A gunsmith friend knows some fellas that use it on elk in Colorado. I think they use 7828 powder with either a 150 partition or a 150 scirocco. They always bring elk home.
A friend has one that he bought in 1969. I have no idea of the velocity but he uses a case full of H-4831 with a 130 gr. partition. It's a real killer on game.
After all of the muzzleloader shooting I do with a set trigger, sometimes 2 1/2 lbs. seems heavy. With gloves on in hunting season you have to watch sometimes. I don't think I would go below that for hunting.
I bought a 700 ss last fall. I set the trigger down to 2 1/2 lbs.It shot great until the barrel heated up. The stock was touching the whole barrel lenght on the left side. I sanded it out very carefully. Problem solved. But I have to agree, if it aint broke don't fix it.
I've shot quite a few deer that were under 200 lbs with various 180's in an '06. In fact one of the quickest killers for me has been the nosler 180 pt. I use 59 grs. of R/L 22 with the 180 gr. bullet. This gives me 2757 f.p.s. I know some fellas that use the 30 caliber bullets that you mentioned...
I've used the 30 cal. 180 partition, and 160 gr. 270 partition on deer. There was adequate expansion and complete passthroughs with each. All around good bullets.
I got a little over 3000 f.p.s with H-1000 and a 160 ab, which shot very well. I was just wondering how a 175 would do. I'm probably going to settle on the 160 ab though for all around use.
Have any of you fellas ever tried 175 gr. partitions in a 7mm short mag? According to Hodgdon data the 175 gr. bullet can be pushed over 2800 f.p.s in a 7mm saum.
You could also check out the leupold vx-1 and als their vx-2 line. Iput a vx-3 3.5X10x40 on my 7mm saum. Those scopes with the bigger objective made my gun seem clubby.
I have shot some 160 gr. accubonds in my rifle and it likes them very well. I shot some of them the other evening and it put all the shots in a ragged hole. I'm not sure of the velocity I'm getting with that particular load. I dropped my powder charge three grains from 67 to 64 with h-1000...