rufous
Well-Known Member
First of all I want to say that I am not at all wanting to start a fight or argument or anything of the kind. I am only trying to learn from your experience.
I have read many posts over the years by those of you who use Sierra Matchking bullets for big game. From what I have gathered you use them predominantly because of their great accuracy and generally high ballistic coefficients relative to most other more typical big game bullets such as the Nosler Partition and Barnes X. You also apparently have found that they kill quite well when placed well.
I have never used a SMK on big game. I have shied away from it because of a concern of adequate bullet performance. I would hate to wound and lose an animal because the bullet did not adequately penetrate or expand. Despite your years of favorable posts I confess I still am leery about using the SMK on big game. I shoot a 300 Win Mag for deer, elk and black bear. I really like an exit wound and I really like to shoot for the shoulder in order to minimize tracking. I like to put the animal down on the spot as best I can. That is why I have gravitated towards the Barnes TSX. Fortunately they shoot very well in my gun. I think the BC on this bullet is about 0.480 (based on one shooting session at 1000 yards) which compares favorably to the 180 SMK. The Nosler Accubond lists a BC of 0.588 which exceeds that of the SMK 200. So I guess my major question is this: if you had a 300 Win Mag and wanted to shoot a 200 grain bullet for big game at any yardages from 20 to 1000 and the Accubond shot as well as the SMK would you still pick the SMK? If not why not and if so why so? Would the SMK kill as well as the Barnes X at 20 yards while penetrating paunch or busting shoulders? Would the Accubond perform as well at 1000 yards while penetrating ribs? I ran the numbers comparing the 200 Accubond with the 220 SWK assuming the above ballistic coefficients and a velocity of 3000 for the Accubond and 2850 for the SMK and found the difference in wind drift to be only 1" at 1000 yards while the Accubond was flatter by 20" with an initial zero at 250 yards. The velocity at 1000 yards still favored the Accubond but the energy was greater by 75 ft.lbs for the SMK. Basically no real advantage either way, just a question of accuracy and terminal performance.
Finally I have been hearing glowing reports about the Wildcat bullets. What makes them such a great choice for big game. Again please keep in mind that I am not exclusively a long range hunter. I have one rifle that I use predominantly for all of my big game hunting and I need for the bullet I am using to perform on any and all shots presented (that I feel confident in taking such that I can place the bullets in the vitals). Thanks so much, Rufous.
I have read many posts over the years by those of you who use Sierra Matchking bullets for big game. From what I have gathered you use them predominantly because of their great accuracy and generally high ballistic coefficients relative to most other more typical big game bullets such as the Nosler Partition and Barnes X. You also apparently have found that they kill quite well when placed well.
I have never used a SMK on big game. I have shied away from it because of a concern of adequate bullet performance. I would hate to wound and lose an animal because the bullet did not adequately penetrate or expand. Despite your years of favorable posts I confess I still am leery about using the SMK on big game. I shoot a 300 Win Mag for deer, elk and black bear. I really like an exit wound and I really like to shoot for the shoulder in order to minimize tracking. I like to put the animal down on the spot as best I can. That is why I have gravitated towards the Barnes TSX. Fortunately they shoot very well in my gun. I think the BC on this bullet is about 0.480 (based on one shooting session at 1000 yards) which compares favorably to the 180 SMK. The Nosler Accubond lists a BC of 0.588 which exceeds that of the SMK 200. So I guess my major question is this: if you had a 300 Win Mag and wanted to shoot a 200 grain bullet for big game at any yardages from 20 to 1000 and the Accubond shot as well as the SMK would you still pick the SMK? If not why not and if so why so? Would the SMK kill as well as the Barnes X at 20 yards while penetrating paunch or busting shoulders? Would the Accubond perform as well at 1000 yards while penetrating ribs? I ran the numbers comparing the 200 Accubond with the 220 SWK assuming the above ballistic coefficients and a velocity of 3000 for the Accubond and 2850 for the SMK and found the difference in wind drift to be only 1" at 1000 yards while the Accubond was flatter by 20" with an initial zero at 250 yards. The velocity at 1000 yards still favored the Accubond but the energy was greater by 75 ft.lbs for the SMK. Basically no real advantage either way, just a question of accuracy and terminal performance.
Finally I have been hearing glowing reports about the Wildcat bullets. What makes them such a great choice for big game. Again please keep in mind that I am not exclusively a long range hunter. I have one rifle that I use predominantly for all of my big game hunting and I need for the bullet I am using to perform on any and all shots presented (that I feel confident in taking such that I can place the bullets in the vitals). Thanks so much, Rufous.
