Sierra 7mm 175 SPBT GameKing

[dakor]

Well what I feared the most happend today. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img] I was having a shoot off between the Nosler 160 Accubond and the Sierra 175 SPBT. Well at 500 yards the Sierra had about a 2 inch 3 shot group and the Accubond had about a 6 inch group. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] Which just goes to show that 100 yards means nothing because the 160 Accubond at 100 yards shoots a group in the .2's and the Sierra at 100 yards shoots in the .6's. Now my question is has anyone used this bullet on Deer and Elk size game and how did it perform? Also does it hold up well on closer shots? I am sooting it out of my 7mm STW at 3144 FPS.

[POP]

Sorry bud but I have seen more Sierra BT failures to know better than to use them on big game. Only on varmints and pistols.

[Fiftydriver]

Dakor,

You just proved the importance of testing at longer range.

First off, what are your groups shaped like at 500 yards for the Accubond. This is not a velocity spread issue that could be corrected is it?

I would certainly not worry about using the Sierra 175 on the game you listed at decent range. 300 yards and farther. Closer then that and you may get into some trouble with elk.

Deer will not be a problem at any range as long as you hit them in the vitals. Now if you center a shoulder knuckle of a 300 lb mule deer or whitetail at 30 yards, you may have some penetration issues.

I call these soft bullets, and I tell my customers to keep soft bullets in the soft tissue. Behind the shoulder. If you want to take out the offside shoulder if possible, great but get the serious work done first and then if you break the off side shoulder, thats just extra gravy!!!

Again, it where you place the bullet more then anything else, shoot the load your rifle likes best and put that pill in the right sport.

Good Shooting!!

Kirby Allen (50)

I got the same results with the Berger 180 7mm out of my stw. 3/4 in 10 rnd groups at 100 yards, 1.7 10 rnd groups at 400 yards. I guess the bullet "fell" asleep between 100 yards and 400 yards although the faster I push the Berger the smaller the groups got but copper fouling increased to where only a 5 rnd group between cleanings would produce tight groups again.
The 160's out of my wifes stw produce 6 inch groups at 400 and the 168 smk produced 4 in groups not a big difference but I suspect if you take that out to 1k youll see the benifits of bullets designed for long range shooting and hunting.
She took a deer two year ago at 325 yards with 160 grain fail safes and it performed ok. those fail safe bullets when they dont hit bone produce little tiny holes in and just a tad bit bigger coming out but killed the same as the Bergers I use.
Dave

[dakor]

Kirby my groups are shaped kinda like a Horizontal Triangle but not as uniform. As for the spread I have not fired more then 5 shots through the chrony. I think the spread was around 20 FPS. I suppose when it warms up I could set the chrony up and fire a 20 shot string and see what I come up with. The load density should be ok because the 160's are sitting on top of 82 grains of H-1000 and the 175's Are on top of 81 Grains of H-1000. But the even more scaring part is the 140 Accubonds shot better at 500 yards then the 160's. They shot about a 3 inch group. So I dont get it. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]