I found a 7mm mag rifle I liked and decided to buy it for deer season.  I've never hunted with a real "high power" rifle in this class.  What kind of ammo won't ruin a lot of meat?  Is there any certain bullets I should stay away from for deer hunting?  Might possibly get to shoot a wild pig too, if one comes out during the day time.  Thanks in advance for any suggestions or info.

I've used the 7mm Rem Mag for most everything, from Antelope to Elk. I really like the Barnes X bullets. they penetrate very well and will not destroy a lot of meat. That's assuming you put the bullet where it belongs.

I too have used the Barnes x bullets. However, i would not recommend them for thin skinned game such as deer in the 7mm rem mag. What i found was the Banes would penetrate right through the deer and not expand and the blood trail was minimal. I switched to federal fusions and have had great success with them. Ultimately the decision will come down to what you like and what your rifle likes. I know it can get expensive to experiment with ammo for the 7mm rem mag but you will have to just try several types and see what groups well.

I've used Barnes almost exclusively for about the last ten years in my 7mm Rem. Mag. I have found them to expand quickly, almost always have an exit and don't destroy half of the deer/hog. I have not had any of the non-expansion issues or longer runs than usual with other bullets that others mention. This is with tight behind the shoulder, 1/3 up, lung shots. I settled on 140 grain TSX and do not regret it one bit. The 120 grain seemed to not penetrate as well, though they were damn deadly too. This is for WI whitetail & TX whitetail/mule deer/hog, plus a few coyotes & even a prairie dog or two to test expansion (They did).

Federal 160gr Nosler Partitions.  I have killed pigs, whitetail, moose, mountain goat, rams, and elk all with this bullet.

Federal Fusion ammo is AWESOME, and cheap!! I shoot it in almost every rifle I have, and it never fails to be uber accurate, and have near perfectly expanding bullets.

agreed i have a couple of 7mm mags Tikka t3 lite and Thompson Center Dimension and both love these rounds

This is a 3 round group with 175gr fusion in the tikka t3 at 100 yards

175g hornady interlocks are insanely accurate in my rifle nosler partition are pretty good to but more bullet than is required for deer

There are a few fairly fragile bullets currently on the market.  These are bullets like the Nosler Ballistic Tip, Hornady's Vmax and SST, etc.  These bullets open hard and fast, and work quite well in non-magnum calibers. I've used a 165 Nosler Ballistic Tip loaded in a  .308 for years, and it works great without excessive meat loss.  However, when these are pushed to magnum speeds, they become too explosive in my opinion.  Meat loss becomes ugly...



There are two ways to ensure your 7mm RM doesn't shred meat all to heck and gone.  One is to reduce velocity.  This is fairly easy -  select a 160 or 175 bullet instead of a 140. Some lighter bullet loads (like Hornady 139 Superformance SST) travel 3000-3200 fps.  This is fast, and causes bullets to open dramatically and explosively.   Heavier bullets travel a bit slower, and therefore don't open quite as fast. Some of the common 175 loads move at a rated 2800 fps.  Bullets don't open quite as explosively, and this means a lot less meat loss.  

The other option is to choose a somewhat harder, more controlled bullet.  Something like a Nosler Partition.

A buddy uses his Rem 700 in 7 Rem Mag on everything.  Moose, Caribou, deer.  He uses one load:  A handloaded 175 Nosler Partition.  If works on everything, and isn't excessive in terms of shredded and mangle meat.

If you are worried about shredded and mangled meat, try a basic 175 grain load in the 7RM.  It will act a whole lot  like the old 180grain 30-06 load.  It will penetrate and penetrate and penetrate somemore, but won't over expand, particularly is you use a somewhat controlled bullet.

Fro

dupe

140 grain Barnes TSX will expand well at 7mag velocities and not fragment.  What I prefer is to put the bullet directly into the shoulder rather than just behind it.  The solid copper construction breaks the bone, expands to about 1.5-2x caliber, and still passes through.  The broken shoulder puts the deer down quickly, reducing tracking.  This bullet will not damage a lot of meat, but will break bone and still exit.

