7 mag

[Guest]

1-shot,
I'm trying to understand what trouble you experienced with the 7mag you had back then. What bullets were you shooting and what were the velocities? I'm just curious as this is one caliber I never hear a lot of negative comments about.

I owned a 7 Rem.mag at one time, wanted something bigger for Elk. But the years I hunted Whitetail Deer with the 7mag I shot 154 Hornady Bullets going 3,030 fps. Most were shot through the lungs, rarely did deer get more than 30 yards,most were down on the ground with in 20 yards or less. Common shots were in hardwoods 50-125 yards. You can't argue with speed and a good bullet. I also used that same load to take my first Bull Elk at 300 yards. Shot him length wise through the rear of the chest cavity exiting and through the neck. He went 20 yards and rolled down the steep hill he was on, dead.

Don

 

[super-7]

The only problem that I had with the 7mm Rem mag was I could not carry enough flashlight batteries to deer hunt with it. :lol: :lol: I do most of my hunting in the evenings. Most of my shots were late just before dark. I tried all sorts of different loads and bullets. The Rem 700 that I had would shoot most anything you put in it in the same hole at 100 yards. I would shoot a deer with it right through the shoulders or right behind the shoulder and 90% of the time they would run out of the field and go 100 yards or so into the thick NC jungle cut over that surrounded the field. It is hard tracking in that stuff especially in the dark. Mine loved AA 3100 powder or H-4831.

I traded off that 7 mag and got a 25-06. I don't have to track deer anymore. Bang Flop. :mrgreen:

To each his own, but physics and ballistic tables tell a diffrent story. If you prefer your 25-06 thats great!! I've seen bang flops from 6mms and I've seen turn and burn from 300 mags, the thing with deer you never know how they'll react. If you punched thru the shoulders like you stated no deer on earth will go more then a few yrds. If you hit a shoulder and didn't penetrate thats a bullet problem not a calibre problem.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Man, my experience is surely different. I have dumped every deer that I ever shot with a 7mm Mag in its tracks. Not so with the .25-06, even hit right, deer staggered around a bit before expiring. I had a bullet failure on an elk but it was nearly 50 years ago with a Power Point 175 gr, 7mm bullet which was made for the 7mm Mauser.

I have not killed as many deer with the 7mm Mag (maybe a dozen) as with the .270 Win but either caliber dumps them in their tracks with Partitions.