7mm Magnum for East Texas Whitetail Deer

So my father in law says that my 7mm Mag. is too much gun for East Texas whitetail deer. I told him that with the Remington Managed Recoil rounds, the 7mm wouldnt have much more energy than a 270 Winchester. Any thoughts to this debate? Remington says the round, at 100 yards, will have 1915 ft.lbs of energy.

i shoot a 7mm at 180yds cant find entry or exit and it drops em

Was the father in law drinking?

No such thing as to much energy. Low recoil rounds are stupid and a marketing tool. Dead is dead

He comments were that the round was either too fast and pass right through or would blow the animal to pieces. I think with the managed recoil round, it should be right on the money.

I disagree with the marketing ploy. Thats just east tx talk.
Get some 175 grs and be done.

I think the father in law was seriously drinking.

I shoot 150 gr in my 7 mag,and it works just fine

I will give it hell this season and will report my findings.

By several brands of bullets and let your gun tell you what your going to shoot out of it. Try to find your guns full potential. Mangaged recoil is for women and children.
get a different gun if you worried about that crap

X2 if you need managed recoil rounds,you dont need a magnum

140 or 160gr accubonds and be done with it. FYI, I hunt about as east as you can get and 99% of the time with a 300wm w/ 180gr ABs and have never blown a deer to pieces with it.

It all comes down to bullet placement be it a .243,7 mag, or 375 H&H.

The second gun I ever owned was a 7 mag. Managed recoil ammo has it's place for kids and women shooting big recoil guns. For your average guy it is not required. Just get some 160gr bullets and fire away. I even pop pigs with mines.

Reggie

I'm actually working on a 7mag XCR at the moment and no way is it too much gun if you need to stretch out some shots down fields or pipeline/highline ROWs

I shoot 139 gr winchester supremes in my model 70. Too many people don't give east Texas deer enough respect. I have personally seen mature east Texas bucks that would weigh 200 lbs on the hoof. That is a big buck anywhere in Texas. 7mm magnum is not too big for east Texas deer imo.

Shot one in that range outside of your area in Spurger... Took out his heart and lungs and he stills aged to run over 100yds in that thick mess. Blood trail was quite easy to follow

Its a 7 Mag not a 338 Mag. Friend use to shoot one on the ranch all the time. 30-06 to .300Mag = same exit wound.

You shouldn't be listening to you out-laws. If you like I say shoot it.

Try a 12gauge with a Sabot Slug if your worried about the bullet traveling too fast.
I'll stick with my 7mm Magnum.

I don't own one but I like the 7mm. I have never had to trail a deer shot with one of those. They tend to lose some meat, but DRT all the way.

First off theres no such thing as too much gun, but there is such thing as shoot placement and it's simple to understand. If you don't want to tear up meat, then don't shoot them in the meat. Neck shot, heart lung shot equal no meat damage, shoulder shot equal meat damage no matter what caliber you shoot them with. Kinda like the guy complaing about the meat damage from his 06 " that thing tore up a whole hindquarter".

I have had good luck with my 7mm. Shots behind the shoulder in the heart/lung area have been easy to find and not much damage to meat, pretty much like any other caliber.

Yep and I shoot a 300 Weatherby and have had zero meat damage.

I like high shoulder shots with my 7mag. Not much damage and the deer drops like a sack of rocks.

I'm not saying a shoulder shot is bad in fact there are times when that's the best shot to take. Many years ago I shot a buck that was standing on a tank damn and the back side was full of some of the nastiest bunch of catclaws and cactus I've ever seen, He only took about 5 steps when I punched his lungs out with a 150 grain Nosler but that was just enough for him to jump down into the middle of that patch. I should have taken the shoulder shot and anchored him right there. That was not a fun retrieve, I probably lost more meat than he would have.

175gr remington core-loks always knocked em dead for me and were alot cheaper than some of the other options out there.

You can never have to much bang for your buck! I hunt just about everywere in the state and i hunt with a 300 WSM and it works for me.

I thought the .22 was the East Texas gun of choice.

When I'm not shooting black powder I use a 308 Norma Mag. Always brings them right down.

Only between the hours of 6pm to 6am!!!

I have shot east Texas deer with my 7mm and have not lost any and it did not tear up the meat. They usually don't run far either. Shot placement will determine how much meat is messed up anyway.

To me its overkill but if thats what ya got and ya shoot it well you aint gonna lose that much meat and if you are worried about like said already shoot for neck.

Use a lighter grain bullet with your 7mm Mag, Academy sells the Hornady's 139 grain bullet for the 7mm Mag.

i shoot the federal vital shoks 168 grain barnes triple shock bullet its definately way to much gun for whitetail but i only plan of shooting one time a year with that gun possible twice if i head down south but i can gaurantee if a buck comes out down a sendero around 300-400 yards he wont take a step. Take a high shoulder shot and smile for the picture! Just dont shoot a super soft bullet or it will create a hole thats why i like the barnes bullet.

IMO, the 7Mag is more than you NEED for pretty much any Texas hunting.

but the bullet is more important than the headstamp.

And the Remington Managed Recoil loads turn you 7Mag into a 7X57....certianly a great load for Texas deer.

A 7 mag might be too much gun for some hunters, but its not too much for the deer. If you can shoot it well, go for it. It's my #1 go to gun for just about everything.

Bearkat.

The 7mm is what most specialized long range big game hunting gun mfg's like gunwerks are using to debunck the ultra mag myths.. it has an exceptional bc for long range hunting of mulies, elk, moose ect. With that being said you can apply the same methontology to lighter skinned game like whitetails using a lighter recoiling caliber. Probably whats you FIL ment.

7mag is only a bad choice if the recoil causes accuracy issue for you.

7 mm is the bare minimum for monster east texas dear. You know its that or the 375 H&H anything else will just wound em!

These caliber questions will never be answered. This is akin to asking what brand of truck is best. Everyone thinks theirs is the best. That's why they buy them. If you like big-bore, shoot big-bore. You like .243, shoot it.

I wonder if gun manufactures start these threads so people go buy new rifles because someone on here convinces them that their current chambering is too much or too little gun.

Copy/paste of my post on the same/similar topic from Aug 2010:

Rule #1: Be able to put the bullet where it is suppose to go.
Rule #2: Rule #1 makes the question of which deer caliber moot.

If you can put any "deer caliber" bullet where it is suppose to be, you can forget all about twigs, grains, brush, open country, "harder hitting", "flatter shooting", magnum, not a magnum, etc.

Find the best shooting RIFLE you can afford in any easy to find deer ammo and learn to shoot it accurately ... the rest is fireside BS. Any "deer caliber" you name has had white-tail deer "run off" after being hit and the same "deer caliber" has had elk fall dead in its tracks. What is the difference?

If people put half the time, effort, and/or money into learning HOW to shot accuarately instead of worrying about WHAT to shoot everybody would have more meat in the freezer.