do matchking bullets expand

MK's expand alright. As a test I shot a doe @25 yds in my 6.5x55 with a 140gr MK. Hit the shoulder, making it into hamburger, bullet fragmented, pierced the heart, lungs, etc. Won't use them again on medium/large game because they cause too much meat spoilage.

55gr MK's in my .223 work great on varmints/wolves though. Blows chests right out.
 
Yes they do in most cases.
I hunt with them and they work fine, but I would not want to shoot anything a close range with 1.
Alot will depend on caliber also, the small caliber bullets have very thin jackets so would be more apt to grenade as canuckhunter found.
I only use the 300 gr 338 SMK bullets for hunting and as mentioned only at longer ranges.
My last falls deer was 750 yards away and the base of the skull shot necessitated only my cutting of the esophogus to completely remove the head from the body.
Bullet placement like with all bullets is still the most important part.
 
The Bergers are supposed to work well if you want a match grade hunting bullet.

Like Rick says some of the SMK's work and some don't.


Nice visual there Rick!:eek:
 
A friend of mine uses his .338 Lapua Mag & Lapua 250gr Scenars for long range Caribou, Moose hunting up to 900yds. He also uses the 139gr 6.5mm Scenars in his 6.5x284 for up to 600yd Moose stuff and drops them easy.

Can't wait to see him try out his new .50cal on Grizz and the big Lapua slug in the Yukon. He told me that he won't shoot anything under 1,000yds with that monster and hopefully try it for 2,000yds + ;)
 
through the teeth of a doe and out the back of her head at 165 yards, with 168gr Sierra Match King and tore a strip in the hide on the top of her rump. I don't know rightly for sure if the bullet expanded but definately held together. The only big game animal i have ever taken. Yotes have just folded over.
 
I love the 208grn Amax out of my .300WM. They have worked wonders for me in the field and on the range. I have not had any fragmentation problems with them on game and they work very well at extended ranges. Nice little hole in and a larger hole going out. I haven't had a chance to try the Bergers but have heard they work quite well in both target and hunting roles.
 
All I use is bergers and the 4x4 muley I took this year really enjoyed the 175 grainer I put into him. Didn't want to give it back. I tried to take it and he went all "dead weight" on me. Had to drag his sorry butt all the way home...hehe. Anyways, they work really well. Awesome for competitions and for shooting animals for eating. I have used SMK's as well. They work fine. Small hole in, little bigger one out....innards (lungs and heart) were a pile of mush.
 
I think that due to its inconsistent terminal performance, the use of MK's or any other match bullet on game is a poor idea. The first pic shows, a .308 200 gr MK was recovered in the snow after penetrating a quarter inch thick plywood target board at 1100 yards and an unfired 200 gr MK. The MV was a lowly 2500 fps, making the impact velocity somewhere around 1100 fps. Had this bullet impacted skin and tissue it would have failed in a dramatic fashion, particularly if the impact had been at high velocity.

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The second pic shows a fired and an unfired 107 gr 6mm MK. The range was 100 yards and the bullet again impacted a plywood target board, this time 3/8" at a velocity of about 2700 fps. This time there is no expansion and the bullet bent slightly. Now I believe there must be impact with a fluid bearing medium for an expanding bullet to perform correctly, but it is interresting that two bullets of similar construction, one .30 caliber and the other 6mm, impacting a similar target would act so very differently, and opposite to what one might expect; the bullet that impacted at low velocity left only the jacket while the high velocity bullet penciled through.

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The store shelves are full of bullets that are designed to work in an appropriate fashion of game on various sizes. The .30 caliber MK above would have caused a superficial wound on a big game animal while the 6mm would have failed to produce a humane kill on a varmint the size of a marmot. While there are those who have used MK's with success on game, I believe that the terminal performance of these bullets is inconsistant and this belief is further supported by the observations I made when shooting seals with these things. The trouble with the seals though is that one is seldom able to recover a wounded animal as it kicks down its hole in the ice and likely drowns, so there is no way to access the wound to lost animal and compare it to the wound that killed the recovered animal. Those I recovered where the results of headshots that were spectacular but would have been no less so with a game bullet. I for one am convinced, and will never use a match bullet on game again.

The next question is what is to be gained by the use of match bullets on game? The comparison would be akin to measuring a log with a micrometer then cutting it with an axe. The difference in accuracy and wind drift between a good game bullet and a match bullet cannot be realized in the field on a live target. Again the prudent choice is to use a game bullet.
 
