.308 SMK Report on Texas White Tail

[Savage .308]

In short they SUCK!!! at least in my field testing. I had made my mind up that 175gr SMK's would be the bullet of choice for my long range hunting with my .308 but after last weekend I think I will be switching to 180gr Accu bonds. Well the story starts out as such, I had two more doe tags that needed to be filled at my place in Coleman TX and I thought it would be a great chance to see how 175gr SMKs would do on game. I had read lots of threads about the good and bad about SMKs on game but had decided they would be fine for our Texas White tail. What a mistake that was! the first doe I shot was at 225 yards. I hit her just behind the shoulder and it actualy skined the shoulder blade on its way in. The bullet completly blew up and did not exit. The poor little doe ran a good 150 yards before expiring wich is completly unexceptable for me. I dont want any deer runing over 60-70 yards after a well placed shot like that and defintly not at that close of a range. The second doe wich I never found /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif was shot at 267 yards square in the shoulder blade which my spotter and I saw she ran off holding up her leg and was never seen again. we looked for her for a good 6 to 7 hours with 8 guys and never found her. In my opinion and experience SMKs are not for game but thats my opinion. I dont want to **** any one off with this post I just want to share some facts that I gathered so I am sorry if I affended any SMK users. I also have photos of the doe and a video of the second doe showing me hit her and her runing off. I will post them if I can ever fiqure out how to do it.

 

[EZShooter]

Sorry to hear about this... thanks for the post though. I too had thought to try the SMK's for Texas deer as our deer are a little on the smallish side (comparatively to up north). The one drawback to me was the warnings from Sierra to not use them for hunting... I know that there are lots of members here that have great success with these, I am thinking of the ULD/VLD Wildcats now with the thicker jacket or the Accubonds, as I have used the BTips very effectively and the Accu's could only be better if they have the same accuracy. No need to apologize IMO - state what you think. As long as you don't lambast other members that have used them successfully, I guess. This to me was an absolute disaster for you - I know that it would tear me up too if I was in your shoes and won't try these now... I would put this forward though - as a newbie member cruising through the posts, it seems that most of the successfull harvests were with heavy for caliber SMK's i.e. high SD bullets. Something that may not be usable for a standard twist barrel, though. Just 2c, not a jab by any means, just an observation. I am getting my 25-06 rebarreled to 6.5-06 AI with a fast twist for these high SD, ULD bullets. I expect to be able to comment next fall on any success or issues with the Wildcats if they shoot right.

Regards,
Erik

 

[Nomosendero]

The 6.5-06AI is a great round, & worth doing if that is what
is best for you. I just wanted to point out to you that if
you like the 25-06 & especially if you use it also for Varmits, you maybe should look also at the 125 ULD Wildcat.
We used this bullet back in October to harvest 6 Antelope
& 3 Mule Deer & 1 AR. Whitetail in November. It worked very
well from 80 yards to over 400 yards for us. I won't know
until later, but I believe this bullet will work way out
there for Coyotes & such.
Kirby accurized & did the Ackley treatment to my & big brother's Sendero's & I could not be more pleased. We are
pushing these bullets to 3,250FPS in the AI.

 

[Dave King]

E-Mail the video to me and I'll post it.

 

[Bart B]

Too bad, but now you know why Sierra Bullets does not recommend their Match Kings for hunting. They've had phone calls and mail since the '60's from hunters using their hollow point match bullets saying how bad they performed. And since the '60's Sierra's put in print everywhere not to use them. Oh well, such is life. Some folks don't wear seat belts either.

 

[Fotis]

I am probably the biggest "ANTI" when it comes to Matchkings for game. Man.... there are so many incredible HUNTING bullets out there! Why some still insist on using Matchkings on game (even against Sierra's advise) is well beyond my scope of understanding. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Here we go again! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EZShooter]

Nomo,

I love the 257 caliber, particularly the 25-06, I took my first Ram with this caliber and gun at 400 yards with a CT BTip 115gr Winchester load - awesome performance. It's just that I have a 223 for varmints... and the Tikka that I have is a problem child with bedding and possibly barrel issues, so when I decided to rebarrel, Kirby and I emailed each other over cartridges, and the 6.5 has a better range of bullet selections.... if the Wildcats or Bergers didn't work right in the 257 I would be stuck... I know this is unlikely, but the 6.5 lets me go to several different bullet manufacturers... I know that I will have another 25-06, but I have only been back into shooting/hunting for the past 2 years. I don't have a large battery built up yet of go-to guns, so this one needs to work for sure. I shoot left handed too, so I want to work with the guns that I have got. Just makes sense to me. When I have several guns to choose from on my 'go-to' hunting, then I will pick up a Sako or another Tikka - till then we will be rebarreling the Tikka to 6.5-06 AI. Thanks for the input, though. If I can get it my way, I will have the 25-06, a 7-08, but those will have to wait till I get that 7mm AM, possibly after the 338 Kong... wait, which one do I get first?? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif Choices, choices... more importantly which ones can I hide from the wife - she's a good shot and I'm a big target.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Erik

