7mm Mag Question Need Help

[WilcoKen]

I will start by saying I'm not a ballistics pro at all. I've used my Remington 7mm for 30 years. Most all the deer I've taken with it have had good blood trails if they didn't drop on the spot. But the last 2 years I've made well placed shots on 2 bucks (185 yd shots) that had very little or no blood at all. I found one of the two but not until it was too late. This evening was the 2nd buck and it looked like a good shot by reaction but when I got there zero blood whatsoever. Hopefully I will find him in the morning. Nevertheless I need to consider a new load. I shoot Remington Core Lokt 150 grain PSP. It's possible I was shooting a different load by Remington prior to this box I bought 2 years ago but I cannot recall what it was. Please let me know if there's a better option. Thanks

 

[redblood]

The advantage of the 7mm bullet is a high ballistic coefficient and more importantly a high sectional density. To reap the benefit of those factors, you will need to go to a heavier bullet. Another benefit of the heavier bullet 160 to 175 grain is slower speed, which allows bullets to keep their integrity better. Try a 165 gr bullet and i think u will be pleased

 

[Skinnyindian]

I have shot several rounds through my 7mm. I have settled on the Federal Premium "COPPER" rounds. If hose are unavailable the Hornady red tip ammo is my go too. I actually shoot the Copper in all my hunting rifles. I am not a ballistics guy I want expansion and penetration from a round not accuracy to 1000 yards. This is all my opinion. Good luck

 

[chewymalone]

I will start by saying I'm not a ballistics pro at all. I've used my Remington 7mm for 30 years. Most all the deer I've taken with it have had good blood trails if they didn't drop on the spot. But the last 2 years I've made well placed shots on 2 bucks (185 yd shots) that had very little or no blood at all. I found one of the two but not until it was too late. This evening was the 2nd buck and it looked like a good shot by reaction but when I got there zero blood whatsoever. Hopefully I will find him in the morning. Nevertheless I need to consider a new load. I shoot Remington Core Lokt 150 grain PSP. It's possible I was shooting a different load by Remington prior to this box I bought 2 years ago but I cannot recall what it was. Please let me know if there's a better option. Thanks

I've shot Federal's 162 grain BTSP for over 20 years. This round has one of the best BC's of any round you can shoot and it knocks them down. I be never had a whitetail, mule deer, or antelope take one step after a shot. That's probably more 25 animals over the years.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

I have shot 7mm mags for over 30 years and I only had a similar situation once. I was hunting with 160 grain Winchester Premium Failsafe bullets. The Deer ran 60 yards with little to no blood. After that I started reloading 162 grain Hornady Interlocks. I have since swapped to 160 grain Nosler Accubonds. They are great! Regardless of bullet, shot placement is most likely your culprit. I am not saying you can't shoot, the problem could be the factory ammo. Your bullet is going 3000+ FPS, a shot in the vitals should produce a plenty good blood trail.

 

[EastTNHunter]

140 or 160 Nosler Accubonds and be done

 

[Remington700]

I shoot Federal Sierra Game king BTSP out of my 7 mag. I have never had issues with a blood trail or finding one. I am surprised you have had issues out of the Core Lokt.

 

[SilvaDoc]

No blood trail is a common lament and seems to be more-so as the years have gone by. It could be that we have bullets now days with such controlled expansion we do not quite get the explosive forensics we once did. Your 7 mag and load are fine and there are a bunch more loads just as good. I use the two that shoot best in my rifle: Barnes @ 140 and a Federal white tail @ 150. Both kill well and the last deer I shot had complete pass-thru (Barnes), ran 40 yards and did not drip a drop. My son shot a doe last night with a 308, 150 grain, Remington Corelokt. Complete pass-thru. Ran 50 yards. Nary a drop. My suggestion is a light but stout bullet for deer. I want a terminal ballistic with deep penetration and pass-thru, if reasonable ... and a forensic trail that looks like a mess. Shoot what shoots well in your gun. Also, I never make any assumption and bullet performance theory based on unrecovered deer.

