From everything I have ever read on this bullet, it is purportedly one of Sierra's toughest bullets. That may be counterintuitive to some due to the fact that having a hollowpoint tip is part of its design. In some cases, people tend to want to lump it in with varmint bullets, rightly or wrongly.

Case and point, I have a box of Federal V-SHOK .243 Win. 85-grain Sierra Gameking HPBT. Federal catalog number P243D. The visual "use code" for intended use on the end of the box is a prairie dog, i.e. varmint. Oddly, I have seen the exact same Federal load, with the same catalog number, but with a visual "code" of a whitetail deer on the box end, suggesting medium game as the appropriate use.

Odd bit of confusion there from Federal. FWIW, I would like to use this load as a Texas whitetail bullet. Good idea? Or, not?

Would appreciate any insight or input.

Thanks,
Scott

I used one on a black bear hunt with great results. Whitetail should be just fine.

I only have experience with the 7mm 160 grain HPBT. It shoots groups out of my Ruger No. 1B around 1” to 1 ½” at 100 yards. Not the most accurate bullet out of that rifle but good enough to hunt with. I have shot 2 cow elk with it, didn't recovered any bullets and the elk went down hard and never moved.

I have not used them but people who I trust speak very highly of it as tough, fast killing bullet. I am told that it is an under-rated hunting bullet.

My son has killed a dozen+ WT with them in his 6X45. All one shot kills with the exception of one deer that he simply put a bad shot on.

Ive killed a lot of Texas hill counrty with the light Sierras in my 250 Savage, 6x45, 220 Swift, those deer are relitively small, but Ive also used those guns and bullets on the very large so. texas whitetail and west texas Mule deer..mostly rib cage heart shots...Im comfortable with them..Gamekings are tougher than the same in varmint style.Also on Texas and Idaho pronghorns..

After my divorce in 96 I was reduced to a borrowed as issued 03A3 and s couple of bandoleers of Lake City USGI M2 Ball.

I pulled the FMJ bullets and reseated Sierra 150 grain HPBT Game Kings and proceeded to fill my freezer with Kentucky whitetails for the next couple of years and even shot a very nice 10 point 280 pound corn fed monster. Not a single complaint about those bullets and on a good day with good light I could keep em in a 2 MOA bullseye from the prone unsupported with the standard issue peep. Never missed a deer with that rig and several shots exceeding 200 yards.

I have watched lots of dead elk be harvested with that bullet in a 243 win. Lungs, shoulders, heart , neck, multiple angles and yardages. It works. The number of mule deer to fall to that rifle and bullet exceeds the elk number.

Like I said they seem to work, but they do come apart from the lead core almost every time, so in fact according to todays generation short of AR apparantly, they do not give you the fabled mushroom, perhaps the mushroom is not all its cracked up to be in that case..room for a lot arguement I suppose,

I like them as just OK on deer, much prefer a Nosler partition or Accubond on deer and elk myself, but to each his own...such things are a personal choice, and thats a good thing..

I knew their .308 version was tough, but didn't know it translated into the .243.
Just realized I was thinking about some older 168 gr. Internationals I had. Know nothing about the BTHP.

They are tough and consistent meaning if the shooter can do their job of directing a bullet to the vitals these bullets will do theirs. Seen it too many times to doubt it.
To be fair, I gave my hunting buddy crap all the time he was killing big deer and elk.

Like Ray, I’ve killed a number of smaller medium game with the .243/85 Sierra HPBT. Those recovered had separated core from jacket, but the animals died quickly, so…



.

Almost any cup and core bullet will separate at reasonable ranges. People will complain the bullet "failed" as they dress their deer and find fragments.... Couldn't have failed too much...I mean you killed the deer. LOL

These bullets failed to hold together But didn't fail to kill the animals they hit. 2 Sierra 7mm 150 SPBT (7mm Rem Mag, elk) and 1 Nosler .257 115 Silver Tip (25-06, antelope). They may have held together had they been shot at lower velocities but there is no way to know for sure. The one on the left, the lead is just setting loose in the cup. The middle one the lead exited the animal. The one on the right is a 25-06 which is pretty mangled from a shoulder blade hit.

