7-30 Waters, Does any one use a Barnes Triple Shock 120 grain bullet?

[bustedcompass]

I am just getting into handloading after using factory amo.
I wanted to get the best bullet choice for a Contender Super 14 barrel, hunting white tail deer.
Barnes are  pricey, not sure if their worth it.

Let me know what bullet you are using in your 14 inch Contender and what powder your using.
I heard good things about the 120 Nosler BT.

Thanks

[Da-Law-Dawg]

I'm shooting a 162gr Amax over IMR 8208 XBR, nets 1953fps outta my Super 14. Super accurate and hits like Thor's hammer.

[Elwood]

I use them in a 21" 7-30 Waters carbine barrel. They are fantastic in the carbine. My son has killed a couple of deer with them. One bullet has been recovered in a deer and it was fully opened. The X-bullets won't expand much under 1800 fps, I don't guess this is a limiting factor in the Waters.

[Lloyd Smale]

I wouldnt trust them to open at contender velocitys. I started handgun hunting with a 730 years ago. I found a good load with 120 ballistic tips and never looked back. Shot probably 30 deer with them and they killed like lightning.

[Mikey]

You have to wonder if you really need a premium bullet to take Whitetail.  The 7-30 is a pretty good caliber and with 7mm bullets in 120 gn weight just about any bullet short of a solid steel slug should expand and perform nicely on a bambi, unless he is wearing body armor and is 2,000 yds away when the shot is fired. 
 
Nothing at all against premium slugs, just the question of whether you need go the expense when something similar in the Hornady line will perform the same.  Actually, when you look at the bullet profile, a 120 gn 7mm slug at 2,000'/sec + or - ought to wallop the snot outta a Whitetail.  If the bullet maker sez it won't perform/expand at under 1,800'/sec then don't use it from a shorter barrel if you don't think it will attain that velocity but to be honest, if that is all the velocity you are getting from a shorter barrel you could probably use your own cast slugs and be just as successful. 
 
The 7mm is a .284 diameter bullet and from a 7mm Mauser, 7-30 or 7mm/08 they are very effective on Whitetail.  I'll bet you could get a mold from Veral Smith in 7mm bore at about 120-130 gn weight with a nice flat nose that would probably let you eat right up to the hole.  In comparison, the parent cartridge for the 7-30, the 30-30 was/is just as effective with a jacketed bullet as with a cast bullet.  I really don't think you need go the expense of a premium bullet, but that's jmo.

[patrick_sween]

I use the 120 BT, and on the one deer I've shot with it so far it worked well.  My criteria were accuracy and lighter weight (I shoot a 10" barrel).  I also like the high BC to help hold on to that velocity since I'm only starting them at about 2160 fps out of that short barrel.  If I shot hundreds of rounds a year out of it I'd maybe want a cheaper bullet, but for the few boxes I use the premium price is acceptable. 

Patrick

[deerman406]

I am using the Nosler 120 grain BT ballistic tip and it is very accurate and performs perfectly on whitetails, the federal factory ammo is also very accurate and performs fine on whitetails as well. I prefer the noslers as some of my shots may be 200yds. or so and it performs better at those longer ranges, but the factory stuff works very well out to 150 yards or so on our fairly big NY whitetails. Shawn

[hoghunting]

My 14" 7-30 Waters Contender also likes the 120 gr Nosler BT with RL-15 powder as 1/2" 100 yd groups from the bench are typical. This load works extremely well on deer and hogs.

[kbush]

My daughter shot several deer with a contender carbine in 7 TCU, mostly with 120 BT's.  Her best deer to date was with a Hornady 130 SSP.


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[7-30 Waters]

You would be better served shooting the Hornady 120 grain V-Max. This bullet is also the 7mm SSPB, (single shot pistol bullet).


I had Hornady vertically split a couple of 120 V-Max bullets to identify the Inter-Lock ring. I have shot them in both a 14" Waters barrel and a 20" Waters barrel. XMR 4064 was the powder of choice.


.

[hoghunting]

A few years ago I called and spoke to a customer service tech at Hornady and asked if the 120 gr V-Max was the same as the 120 gr SSPB, was transferred to an engineer who worked on the V-Max design. The V-Max is a varmint bullet without the interlock ring and is not the SSPB, he recommended the 120 gr SP for larger game.