 

[Boll Weevil]

I've shot Winchester Supreme 140gr Accubonds for over a decade with drt performance over 95% of the time. 3180fps with good shot placement and it's as reliable as one can ask for.

 

[Snake]

I have shot 7mm mags for over 30 years and I only had a similar situation once. I was hunting with 160 grain Winchester Premium Failsafe bullets. The Deer ran 60 yards with little to no blood. After that I started reloading 162 grain Hornady Interlocks. I have since swapped to 160 grain Nosler Accubonds. They are great! Regardless of bullet, shot placement is most likely your culprit. I am not saying you can't shoot, the problem could be the factory ammo. Your bullet is going 3000+ FPS, a shot in the vitals should produce a plenty good blood trail.

I've heard of the failsafe bullets problem and when I first started using my 7mm mag I was about to go to another gun before I found the right load for me . I use the Winchester Ballistic Silvertip 150 grain and I've had great results with them . Now I did have trouble with one ten point with no blood but it was just one of those things . I shot through both lungs and never hit a rib clean pass through . He had no blood trail because the lining around the lungs plugged the exit hole . When I field dressed him he was full of blood and he only went probably 75 -100 yards and that is as because if a doe I shot got him up out of where he had beded. Like those Ballistic Silvertips

 

[Duck dogn]

Shot these for years with all drop in spot shoulder shots. I load 139 grain sst with imr 4350 powder and haven't been fortunate to have a shot at a deer since. Trying to kill one with a new 6.5 grendel first.

 

[WilcoKen]

All great info. Thanks everyone.

 

[SilvaDoc]

I am sitting here waiting daylight and with my 7 mag, thinking about what I wrote; and not to beat my own dead horse, realized I had been a little dense. When I said "light but stout" I meant light for caliber but within the normal range for deer. For the 7 mag that would be in the 140 gr neighborhood and your 150's are close enough.

I use the brands I use because my rifle shoots them well. I use heavier bullets for elk because I need penetration. They give that extra momentum and bone breaking ability, I.e. the terminal ballistics, that comes with longer, heavier bullets, for me and my particular rifle: 160 gr Barnes.

You do not need that for white tail.

Over the years and experimenting, I used a much larger selection with my 280, just nearly a 7 mag, because it is not so snooty about what it shoots. All, including the Corelokt, worked well, but I settled on the Federal, super performance, 139 gr, as much as anything because they shot really well in that rifle.

And, boy howdy, they whacked deer.

Just because it is fun, get a box, but at the risk your gun might not spit them out well. But, too, they have merit of not being the most expensive.

Lots of other fine choices given above, if you can find them in the year 2020.

Daylight sneaking in and I better close out.

However, corelokts are work horses, tested and proven. I would be fine sitting here with them, if they shot well in my smoke pole. On the terminal end, they always did the work.

 

[WilcoKen]

I am sitting here waiting daylight and with my 7 mag, thinking about what I wrote; and not to beat my own dead horse, realized I had been a little dense. When I said "light but stout" I meant light for caliber but within the normal range for deer. For the 7 mag that would be in the 140 gr neighborhood and your 150's are close enough.

I use the brands I use because my rifle shoots them well. I use heavier bullets for elk because I need penetration. They give that extra momentum and bone breaking ability, I.e. the terminal ballistics, that comes with longer, heavier bullets, for me and my particular rifle: 160 gr Barnes.

You do not need that for white tail.

Over the years and experimenting, I used a much larger selection with my 280, just nearly a 7 mag, because it is not so snooty about what it shoots. All, including the Corelokt, worked well, but I settled on the Federal, super performance, 139 gr, as much as anything because they shot really well in that rifle.

And, boy howdy, they whacked deer.

Just because it is fun, get a box, but at the risk your gun might not spit them out well. But, too, they have merit of not being the most expensive.

