Sierra Match Kings on game?

Once upon a time (in one of my theorizing moments) I bought into this thick jacket business (forgetting the open point) This was right after we could not get the old Nosler partition bullets. The new Nosler's were not staying together on heavy bone and just blowing apart (just like they do now). In the midst of all of this running around looking for a good game bullet, a couple of guys asked me what I thought, I gave them my theory. Never ever again will I make that mistake!

I had no idea, they were going after coastal brown bear. When they came back to the shop a few weeks later, I didn't know whether to run or just duck and cover when they told me the story.

If you want to be sure of a human kill, don't use match King bullets on game, or any open point bullet on game. Note I did not write hollow point exposed lead bullets.

I most often recommend Remington Core Lok's for general big game hunting.
 
papapaul said:
I used Sierra 168 HPBT Match bullets for 25 years in a 300 win mag. Never lost a deer. People who don't understand shooting free running dogs never had to live with the problem. I carry a pistol in my pocket anytime I go outside just to protect myself from the dogs city folks drop off out in the country. Nothing like going into your barn and being attacked by a pit bull which just had puppies in there. True story. If my dog hadn't been with me to intervene I would have been mauled before I could have shot it. I hate to think what would have happened to a child alone. Another time, five of us came around the corner of the barn (same barn) and were charged by a rotweiler. I shot it at very close range. I mentioned the pit bull incident to the animal shelter folks, they were only concerned about what I had done with the puppies. When I told them I had destroyed them, they recoilled in horror.
Click to expand...

You are correct and it is sad because the dog is only doing what is does naturally. Almost everyone who has not been around them in a non city or home environment will swear that “my doggie” would never do anything like that! Unfortunately they are wrong---I have seen packs with 25lb to 125lbs in them some with collars and haircuts even. When I was 11 had to watch my PaPa put shoot one of his very high dollar German Shorthair Pointers that had taken down a calf. He just whistled him up and shot him in the head ----- I was horrified and asked why he shot Redhead and he said “Dave once they do this they will never stop” and he is correct.:(
 
I will agree, we get a lot of stray dogs where I am but have been lucky with not many problems. My friend will shoot them if they are running deer etc and with no collar on. But once they start, they will not quit.
 
O.k. ,lets forget about the dogs for a while and get back to the subject.Sierra Match King performance.Tell me about penetration and expansion.Thanks
 
Ask Sierra

Sierra states quite plainly in their loading manual that they do not recommend Match Kings for hunting. But what do they know??.........jackie
 
Sierra doesn't recommend them...

Sierra does not recommend their SMK's for hunting due to their unreliable performance for hunting. A few years ago I shot a white tail doe with a 150gr, 30 cal, SMK. She walked off as if unharmed. I found her about 100 yards away. I had hit her in the lower shoulder and the bullet went through both lungs. The exit hole was the same size as the entrance hole. Not much shock value there. My bullet for choice for dear size hunting is one of the Nosler ballistic tips.

Conclusion; SMK's for target work, one of the fine available bullets designed for hunting for me.

virg
 
Sierra is a target bullet with J4 type jackets more like a puncturing an animal without expansion and shock value. You have better choices for a hunting bullet than Sierra.


Stephen, Sierra calls them Pro Hunter, or Game King, excellent hunting bullets.
 
Have shot a lot of ground hogs and crows with smks, but wouldnt use on deer or larger animals. Use the gamekings if going to sierra. They are for game not targets.
 
my .02,,, I use them, only the bigger calibers and heavy bullets. They give me the shot placement that I need at long range and consistancy, There have been alot said about using them at short ranges for hunting and thier performance may not be perfect, effective but not perfect. I have harvested 2 mule deer and a antelope at mid to long range this year and am very happy with the SMK for performance on game. Ron Tilley
 
I know the hunting bullets are designed for just that,hunting.I use Nosler almost exclusively but I have had good sucess with the 139gr. Lapua scenar.They provide great expansion and killing power.I thought the SMK might stay together a little better for more penetration and that is why I started this thread. I have got a few of the SMK's loaded to try out.If I have any luck this evening I will post the results.:D
 