[deerman406]

I would worry about the V-Max on whitetails, if you stay off of bone it may be ok but if you hit the shoulder you would be in trouble. Like said earlier the Nosler 120 or the 140 perform very well on deer sized game and a shot to the point of the shoulder still gets enough penetration to get to the goodies most everytime, always some exceptions but rare. I shoot IMR4064 and the Nosler 120BT does great on whitetails out to a bit beyond 200 yards. Shawn

[Sal]

I use Barnes 120 gr bullets in my 7-30 Waters, and it groups less than 1" at 100 yards.  15" bull barrel from the custom shop.  Pillars are embedded into the custom stocks.  2 1/2 to 8 power Leopold scope with 3 TSOB rings and base.  It is a very solid setup, and shoot it quite often.  This bullet works the best after all the others I have tried.  31 grains of IMR 3031 powder and CCI primers

[JPShelton]

I used a Super 14 in 7-30 Waters for a while....   Like Lloyd Smale, I used the Nosler 120 gr. Ballistic Tip.  I was satisfied with its performance on the few game animals I took with it -a couple of pronghorns, a couple of blacktail deer, and one of the biggest mule deer I ever shot.  I killed more feral goats and pigs with it than anything, and the bullet worked just fine for me in taking them.  Accuracy was great, too.
I'm a huge fan of Barnes X Bullets and was an "early adopter" with my .270 WCF, .280 Rem., .30-'06, .300 Wby, and .375 H&H rifles, and later with .223 when they started making those.
But personally, with the kind of impact velocity you get with a 7-30 out of a Super 14, I don't really see the need for anything more wazoo than old school cup and core bullet technology.  I only have so much money to spend on my shooting sports hobby, so I'd be inclined to stick with less expensive Nosler 120 gr BTs because I can shoot twice as many of them for the same money, and I don't think the more expenisve Barnes Triple Shocks would be that great of an advantage in what is a modest velocity round. 
JP

[Clodhopper]

I too used the Nosler BTs in both my 7-30 and my 300 savage contender.  Then california, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make the area I usually get drawn for deer a "Golden Condor" lead free area prohibiting the use of any lead projectiles.  So we in the golden state are now required to use bullets like the Barnes and other non lead types.  My Contender shoots them real well but I don't know how they would perform at the lower velocities.

[444thumper]

Those are very nice looking stocks.  Who made them? 

[Sal]

The stocks were made by Tim Steingass from West Virginia.

[longwinters]

For my Contender 120 BT's and 140 Partitians have worked very well.
 
Long

[JPShelton]

I too used the Nosler BTs in both my 7-30 and my 300 savage contender.  Then california, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make the area I usually get drawn for deer a "Golden Condor" lead free area prohibiting the use of any lead projectiles.  So we in the golden state are now required to use bullets like the Barnes and other non lead types.  My Contender shoots them real well but I don't know how they would perform at the lower velocities.

Ooooh...  I forgot all about that!  I used to chase blacktails around the Dick Smith Wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest, which I think is in that "lead free" area now.
If I still lived in California, I'd still be hunting in the Los Padres National Forest and elsewhere in the A Zone, and if I still had my Contender, I reckon I"d want to be able to use it in the old places I used to hunt in, so I'd be shootin' homogenous copper bullets, too.
JP

[HL]

I have only used the Sierra ProHunter 120gr and never had a problem with whitetail. Dropped them in their tracks.

[Camba]

I recently acquire a 14" TC contender barrel in 7-30W and the only type of bullets I am using so far is the Speer 130gr SP Hot-core and Speer 160gr SPBT.  I have tried some loads from the reloading manual using the type of powder that I have at have at hand: H4198, H4895, H335, and Blue Dot.
Pretty much what I tried was a pleasant supprize. I did get velocity results from 1600 fps using the Blue Dot and 160gr to 2390 fps, using the 130 gr and H4895 max load.
What velocities should I consider good for hunting with the 130gr in order to get the bullet best performance, given the 14" bbl constraint?
Camba

[Lloyd Smale]

I ran the 120s at 2400 and they killed real well out to 200 yards. I never shot anything much further then that with it so i dont know how it would have worked at 300. But my guess is that it may be a bit marginal for those ranges.

[Camba]

I have not tried anything lower than 130gr yet but I may have to give it a try.  2400fps from a 14" pistol is a very good load (almost a rifle velocity) and I bet it does not have a punishing recoil.
I will look into that soon.  Thank you Lloyd.
 
Camba

[charles p]

Sierra used to make a 130 grain SSP (Single Shot Pistol) that was a dynamite deer bullet for the 14" barrel.  I don't think they make them anymore.  Might still be available somewhere.  I've also used 120 BT but not my favorite.  Hornady 120 grain is what I use in my carbine barrel.

[musicman10_1]

My 14" hunter barrel in 7-30 Waters doesn't like anything but 120 gr bullets.  It is beautifully accurate with them and not so much with heavier bullets.  I shot a cow elk from 94 yards several years ago with 120 gr BT and she was DRT.

[mauser98us]

While I took a muley 2 years ago using the BarnesX in 120 grains,it did a good job. For thin skinned game I think Hornady or Rem core lok  cheapos do a better job on expansion.Elk and other big bone critters are a little different.

[Couger]

 
FU