First of all, hi Jim and everyone, I just joined last night. I look forward to some great discussions! I am having a custom rifle made for me in a wildcat 7MM SPRC (6.5 prc necked up to 7MM) I am told it will toss a 175 burger about 3000 fps. I will be hunting mostly whitetail in Alabama. I do a lot of woods hunting, but I also field hunt where its not unusual to take shoots out to 500 yards. We also very seldom have high winds like you do out west. My question is, do I really need a heavy 175 gr bullet if I am not taking extremity long shoots when I can save some recoil and shoot the 140gr or 150gr burger vld?
Definitely do not need it for Whitetails. 140’s and 150s will do the job and save a little bit of recoil. I shot a 7mm STW for years. Killed Whitetails, bear caribou and two Bobcats with it. Never went above 160 grn. Deer with the 140’s was like magic! They would just get knocked down flat and just quiver.
I agree with your thoughts. 175 is great for hunting, but not necessary either. A 150 will have no trouble dispatching a whitetail and will reduce recoil dramatically.
However, I can’t imagine achieving 3,000fps with a 175 in a necked up 6.5 prc. That’s quite a bit shorter of a case and the 7 prc has a hard time achieving that.
I believe that figure is exaggerated a bit too. Also, probably using a 26 inch barrel…. I’m gonna be shooting a 22 inch barrel. I bet the 150s will run around 2900 ish but that’s just an educated guess.
FYI, My builder just did load development for me on the 7 SPRC. We are getting 2950 out of a 168 VLD and its shooting 1/3 moa. It did not shoot the lighter bullets as well. Soooo the 168 vld it is!
I was actually gonna recommend the 168. It’s one of the bullets that I shoot in my 280AI. I think it’s a better balance for speed and the case capacity.
The 162 ELD-X, 160 Accubonds, 145 Barnes LRX (or 168 LRX if you have a 1:8 twist), 160 Trophy Bonded, 155 Terminal Ascent (if anyone can ever find them), or 165 GameKings are some other good options from what I’ve read
Brent.
Just wanted to say the 7mm cal is great.
And the one you are building should be very nice.
I shoot a 7rem mag. I have taken many whitetail and a few mule deer as well as moose and elk up here in Northern Alberta Canada.
I have used the Berger bullets First they are accurate But !! They produce a lot of meat loss and damage. And I have had penetration issues past 200 yards. Hit a rib and they fragmented.
168 gr. I took a mule doe at 85 yards heart and lungs and a 4 inch hole out the other side
She ran 60 plus yards.
Last year I used the 160 Swift Aframe
170 class Whitetail at 94 yards heart and lungs hit a rib in and out nickel size hole out. He went 15 yards
Two days later I took a mule doe at 250 yards with the exact same results. But she went 20 yards
You can’t beat a bonded bullet for hunting.
Just my opinion !!
Enjoy your new rifle.
Cheers
Thanks guys! Great info. We hunt on a track of land that has an over population of deer. Our biologist tells us to take 50 to 70 doe a year off our land. We have 6 hunters. I average killing 15 or more deer every year. In the last 5 years I have killed over 50 deer with Bergers. Never lost a deer with a Berger and with most of them I have gotten “bang flops”. I may be sacrificing a little bit of meat, but I don’t like to see shot deer running! A big doe in Alabama is 120 lbs… A big buck will run about 200 lbs… I would guess you (Lawrence) are shooting deer that are much larger than mine! You probably need bonded bullets more than I do.
PS I would love to come to Alberta and test out some Swift A frames =)
