Sierra Gamekings vs Nosler Ballistic Tips for whitetails / hogs

[TackDriv3r]

I have three brand hunting bullets on my shelf for whitetails and hogs that I want to try for the .308 Winchester, Sierra 150 GK, Sierra 165 GK and the 168 Nosler Ballistic Tips. I am going to use Varget loaded close to max. Which bullet would you pick for whitetail / hog hunting? Range is less than 300 yards. It's my first time using the .308 for hunting.

 

[rcoody]

I have three brand hunting bullets on my shelf for whitetails and hogs that I want to try for the .308 Winchester, Sierra 150 GK, Sierra 165 GK and the 168 Nosler Ballistic Tips. I am going to use Varget loaded close to max. Which bullet would you pick for whitetail / hog hunting? Range is less than 300 yards. It's my first time using the .308 for hunting.

I say 168 gr berger hybrid hunting and 44 gr. Varget

 

[MudRunner2005]

I say 168 gr berger hybrid hunting and 44 gr. Varget

Or 168 VLD and 44gr of Varget. Both would be an excellent option.

 

[RT2506]

Which ever one your rifle shoots best will get the job done if you put it where it is supposed to go.

 

[rcoody]

Or 168 VLD and 44gr of Varget. Both would be an excellent option.

I found the vid to be harder to find seating depth mag.length.

Used the berger jump method and my load is 0.127 off.the lands. More.accurate than the hybrids but more work to find seating depth. Hybrid not so sensitive to seating depth.

 

[catamountsierra]

Of the three you list, I would go with the 168 NBT. If you decide you want a tougher bullet, switch to the 165 AB. I shoot a 7mm-08, and my go to bullets have been the 140 NBT or AB, depending on what I want to shoot. Both bullets have the same BC and point of impact, so I use the cheaper NBT for practice and the AB for hunting. Last year the AB dropped a small muley in its tracks at 60 paces with minimal meat damage and the heart and lungs looked like jello.

 

[bob4]

Using my 270 win I have put sierra GK (1820. lead tips) where the're supposed to go and have had deer run a long way. Seemed to me they penciled right through. So far I know of 1 bear and I personally shot 2 deer with Bergers and both fell right there. Well, the bear went 10-15 yds if I remember the story right.

 

[RT2506]

One brick don't make a wall.

I have killed literally a train car load of deer with Sierra hunting bullets and some match bullets and have never not recovered a deer shot with one. Most are bang flop or usually found within 50 yards. The ones that went the furthest were on Match King bullets when they did not expand but some of the most dramatic bang flops have been when the Match King did expand or should I say explode.

I have killed another train car load of deer with Nosler bullets. When the Ballistic Tip first came out it was too soft and deer ran off on it badly leaving no blood trail. I had to put a dog on the trail of some to find them. Nosler reworked it and got it right as long as you keep it under 3000 fps impact velocity. It and the partition and the Accubond are great bullets. I really like the 130 Accubond in my 264 mag.

If we are only going to use one example of a kill with a bullet to say it is no good I could say that the Berger VLD is a terrible bullet. The first deer I ever shot with a Berger VLD was with a 155 gr .308 bullet. It was fired by my 30x47 at 2600 fps and struck a 100 pound class white tail doe at 111 yards in the center of the front shoulder as it stood broadside. The deer just squatted and took off like a race horse into a very thick cut over. On the off side of where the deer was standing it looked like you had taken a quart of blood and lung tissue and slung it down the logging road. From that point on there was NO BLOOD trail at all. I had to get down on my hands and knees and crawl down a deer path where I hoped the deer ran the cut over was so thick with green briar and jungle. After crawling between 50 and 75 yards I found the deer dead. It sloshed on the inside and had an exit hole that you could drop a base ball into just behind the offside shoulder. But it was not a bang flop like other VLDs as well as other make bullets have produced. From doing 20 years of crop damage control killing hundreds of deer you experience a lot of things that are only a one time thing.

 

[adrexco]

I stopped using Sierra GK years ago after I shot a nice 8ptr through the lungs with a 30-06 and 165gr GK. He ran off some 600yds. Somebody else put him down. My bullet passed through with a pin hole in and out. That was the last time I ever used Sierra bullets.

 

[RevJim]

My BIL in SE Texas has used the 150 GK in his 308 for over 40 yrs on both deer and hogs. I used the 150 PH Sierra in a 300 winmags, they acted like Partitions on Hill Country deer. I used the 165 GK in a 30-06 for deer and hogs with great results. I've shot a lot of the 168 NBT in a 30-06 but never killed game with them, so can't say. So.....#1- the 150gr #2 - the 165 #3- the 168

 

[TackDriv3r]

Thanks guys for the responses, was curious on expansion on those bullets since it will be impact velocity under 2600 fps at these ranges.I have loaded some up to try to see which shoots better in my rifle.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I like all of your choices and have killed plenty with both Nosler and Sierra...

I will say though that if a 30 cal. of mine will shoot hornady bullets I will use them for hunting each and every time that rifle goes in the field. I've got twenty kills on my 300win alone with 165 interlocks from 50 yards to one I won't say (likely over 600 by drop tables but no rangefinder) and it is a lowly little flat-base...

 

[SansSouci]

Either one

 

[Waynzee]

Of the three bullets you mentioned within 300 yards, all will do what you need them to do. Personally if I had one to pick I would use the 165 gr. Sierra Game King. In the many years that I've been hunting and reloading the GK in my 06's, I never lost a deer and most of them being a bang flop DRT.