# Montana Elk/Mule Deer - 7mm Rem Mag Bullet Choice



## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

How long have you been putting in for a tag? Some places are very limited in out of state tags. It's been a while since I've gone hunting, let alone shooting. 
Your choice of bullet should do the job. Hunting is not anything like shooting from a bench. It's great for finding the best load and accuracy. But I always found myself trying to find a solid position to get a good shot. It seems like you need to be a contortionist to settle in for that one shot!


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## Forest Meister (Mar 7, 2010)

$.02...There are all kinds of bullets out there pushed at all sorts of velocities by all numbers of calibers. There are so many combinations it baffles the mind. I am definitely not a rifle or ammo expert, nor have I ever had the inclination to become one, but in decades upon decades of reading hunting articles on what is best for the job at hand even the "expert" writers cannot seem to agree. The Late Great Jack O'Connor swore by his .270 whereas I have read articles where others claim an elk isn't dead enough unless slammed with a caliber that begins with a 4. Guides and outfitters cannot seem to settle on anything either.​​That said, some info that I have picked up and believe to be quite practical has been confirmed time and time again. That info is pretty basic and that is whatever bullet a person uses whether it be a hand loaded, $4+/round, double premium, gold tipped, supersonic, bonded boattail or my $1/round, (well it was pre-2020) off the shelf Remington Cor Lokt ammo it needs to hit the vitals. Doesn't matter if pronghorn or buffalo, a solid hit in the boiler room at reasonable ranges will put 'em down. Period. Poorly placed shots seem to result in the same outcomes whatever the bullet choice. FM​​​​


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

Forest Meister said:


> $.02...There are all kinds of bullets out there pushed at all sorts of velocities by all numbers of calibers. There are so many combinations it baffles the mind. I am definitely not a rifle or ammo expert, nor have I ever had the inclination to become one, but in decades upon decades of reading hunting articles on what is best for the job at hand even the "expert" writers cannot seem to agree. The Late Great Jack O'Connor swore by his .270 whereas I have read articles where others claim an elk isn't dead enough unless slammed with a caliber that begins with a 4. Guides and outfitters cannot seem to settle on anything either.​​That said, some info that I have picked up and believe to be quite practical has been confirmed time and time again. That info is pretty basic and that is whatever bullet a person uses whether it be a hand loaded, $4+/round, double premium, gold tipped, supersonic, bonded boattail or my $1/round, (well it was pre-2020) off the shelf Remington Cor Lokt ammo it needs to hit the vitals. Doesn't matter if pronghorn or buffalo, a solid hit in the boiler room at reasonable ranges will put 'em down. Period. Poorly placed shots seem to result in the same outcomes whatever the bullet choice. FM​​​​


Couldn't be truer words spoken. Vitals is the mother board of the beasts function. Some bullets are better equipped to take out the lungs and others can make it thru the heavy shoulder to detach the heart from other organs. Picking the right bullet for the job is fairly important however the #1 most important part is hitting the bullseye. Do that and the animal will be dead sooner or later. I personally thru experience over and over love the partition for max mid range big game. Jack O'Connor sure loves the .270 Win. He wrote about it over and over as well. The .277 vs .284 we're virtually twin bore sizes. The former only lacked the variety of weight range bullets by comparison to the latter. Both well suited for any North American animal no doubt. Never cared for anything less than a 160 grain bullet for elk in the event of a poorly placed bullet where heavier muscle or bone is encountered. To each there own regardless. Most of today's hunting bullets have been tested year after year on all game.


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

LGB said:


> The 140 NP is a good weight bullet for deer. My chosing the 160 was due to having a tag for elk and mule out west so settling in on the 160 made the most sense also. They do offer that weight bullet in loaded federal premium ammo if desired but not needed for deer only. I Do reload so my options are many yet the nosler partition is still a first choice for me guess my shots will exceed 500 yards. Personally if you're hunting elk I'd opt for the nosler partition in the 160 grain bullet. As I said Federal premium loads the cartridge with that bullet.


The 160 grain partition is a great bullet for Elk and Deer the 140 is very light if you hit an Elk up in the shoulder region. The 175gr is even better for Elk but you give up even more velocity and trajectory on your deer. I would look at the 160gr as the best of both worlds..


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

FullQuiver said:


> The 160 grain partition is a great bullet for Elk and Deer the 140 is very light if you hit an Elk up in the shoulder region. The 175gr is even better for Elk but you give up even more velocity and trajectory on your deer. I would look at the 160gr as the best of both worlds..


