7mm Rem Mag in 150gr ballistic tip. Enough for 400yd elk?

[dplumlee12]

My Christensen Arms Classic in 7mm Rem Mag shoots the old winchester ballistic silver tip 150 gr ammo in tight groups. I have 3 shots touching each other at 100yds. I thought maybe a little too light of a projectile for longer range eld so I have been buying the Hornady Precision Hunter in 162gr to test but wondered if I'm just wasting $.

Ideally I'll shoot from 300 yds but if I have to creep out to 400 to 450 (hunting sawtooths this fall) should I try to switch rounds?

 

[Bighorner]

My experience is they will get very poor penetration, it's not the 150 grains but the bullet isn't a good elk round.

 

[stevevan]

My Christensen Arms Classic in 7mm Rem Mag shoots the old winchester ballistic silver tip 150 gr ammo in tight groups. I have 3 shots touching each other at 100yds. I thought maybe a little too light of a projectile for longer range eld so I have been buying the Hornady Precision Hunter in 162gr to test but wondered if I'm just wasting $.

Ideally I'll shoot from 300 yds but if I have to creep out to 400 to 450 (hunting sawtooths this fall) should I try to switch rounds?

Poor bullet choice for elk. Go with a bonded or Partition. The 160 Accubond has performed excellent for me on elk. 3 shot 1"or 1.5" groups at 100 yds. will work just fine.

 

[Wyobohunter]

I agree with
Elk are densely muscled. I’d go with something bonded.

 

[BigAntlerGetter]

Biggest thing is you need to shoot a bullet ur barrel agrees with, next you need to find out how many FPS or ft lbs of energy that bullet needs to properly expand, if you don’t have that ur sending a 7mm hole straight through. You also need to find a way to shoot that distance to make sure you are capable of doing it, 100 yrd difference can be a huge difference in your abilities. Also practice shooting from weird angles, positions, and styles. We had a guy come hunt with us this year that drive racks on the bench at home out to 550 yards, got him to CO and he couldn’t group at all at 250, he blamed the gun the scope everything in between but had never shot his gun from anything but a bench at the range. Went back to his spare gun for hunting, He got home put his gun on the bench and it was fine, just cause ur gun and bullet can doesn’t mean you can.

With the Winchester round at 400 yards ur going 2074 FPS and 1400 ft/lbs of energy.

The Hornady at 400 yards is 2369fps and 2018ft/lbs of energy. So ur gonna be better off with this for energy and FPS


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MeatMissile]

I don’t know if anyone is basing their opinion on old ballistic tips vs the ones over the last ten years....but the newer ones are actually pretty tough. They have much thicker jackets now, especially for bore sizes 7mm and larger.

 

[Dave_]

I used to shoot the older winchester ballistic silver tip in 30- 06 for deer for a short time. Every one would exploded on impact. Just fragments would exit. I probably wouldn't shoot them at elk. I'm sure they would and have put elk down if put in the right spot but partitions or bonded would be my preference.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

I don’t know if anyone is basing their opinion on old ballistic tips vs the ones over the last ten years....but the newer ones are actually pretty tough. They have much thicker jackets now, especially for bore sizes 7mm and larger.

I took a spike elk at, if i recall 540 yards, with a 139gr superformance ballistic tip and it was like a tank hit that poor spike. Didn't ruin meat, but it had bone fragments all over the area of impact.

Close range they seem to destroy meat IME, I wont be using them anymore for that reason, but that could've been a number of things.

Edit- With a 7mm mag.

 

[Seamaster]

If these are the older BT bullets I think they are a poor choice for elk. They have always been excellent for accuracy, but I have had problems with them fragmenting in past years. They are fine on deer sized game but I would not use them for elk. As posted above, the recent BT is a much tougher bullet. The newer bullets are still excellent for accuracy and hold together much better.

If it was me, I would switch to AccuBond bullets. They shoot the same as the BT. They are basically a bonded BT. I shoot mostly BT bullets at the range, and make the switch to the AB before hunting season with very little or no sight correction needed.

 

[Newtosavage]

If these are the older BT bullets I think they are a poor choice for elk. They have always been excellent for accuracy, but I have had problems with them fragmenting in past years. They are fine on deer sized game but I would not use them for elk. As posted above, the recent BT is a much tougher bullet. The newer bullets are still excellent for accuracy and hold together much better.

