Sierra Game King bullets

Pretty much everyone knows that Sierra bullets shoot well in many if not most guns, they sure do for me. But who has used them for hunting and what is your opinion of them? I have always considered them as primarily a deer bullet and in the larger calibers perhaps an elk sized bullet in the Game King style. Opinions?

Originally Posted by sestoppelman

Pretty much everyone knows that Sierra bullets shoot well in many if not most guns, they sure do for me. But who has used them for hunting and what is your opinion of them? I have always considered them as primarily a deer bullet and in the larger calibers perhaps an elk sized bullet in the Game King style. Opinions?

I have not used them to hunt with ses. I once used a Sierra Boattail to kill my first mulie in Idaho so many moons ago. The bullet broke up when it entered upon hitting a rib. A very small portion of the bullet veered to the left and put a hole roughly 1/4" long by about 1/16" wide in the top of the heart which proved to be fatal. The much larger portion of the bullet did something I thought not physically possible. The shot was perfectly broadside and that other section made basically a 90 degree turn and skittered down the inside of the rib cage, nicking the stomach and then exited on the SAME side as entry about 2/3'rds down the side of the animal. That's right, two holes on the same side of the deer from one bullet.

I've just been sour on Sierra's since then for hunting. But as mentioned, that was a long time ago.

Now, I can tell you a story from a friend of mine. He hunted with an outfit in Mexico for Coues deer for quite a few years. The owner was pretty well know and in fact Craig Boddington hunted with this same fellow. Well this outfitter hosted the big boys from Sierra one year and I believe also went to Africa with them on a PG hunt. From what I was told all they used were GameKings and with absolute success.

How's that for third perhaps fourth hand info? Sorry it's the best I got. But the outfitter that witnessed this would have no reason to b.s. that story.

Thanks Phil, Thats the kind of stuff I am looking for. I have never hunted with them before but find of late that they shoot so well in a couple of rifles its tempting.

Anybody have Africa experience with the Sierra?

One fellow years ago got a little huffy with me when I opined that Sierra's were maybe not built well enough for buffalo in .375 caliber. He strongly defended them for such activity.

Scott, I have had really good success with the Sierra GK, they are unbelievably accurate in my Savage rifles. On game, it is really hit or miss, I have had some blow through the Whitetail and some blow up inside them. All in all, there is only one level of dead. I know I will catch some shit over this, expecially with the handloaders, but, in my Remington 700's I use Remington factory core lokt ammo, with the same level of accuracy and actually have not had one of them blow up inside an animal, again, one level of dead. That's my two cents, don't know if it helps or not, Scott.

Sounds like they work for you. Like you say dead is dead and whether or not the bullet exits or not is really not that important as long as it does the job. The most dramatic kills I ever saw come to think of it were the first two deer I ever killed. It was in Alaska and two deer fell to one shot each from my dads .284 Win using in fact Sierra bullets, whatever they were called in the 60's. Both deer were feet up in the air instantly and stone dead when we got to them. Both bullets had basically disintegrated inside the chest cavity with only minute fragments ever found. While eating of course!
Thanks!!

I use the 7mm 140 GK in my 7x57 for Deer. It works.



Also the 6mm 100 GK in my sons .243. It works.



I've ordered some 175 GK's for the 7x57 for camels as bonded projectiles are a little 'tough'.
I would not use GK's on large 'hard' animals at magnum velocitys.

Scott,I live and hunt in Namibia and I ONLY use Sierra's.I use 165gr Gk's in .308 and 250gr Gk's in my .375.I have NEVER had any problems with them at all.I've even converted a few hunting buddies to using them.

Doc.

Code4 and Docman, Thanks for the info. Code4 your "deer" run a bit larger than our deer, closer to elk size. And camels are pretty big too.

Docman glad to hear they do that well for you. I have a very good shooting .303 Brit Ruger No. 1 that loves the 180 gr Sierra Pro-Hunter bullet. Do you have any experience with them?

Originally Posted by sestoppelman

I have a very good shooting .303 Brit Ruger No. 1 that loves the 180 gr Sierra Pro-Hunter bullet. Do you have any experience with them?

Scott,

I have two buddies that use the Pro-Hunter and swear by them.One uses the 180gr spt in his .308,and the other uses the 225gr spt in his .338 win mag.They're both 'happy hunters'.Both hand-load and,much like myself, both have tested many different types of bullet.

Doc.

Docman thanks! Sounds like these may be better game bullets than some think.

The Pro Hunter is for closer range work and the Game King is for longer range work. In my CZ 550 7x57 I get 0.5" group at 100 yards with the 140 Game King. My close range choice is the Nosler Partition at 150 grains. The GK is for my moderate distance load. These Sierra bullets are not for magnums unless you back off and let the bullet lose some speed. My reloader has vast experience with the 7x57 cartridge and the Game King bullet as they are both his favorites, and he has seen and shot about everything in his 80+ years in the land of the living. I have shot 4 different bullets so far in my new 7x57, and the Game King nudges out the others by a slim margin in accuracy. I went through about 200 rounds in coming to this conclusion. For extremely long range work the Hornady A-Max or Berger VLD will probably beat the Game King. I will be hunting with the 162 A-Max and 140 GK in just a few more days. Mule deer on the high prairie of central Montana. Expected shooting range is 200-400 yards.

I have used Game Kings and Pro Hunters on antelope (7mm), mule deer and whitetail (7mm & 308), elk (308 & 338). I've used Game Kings on several African PG animals (215 gr 338) with great performance and accuaracy. I also use North Fork bullets in 308, 338 and 375 caliber and I have found that these bullets will penetrate better than the Sierra bullets and are very accurate as well. However, as one old hunter told me one time, "dead is dead". I have quit using Hornady Interlock bullets even though they were accurate because I was experiencing multiple cases of core and jacket separation on deer and elk size animals. To be fair, I have not had any problems with other types of Hornady bullets on the animals I have shot with them.