OK has anyone ever used sierra match grade for hunting. Sierra says not to but have heard they work well on long shots just like berger bullets. I shoot 200gr. sierra game king out of .300RUM for mule deer or just long range shooting.I just wanted to get some input before I tried this. Oh also everyone have a great new year and God Bless.
any bullet will kill an animal if its properly placed. its when you have to go thru more muscle and bone is when you need a properly constructed hunting bullet. you might as well hunt with military ball ammo if you just want to poke holes in critters. why not just keep using the game king bullets, I doubt the match king bullets will give you any real advantage in accuracy in a hunting situation and they will not expand the way a hunting bullet would when you shoot a deer.
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any bullet will kill an animal if its properly placed. its when you have to go thru more muscle and bone is when you need a properly constructed hunting bullet. you might as well hunt with military ball ammo if you just want to poke holes in critters. why not just keep using the game king bullets, I doubt the match king bullets will give you any real advantage in accuracy in a hunting situation and they will not expand the way a hunting bullet would when you shoot a deer.
What he said, don't try it.
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The small Hole in the end of a Matchking is for airflow over the bullet , it is not designed to make the bullet expand on impact , so they are More like FMJ bullets. Not at all what you want for hunting as it would be unethical to risk Wounding the game with a slightly off shot instead of using proper expanding Game bullets that are very deadly even at long ranges...SO you get a Clean Kill if you do your part as far as shot Placement !
Rich
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i believe berger makes a hunting vld. this could be a cause of confusion.
not long afo i read an artical in a gun rag advocating the use of match bullets for hunting..... but im not risk wounding an animal hunting with bullets not meant for hunting.
Sierra's hollow point match bullets are not made that way for air flow over the bullet. But most folks think this is why.
Their first match bullets in the mid 1950's were FMJ boattail bullets in 180 and a couple years later, 200 grain versions. Accuracy difference between their 180-gr. FMJ Match Kings and the 180-gr. spitzer boattail hunting bullet was very small. Some competitors got better accuracy with exceptional lots of those hunting bullets which had been the favorite in high power matches for several years. Careful measurements of the heel (point where the body tapers down on the boattail) showed the hunting bullets sometimes had better dimensional control than all the match bullets. Further tests showed making jackets for hollow point match bullets ended up with one that shot more accurate than FMJ ones. Even though the FMJ bullets had a more consistant point shape, the slight irregularities in hollow point shape didn't matter. Their reasoning was gas escaped more uniformly around the bullet's heel exiting the muzzle when the heel dimensions were more consistant. When a batch of jacket material wasn't all that good, match bullets made with jackets from it had the same dimensional spreads over body, ogive and hollow point as good material but greater heel dimension and jacket thickness spreads and they shot less accurate; these "bad" bullets were sold in bulk as "seconds."
In the late 1950's, Sierra introduced their 150 and 168-gr. hollow point 30 caliber match bullets. By the early 1960's(?), Sierra switched all their match bullet styles to hollow points and accuracy improved about 20% or more for all of them. Not surprising as the benchrest folks using custom bullet making dies had shifted to hollow point ones for the same reason at the same time.
In layman's terms, it shifts the center of gravity closer to the rear of the bullet which stabilizes faster and remains more stable through out it's flight.
DO NOT USE THEM FOR HUNTING, show some respect for the animals!
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In layman's terms, it shifts the center of gravity closer to the rear of the bullet which stabilizes faster and remains more stable through out it's flight.
How does one measure how fast a bullet stabilizes and remains more stable throughout its flight?
Sierra Matchkings are designed to be consistant in weight, shape, jacket concentricity, and jacket thickness. You'll notice that consistant expansion wasn't part of it. Maximum release of energy and tissue damage is what hunting bullets are designed for. And at average hunting distances most can be close to or as accurate as MK's.
Nosler makes a 168 grain ballistic tip that is just as accurate in my M1A's as the 168 SMK and it is deadly. I will be loading the Nosler for my M1's next for hunting this fall.
Do not use the SMK for hunting.
Sierra States that "the Hollowpoint Matchking Bullets are FOR HUNTING and will cause Hydraulic shock damage on big game due to the Hollowpoint in the Matchking Boattail bullets they Make. They were requested by and are for hunters who need performance at longer ranges , and They perform more reliably than lead tipped expanding bullets !"
With the Hollow points , the airflow over the nose is less sensitive to Imperfections encountered with the nose of lead soft point bullets , making them more stable in flight, hence More accurate down range.
Rich
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Sierra States that "the Hollowpoint Matchking Bullets are FOR HUNTING and will cause Hydraulic shock damage on big game due to the Hollowpoint in the Matchking Boattail bullets they Make. They were requested by and are for hunters who need performance at longer ranges , and They perform more reliably than lead tipped expanding bullets !"