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I won't be using MK's for short range deer/moose hunting, but my friend has had 100% results with long range deer/caribou/moose one shot kills past 450yds with them. He swears by the Lapua Scenars which is the same MK design or close to it. He also uses the AMAX, but has gone back to the Scenars. The gain is the accuracy and ballistics needed at long range which no hunting bullet can duplicate. I know for a fact he would not use them if they failed in killing game swiftly. He spends too much time and money on traveling Canada and has the best of equipment.

Last year I dropped another big doe with a Hornady 140gr SST hunting bullet in my 6.5x55 @ 25 yds. This time the bullet made a pin hole entry, through one rib, the heart and and exit wound 3/8". That bullet didn't expand, but the shot was true nonetheless.

I'm still trying different game bullets, IMO I've had the best success with Nosler Ballistic Tips for my type of hunting. Good expansion and accuracy. For short range the Sierra Game King always works and is accurate too and for some reason my .260 Rem loves that bullet in 140gr. I can't convince that rifle to shoot anything else.
 
Boomer
The reason some of us choose to shoot match bullets is that they have a far better flight characteristic at long range.
I use Partitions for close range work ie stuff under 400 yards, they work well, penetration is good and the stay togther pretty well, but try and get a decent grouping with them at 1000 yards, you can't. The same holds true for most "hunting designed" bullets, they do not have the BC or concentricity to maintain a predictable and reliable trajectory at long range.

Before going to Africa I posed the question on Long Range Hunting forum asking for real world experience shooting game with the 300 gr SMK, the responses were almost exactly 50% good and 50% never use them again.
Deciding to give them a try in Africa showed me that they work for me, at distance.
I have not shot much up close, preferring not to.
Just like most things in this industry everyone has their own "what works for them" thing.
 
Match bullets are not designed to expand as a hunting bullet. I think, if you ran into a wildlife officer who knew his stuff you might actually get charged. They will kill but they are designed to kill paper. Use a hunting bullet!

Scott
 
I have shot lots of gophers with 69g 223 SMKs. They just poke a hole, no explosions...
I've shot deer with a 85g SGK and lots of damage. I wouldn't use match bullets on deer. The Berger VLDs on the other hand show great results on deer, BUT do a lot of damage. Ok if you are doing 500+ yard shots on deer, but I still would think a proper hunting bullet that is designed to make a quick kill without blowing the meat to hamburger would be better.
 
alberta tactical rifle said:
Boomer
The reason some of us choose to shoot match bullets is that they have a far better flight characteristic at long range.
I use Partitions for close range work ie stuff under 400 yards, they work well, penetration is good and the stay togther pretty well, but try and get a decent grouping with them at 1000 yards, you can't. The same holds true for most "hunting designed" bullets, they do not have the BC or concentricity to maintain a predictable and reliable trajectory at long range.

Before going to Africa I posed the question on Long Range Hunting forum asking for real world experience shooting game with the 300 gr SMK, the responses were almost exactly 50% good and 50% never use them again.
Deciding to give them a try in Africa showed me that they work for me, at distance.
I have not shot much up close, preferring not to.
Just like most things in this industry everyone has their own "what works for them" thing.
Click to expand...


Due to the need for a tapered jacketed for controlled expansion in a game bullet, concentricity issues become a problem at long range with lead core bullets, and an H mantle would be even worse. I've had reasonably good luck when shooting Nosler Ballistic Tips at long range, but have not shot enough of them to reach any solid conclusions with respect to on demand accuracy. I think a possible cure for concentricity issues is to choose a monometal bullet along the lines of GS Custom's HV bullet. While I have not tried them yet, I believe GSC reports good long range accuracy with these and the BC's compare favorably with match bullets. The .308 177 gr HV has a BC of .638 compared to the BC of .505 for the MK when above 2800 fps. In .338, 225 gr is the heaviest bullet they make with a BC of .499 compared to .738 for the 300 gr MK above 2300 fps. But a slightly steeper trajectory doesn't matter if you have the adjustment to compensate, provided the bullet is accurate. I believe Corlanes is a GSC dealer.
 
I've tried the Nosler Ballistic Tips and they didnt work for me. They seemed to stay fairly reliable inside of 400 meters but once I crossed that line they didn't perform to the point I would feel comfortable shooting at game at the distances i prefer, and as distances grew performance dropped.

I would have to disagree with you on not using match bullets for hunting as the performance and accuracy in the Amax bullets I've been using outperform by miles alot of the "hunting" type bullets I have used in the past at close and extended ranges. I have never needed a second round to put down game using the Amax bullets on anything I've shot. The added reliablility in the accuracy of the bullets at extended range go along way in ensureing a clean humane kill.

I have never heard of the GSC bullets, but I will take a look as im always open to new and better.
 
Ya think? Do not the hunting regulations say that you must use an expanding bullet. As a match bullet is not designed or intended to expand.....
Scott
 
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