Since Sierras announcement of their line of Tipped MatchKing's, I've gotten a lot of requests to test them for BC. Below are my findings for the 4 out of 6 bullets I've been able to acquire and test so far.
Sierra's BC's are measured by live fire, and are typically pretty accurate if the velocity bands are properly observed (7mm being the exception). A common error is to look at the BC that Sierra gives for your MV and just use that. Doing so overestimates the performance of the bullets, and will cause you to hit low at long range compared to your trajectory predictions.
As you can see from the table above, when Sierra's G1 BC is averaged for all speed ranges (which is representative of long range shooting) the results closely match the Applied Ballistics measurements of the same bullets averaged from 3000 to 1500 fps. Of course the G7 BC doesn't suffer nearly the velocity sensitivity as G1 and should be used for modern long range bullets when possible.
When I get the .22 cal 77 gr, and the .308 cal 168 gr tested, I'll update the table.
BTW, for those interested in how these Tipped MatchKings compare to the standard MatchKings; according to my measurements:
The 69 gr TMK is +8% compared to the SMK
The 125 gr TMK is -5% compared to the SMK (which I believe was 'pointed' not tipped)
The 155 TMK is *identical* to the 155 SMK (2156, which is also pointed)
The 175 TMK is +10% compared to the 175 SMK
Take care,
-Bryan
Sierra's BC's are measured by live fire, and are typically pretty accurate if the velocity bands are properly observed (7mm being the exception). A common error is to look at the BC that Sierra gives for your MV and just use that. Doing so overestimates the performance of the bullets, and will cause you to hit low at long range compared to your trajectory predictions.
As you can see from the table above, when Sierra's G1 BC is averaged for all speed ranges (which is representative of long range shooting) the results closely match the Applied Ballistics measurements of the same bullets averaged from 3000 to 1500 fps. Of course the G7 BC doesn't suffer nearly the velocity sensitivity as G1 and should be used for modern long range bullets when possible.
When I get the .22 cal 77 gr, and the .308 cal 168 gr tested, I'll update the table.
BTW, for those interested in how these Tipped MatchKings compare to the standard MatchKings; according to my measurements:
The 69 gr TMK is +8% compared to the SMK
The 125 gr TMK is -5% compared to the SMK (which I believe was 'pointed' not tipped)
The 155 TMK is *identical* to the 155 SMK (2156, which is also pointed)
The 175 TMK is +10% compared to the 175 SMK
Take care,
-Bryan
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