Yep! And for the better part of the 20th Century that's how bullets worked. With the exception of the Nosler partition it wasn't until the early 1990s that people discovered deer are tougher and require a premium bullet.

Of course I'm being sarcastic. But it is true that we now have a higher standard for our hunting bullets. Dead isn't enough any more...

I used them on a red stag that was fully charged up during the rut in Bulgaria in my 35 whelen. I hit him in the shoulder and he came running towards us fortunately, a second shot dropped him. I was a bit surprised that it reacted the way it did, then later realised that I screwed up and mixed up my ammo and instead of using the Swift A frames, I had used the sierra instead. The recovered bullet looked like the right one on top. Never again on a big bodied animal. Am sure the Swift would have dropped him right there or within a few feet atleast!

Big diff between a whitetail and a big bodied charged up Eastern european red stag!

The problem is being overlooked on this thread, and that is those seperations kill well enough on proper broadside shots and sometimes on angle shots, but if one is following up on a wounded deer or whatever going south then that seperation and wide expansion slows down penetration in a hurry..Therefore play it safe and useing a bonded core or partition is the smart move every time..and especially on larger game..

My choice is the Nosler Accubond, the best bullet I have ever used and Ive used them all, being an old bloodied up bullet digger...The Nosler partition is equally as good...cup and core bullets work fine on deer but stay away from the Texas heart shot and you will have to live with animal recovery if a going away shot presents itself, and thats a crap shoot...sometimes it works even with a cup and core, sometimes not..why risk it..

But the bottom line is useing a larger caliber is the best idea on deer and other larger size game. I reserve the 22s for culling at close range and only broad side shots..keep range as close as possible and place your shot and any bullet will work, and don't cut Sierras short, they are a good bullet.

I have just over 56 years of hunting experience, much of the prime of my hunting using the 7x61 cartridge.
Apart from Norma factory ammo with their 160gr SPBT at 3,100 MV when I could get it, I have used nothing else but the Sierra Gameking 160gr SBT at 3,000 MV in reloads and shot countless red, fallow and whitetail deer, chamois, tahr and feral goats. The reds included big red stags and hinds, the latter often more tenacious to life than stags.
Have used this bullet at close range in bush country to long range on open alpine tops.

It just kills, don't care that it separates at shorter ranges, still kills and it still opens at the longer ranges punches through and kills too.

A lot of my early shooting even when still at school was for red deer for money (selling the gutted animal for export meat) and spotlighting was the best method. Not always easy to see exactly how far and how the deer are standing or what is between them so shot placement can sometimes not be the best but the 160 gr Sierra always did the trick.

I have used the 7x57 for a short period years ago and in later years now use a 7mm-08, loading the Sierra Gameking or Hornady SST 140gr bullet.
Nothing has ever been as effective as my 7x61 and 160gr Sierra Gamekings. Only sold it because my sons coming up didn't like the magnum recoil.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
Apart from Norma factory ammo with their 160gr SPBT at 3,100 MV when I could get it, I have used nothing else but the Sierra Gameking 160gr SBT at 3,000 MV in reloads

Sounds like you have some very positive experiences with the SBT. But that is a different bullet than what is being discussed.

Any experience with their hollow-point boat-tail (HPBT) GameKing?

quote:

Originally posted by RSY:

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
Apart from Norma factory ammo with their 160gr SPBT at 3,100 MV when I could get it, I have used nothing else but the Sierra Gameking 160gr SBT at 3,000 MV in reloads

Sounds like you have some very positive experiences with the SBT. But that is a different bullet than what is being discussed.

Any experience with their hollow-point boat-tail (HPBT) GameKing?

I probably should have clarified in my post but the Sierra Gameking SBT has also had detractors writing of their failure because they are too soft and shed jackets. Both the hollow point and lead point Gamekings are cup and core and not welded or retained core so I would expect them to perform the same.

