Brush loads

[Guest]

I purchased a iron sighted 7mm WSM for hunting in timber where our shots are often 25-75 yards. I'm debating on what load to use? 160 accubonds or 150 speer's? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DrMike]

What are you hunting?

The AB will hold together a little better and you will likely push it at velocities approaching 3000 fps which is plenty fast to destroy quite a bit of meat. The Speer will be slightly faster and because of bullet construction will be less likely to hold together. It will certainly be adequate for killing deer or black bear, but should opportunity present itself for an elk, I would be more comfortable with the AB.

My 7mm WSM shoots Accubonds at 3000 fps from a 24" barrel (with a maximum charge of MagPro) and consistently gives me 1/4" groups. At that velocity, I am much more comfortable with the tougher bullet hunting moose and elk, to say nothing of bear. The bullet works very well indeed on deer, dropping them with authority at distances ranging from 70 yards to 225 yards so far.

You have one of the best of the WSM calibres.

 

[JD338]

The 160 gr AB is a great all around bullet.

JD338

 

[YoteSmoker]

The 160 Partition would be my choice.

 

[Antelope_Sniper]

For close in brush hunting, bigger is better. It's usually easier to get the AccuBond to shoot well, but the partitions might perform better on a deflected shot. Either one would take anything you wanted in NA at 75 yards.

 

[JD338]

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a true brush bucker.
Having said that, set up with a good low power scope and develop an accurate load so that you can thread the needle through the holes in the thick stuff.

JD338

 

[FOTIS]

Any 160 nosler will do nicely.......

 

[Guest]

maybe I need to rephrase the question, the country I'm hunting is really dense. I won't actually be shooting through brush, I just need a good knock down bullet for black bear and elk at 25-75 yards. How are the federal 150 power shoks?

 

[onlybrowning]

maybe I need to rephrase the question, the country I'm hunting is really dense. I won't actually be shooting through brush, I just need a good knock down bullet for black bear and elk at 25-75 yards. How are the federal 150 power shoks?

I have a friend that I hunt with that hunts with a Ruger M77 7mmWSM. He killed two deer last year with the Federal Fusion 150 grain bullets, and was less than impressed. Both were good shots and he doubted the performance of the bullet right away.

I convinced him to switch to a Ballistic Silvertip. He shot a few more deer with that load, and all were bang flops. I saw the ribs of one of the bucks he shot on a run at close range, and the bullet's performance was a sight to see once the hide was off.

Note: This hunter does not handload. All reports are with factory loaded ammo.

 

[FOTIS]

maybe I need to rephrase the question, the country I'm hunting is really dense. I won't actually be shooting through brush, I just need a good knock down bullet for black bear and elk at 25-75 yards. How are the federal 150 power shoks?

Any of the aforementioned Noslers will do.

 

[tjen]

The 160 Partition would be my choice.

I'll second the 160gr Partition even combine tech version.