With the Hollow points , the airflow over the nose is less sensitive to Imperfections encountered with the nose of lead soft point bullets , making them more stable in flight, hence More accurate down range.
Rich
I've seen this recently. I figured someone would post it. Especially that for years, Sierra discouraged folks from using Match Kings for hunting. They changed that a few years ago. But the reason they went to hollow point designs half a century ago was for better bullet heel dimensional control according to their tool and die maker and ballistics guy who loaded most of their test ammo. The added benefit of the hollow point's better air flow over it was unexpected and not completely revealed until they had made extensive time of flight tests comparing HP to FMJ bullets of the same weight and shape.
Sierra gets bent out of shape whenever they hear someone uses one of those "meplat uniforming" tools to clean up the irregular edges of the bullet jacket at the hollow point. But folks still clean up those tips in spite of it being a waste of time.
How does one measure how fast a bullet stabilizes and remains more stable throughout its flight?
With the new technology and high speed photography it is not hard, BUT for us low budget people, you can place paper sheets every few feet out to 25 to 50 yards and note the size of the holes (until the bullet spots wobbling/stabilizes it will make larger holes).
This is basic external ballistics which, as was stated above, was applied in the 50's.
Jim
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I have shot only one coyote with the 69gr SMK and it exploded on impact to the shoulder. I have read that they are hit or miss on expansion. They did design a SMK with a Cannular for the Military to aid in expansion and reduce the explosiveness for the ones that did explode. I don't know if they offer the cannular on other caliber bullets. I do know they offer the Hollow point Game King bullets that I have heard work really well. I have never tried them. I have only used the standard Game kings on large game. I too like the 200gr Game Kings out of my 300 win mag.
Sierra States that "the Hollowpoint Matchking Bullets are FOR HUNTING and will cause Hydraulic shock damage on big game due to the Hollowpoint in the Matchking Boattail bullets they Make. They were requested by and are for hunters who need performance at longer ranges , and They perform more reliably than lead tipped expanding bullets !"
With the Hollow points , the airflow over the nose is less sensitive to Imperfections encountered with the nose of lead soft point bullets , making them more stable in flight, hence More accurate down range.
Rich
Did this come straight from Sierra? I always hear mixed information about whether or not these things are good or not. I've always been under the impression that they'd work alright on thin skinned game like deer so long as the shot is kept behind the shoulder.
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With the new technology and high speed photography it is not hard, BUT for us low budget people, you can place paper sheets every few feet out to 25 to 50 yards and note the size of the holes (until the bullet spots wobbling/stabilizes it will make larger holes).
Paper sheets may work for bullets extremely unstable. But very few (less than 5%) of the HPMK bullets fired by Sierra are perfectly stabilized. They all wobble a little bit which causes most of the 1% to 2% spread in BC.
They measure flying bullets by chronographing them at two distances as well as timing them between those distances. Bullets loosing the most speed between these two points are obviously more unstable and they present more drag. Going through paper, it would be hard to determine which ones had a 1/1000ths inch more elliptical hole than those with perfect holes. Their manuals have explaind this with diagrams and plotted shots showing how BC varies with time of flight. Such a system is far more accurate than high speed photos and doesn't cost much, either.
Can I use a MatchKing bullet for deer hunting? They shoot just great in my rifle, so they should be just super for hunting use, right?
No, it's not recommended. The MatchKing bullets are designed for pinpoint accuracy; with no consideration given to what might happen after impact. If the bullet has arrived on target accurately, its job is done at that point. Hunting bullets must perform in a certain manner after impact. Penetrating ability, expansion characteristics, and even profile must be considered when designing a hunting bullet. Use MatchKings for matches, and game bullets for hunting.
If Mooseman could show us a link to the place where he says Sierra OK's HPMK's for game, then we might take Sierra out behind the barn then spank them for using double-talk. 'Tain't nice to speak with forked tongue.
Can I use a MatchKing bullet for deer hunting? They shoot just great in my rifle, so they should be just super for hunting use, right?
No, it's not recommended. The MatchKing bullets are designed for pinpoint accuracy; with no consideration given to what might happen after impact. If the bullet has arrived on target accurately, its job is done at that point. Hunting bullets must perform in a certain manner after impact. Penetrating ability, expansion characteristics, and even profile must be considered when designing a hunting bullet. Use MatchKings for matches, and game bullets for hunting.
If Mooseman could show us a link to the place where he says Sierra OK's HPMK's for game, then we might take Sierra out behind the barn then spank them for using double-talk. 'Tain't nice to speak with forked tongue.
I got's my spankin paddle ready.....
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..... but im not risk wounding an animal hunting with bullets not meant for hunting.