 

[30-06 boy]

savage,at what velocity are you shooting the smk bullets?if i'm correct i think these bullets have thin jackets and softer lead cores than "hunting bullets".if these bullets are used at a range where the velocity is too fast they are prone to act like a varmit bullet.i personaly have seen these smk bullets perform very well past 500 yards to about 900 as the bullets are slowing down.and the expansion is not as violent because of the reduced bullet speed.i also shot 1000 yard benchrest and almost all of the lr hunting done by the 1k br guys is done with smk bullets.jason

 

[Savage .308]

30-06Boy,I do not know the velocity of the 175gr b/c I dont have a chronograph but they are factory ammunition (Federal Gold Medal) out of a 26 inch tube. I don't doubt you that SMKs would work better at longer ranges but I hunt big game not varmints so I can't choose how far away the deer comes out. He might step out at 50 yards or 500 yards and I want my bullet to put him down no matter what range.

 

[Gary Kaney]

You must remember the " M "in SMK stands for Match. I've shot the Game Kings in my 308 and the shoot identical to the Match Kings. That"s why Sierra does not recommend using Match Kings on game.

 

[Dave King]

I guess your two shot experience was not too good and you are entitled to your opinions. We all make decisions based on experience or some other indirect knowledge.

My personal experience has been that for the many many hundreds of deer I've shot with the SMK they work fine. I say this in an attempt to stifle this threads slide toward the "NEVER NEVER USE MATCHKINGS FOR HUNTING" statements.

Here we have a fella that shoots two deer with mathckings and he has less than optimal results... He'll probably not use them again and his decision is one that I'd also probably make had it been my same experience. BUT, the truth of the matter is that in my experience they work fine and I have a LOT more than 2 deer for reference material. I've killed three moose, no less than two black bears, many Texas and Georgia wild hogs, literally many hundreds of whitetail deer (little ones to ones over 200lbs field dressed) all with the Sierra MatchKing. I've even killed several sets of doubles with the SMK (a double would be two deer with one shot).

There are folks that have trouble with all types of bullets, Nosler BT is another bullet that gets a bad rap every now and again, I killed my first elk with a 180 30cal Nosler BT and it seemed to perform perfectly.

I believe the point is, make up your own mind but don't leap to overall concrete conclusions about the suitability of a bullet based on here-say or singular experience(s). There are more dynamics to a game animal kill than just the bullet used and often these additional dynamics prove to be the real problem.

 

[4ked Horn]

Welcome to LRH.
[ QUOTE ]
I've shot the Game Kings in my 308 and the shoot identical to the Match Kings.

[/ QUOTE ]

No they don't. If they did then sierra could simply offer Game kings as their only option and satisfy short range shooters, LR shooters, bench resters and the military with one bullet. They have different BCs and that alone causes the two choices to be different. I don't know of your LR shooting experience but if it is much at all you should know that what may seem to be identical trajectories and accuracy at 200 or 300 yards becomes significantly different at 500 or 800 or 1000+ yards.

[ QUOTE ]
That"s why Sierra does not recommend using Match Kings on game.

[/ QUOTE ]

No it isn't. Think "lawyers" then remember that the military, the most humane and gentle killing force in the world, uses SMKs as antipersonell projectiles. These must be "nonexpanding" bullets according to about 6 different pacts and treaties. Well, If thats what uncle sam wants then that is what uncle sam gets. And let me tell ya, there are a whole lot of our snipers out there that are grateful for the accuracy and nonexpansiveness /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif of the S Match K bullet.

I gotta side with Dave and many many others on this. There are too many LR hunters gittn' 'er done with SMKs to worry much about words on a box.

 

[D.P.]

Correct application = dead deer

Preparation-H and toothpaste both work well when applied to the right area. BUT dont confuse em /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Stick it in the ribs at close range, and take advantage of their accuracy and expansion at long range.