Has anyone shot big game with Sierra Match Bullets?
- Thread starter Glock-a-maniac
- Start date
Big JD-From the hills
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Saskatchewan.
For deer they would be ok(probably bigtime damage at close range), I wouldn't use them on anything larger. They tumble sideways, and sometimes fragment. Im going to be working up loads with SST's or balistic tips.
only time Ive ever used Match bullets for hunting was a few years ago for coyotes. The 107 gr Matchking HPBT out of my 260 Remington shot so accurate it was hard not to use it. At the range it would explode water filled jugs HALF the time, which should of been a big warning sign on their expansion, or lack thereof. The other half, jugs just split like they were stabbed with a butter knife.
Pair of yotes came charging into my calling like two heat seeking dualing banjos. One stopped at 80 yards and I hammered him from full on frontal. Down he went, I reloaded and switched to his buddy who was departing straight away Mach 3. I noticed in my field of view in the scope that yote #1 was getting back up.
I got on him and let one rip as he stood, but that just spun him around in a shower of hair and off he went into the bush as fast as can be. I was baffled, I just whacked a 30 lb dog with a deer rifle, twice, and away it goes. I found lots of blood at impact scene, followed the trail which slowly got weaker and weaker, for half a kilometer until the yote crawled into a brushpile den. No way I was going in there! 
I went home and ordered some 95 grain Vmax. Couple days later I went out again, with the matchking ammo, figuring how could something like that happen twice? an hour into my hunt I come across a wolf crossing a field. I called her into range but she swung around through some brush to get my wind and I lost sight of her. 20 mins later I followed up where she dissapeared and there she was, in behind where I was sitting earlier. I hit her frontal angle again from 150 yards and she turned and ran, across the field, and a quartering angle. I shot another time, missed, rolled her on the run @ 350y or so, and missed her again at 500ish, just before she got in the bush. I followed her tracks and found pin drop spots of blood. 15 yards into the bush there she was, laying under a spruce tree watching her backtrail. I shot her in the head and finally killed her. Skinning her revealed the bullets zipped through like a pencil.
I know its just a couple of examples with just one bullet, but it was enough to turn me off the idea of using target bullets for hunting animals forever. If I was using a Ballistic Tip in those instances I am 100% certain the results would of been extremely opposite.
TB
Pair of yotes came charging into my calling like two heat seeking dualing banjos. One stopped at 80 yards and I hammered him from full on frontal. Down he went, I reloaded and switched to his buddy who was departing straight away Mach 3. I noticed in my field of view in the scope that yote #1 was getting back up.
I got on him and let one rip as he stood, but that just spun him around in a shower of hair and off he went into the bush as fast as can be. I was baffled, I just whacked a 30 lb dog with a deer rifle, twice, and away it goes. I found lots of blood at impact scene, followed the trail which slowly got weaker and weaker, for half a kilometer until the yote crawled into a brushpile den. No way I was going in there! I went home and ordered some 95 grain Vmax. Couple days later I went out again, with the matchking ammo, figuring how could something like that happen twice?
an hour into my hunt I come across a wolf crossing a field. I called her into range but she swung around through some brush to get my wind and I lost sight of her. 20 mins later I followed up where she dissapeared and there she was, in behind where I was sitting earlier. I hit her frontal angle again from 150 yards and she turned and ran, across the field, and a quartering angle. I shot another time, missed, rolled her on the run @ 350y or so, and missed her again at 500ish, just before she got in the bush. I followed her tracks and found pin drop spots of blood. 15 yards into the bush there she was, laying under a spruce tree watching her backtrail. I shot her in the head and finally killed her. Skinning her revealed the bullets zipped through like a pencil.I know its just a couple of examples with just one bullet, but it was enough to turn me off the idea of using target bullets for hunting animals forever. If I was using a Ballistic Tip in those instances I am 100% certain the results would of been extremely opposite.
TB
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
The Sierra match king thread is legend over at accuratereloading.com
Last time it surfaced I think it was over 60 pages.
Apparently there are guys using it in the US on game at incredible distances with cartridges in the 338RUM class. They had pics, very effective according to them.
But of course, being the internet....
I think the thread is finally gone for good. (thank God)
I'd use the Sierra Game king if you want a bullet of like design that works.
Last time it surfaced I think it was over 60 pages.
Apparently there are guys using it in the US on game at incredible distances with cartridges in the 338RUM class. They had pics, very effective according to them.
But of course, being the internet....
I think the thread is finally gone for good. (thank God)
I'd use the Sierra Game king if you want a bullet of like design that works.
I killed a couple of deer with 155 Palma match in a .308, they seemed to work about as good as anything else. Range was short on both. I have shot over 100 coyotes with Sierra, Hornady, Speer and Berger match bullets, but that's 22 caliber stuff.
Last edited:
- Location
- Ft. Mac. Alberta
Game Kings are actually about the same price or a tad cheaper than the match king.werewolf said:
Barnes is about twice the price
- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Gee thanks Sunray, I'm now enlightenned!sunray said:
gunrunner100
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- NW Ontario
X 2
When I posted this thread, it was quite early and I forgot to mention I'm shooting a 338Lapua AI accurately launching a 300gr MK at 2985fps. This is roughly 3 times heavier or at least twice as heavy as a lot of match bullets for examples you all have given. There has got to be someone that has tried shooting deer or bigger with at least a 200gr MK with a 300win mag. We all know there is another 100gr added to that 300win bullet. I can't see how this bullet can blow up on the surface or zip right through at longer ranges. If I get the chance to nail a yote with it, I'll let you all know how it turned out.
Glock-a-maniac said:
Oh sure, peopel have done it. I've read a few time about it on the intraweb, using a similar rig as yours.
The results are often inconsistent. Wh not just use a Accubond or BT or TSX or one of the dozens of other proven and very accurate hunitng bullets available?
I've heard that the Hornady AMAX has been used successfully as a deer hunting bullet, and apparently Hornady even acknowledges the suitability of those particular bullets for deer hunting. I've never tried it, though.
Since Hornady Interbond and Nosler Accubond bullets are available, why not use them? Both of those bullets are essentially bonded, boat-tail match bullets and they are designed specifically for shooting game animals and holding together. In other words, the best of both worlds.
Since Hornady Interbond and Nosler Accubond bullets are available, why not use them? Both of those bullets are essentially bonded, boat-tail match bullets and they are designed specifically for shooting game animals and holding together. In other words, the best of both worlds.
With so many Very Good/Excellent bullets available that are designed to kill big game, it boggles my mind that this question keeps surfacing over and over again. It doesn't matter what weight the bullet is....Matchkings are not designed to kill animals, they are designed to hit distant targets accurately, inanimate targets. The problem is that these match bullets (and others) are not reliable/predictable when they contact flesh & Bone. Some expand very rapidly, some pencil through, and you don't have any way of knowing what will happen when you pull that trigger. Use bullets designed to do the job. The tiny bit of accuracy difference will not cause anywhere near the problems that the unreliable bullet will. Regards, Eagleye
If you read the bottom of the page of Sierras loading manual, it states that MachKings are NOT desgned for hunting. To me it is irresposible hunting, they are not designed to expand. If any expansion happens, it's just by chance.
Military snipers now use Mk's because they are deemed not hollowpoints by NATO, but an accurate FMJ.
Military snipers now use Mk's because they are deemed not hollowpoints by NATO, but an accurate FMJ.