I had one 7mm Rem Mag that loved 175 gr Core Lokt, didn't like too many others. The one I have currently shoots the 160 gr Partition the best of any other I've used. I've used it on deer, elk, javelina, a feral hog, coyotes, and jack rabbits during the off season. It's a bit much much for the javelina.

Went out and tried several different brands of ammo today along with sighting in my new Nikon Prostaff 5 scope 2.5-10 x 40 mm.  I really have to say I like the scope a lot, very good bright clear picture.  Once I got it dialed in on paper I had no problems seeing the holes made at 100 yards.  Sighted the scope and gun in with Federal Powershock 150gr SP first, the one in the blue box.  Next ammo shot was Federal Fusion 150gr SP, then on to Remington 150gr Core-Lokt green and yellow box budget ammo.  Last ammo shot was Hornady 139gr American Whitetail.  Price was all fairly close within about $2-3 a box, average say $30 a box with tax.

After zeroing in the scope at 100 yards with the Federal Powershocks then I tried shooting a group with each type of ammunition I had.  Each group was a 3 shot group.  Targets were a 1 inch orange dot glued on to a cardboard box.

All the ammo performed very close to the same in the new Remington 700 I had picked up a few weeks ago.  I couldn't see paying for premium ammo and spending $2-3 on each shot when I can reload for this rifle, I only need a set of dies now.  So between my local big box stores, Wal-mart and Academy, the ammo mentioned above is what I could find on the "cheap" side.  I've shot enough store bought bolt actions to know what to expect.

The Federal Powershock and the Hornady American Whitetail both shot the tighter groups about 1 1/2 inches or slightly smaller, I didn't measure with a caliper forgive me.  The Remington Core-Lokt grouped about 1 3/4 inches and the Federal Fusion was close to the same about 1 3/4 inches.  The Federal Fusion did
vertically string the shots in the group.  Shot about 30 rounds total  to.  I'm glad the Federal Powershock ammo shoots well too because it was the cheapest of the off the shelf ammo and is easy to find at retail stores.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone and I think I will enjoy this rifle a lot.  Once I get a set of dies I'm thinking it will be easy to improve the accuracy of this rifle.

I believe this is right.  A well constructed, heavier, slower bullet will generally do, less damage than a light, fast, explosive bullet.

Don't shoot for bone.  Dangerous game, fine, shoot the shoulder and bust up the shoulder. Take the starch out.  Deer, not so much.  Take them through the lungs, behind  the shoulder with a well constructed bullet.

A shoulder hit, especially with a 7mm, will give you a lot of bloodshot meat to deal with.  So far as I know the 7mm mag has always had issues with meat damage.  I suspect its mostly poor bullet selection.   Too fast, too light.

I have killed several deer with the Barnes 140 TTSX from 138-321 yards and they all passed through and dropped the deer with a quickness.  I had some 180 and 169 Bergers but the accuracy wasnt what I was hoping for and went back to Barnes.

Shoulder shot, breaking the bone is ideal for monolithic bullets like Barnes TSX.  Not a good thing for rapidly expanding soft points.  We agree there.  But, with TSX you get very little wasted meat, and you have much less tracking on your hands.  I have stopped taking the traditional behind the shoulder shots with well constructed soft point bullets at 3,100 fps velocity after blowing out the rib cage on the exit side with a hole I could put my first into and still have the deer run a hundred yards.  Deer with entrance side broken shoulders from monolithic bullets do not run and meat loss is minimal for me.  The bones are soft, the bullet breaks the shoulder without fragmenting or grenading, still expands nicely, continues on and still leaves a 2x caliber exit wound.  That's been my experience and it has caused me to rethink both bullet selection and bullet placement.

Complete different experience with barnes. I have used them in .308, .223, and 7mm mag. They go down hard.