7mm Remington magnum

[tyson22250]

What's Everyone's favorite bullet to use in the 7mm Remington magnum for moose? I am pondering a 160gr in a swift a-frame! Is there any difference in performance between a a-frame and nosler Partition?

 

[JD338]

I would go with a 160 gr PT. Hits hard, plenty of penetration and shoots flat for a long shot.

JD338

 

[tyson22250]

Forgot to mention this is in forest and shots will be 100yards or less, so looking for really controlled expansion, I have just heard some bad things about the partions at 50 yards with little to no penetration. Had a co-worker last year with 30-06 put three 180's in bull elk before it slowed it down, upon examination he found penetration was only 6"

 

[DrMike]

I would be very comfortable with a 160 grain Partition or a 175 grain Partition. I shot the 175 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw in my 7RM for many years. Today, I mostly shoot 175 Partitions with 160 grain Partitions as my second most common load. I've take a few elk and moose; I've never witnessed any problem with penetration. My problem was recovering a bullet as they penetrated clean through the critters. :twisted:

 

[Oldtrader3]

The 160 Partitions have worked great for me for almost 50 years (next year). They shoot great and fly straight and flat.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

If you want a high degree of expansion control in a .284 bullet, so with the 175gr Nosler Partition.
I like something with a little more expansion. My favorite .284 Bullet is the 160gr AccuBond. It's the only hunting bullet I need for the 7 STW. I think it will be up to the task in your 7 Mag as well.

 

[tyson22250]

I'm thinking you meen 160gr AccuBond? But if That's the case I have used the 160 accubonds before with great experiences, on white tail that is! Im just wondering if I should happen to have something with a little more controlled expansion? I know it comes down to shot placement, but I don't want something only penetrating half way into a moose. I have never hunted moose before but have heard that a good shot placement through the boiler room is where its at, they are such a huge animal, and need as much air as they can get, so take away lungs and the die easily! Im thinking I just need to pick a bullet, load some up, and shoot! I'm also thinking Barnes. I wish some people would chime in an give me some experiences on what bullets they have used in the 7mm rem mag for moose, and the goods and bads!

 

[cloverleaf]

Dad shot nothing but Speer 130 gr's @ 3000 fps. Jacks to big Muleys nothing ever ran away. CL

 

[FOTIS]

160 PT or AB 66 gr RL22

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

Hmmm, what would the BC be on a 260gr AccuBond? Hey MO, can you get to work on that for us??

Yea, the 160 is my bullet.

Elk and Moose are big critters. If you want to take away their lungs, you want to put BIG holes in them. I've seen several elk lost with the 175gr Partition on lung shots. Expansion is a little too controlled, and the lungs don't fill up quick enough. The 175 is a stout bullet, and you would be shooting it at (realitivly) low velocity. Unless you like double shoulder shots, I"d leave the 175's at home. In our elk camp every 7mm is loaded with the 160gr AccuBond.

 

[tyson22250]

Well my 7mm rem mag has a 26" tube, I'm also shooting 100 yards or less give or take. So if at muzzle I have 2900fps, at 100 yards I wouldnt be that slow. Is a shoulder shot or lung shot better with a moose

 

[DrMike]

Tyson,

I've used 160 TSX, 160 FS, 160 Speer SP, 175 TBBC and 175 PT in my 7RM at various times. I've never lost a moose with any of these bullets. They all worked just fine.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

Tyson, if you have a 26" tube, and are willing to load them up to max, you should be fine with the 175's.
Too often I've seen noobs load the 175, and think they needed to "down load for accuracy". They take a lung shot on a elk, it put a .284 hole going in, and a .285 hole going out.....and the chase is on.....

I hate tracking.

If you were able to achieve your intended targets, I would shoot for the off shoulder with a high degree of confidence on elk or moose. You would either be looking at 2 shoulders, or a lung and a shoulder. Either way I hope you skinning knife is sharp.

 

[Kodiak]

My favorite 7MM "elk bullet", particularly in heavy timber, is the 175 PT. I don't relish chasin' an elk all over the local forest because I failed to use the right bullet for the job.


