Won an Bull Elk tag lottery for hunt in AZ.....need load recommendations. 7 Mag

[L.H. Clark]

Well, the subject line says it all. I arbitrarily chose some 160gn Nosler Accubonds to start initial load development.
If anyone has any experience with the Noslers please share your experience. I am sorry to admit that the rifle is NOT a Savage. It is a Belgian Browning BAR. Superb rifle and one of the most accurate semi's I have shot.
The truth is that my father-in-law is the lottery winner and I am the logistics monkey for him. He had me choose and purchase his scope, range finder, monocular, binocs and a bunch of other stuff he won't need as the hunt is guided! NO FURTHER COMMENT...
However, I do love my F-I-L and want to put together the very best "Kit" I can and I want the rifle/ammo combo to be deadly and accurate and simple for him to shoot...ie.., whether the Bull presents at 100 or 400 yds, I want the hold to be inches apart. I want to do all I can to make him successful.
The man is a great shot and a good deer hunter. He killed 6 great whitetails here in MS last year. And we r still eating on them twice a week or more!
Anyway.. Sorry to ramble. Thanks for advice


L.H. Clark

[1983Weatherby]

I just took a caribou, about the same size as an elk... Using a partition, very happy with it. Double lung, full penetration in and out. It didn't hit any bone and went clean through, so I couldn't tell you on expansion of the bullet etc. But the exit wound was about a size of mans fist. This was in a .30 caliber with a 180grain nosler partition bullet.... Way overkill and lost a lot of meat due to it. My brother in law used a 160grain accubond on his caribou last year and his did pretty much the same exact thing. He was using a 7mm mag.

Let me check the load data for his 7mm...

160grain accubond
RL19 64grains
GM215M primer
SAMI Spec C.O.A.L

[stomp442]

If you want point and click you may want to switch to a lighter bullet like the 140. Even these light bullets in the accubond line will give you plenty of penetration out to 400 and with the added velocity a 200 yard zero would make for a hold on the top of his back type shot at 400 and you only give up about 200 pounds of energy at that range with the lighter bullet.

[452b300]

Well, the subject line says it all. I arbitrarily chose some 160gn Nosler Accubonds to start initial load development.
If anyone has any experience with the Noslers please share your experience. I am sorry to admit that the rifle is NOT a Savage. It is a Belgian Browning BAR. Superb rifle and one of the most accurate semi's I have shot.
The truth is that my father-in-law is the lottery winner and I am the logistics monkey for him. He had me choose and purchase his scope, range finder, monocular, binocs and a bunch of other stuff he won't need as the hunt is guided! NO FURTHER COMMENT...
However, I do love my F-I-L and want to put together the very best "Kit" I can and I want the rifle/ammo combo to be deadly and accurate and simple for him to shoot...ie.., whether the Bull presents at 100 or 400 yds, I want the hold to be inches apart. I want to do all I can to make him successful.
The man is a great shot and a good deer hunter. He killed 6 great whitetails here in MS last year. And we r still eating on them twice a week or more!
Anyway.. Sorry to ramble. Thanks for advice


L.H. Clark

I would use a tough bullet, heavy for the caliber and a factory load they are more reliable in a semi-auto, if you hit bone or need to take an angled shot you will need the tougher bullet, partition or an x bullet, Bitterroot, etc. Federal loads all these bullets in their factory ammo.

[nastynatesfish]

I'd look at the 140 Berger bullets or the 168 bergers. Make sure the hunt isnt a lead free zone before you spend the money on components. If so I'd look at the 140 barnes

[P057]

My Savage likes 160 Accubonds with 66 grains of RL22 (work up to this, not sure I would got that high with a semi-auto. It may batter it badly). In Winchester cases with GM215M primers. Very accurate and good velocity around 3000 fps. Again use this load with caution.

And I have killed one elk with it. One shot one kill, no bullet recovery. About a nickel to quarter size exit. He was down with in 10 yards.

Corey

[Elkbane]

I'd try to get my hands on some of Nosler's new 168gr Accubond Long Range bullets and work up a load with them. I bought a box when Midway got their initial order about a month ago, and so far I'm impressed. It's one long sleek bullet - looks alot like a Berger VLD but with Accubond bonded core and polymer tip, and very uniform. Given that it has a long boat-tail and VLD shaped tip, it has a much shorter bearing surface than the 160 gr Accubond, so you should be able to drive them faster before you blow your pressure budget, in spite of the fact that it weighs more.

I'm about mid-way through load development with them in a 7WSM and started getting pressure signs at 2950 fps using H4831sc. I backed up to the load running 2920 fps and it shows decent initial accuracy - about to do some seating depth tests. In my 7WSM, my accuracy node was 2850 fps with the 160 Accubond. If I can get this 168gr ACCLR load to behave at 2920, I'll gain 4.5" of drop at 500 yards and get a pick up of 26% in retained energy - it will be almost like my 300WSM hunting load at distance.

With the extra case capacity of the 7RemMag, you should be able to beat that.
Elkbane

Last year's elk I shot with 160 Accubonds, I recovered 2 bullets - one weighed 108 grains and the other 100 grains, perfect mushrooms, trapped under hide on off side.

[L.H. Clark]

Thank you for the actual data Elkbane. I appreciate all replies and have considered the factory offerings. But I have been loading too long and taken too much meat doing so to give the big boys my dough.

If accuracy is attainable with the 160 Noslers.... I am gonna rock those. F-I-L is more than capable of putting the pill where it needs to go, so if bullet does its part, we shouldn't have any issues.