What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer?

[Limbic]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

Make sure your twist will handle the long 180VLD. 1/8 is needed. 1/9 may also work. I used 68-69g of retumbo and shot the fire outta the 180's.

Warning is that the bullets are very sensitive to seating depth. I'd start with two or three rounds each with the same powder. start with 65.5-67g of retumbo. Seat .010 off the lands and shoot'em up. the group that shoots the best (lowest, most horozontal... what ever your standard is.) is the one I would change its seating depth by .010.

168 shot best .080 off the lands and 180's were .010 off the lands in my sendero.


I figure you can get a load worked up in about 30-40 rounds.

I tell myself that all the time and more times than not I'm 500 rds into a new barrel before I get serious.

 

[archer786]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

None taken liltank.. and its possible i may have misunderstood what he was talkin about and am just recalling it wrong.

 

[archer786]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

I'm gonna try the 168 VLD's the web says a 1 in 9 twist and my remington is a 1 in 9 1/4 twist. at least thats according to the web

 

[moombaskier]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

My Rem. 700 factory tubed 7mm mag shoots the 168VLD's at .010" off the lands best. I measure 2.723" to the bullets ogive using the Stony Point tool or a coal of 3.451. They fit in the magazine real nice too! Try H1000 powder too.

 

[archer786]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

Fitting in the mag and not buggerin the noses with the recoil is really my only concern. I have a 280 that will flatted anything out... Haven't seen much evidence of it in the 7mag but then again I've never really looked.

Another thing that some may like to know. I was lookin for load data for the bergers. So I sent berger a email askin bout data and they emailed me back with the a full loading spread sheet. Had the coal, 10 or 12 different powders min and max loads with approx. Velocitys... Proved to be rather helpful. So if anyone was to need any info they are good about helpin.

 

[Boss Hoss]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

archer;

My son used one of my 168gr Match King in 308 instead of my 165gr spritzer and couldn't understand why the deer ran off, when the deer was found two days later it was found that the bullet went through without ant expansion. The Match King is designed to have low drag for long range matches as where the Game King is designed for maximum expansion at short and long range. In my humble opinion I would use a 175gr Game King or the another bullet that is designed for hunting.
Good luck.

Matt

Actually the MK is marketed the way it is because the Military uses them. There are several threads on this but the short of it is Big Green is not going to jeopardize a single source contract pursuant to FAR definition to sell a few more MK's to hunters who are finicky and have to have the latest and greatest wiz bang pill lol.


Have killed more animals than I can remember using MK's from the 250 338 to the 150 7mm…. Never had a failure with the MK's. The majority of the kills being feral hogs---some were big ones…

 

[Boss Hoss]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

I was thinking stability too. If he could take them to 1500 on a calm day, there is no reason they shouldn't make a 1500 on a windy day. Unless the twist was just enough to run it that far in calm air. Otherwise a tighter twist would be necessary. I would do some research as to what twist he had. IF, it was less than yours, then you will be able to shoot them just fine.

Tank

For hunting "upset" must be considered as well! Big heavy bullets that are marginal utilizing the twist designed for a lighter bullet and the 7 mag is not powerful enough to get the big pills going fast enough to upset sufficiently at longer ranges (talk to the bullet manufacturer about this). I use the 150 SMK in my Warp 7 (MV 3330) which has more case capacity than the 7 mag and I won't use them but then again if I am shooting over 600 to 700 I will use a more powerful cartridge.

 

[archer786]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

ok so since i've settled on the bergers i have another question.

i've always used bullets that have a crimping groove. as we all know bergers dont have a groove. so should i leave these un-crimped or seat them with a light crimp?

my concern with leaving them uncrimped is that they could end up sliding in the case due to recoil or hitting the magazine box.

 

[brentc]

Re: What's everyones thought of using the 7mm 168gr or 175gr sierra matchking on deer

ok so since i've settled on the bergers i have another question.

i've always used bullets that have a crimping groove. as we all know bergers dont have a groove. so should i leave these un-crimped or seat them with a light crimp?

my concern with leaving them uncrimped is that they could end up sliding in the case due to recoil or hitting the magazine box.

You'll be fine without crimping them. I don't drimp even if there is a crimp groove or cannelure. If it worries you about the remaining rounds in the mag, make sure you rotate them when you reload the mag.