Sierra Game Kings

S

shotcup

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Anybody use them? If so what is good, or bad about them.
I discovered Federal now loads a 260 Remington 140 grain Sierra Game King BTSP and bought a few boxes to try out. Choices are limited in 260 factory ammo but seem to be growing as the years go by - and that's a good thing for a good cartridge.
 
Choose heavy for calibre and they work very well, they are a very accurate bullet.If you go to light in weight they tend to disentegrate pretty easy.

I shot a whitetail buck with the 130 grain .270 win and the bullet blew apart, i switched to 150's and have shot many animals and the bullet holds together everytime.
 
Good advice crazydave. Had the same thing happen with my first moose, 130 gr SGK .270, lots of well placed shots latter the poor Moose finally died of a heart attack. Been off of them ever since, switched to Partitions and lately made the move to Barnes TSX. Great practice bullet but, for my money I prefer a tougher bullet.
 
Glockster said:
Good advice crazydave. Had the same thing happen with my first moose, 130 gr SGK .270, lots of well placed shots latter the poor Moose finally died of a heart attack. Been off of them ever since, switched to Partitions and lately made the move to Barnes TSX. Great practice bullet but, for my money I prefer a tougher bullet.
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You should try the 150 gamekings in .270, for some reason there is a marked increase in bullet toughness but the spot on accuracy stays the same.
 
crazydave said:
You should try the 150 gamekings in .270, for some reason there is a marked increase in bullet toughness but the spot on accuracy stays the same.
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You're joking right? 3 bears and a mule deer from 60 to 270 yards say otherwise. All bullets exploded. Never found more then a fragment.
 
Tried 160 ' s in my 7 mag a few years back. They cost me 2 Bighorn sheep shoulder shots on both. Have not used them since. Moved on to Nosler Partitions.
 
For myself, and some reloads I've done up for a few friends, I've used GameKings and SBT's in a number of calibres. For general shooting and 'paper punching' in many cases they've been my go to bullet for accuracy. In use on game, using some of the heavier weights available for each calibre, they've been dependable in knocking the animals down. I've posted these previously but the following two quick examples are indicative of accuracy results I get in almost any calibre I've used them in.

25-06Test-1.jpg


308NormaMag.jpg


I've been more than pleased with accuracy and well satisfied with the knock down capabilities on game. On the downside, because of what appears to be excessive meat loss/damage due to lead fragmentation, I'm in the process of changing over to Barnes TSX and TTSX for use on game.
 
I started loading Sierras 28 years ago. Not knowing much except that that was the brand the hardware store handled, I loaded 'em up in my .270 and just killed everything I used them on. I don't remember ever wishing they acted differently, which isn't something I can say about some of our more modern "marvels". They are what they are, an accurate bullet on the softer side of the range. That's not all bad.
One of my hunting partners is an interesting case. He's quite happy taking his 215 grain grain Sierras after grizzly bears, amoung other things on 3 continents. I've been scratching my head for a polite way of pointing out the error of his ways, but sense that telling someone with 5 grizzlies under his belt that his bullets are going to bounce off may not be real convincing.;)
 
I've got 140gr SGK loaded up for my 6.5x55 but I haven't shot any animals with them yet. Great on paper though. I also use 250gr SGK in my 338win, great on paper and they make neat little holes in deer so I think they will hold together on Moose and Bear.
 
I'm pretty much like Dogleg. I've used Game Kings for over 40 years and have zero reason to change. I've taken at least 30 big game animals in that time and at least 75% of them have been with 150grs in a 270. I've used them right from 52 grains in a 22.250 to 100 grs in a .243 up to 215 grs in a 338-06. I've loaded for a friend for at least 20 years and his son-in-law for another 10 and they also get game kings for their hunting bullets. Never once have any of us had a game king blow up on impact.
 
I find them too soft. I tried 250 grainers in a .338 win mag and found that they never penetrated very well and fragmented shortly after impact. Very accurate though. Good for shooting targets that are far away, but not even in my first five choices for hunting.
 
Sgk

Thanks for the replies, a lot of good info - it appears some think they act like Ballistic Tips, which I haven't had any problem hunting deer with and the ones that love Game Kings wouldn't change for the sake of change. If they shoot straight in my new 260 I'll use them on antelope and deer this fall. From Federal's file photos it looks like a pretty deadly mushroom effect, at least in their photos and that is what I was hoping for - a tougher bullet than a BT and not a Remington Cor-Lokt, just because Cor-Lokt's do not print well on paper in my gun, even 120 Remingtons don't print well.
If I was a handloader I would switch to 130 Accubond or Barnes, but that's a few years away yet.
 
Amphibious said:
You're joking right? 3 bears and a mule deer from 60 to 270 yards say otherwise. All bullets exploded. Never found more then a fragment.
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I have shot 4 whitetails, 5 bears all shots have been through and through except for one and the bullet had a nice mushroom effect but was still intact.
Longest shot 372 yds (measured with rangefinder) shortest was 82 yds.
Can't explain the difficulty you are having, works fine for me.
 
Game king is a decent bullet imo at under 2800 fps but not great. Jacket core separate real easy and boat tails just aren't needed for hunting.

The Sierra Pro Hunter is a tougher bullet and costs about the same as a gameking.
 
I've shot at least a dozen moose and a small bull Elk with 150gr Game Kings in a 270 and as I said I've had no reason to switch from Sierra's.
 
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