Lots of other fine choices given above, if you can find them in the year 2020.

Daylight sneaking in and I better close out.

However, corelokts are work horses, tested and proven. I would be fine sitting here with them, if they shot well in my smoke pole. On the terminal end, they always did the work.

Thanks for the follow up. Yeah all the rounds recommend here I've not found in stock anywhere. May be a moot point for a couple years. Lol.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

No blood trail is a common lament and seems to be more-so as the years have gone by. It could be that we have bullets now days with such controlled expansion we do not quite get the explosive forensics we once did. Your 7 mag and load are fine and there are a bunch more loads just as good. I use the two that shoot best in my rifle: Barnes @ 140 and a Federal white tail @ 150. Both kill well and the last deer I shot had complete pass-thru (Barnes), ran 40 yards and did not drip a drop. My son shot a doe last night with a 308, 150 grain, Remington Corelokt. Complete pass-thru. Ran 50 yards. Nary a drop. My suggestion is a light but stout bullet for deer. I want a terminal ballistic with deep penetration and pass-thru, if reasonable ... and a forensic trail that looks like a mess. Shoot what shoots well in your gun. Also, I never make any assumption and bullet performance theory based on unrecovered deer.

Why do you suggest a light bullet??

 

[SilvaDoc]

"Light bullet?" Good question and not an answer I can defend too vigorously. However, I want the bullet to upset relatively quickly. Inside the narrow chest cavity of a deer "lighter bullets" tend to do this more efficiently than heavier bullets. Of course all of this is relative to bullet construction. But, the forensics of a bullet path inside a deer, and exit, needs to be as severe as possible to create the wound needed for a consistent blood trail. Lighter bullets do this better on lighter game.

All of this is a little picky. The last deer I shot was with my elk load and it fell down pretty darn dead ... pretty quick. But with a poke-hole wound, in and out, from that heavy bullet, it also did not bleed along the way.

Heavy bullets, heavy for caliber, are usually the ticket for heavy game. White tails are light.

 

[Hillbilly Hunter]

Different strokes for different folks. I am pretty well versed on bullet construction and performance, as it seems you are too. That being said I rarely shoot beyond 200 yards, therefore I much prefer heavier bullets.

 

[Safari Hunt]

I didn't take tiome to read all the posts as I'm pressed for time this morning. Have you checked the rifle to see if it's still shooting where it's supposed to hit? Scope secure and all screws tight? Change in ammo or bullet weight?

 

[SilvaDoc]

Safari Hunter has a very good point(s). If you inadvertently changed bullet weight, your rifle is apt to notice.

Great morning. Nine does in groups and, near as I can tell, a unicorn.

 

[lightsareout]

I've had really good blood trails and impressive bullet performance out of the Hornady Precision Hunter this year out of my 7mm

 

[DaveB]

I began to handload after a trip where a for-sure dead buck showed zero signs of being hit and as you reported, no trail. Went to a range and my core-lokts shot like normal for one round but second fell way short and out of my alley.

The entire .284 family tends to have very accurate rifles so my thought is the low-end ammo is probably the cause. You can go up in quality and price-figure 2 bucks a round even when inventories are back to normal. I cannot accept these empty shelves or factory ammo in which I have zero confidence.
We handload and our 280 using 140 Accubonds will put 5 downrange into one raggedy hole day after day. IMR4350 max load Fed 210M, T/C Venture, Leupold Vari-X III 3.5 x 10. We have two 7mm08 rifles and we keep them well fed with 120 NBT rounds loaded to DA's recipe. Very accurate and deadly.