Absolutely. I'd have suggested the 175 even for both animals but I never could get them to shoot great my rifle. I got as good of velocity as factory 160s when I loaded the 175s but inferior accuracy. Since then I've abandoned the 7mm mag for the .284 Win. Best decision I could make and much better accuracy. 140-175 will get it done. I've killed a few elk with a 6.5-284 with 140s. Not my first choice but gets it done. The swift Scirocco and Nosler Accubond are also great bullets for Elk.


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## FullQuiver (May 2, 2006)

LGB said:


> Absolutely. I'd have suggested the 175 even for both animals but I never could get them to shoot great my rifle. I got as good of velocity as factory 160s when I loaded the 175s but inferior accuracy. Since then I've abandoned the 7mm mag for the .284 Win. Best decision I could make and much better accuracy. 140-175 will get it done. I've killed a few elk with a 6.5-284 with 140s. Not my first choice but gets it done. The swift Scirocco and Nosler Accubond are also great bullets for Elk.


Honestly I have never had Nosler Partitions shoot best in any rifle that I have ever used them in. They shot well enough for me to hunt with and to be confident.. Minute-0-deer so to speak..


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## Crestliner 16 (Aug 28, 2019)

Your rifle, with the Sierra bullets will reach out there for sure. The question is how will that bullet perform? Most of my shots have been right around 300 yards or less. I'm a die hard 30-06 caliber. I have a Ruger m77. I also had the same rifle in .338 caliber that dropped a 9'7" Grizzly Bear at 160 meters, along with two Caribou close to the same distance, none of those animals went anywhere except the bear he might have made it a couple of yards when he rolled. At that time I really loved that .338. I had settled on the 30-06 for a bear hunt in Canada. It's a great all around caliber and I have found it hard to beat that one. 
I hunted a lot in West Virginia and many other places and with plenty of people and their rifles of choice in many calibers and I was concerned about quite a few of them. As some really didn't have much time behind the barrel of the rifle they brought along. 
Some just aren't comfortable with the caliber that will get the job done without any fanfare. 
It's been a while since I last hunted big game, as the cost became more out of reach for me. Especially when my friends started to retire from a life of hard guiding and hunting lands along with access to prime territory. 
I'm sure you are excited about the hunt, as well as I always did. Put the time in preparation for what you are expecting to experience. 
My first big game hunting experience was hard work, but I wouldn't trade that for anything.


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## Marshmonster (Apr 22, 2003)

Howdy from a fellow EUP yooper!

I hunt bear and moose in Maine every year and 7 rem mag is my choice as well. I’ve been using the Hornady ballistic tip and it’s deadly. I’m not shooting past 70 yards generally so your mileage may vary. The ballistic tip or partition are a vary clean and fast end to a hunt. Good luck!

Not sure where you are going or if it’s guided but good luck. I fish all over Montana and see plenty of elk and moose, so you should have a great hunt.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Marshmonster said:


> Howdy from a fellow EUP yooper!
> 
> I hunt bear and moose in Maine every year and 7 rem mag is my choice as well. I’ve been using the Hornady ballistic tip and it’s deadly. I’m not shooting past 70 yards generally so your mileage may vary. The ballistic tip or partition are a vary clean and fast end to a hunt. Good luck!
> 
> Not sure where you are going or if it’s guided but good luck. I fish all over Montana and see plenty of elk and moose, so you should have a great hunt.


Ballistic tip hunting? I shoot them for deer out of 30-06 but the accubond seems a better choice. Have you tried them?


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## kappa8 (Aug 8, 2013)

Following (heading to Canada for moose in October with my Rem 700 7mm mag).


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## jatc (Oct 24, 2008)

I’ve had my 7mm Mag for almost thirty years. All I’ve ever used is Federal Premium 140gr Nosler Partitions. Over 100 deer, several elk, and my Uncle used it on a moose hunt successfully.

I shot a bull elk through the lungs at 350 yards and when he turned after the shot I sent another at him on a hard quartering angle. That bullet broke the back hip, the opposite front shoulder, and was a perfect mushroom under the hide after traveling through five feet of elk meat and bone.

Drive the bullet through the lungs and the animal dies. The end.


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## LGB (9 mo ago)

kappa8 said:


> Following (heading to Canada for moose in October with my Rem 700 7mm mag).


175 Nosler Partition all the way.


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## Marshmonster (Apr 22, 2003)

sureshot006 said:


> Ballistic tip hunting? I shoot them for deer out of 30-06 but the accubond seems a better choice. Have you tried them?


