7mm rem mag bullet choice.

Dawnraider

Well-Known Member
I have been using nosler 150grn bt's and i'm down to my last bullet,not been too happy with them because they are a bit of a meat mangler so decided to try and get some accubond's but tried a couple of local gunshops to see if they could get them in,but they haven't been arsed to even get back to me so left me wondering what else might be up to the job,so what are you other guy's with rem mags using?.
 
Go for a 140 grain Barnes TTSX. Lots of speed, very flat and not too much meat damage as they hold together very well. If you don't like that idea you need to go for one of the bonded bullets. Accubond has always been my favorite among these. The Nosler BT's fragment too much if you drive them at RM speeds. That's what causes the damage.
 
I've just started using Barnes 140 HPBT and am impressed, very accurate and less meat damage than the Hornady 139g SST I was using.
 
First question - what sort of shooting do you do? What sized animals and how far? Lots of guys back home (me included) use the 7mm Rem Mag for long range and so prefer something at least 160 grains. Many use and rate the 162 A-max (yes, I know not fit for use here :D). SST is another popular option. These can be unpredictable / messy up close so some run 2 rounds - 160 accubond or similar for up to 200 and A-Max or such for further out. I couldn't be bothered with all that so just ran 160 Sierra btsp on reds. Worked well on everything I shot (from point blank to much further out) and cheap as chips.
Just my 2 cents
Hayden
 
I used my 7mm rem mag for 15 years all over europe but mainly at home on roe.
The things you need to know about any magnum is.....
Use a heavy bullet to keep the speed down.
Use a bonded or limited expansion bullet.
and try and avoid most plastic points.
I used nosler partiions in 140-150gr
speer grand slams 160gr
RWS cone points in 162gr
and trophy bonded in 175gr
Never mangled any roe. Used BTips in 120, 150 and 160 they were aweful on roe destroying the front end.
And for foxing well the speer 110gr TNT hollowpoint..........DO NOT USE ON DEER or edible quarry LOL
 
curious if anyone on here have experimented with the nosler long range accubond yet, supposed to overcome the 'short range' bullet blow up with the traditional accubond. their stated BC's are remarkable. I suspect if their marketing bumph is correct, the 168g (can't recall if that's their 7mm weight in the '60's) would be a cracking all round, round, from close to very long range shots on whatever target you feel right with..see what I did there...
 
Nosler seems to market ABLR 'eliminating the problem of being “too close” often encountered with other high-B.C. bullets' but as I read it means compared to other makes, not other Nosler bullets.

The very limited reports I've heard about ABLR range is they expand more violently at close range than regular AB.
 
Nosler seems to market ABLR 'eliminating the problem of being “too close” often encountered with other high-B.C. bullets' but as I read it means compared to other makes, not other Nosler bullets.

The very limited reports I've heard about ABLR range is they expand more violently at close range than regular AB.

well that sounds good then, that was the problem with the accubond, pinholing at close range. The partition is excellent, excellent excellent in 160g, but, tarnished by rubbish BC unfortunately, so good at 'hunting ranges', but struggles when asked to stretch its legs a bit further so to speak
 
Thanks guys for the replies,it's pretty much my long range choice for shooting across valleys down here so range would normally be 200-300 yds that's not to say i don't shoot closer with it but that's the range i'm looking at and mostly roe deer,i'll have see what i can find locally but obviously bonded core or solid copper looks like my best bet then and a bit heavier the better,i did think about downloading it but that would really defeat the point in having it i suppose.
 
The Sierra 160-gr Gameking HPBT is a tougher bullet than the 160-gr SPBT, made for big game. At 200+ yards, either one should just punch a nice hole through small deer, without a blow up. Half the price of the Nosler AB or the Barnes, and very accurate.

P.S.: If your 7mm is shooting the Nosler 150-gr BT very well, why not just move to a different 150-gr bullet, instead of changing weight, too?

The Nosler 150-gr Accubond is a really good bullet, but so is the Sierra Gameking, for your deer at 200 to 300 yards.
 
