Thanks for the post. Any photos?
Like others have noted, wet newsprint is much tougher on a bullet than flesh. I can assure you that the 175 grain Partition at 1600 fps will not expand at all on a ribcage-shot deer.
In fact, unless heavy bone is impacted, most 7mm bullets will afford precious little -- if any -- expansion below 1900 fps or so save for a few such as the 120 grain Nosler BT and the 110 grain Speer TNT.
Also, a bullet that penetrates 9" into packed, wet newsprint is perfectly adequate for deer (assuming the construction of the projectile and the impact velocity equates to adequate expansion/tissue destruction).
A very simple but telling test to gauge if a bullet is expanding is to fill a Prestone jug with water, set it up with a safe backstop and place a 1/4" piece of plywood 6 feet behind the anti-freeze container. Back off to the desired distance and center-punch the jug. If the hole in the plywood is bullet-size or barely over, you will likely get no expansion on deer at that velocity. If you have lots of shrapnel in evidence and perhaps an overly-large hole through the wood, the bullet is likely too fragile for such applications. But a relatively clean hole in the plywood of 1.5-2x bullet diameter indicates excellent potential for use on medium game.
Here are a few recovered 7mms & others from past projects:
Here are some photos taken during a test using the then-new Berger 7mm 140 grain VLD Hunting bullet.
The last 2 are of a Sierra 130 grain Single Shot Pistol bullet (no longer made) taken from a whitetail buck shot at 108 yards with a load that developed 2505 fps MV. It entered the center of the chest as the deer faced me and wound up in the left ham, taking out a chunk of spine along the way.
But even this "soft" bullet expanded very little if the impact velocity fell below 1800 fps or so.