I have not. This journey started with needing a reliable, flat caliber out to distance for Auodad and deer in Texas out to 400yds, elk in Montana, and several me well for bear and deer in Michigan. The 7mag is what I chose and the ballistic tips were getting lots of good reviews, especially the Hornady Precision Hunter. As stated above having confidence in your bullseye takes time, tweaking and rounds. My “one size fits all” probably isn’t the most recommended but I knew I could hit my aim point very consistently out to 400. Changing ammo would give me some doubt and I didn’t want to blow a shot on a trophy for a heavier load. In Maine the practice is to hit the shoulder with first shot to immobilize and followup with a quick vitals hit on second shot. My ammo worked as needed for me. I’ll experiment a bit more this year with other ammo since I can’t find the precision hunter anywhere.


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## sureshot006 (Sep 8, 2010)

Marshmonster said:


> I have not. This journey started with needing a reliable, flat caliber out to distance for Auodad and deer in Texas out to 400yds, elk in Montana, and several me well for bear and deer in Michigan. The 7mag is what I chose and the ballistic tips were getting lots of good reviews, especially the Hornady Precision Hunter. As stated above having confidence in your bullseye takes time, tweaking and rounds. My “one size fits all” probably isn’t the most recommended but I knew I could hit my aim point very consistently out to 400. Changing ammo would give me some doubt and I didn’t want to blow a shot on a trophy for a heavier load. In Maine the practice is to hit the shoulder with first shot to immobilize and followup with a quick vitals hit on second shot. My ammo worked as needed for me. I’ll experiment a bit more this year with other ammo since I can’t find the precision hunter anywhere.


Yeah its just that the ballistic tip, especially the lighter bullets out if a flat shooting rifle can be a little more fragmenting than most would prefer. It does dump a heck of a lot of energy into the animal though!

Accubond shoots very very similar to ballistic tip. Not exactly the same but very close.


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## bucko12pt (Dec 9, 2004)

FullQuiver said:


> The 160 grain partition is a great bullet for Elk and Deer the 140 is very light if you hit an Elk up in the shoulder region. The 175gr is even better for Elk but you give up even more velocity and trajectory on your deer. I would look at the 160gr as the best of both worlds..


I agree with this 100%, I’ve shot Nosler Partitions out of my Remington 700 since I bought it with my Vietnam bonus in the early 1970’s. A long time ago I settled on the 160 grain NP as the best all around bullet for hunting most North America game. Only ever lost one deer and that was my fault for bad shot placement. I keep my rifle and Schmidt and Bender scope sighted at 200 yards and I can adjust from there on any shot I’m comfortable taking.

I’d highly recommend the 160 grain NP for elk and deer.


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## NATTY BUMPO (May 12, 2001)

A Nosler Partition is never the wrong answer.


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## Lumberman (Sep 27, 2010)

Another vote for a as heavy as your gun will shoot well. 

Obviously placement is number 1. 

Like triplelunger says, hit it in the vitals and it’s dead. But safe to assume that theory comes from a guy who’s never shot an elk and had it run where it was super hard to get to. You don’t let elk run off. They aren’t whitetails in grandpas field. 

Plan on shooting more then once. The problems with an elk going 300yds after a double lung punch is it could end up where you can’t go or off a cliff. 

The reason guides hate 7mm isn’t because they won’t kill elk or shoot straight.


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## ikesnipecity (Jun 28, 2016)

170ish grain partition


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## Howitzer (Nov 1, 2004)

There are lots of opinions, some good and some bad but the short story is the 7MM Mag is one the best Montana Elk guns you can use. I go the MT at least 3 times a year, I take people with tags when I don't have my own and I get a B tags for the shoulder season and kill several cows on that trip.

If you are shooting within 400 yards, 7MM is much more than just capable, 600 is where you start getting into the heavies with the exception of a few of the hot magnums and super heavy 6.5s like the 6.5-300 or 6.5 PRC.

That is more than I wanted to say, if I were hunting with the 7MM Mag I would be using an all-copper Barnes or Berger. I personally use Cutting Edge custom bullets and I stick with all copper. The biggest benefit other than non-toxic is they expand through-out most of the effective trajectory above 2000fps.

To avoid confusion the 7mm Mag is so capable and there are so many great rounds developed go almost can't go wrong with any of the hunting bullets recommended above, so pick a bullet that shoots great out of your gun and use it.


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## UPHuntr (Feb 24, 2009)

160 grain Accubond 7mm


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