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Thanks guys for the replies,it's pretty much my long range choice for shooting across valleys down here so range would normally be 200-300 yds that's not to say i don't shoot closer with it but that's the range i'm looking at and mostly roe deer,i'll have see what i can find locally but obviously bonded core or solid copper looks like my best bet then and a bit heavier the better,i did think about downloading it but that would really defeat the point in having it i suppose.

If using the Barnes they recommend going for a lighter than std bullet. Their 140 grain should be ideal and if you are shooting 200-300 yds it is likely to be +/- 1" out to 275. BC is crap though, so it starts falling off the cliff over 300.
 
Nosler seems to market ABLR 'eliminating the problem of being “too close” often encountered with other high-B.C. bullets' but as I read it means compared to other makes, not other Nosler bullets.

The very limited reports I've heard about ABLR range is they expand more violently at close range than regular AB.

Seems that Nosler also eliminates anyone shooting ABLR:s from "standard twist" 7mm:s. Even the 168gr won't stabilize adequately from a standard 1in9". With 30cals they don't seem to have droppped the ball quite as badly.

Bryan Litz tests the real world BCs of various 7mm and 30cal ABLRs:

Nosler LR Accubonds: BC testing results
 
According to Berger calculator 168gr 7mm ABLR is not "comfortably stable" with either 1-9" or 1-9.5" (CIP standard) when using 7mm Rem Mag velocities and sea level std atmosphere.

Other sources like GS Custom would declare the SG appropriate for hunting non-dangerous animals when using 1-9" twist and Berger calculated SG.

I haven't hunted with marginally stable bullets, but I have tested and hunted with overstabilized bullets. They penetrated very straight.

Btw I haven't heard or read about regular AB pinholing at close range.
 
According to Berger calculator 168gr 7mm ABLR is not "comfortably stable" with either 1-9" or 1-9.5" (CIP standard) when using 7mm Rem Mag velocities and sea level std atmosphere.


Sometimes paper based opinion on what a particular barrel will stabilise goes out the window when you actually try them in the actual barrel
I have run several supposedly "Too heavy for twist" bullets with excellent results

60gr .224 in a 1:14"
105gr 6mm/.243 in a 1:10"

my advice: try them first before discounting!

9x out of 10 the bullet has a sweet spot of velocity in which it is happy at the ranges you require
may not be the fastest but then speed isn't everything and the weight gain often more than makes up for the potential drop in MV
 
To each their own I suppose. I wouldn't shoot ABLRs from my 9.5 twist 7mmRM because:

- ABLR are outrageously expensize
- ABLR are difficult to find. Sometimes you might see some boxes of it somewhere.
- The terminal performance of the ABLR is not widely known or recognized. It's a question mark.
- With the sub-optimal stabilization from my barrel it's questionable if even the BC is really all that much better than a tested and true bullet of more traditional design.

Bullets like the SST or A-max are available. They are cheap, you can actually buy them and there is a ton of information about their terminal effects.
 
Trying to get hold of some 160grn sierra HPBT,i used to really rate the smaller 85grn HPBT in .243, but looks like i will have to order 500 though,got thinking about the A-Max 168grn, are these match bullets so i could get some posted is that right? and has anyone else used them to good effect?,i know some .243 users rate them or should i not even go there?.
 
the Sierra 160 grain GK is a tougher big game bullet made for the .280 Re / 7x64 and magnums.
The Amax is, by contrast, rather fragile.

Try to find some SGK 150 gr bullets or Hornady 154 gr
 
Thanks Southern,problem i have is the only ones in stock locally were 139grn sst which i don't want,don't think 7mm has quite made it to Cornwall yet,i suspect i will have a long journey to get any somehow but will if i have too,i would prefer a bullet without a soft nose if possible due to the nose being rounded off by repeated chambering and unchambering, although saying that the Blaser i use now seems to feed pretty straight and have never tried a soft point through it,i use 165grn .30cal nosler BTs in 30.06 and can't fault those.
ATB Neil.
 
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