Jim

 

[wildgene]

...only bullet I've ever used on moose was the 175gr. GrandSlam, it's always worked just fine. Something you should keep in mind, a moose's heart is about twice the size of a football, but the front half of a moose is like a 55gal. drum, & that heart lays down on the bottom of it. Putting a bullet thru the bottom half or third, right behind the "elbow" is a lot more effective than shooting thru that big empty space in the center & waiting for it to fill w/ blood...

 

[AzDak42]

Forgot to mention this is in forest and shots will be 100yards or less, so looking for really controlled expansion, I have just heard some bad things about the partions at 50 yards with little to no penetration. Had a co-worker last year with 30-06 put three 180's in bull elk before it slowed it down, upon examination he found penetration was only 6"

180g Partition in a 30-06 should be powerful elk medicine. I'm deeply surprised there was only 6" of penetration. Do you know what rifle and barrel length this was coming out of? Was it some sort of chopped down carbine so that velocity was a lot lower than expected? Was this factory or hand loads? If hand loads, what was the makeup?

At 50 yards, that bullet should have blown out the far side of an Elk...

I'd love to see pictures of the recovered bullets if you have them.

(I'm really curious about this, as I'm thinking about picking up a new 30-06 and using 180g Partitions as my backup rifle to the 35 Whelen.)

 

[tyson22250]

I know his dad is a gunsmith, so he knows how to load. I do know the rifle was a weatherby vanguard with a 24" barrel, I do not know what the velocity was. That's same year I know he got drawn for moose and he switched to 200 grain Nosler partitions and found both them in the moose, maybe it was a slow rifle not sure .

 

[DrMike]

I've dropped elk with far less velocity and bullet than a 180 Partition launched by a 30-06. They are hardy animals, and sometimes they can cover a lot of ground before they drop. However, it is the six inch penetration that is difficult to credit. My problem with a 30-06 or a 7mm RM is recovering bullets from game, whether moose, or elk, or black bear. I've recovered two bullets from moose shot with a 7mm RM (175 grain TBBC (225 yards) and 160 grain FS (~100 yards)), none from elk shot with either of these cartridges, and one bullet from a black bear shot with a 7mm RM (175 grain TBBC (125 yards)). All bullets recovered were on the opposing side, under the hide, after passing through the animals and causing massive internal damage. In the case of the bear, the bullet had broken the near side shoulder, moving upward through the spine and coming to rest under the hide. I believe that is pretty good penetration. I would expect nothing less of Partitions and/or Accubonds.

 

[Greg Nolan]

That 6" penetration is a curiosity due to my experience with elk and a whole lot of partitions. There is a possability on the Partition that the front blew up because of the velocity of the close range shot (very common) and the rear section of the bullet penciled thru leaving a small (not noticed) exit hole. Especially if a bone was hit. I don't use many Partition bullets because of that since everything I have used is at ultra mag velocities. I stick with the AccuBond because of it's more linear expansion. I have hit elk at 30 yards with the .375 AccuBond starting at 3080 fps and had a clean .75" exit and massive internal damage. Dead right there reaction. Same with the 180 gr. .308 AccuBond on a mule deer at about 40 yards starting at 3330 fps. Same instant result with a half inch exit wound. I have shot a deer at about 75 yards with the same weight and .308 Partition with a 300 weatherby and it exited with a hole you could pass a soft ball through because of the Partition's front chamber blowing up at the 3150 fps velocity. The Partition is a great bullet and the benchmark all controlled expansion bullets are judged by as you know, but they were designed when the 300 H&H at 2900 fps. was ULTRA VELOCITY and bonding the lead to jacket were not needed because at those velocities the lead expanded rather than exploding like a varmint bullet. I'd go with the 160 AccuBond in 7mm Mag. and 180 AccuBond in 30-06 and sleep very well at night.

 

[SJB358]

Yeah, it would be tough for me to imagine a PT only going 6". I have shot a ton of them, as have others and wouldn't think twice about using the 160 PT on moose. The AB's and PT's are kinda one in the same in my eyes. I think the PT's still dig deeper, just with a little less wound channel after the front is wiped off. The AB's tend to retain a bigger mushroom which limits penetration just a little.

Any of the bullets you mentioned in the 7RM will smash moose. I wouldn't think 2X about using any of them.