Has anyone had any experience with the tipped matchkings on deer.

[antitactical]

I am finishing up a 13 twist 300 ultra mag. I got an Obermeyer barrel cheap and said what the hell. I'm thinking of running the 168 tipped matchkings some. I've got a bunch of 155 bergers too. It should finish at 30". Thinking I should be able to run a 155 @3700 and a 168 @3550. I'm mainly going to be varmint hunting (probably won't last but one season) but a whitetail may get tried out too.

 

[Laelkhunter]

I thought I read on the Sierra site that the Matchking bullets are not designed or intended to be used on game animals, except varmints. I believe that they are designed first and foremost for target shooting, and the jacket is too thin to hold together on deer sized game. Lack of penetration will result in a very large superficial entrance wound which will result in long tracking jobs and lost game.
At the speed your bullet will be traveling, you should maybe move up to a bullet designed for the purpose.

 

[7mmShooter]

I would guess the TMK would perform similar to the AMAX on game. Neither the MatchKing or AMAX are technically suitable for game use, but if you search around you'll find they are pretty successful, there's a lot of guys that use them

 

[tbrice23]

I am finishing up a 13 twist 300 ultra mag. I got an Obermeyer barrel cheap and said what the hell. I'm thinking of running the 168 tipped matchkings some. I've got a bunch of 155 bergers too. It should finish at 30". Thinking I should be able to run a 155 @3700 and a 168 @3550. I'm mainly going to be varmint hunting (probably won't last but one season) but a whitetail may get tried out too.

One dude on here a month or so ago did in fact use a TMK on a whitetail with good results but you are going to have to do a search ( search bar at top) to find the thread.

 

[RT2506]

I would guess that the TMK would open up really quickly and more reliably than the old MK did. When doing crop damage control of deer for 15 years I got to experiment with a bunch bullets and calibers. My experience with the MK was when it expanded it killed deer like a hand grande went off in them but there were some that just penciled through. My thinking is that the little hollow point and hollow cavity under it just caved in and it acted like a round nose FMJ and went straight through. Hornady does list the Amax as a target/thin skin hunting bullet so the TMK ought to act the same. The only thing I would be concerned with is at the velocities your are talking about the bullets rpm and speed might sling the thin jacketed bullets apart. I have a buddy that has a 257 STW and the only bullets he could get to work were the mono Barnes. The cup and core bullets disintegrated around 100 yards down range with a little white/gray puff.

 

[tbrice23]

I would guess that the TMK would open up really quickly and more reliably than the old MK did. When doing crop damage control of deer for 15 years I got to experiment with a bunch bullets and calibers. My experience with the MK was when it expanded it killed deer like a hand grande went off in them but there were some that just penciled through. My thinking is that the little hollow point and hollow cavity under it just caved in and it acted like a round nose FMJ and went straight through. Hornady does list the Amax as a target/thin skin hunting bullet so the TMK ought to act the same. The only thing I would be concerned with is at the velocities your are talking about the bullets rpm and speed might sling the thin jacketed bullets apart. I have a buddy that has a 257 STW and the only bullets he could get to work were the mono Barnes. The cup and core bullets disintegrated around 100 yards down range with a little white/gray puff.

A couple of things that would save this guy is ,( I think ) the TMK have a thicker jacket and he's using a 13 twist which is less aggressive on jackets.

On a side note if he really pushes 155 gr to 3700 for varmint hunting I really hope he ordered 2 barrels right away because this one is probably 400 rounds away from being a shot gun.

 

[antitactical]

It will be a fun 400 rounds though

 

[tbrice23]

Yep

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

It will be a fun 400 rounds though

ought to be able to get around 1,000 rounds service life if you don't heat her up badly and clean regularly.
My brother is running the 175 tmk through his 10" twist 300rum and isn't throttling it that hard... 26" remmy lr rifle... Great accuracy but he hasn't put the rifle on furry stuff yet.