BTW, we never run out of ammo. The red boxes contain loaded 280 rounds

 

[SilvaDoc]

Hillbilly Hunter

Your comment reminded me of a time when I was a young'ster. I had just gotten a 30/06 for Christmas and was slap full of opinion, one being 150 grain bullets were the only thing for deer. An old gent in deer camp carried 220 grain bullets and, of course this just could not be right, in fact was plumb "ig'nert," in my feverishly enlightened state. Those were for Grizzlies and such. I made my case and he showed me two of the old yellow boxes of Winchester's, each with three shells. He carried a pre-64 Winchester with a 4-power Weaver scope and would pull a single shell from one box for a pre-season check. However much it was off he made the clicks and was done. He pointed to the second box with 17 shells missing and said "17 dead deer."

Dang. Good debate point.

 

[SilvaDoc]

Sorry ... wrong spot for this post ... but the sentiment being he had a fine reply ....

 

[SilvaDoc]

Well, shucks ... it is right. I quit, obviously not capable of high-tech.

 

[Snake]

"Light bullet?" Good question and not an answer I can defend too vigorously. However, I want the bullet to upset relatively quickly. Inside the narrow chest cavity of a deer "lighter bullets" tend to do this more efficiently than heavier bullets. Of course all of this is relative to bullet construction. But, the forensics of a bullet path inside a deer, and exit, needs to be as severe as possible to create the wound needed for a consistent blood trail. Lighter bullets do this better on lighter game.

All of this is a little picky. The last deer I shot was with my elk load and it fell down pretty darn dead ... pretty quick. But with a poke-hole wound, in and out, from that heavy bullet, it also did not bleed along the way.

Heavy bullets, heavy for caliber, are usually the ticket for heavy game. White tails are light.

Trying several different loads when I first purchased my 7mm the load was a 139 grain bullet but can't remember the manufacturer but believe it was Winchester . They sucked in my gun ! Accurate sure but couldn't kill squat . Shot one doe three times and she didn't even act like she was shot . Shot another buck and couldn't find him that's when I tried thev150 grain Balisitic Silvertip with great results. Guys at work all was using those light bullets and praising them but myself and a friend had terrible results . Could have been us but for just a little less speed I like the heavier bullet.

 

[Labboy]

I also prefer a lighter bullet. I only shoot 150 grain Hornady's in my Remington 700 .300 win mag. Knock on wood I have never had any trouble at all.

 

[timberghost35]

I got a Tikka 7mag this year when of course you couldn't find bullets anywhere. The gun actually shot the Winchester silver box really well. I just wanted something a little heavier.
Went with Hornady Percision in 164. Of course, got the gun sighted in and my score literally come apart. Vortex swapped it out and then had to re do the sighting. Had 4 bullets left after it was all said and done.
Shot my biggest bodied deer ever, 243lbs, on opening day. Bullet went in one shoulder, passed through the other and lodged right beneath the skin. No blood whatsoever, but his insides were literally jello. It was NUTZ how that bullet tore him up inside. Shot was at prolly 80 yards.
Deer was hit, stood on his back legs, and locked up and hit the dirt...

Of course, now I can't find another box ANYWHERE...

 

[PickettSFHunter]

I'll be honest, I've shot 140 Nosler Ballistic Tips out of my 7mm RM for years and always had great performance. Good blood, pass throughs, rarely run, etc.

 

[SilvaDoc]

Making a caliber or bullet "performance theory" on unrecovered deer is a tricky deal, unless it just keeps happening. I have heard tales, and can tell some of my own, about deer that were flattened only to get up and run away, leaving the hunter (me too) disgusted with his outfit. For example, the "dead space" between vitals and backbone is sometimes blamed; but the space, or almighty little of it, actually exists. The curvature of the spine hugs the cavity where vitals lie. What does exist is the musculature (backstraps) alongside the tall spinous extensions (wings) extending off the upper spine. Put a bullet there, torque those extensions at 2,500 feet per second, a deer will go down like electrocuted, quiver, wiggle and get up and run away, and maybe leave very little blood. Looked good. We are left to wonder: either a super deer, rotten bullet or bum shot.

 

[Luckybuck16]

I switch to hornady sst 162 grain superformance and the results speak for themselves .