If it was me, I would switch to AccuBond bullets. They shoot the same as the BT. They are basically a bonded BT. I shoot mostly BT bullets at the range, and make the switch to the AB before hunting season with very little or no sight correction needed.

I saw the same thing when I switched from BTs' to AB's - little to no correction needed out to 300 yds. That makes it very useful for working up loads and sighting in with the much less expensive BT and then hunt with the AB. That is, if you can find either of them. LOL

 

[MeatMissile]

I took a spike elk at, if i recall 540 yards, with a 139gr superformance ballistic tip and it was like a tank hit that poor spike. Didn't ruin meat, but it had bone fragments all over the area of impact.

Close range they seem to destroy meat IME, I wont be using them anymore for that reason, but that could've been a number of things.

Edit- With a 7mm mag.

That’s not a Nosler Ballistic Tip. That’s a Hornady SST. They both have plastic tips, but behave differently in my experience.

 

[dplumlee12]

Poor bullet choice for elk. Go with a bonded or Partition. The 160 Accubond has performed excellent for me on elk. 3 shot 1"or 1.5" groups at 100 yds. will work just fine.

Glad i asked. I have enough time to find the right ammo. Thanks

Poor bullet choice for elk. Go with a bonded or Partition. The 160 Accubond has performed excellent for me on elk. 3 shot 1"or 1.5" groups at 100 yds. will work just fine.

Yep, good thing i have rokslide forums to lean on. Thanks for the advice

 

[tstith]

Just throwing out this bit of field experience. I was with a guy who was using 150 SP out of a 7mm RM this last fall. He connected a round (his last bullet mind you) on very small muley doe at 444 yards. It was so small, he packed it out whole after field dressing. The bullet entered in front of the shoulder and exited out the neck on the opposite side. The doe crumpled where it stood. I located the projectile in the dirt immediately behind where she stood, about 2" into the earth. If that was an elk he was shooting, I have every bit of confidence he would have had an entry-no exit shot and a long day tracking it afterward. +1 for heavier bonded or partition bullets.

Disclaimer: I don't recommend doing what he did. Last time I will hunt with him for a bunch of reasons.

 

[Catag94]

My 7MM REM mag shoot 160gr. Nosler Accubonds. I like their performance on animals and their down range ballistics. I too think 150 gr. Is too light.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dplumlee12]

Thanks for the help

 

[Crowmangler]

Check out the long thread here on Rokslide on the ELDX. You'll get a lot of real-world feedback from folks who have used it on elk. I shoot that 162 gr & it's a very accurate bullet but the design & performance of it may not be the best choice for elk. Read the thread & see what you think.
If you can find them in stock & have an extra organ to sell, try out the Federal Terminal Ascent

 

[Marble]

Like mentioned above, the 150 grains is not the problem. It's just making sure the bullet is built for what you're using it for.

I very killed probably close to 20 elk with a 150 grain bullet from a 7mm out to the mid 500s.

IME, one of the best bullets around d for what you're looking for is the 160 AB.

The 150 grain bullet I have always used is the Scirroco. Tough and accurate, I think the BC is 515.

Lots of choices for what your doing.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[bradmacmt]

I've used the 150 NBT on exactly one bull (7mm-08). Shot was at 40 yards, and I got 32" of angling penetration, and one very dead elk. A friend has used them extensively on elk from the 7mm Mashburn, and has found them excellent. As was mentioned above, the latest iteration of the "Big Game Hunting" BallisticTips are quite different than the early bullets. Most have gone through several re-designs. The 150 7mm has a VERY stout jacket.

 

[trophyhill]

140gr ballistic silvertips were my bullet of choice years ago when i hunted deer with a 7 mag. What a great round and accurate out of that rifle! That was before i started hunting elk with a bow. I've got different ammo for my current 7mag in the event i hunt elk with it. Partitions and Accubonds. Funny, 150gr Federal Fusions shoot best out of this rifle but the Partitions are a very close 2nd.

 

[dplumlee12]

I agree, I'm a bow elk hunter 1st choice but I didn't have my stuff in order when I got online to buy a tag last dec. Had to settle for a quick decision on a rifle hunt since I didn't have my bow hunter safety certificate number... Have it now, so maybe next season.