Sierra Bullets

[bearhunter338-06]

You hear a lot about the Barnes and Nosler bullets, witch I use myself, some about Hornady bullets. Does anyone use Sierra bullets. I have a tad over 200 140 gr Game King and the Pro Hunter bullets in 284 cal. How well do they stand out on moose and elk.

 

[Huntin' Gun]

I think the Sierra bullets are great deer bullets. They can work quite well for heavier game like moose and elk with heavy-for-caliber bullets as well. With the 140 gr .284 caliber I would be reluctant to use them on a moose or elk, but with a perfect broadside shot directly to the lungs it would probably work just fine.
The 140 grain Sierra's are perfect for deer whether in a 7-08, a 280, a 284win, or even a 7mag. They are very accurate , but are cup-and-core designed with a fairly thin jacket, so they will open up quickly. You won't get the penetration depth with them like you would with a bonded core bullet or monometal bullet.
Sierra's website says that their hollow-point bullets are built more stoutly and meant for deeper penetration and heavier game.

 

[Buckmastr]

They arent ###y or expensive but when I have trouble getting a gun to shoot barnes or nosler, they usually are the solution. I have the 120 prohunters loaded in my 260 AI and they shoot incredible. I wouldnt hesitate to use them for anything.

 

[Big Jon]

I like Sierra Gamekings but I would not use bullets on the light side at high velocity for big stuff like moose and elk ie/140 SGKs out of a 7mm Rem. Mag.

 

[TheTooner]

I've used their 150gr and 180gr spitzers in my Enfields (.311 diameter for .303British) and they worked well enough, but I also tried Hornady's .312 diameter bullets and liked them a bit better, so I didn't buy any more Sierras. The deer I shot with the Sierras died as quickly and tasted as good as any others.

 

[saskcop]

Sierra makes a good deer bullet out of a conventional caliber. Magnum calibers tend to blow them apart unless you shoot heavy for caliber bullets.

 

[J.S.G]

Brother-in-law and I have used 165gr.HPBT GameKings in our 30-06's on big deer.They shot the most accurate and we never recovered one bullet to examine, all were complete pass through.I would not hesitate to use them on Moose or Elk.

 

[todbartell]

had a 140gr Gameking btsp (6.5mm) turn inside out on a broadside mule deer at 2200 fps impact. Killed the deer just fine but the recovered bullet didn't give me much confidence in it's ability to perform under a wide range of shot presentations at different ranges. I believe weight retention was around 30%

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Generally speaking, my 'go to' bullet, especially for the accuracy results I've experienced has been Sierra.

I've had acceptable results on game but as has been suggested by others, the somewhat fragile jackets and resulting weight retention may leave something to be desired. Especially in higher velocity cartridges and at closer ranges, excessive lead fragmentation is a problem. To minimize meat loss resulting from the fragmentation I've been changing over to the Barnes TTSX. Just recently on a visit to the Edmonton area, I stopped in at the new Cabela's store in the city and picked up a few boxes of 130gr TTSX for my 270's.

 

[Northman999]

I've been shooting more Sierra than anything else since I started hunting; typically boattail Gamekings in .257, .277, .308, .323, .338 and .375. My standard 303 British bullet is their 180gr ProHunter. I've found Sierra bullets to be very accurate, and I've never had a failure with them.

They do seem to be going up in price faster than Hornady's however, which is another brand that I like due to their very good cost effectiveness.

 

[Skull1]

I use 130 gr GameKings for .270. Been using them for 9 years, they shot good out of my rifle. I use them mainly for deer, and most deer that I have shot with them, have dropped on the spot.

 

[rookie wildcat]

shot a 800lb cow moose 2 years ago with a 150gn Sierra GameKing. 260yds. Pass through both lungs and out the other side. Could not find the bullet to examine. She went 100yds, laid down, and died. Nothing I have hit to date has needed more than cup and core bullets. The one time I used a "premium" bullet was for a special purpose. 600yd shots across a field I could hunt over, but could not go on. The landowner even took me across to get the deer. That time I used a 165gn Nosler partition.
Other than that, I have used either Hornady's or Sierra's my entire re-loading and shooting career. I get expected results. I dropped 2 white-tailed does Friday evening. Three came into the field where I was set up about 100yds away. After the first one DRT's, the other two ran off to the woodline and stopped, looking back to see what was keeping the first one. Since they waited, I took the second one at about 150yds. 30 seconds later two does were down. Both drt'd. Since this is a thread about the need for premium bullets for performance, I will take some pics tomorrow of just how these bullets performed. Both cut the spine, one blew a chunk of spine right out through the opposite ribs/shoulder.
I have not really bought into the "you need premium bullets in a $2k rifle to kill a deer" philosophy. My proof is in the pudding, or the roasts in this case.