James, Your question about penetration and expansion: I would get an entrance hole on the near side, and slight bruising on the muscles of the rib-cage on the off side. no exit wound. The heart and lungs would be totally lacerated with no damage to any meat. I took care to hit the ribcage. Some of this is a matter of scale. My load generated 4,000 ft/lbs of power. The bullet only needed to hookup, that is, transfer that energy, that's all. These things hooked up. My point of aim was "middle of the front half" of the deer. I used a 300 yd zero. At extreme range, say 500 yds, I would hold just under the top of the front half. I never experience extensive meat damage with two exceptions. I was on a haystack shooting at a deer running across a flat open field. My first shot hit it in the ass. I paced off the shot and it was 440 yds. I hadn't lead it at all. There was quite a bit of damage to the meat on that one. The other one was a buck running by at no yards. I hit him in the back, took a section out of his spine about 8" wide. I wouldn't recommend this bullet for anything larger than deer. P.S. I used this bullet because of excellent long range performance. Any bullet in a 300 win mag will kill deer up close. Any bullet at 3,200-3,500 fps must be placed well to avoid excessive meat damage. These would drop a deer at 500 yds travelling at about 2,500 fps.
 
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I haven't got to try one yet but that sounds like what the 139gr. Lapuas are doing.Killing deer is easy with them.I had an incident happen this year where I shot a nice buck standing on the edge of a thick cut over.I hit him in the shoulder but he didn't drop right there.He turned and ran back out in the middle of an open field for about 75 yds. before he died.It was very early in the morning and I actually was blinded by the muzzle flash for a moment.I looked to where I shot him and he wasn't there.What happened I thought,did I miss? It took a few moments before I saw him.This got me thinking,what if that deer had of dove into the cut over with out leaving a blood trail.I would have not known where to begin to look.He only went 75 yds. but which way?No sign of a hit,no blood and the fact that I couldn't see which way he went could have ment a lost animal.Now normaly they drop dead in there tracks but as everyone knows Murphys law shows up when least expected.Thanks for all comments.
 
Boss Hog.......

Brother and I have had the 7mm 150g Match king fail on deer out of a 7 Mag at 3150.
 
Oh boy!

Now remember this is the internet and if you believe everything you read on the internet you are in big trouble.

Now I have no doubt some folks have killed elephant with Match Kings, but just stop and think about this:

Most of the major bullet companies have spent major time, effort and money developing the best Hunting Bullets ever.

So why on earth would someone want to use Matck King bullets on Game? Heck even Sierra says not to.

I just don't get it.

There is so much to concider when picking a good game bullet.

Some things to concider are the size of game, tuffness of the skin, and impact velocity of the bullet etc.

BTW I buy and shoot Matck Kings by the thousands.
 
John, you are correct. But at the time I was building my load for the rifle (1974?) up in Northern Minnesota, The Sierra 168 gr HPBT bullets had the highest BC, but, and most important, they were available locally. Once I used them with good results I just never changed. You just didn't have as many choices back then.
 
Dave, I can almost see the grin on your face when you dumped that fur ball.

I have used 140 gr a-max out of my 260AI, thier not much different then a smk other than the plastic tip, still just a cup and core bullet. From 75 to 609 yards, 13 deer and 2 lopes, each one took only one bullet and not one traveled over 75 yards.

Bergers kill lots of game and up untill a couple of years ago were not marketed as a hunting bullet.
 
smk bullets

i have talked with some people at the 1000 yd shoots here in pa.quite a few use them on both deer and elk.i have killed 2 deer with the 190 smk and they ran 20 yds or so but the damage was good enough to kill them.
gary b
 
I'm not a hunter so you can take anything I say with extra salt as opposed to the normal internet dose.

Berger has tested thier match bullets for hunting. They did so after recommending they not be used for hunting but getting reports that they indeed do work well.
They claim they'll punch through flesh/bone for 3"-4" then fragment violently causing severe internal damage.
Don't count on an exit hole.
I have no idea what results you might get if you butt shoot a running deer.
Probably not good. Best not to shoot at tails using any match bullet.

Sierra has done no testing to my knowledge for the simple reason its a target bullet,period The fact they strongly disapprove of thier use for hunting should be enough.
Theres countless internet tails of SMK's flattening deer and just as many stories of poor performance.

I bought a box of 6mm 100gn Grand Slams real cheap from a gunstore going out of business. I used some of them to run in a 243 Win barrel. Using some surplus W-760 and fresh brass I found one node that was punching under .4 moa with no load development.

It should'nt be hard to find a load good enough for hunting using bullets designed for it. That would be my recommendation from a paper killer.
 
SMKs

James,
Out of the match bullets I can recommend Berger VLDs and Hornady A max on deer. Have used both and they perform very good on paper and on beasts. The Lapua scenar I have found not to expand enough, punches a small hole all the way through, little shock value. I think as somebody has already touched on unless you are using a range gun and dont want to change ammo or are swimming in SMKs I would use a Nosler hunting bullet myself

:+)
 
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