many bullets in the opposite hide.

I also have a Weatherby in 300 WM. I shoot a Nosler Accubond 180gr out of that. Killed 1 whitetail with it. Much more energy, entered front right shoulder and traveled length of body to lodge in back left quarter. I would guess your 7 mag would have similar results.

JagMagMan

First welcome aboard Hunter! I have not hunted Whitetails with my 7MM RM for the last 10 years! My last experience with the 7MM RM was two bucks with 150 gr. bullets.
The first was dead within sight, but no expansion at about 40 yards. I probably would have had a hard time recovering him if he had not expired within 20 yards of the shot.
Second, was about 80 yards with the same, 150 gr. bullets. This buck ran for over 100 yards, with no blood trail due to again, no expansion. I recovered the buck, probably by pure luck.
Looking back at those situations, I have concluded:
1. High double lung shot, internal bleeding due to shot location. (Deer ribs and lungs don't provide enough resistance to expand heavy bullets!
2. Plain old, wrong bullets for the job!
I believe the 7MM RM, using lighter, 139/140 gr. bullets, designed for more expansion would make excellent Whitetail medicine!

flags

If you do some looking you may find some of the Barnes original bullets in 7mm that weigh 195 gr. I laid in a few boxes a few years ago and with then you can slow the 7mm Mag down to 7x57 velocities and those 195s cut a big hole.

If you can't find any Barnes you can always load a 175 at minimal velocity and if you use a standard soft point like a Hornady or Remington you should be ok. I experimented for years with my 7mm Mag and I finally settled on the 160 gr Nosler Accubond as my go to bullet. Of course all the above works if you handload which you say you don't.

If I was you I'd get a box of plain Rem Corelokts and Win Power Points in 150 gr or 175 gr and see which one shoots best in your rifle and then I'd go out and slay whitetails. Whitetails don't require premium bullets and those old fashioned bullets have killed millions of them.

MudderChuck

Other considerations than just expansion. The lighter bullets tend to deflect easier from twigs or even weeds and tall grass. Not an every time type thing, but it has happened to me often enough to be a trend.

I tried the 150's and seemed to have more tumblers that tore up a lot of meat and I had more strikes off from where I was aiming. Seemed to happen when I was shooting through grass or light brush (fence rows). Went to 180's and had a lot more through and throughs, hole in hole out and the game wanted to bolt farther.

I finally split the difference and have been using 165 or 167's. No bullet IMO is going to perform well in all situations. The Core Lokt I use don't expand enough IMO but do tend to hold together better if there is something between me and my Deer.

I've been shooting a lot of neck shots, expansion doesn't seem to matter much. The hydro static shock seems to put them in a pile most every time.

I tried Silver tips for awhile (just in case a Hog came by), but seemed to have the bullet come apart from grass or whatnot on a regular basis and my Deer ended up looking like I used a hand grenade on it.

I use my 35 Remington in heavy brush, big and slow seems to work out better.

hunter24605

Thanks for all the information! My goal with heavier bullets was to slow it down a little, but from what I've learned here I should be ok with bullets in the 150 grain +/- a little...I think I'll give the fusion 150 grains a try or I'm also hearing good things about Win Power Max Bonded.

bronko22000

Hunter you should save your money and not worry about buying cartridges loaded with premium bullets for whitetails. Standard Winchester or Remington cartridges will do just fine in the 139-150 range.
Heavier bullets in a given caliber tend to be designed with thicker jackets for deeper penetration on larger game. Deer don't need them.
And don't get caught up in the fictional brush bucking theory because it just ain't so. Any, and I mean any bullet will deflect if it hits a twig. In fact I've read the in actuality that faster rotating bullets recover quicker than the so called brush buckers like the 35 Rem etc. But they still deflect and may miss or worse, wound an animal without a recovery.