Sierra matchking performance on game

[greenejc]

Seems like

I wondered that too. I guess that there is no definite way to drop a deer.

one out of four runs even when hit good. I had a friend who dropped a doe at 305 yards on the spot, and had to blood trail another and shoot it again with the same rifle and load. It was a 180 grain Nosler BT in a 30-06. Both deer had been hit in the heart-lung area, and both had the heart damaged when we gutted them. Some animals are just tough. I generally have no problem with deer running when my .35 Whelen hits them with a 225gr. Sierra Gameking as long as it is in the chest. They have never gone more than about 30 yards, and they were dragging their front legs each time, due to nerve damage.

 

[xsn10s]

I use Sierra, Nosler, Speer and Hornaday target bullets for prairie dogs and coyotes all the time. In my Mini, I mostly shoot flatbase 55 to 62 grain bullets and they are just fine. They're small. Hitting them with a .224 cal. bullet is like shooting a deer with a .375 cal. bullet. They generally blow up even if the bullet is a FMJ. By the way, which unit is the taro leaf? I've forgotten. Mine was 25th Inf. Tropic Lightning, along with several others before I retired. Thank you for your service, too.

24th Mechanized Infantry. Thank you for your service. That 55 gr Berger was the only bullet that would shoot in that burned out 22-250 barrel.

 

[COBrad]

My grandson used a 168 smk from a 7-08 to kill his first elk. About 100 yds high shoulder shot. Dropped in her tracks. I killed two more elk with that same load that year. Cow ran about 50 yards and the bull staggered along for maybe 30.

 

[bgremill]

Shot this guy from 918 yards. He did go 10' from the spot the impact was. 142 SMK out of a 6.5-06.
View attachment 310736

Wow! Great shot and thanks for the reply!

 

[bgremill]

I used 7mm Match Kings for years while hunting for a museum. I was collecting, and on the small animals you wanted one small hole in and one small hole out. Hundreds of specimens. Absolutely deadly on caribou. Because you never knew what you would shoot next, I liked and still use a Krieghoff Drilling in 16x16x7mmx65r(280 Rem). One shot, be sure.

Thanks, Mammoth Hunter

 

[bgremill]

I used the 142gr in my 6.5x284 @ 3100fps for several years with great results and accuracy.

2018 - Montana whitetail buck at 250 yards....DRT
2019 - Montana bull elk at 400 yards. One shot to the boiler room and he didn't take another step.
2019 - Colorado muley buck at 550 yards. One shot and went about 10 yards before tipping over.
2020 - Montana whitetail buck at 150 yards.... hit him about 12" back from POA due to scope problem... Still ran 100 yards with a 4" gaping hole in his gut before bleeding out.

This is the same old debate that has been raging for years, but at the end of the day it is shot placement that counts and the match bullets perform great when put where they should be.

Great info. Thanks, BH107.

 

[old_heli_logger]

308win 168gr SMK. Very deadly on thin skinned critters.
Good luck!

 

[Parkerized]

Only reason I don't use match bullets in hunting what I'm going to eat is the bullets weight retention. Match bullets break up into small pieces, pieces full of lead.

I prefer to use solid copper for hunting for meat preservation and not having the lead.

To each there own, congrats on your deer

Lead poisoning.
Overstated, especially in California.
Know anyone with lead poisoning?
Shot any game with target bullets?

 

[sp6x6]

I shot a TARGET with a hunting bullet,yep killed it

 

[Hunt_4life]

Lead poisoning.
Overstated, especially in California.
Know anyone with lead poisoning?
Shot any game with target bullets?

You can actually eat a chunk of lead and it wont do any damage to your body because you can not digest it. Only when it is in atomized form such as in water will it enter your blood stream.

 

[ATH]

Given what I've observed on game, match bullets kill very good. The match vs hunting bullet marketing once again propagandizes.

Well this is another example of the false equivalences which permeate these threads. So now all match bullets are the same? We don't have to differentiate between SMKs and other variations, and can just extrapolate between with no evidence? I guess we can just shoot FMJ now.

 

[Hunt_4life]

Well this is another example of the false equivalences which permeate these threads. So now all match bullets are the same? We don't have to differentiate between SMKs and other variations, and can just extrapolate between with no evidence? I guess we can just shoot FMJ now.

Is personal experience not evidence?

 

[ATH]

Is personal experience not evidence?

Personal anecdotes are highly unreliable and questionable including my own. This is why I am playfully mocking of them all..including my own. Real evidence is produced in a controlled and methodical manner. You can see it in this thread, people claim match bullets are terrible or the best solution. Based on personal experience. This is really the reason why the internet and social media is terrible and it's not limited to bullet performance. Everybody is an expert.

And, your reply ignores the point I was making, that one took performance of one match bullet and implied that it could be applied to "match bullets vs "hunting bullets" as a class. Like individual bullet design parameters within those classes don't matter.

My personal experience? Match bullets can be fine but in aggregate are less reliable and prone to either penciling or exploding. Hunting bullets selected for the right purpose are generally more reliable in how they behave. Not that all hunting bullets are great for all purposes. As one example I've seen a really extreme variation in Berger performance from penciling to fragmentation but Accubonds are stupidly reliable. Which leads me to give up some BC to shoot Accubonds when I care able reliability. Dialing down to the differences within a class the ELD-X and ELD-M don't perform as consistently as Accubonds in my hands. They are more likely to come apart at high velocities. Given design characteristics I'm not sure why this would surprise anyone.

 

[greenejc]

You can actually eat a chunk of lead and it wont do any damage to your body because you can not digest it. Only when it is in atomized form such as in water will it enter your blood stream.

Correct.