The partition bullet is held up as one of the best but it too sheds it front portion as half the partition bullet is, a cup and core. The fact that the back half of the partition bullet maybe found intact inside the animal does not mean that this back half has done any killing. The front half of expanding lead and copper jacket has done the killing otherwise why bother with the front bit, just use a solid because that is all the rear of a partition bullet becomes.
I've seen partitions and other so called higher generation bullets being used but seen no difference in killing to a cup and core hunting bullet.

I won't comment on this particular bullet, but I know that tougher bullets in 6mm don't do well on deer. Found this out with a 100 grain Hornady IL that my oldest son put through the heart of whitetail buck when he was a teen. We recovered the deer but it was a long time expiring. However, I have shot a couple WT does with my little Rem 600 in 6mmRem using 70 grain Nosler BT, and they dropped dead in their tracks. After writing all this, I still wouldn't trust a Game King on tougher animals.

I've had luck with the game king but I've also had luck with the match king, even though they don't recommend those for hunting.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
I've had luck with the game king but I've also had luck with the match king, even though they don't recommend those for hunting.

Quite don't don't talk about how well MK's kill.

It up sets a lot of people here.

Sorry.

The match kings kill like a lightening strike, they explode inside the animal as a rule, in lighter calibers they work, larger animals not so much IMO. Ive stuck with the soft points in sierras, but the 60 gr. 22 cal. Hornaday HP works as well as the soft point! for sure..so maybe Ive overlooked a good bullet..

I really like the Sierra Game kings in the 250 gr.BTSP on deer and elk, and it served me well in Africa..Its a great bullet in the .338s, and a like bullet in the .375 that I used on ocassion but don't recall the weight but it was 250 or 300 same design as the 338 sp...

Im fond of Sierra Hornady Nosler and speer and the REm corelokt and WW power point, I wonder if we really need these super bullets of today..Nosler is as close to a super bullets as I need..

My hunting experience with the HPBT GameKibgs is limited to a single feral goat killed with the old 90-grain HPBT .243” bullet. It expanded well and killed the goat.

I have to LOL every time I read someone’s comment about hollowpoints don’t belong on game bullets. I guess that one of the most popular game bullets for many years just didn’t work - the Nosler BallisticTip, which is nothing more than a hollowpoint bullet with a piece of plastic stuck in the opening to help initiate expansion. Some folks just don’t think before they post….

Back when Hornady made the black and gray box, my brother and I killed a lot of deer with the 100gr BTSP in 6mm Rem. As long as we did our job, it did its job. I have loaded some tests with the 100gr Interlock, but have not shot game with them. I have been using the 95gr SST in the Superformance load (never had ANY superformance shoot good, but 6mm ammunition is tough to find), on a few deer, one coyote, and a big feral sow. The sow took one to the shoulder at about 120 yards and I never found blood or, her. Have also had a large sow take a 140gr NBT 270 Win to the shoulder and keep trucking....

quote:

Originally posted by model7LSS:
Back when Hornady made the black and gray box, my brother and I killed a lot of deer with the 100gr BTSP in 6mm Rem. As long as we did our job, it did its job. I have loaded some tests with the 100gr Interlock, but have not shot game with them.

Don't think you need to do any testing. Pretty sure the black/gray BTSP were Interlocks, as well. Same bullets.

I hear a lot of if you do your job the bullet will do its job, thats a bad rap of sorts..Ive killed lot of African plainsgme with the 7mm, 30-06, 375, 416 with solids broadside and going away..I can conclude the bigger the bore the better solids work, but they all worked..I think the truth is the bigger the bore the better they work on anything..and big game calibers start at 25 caliber, not saying I havn,t used small calibers I have but in truth its not a particularly good idea unless you keep ranges very short..

quote:

The sow took one to the shoulder at about 120 yards and I never found blood or, her. Have also had a large sow take a 140gr NBT 270 Win to the shoulder and keep trucking....

Then one does not really know what happened with the bullet.

If one never finds the critter.

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
I hear a lot of if you do your job the bullet will do its job, thats a bad rap of sorts..Ive killed lot of African plainsgme with the 7mm, 30-06, 375, 416 with solids broadside and going away..I can conclude the bigger the bore the better solids work, but they all worked..I think the truth is the bigger the bore the better they work on anything..and big game calibers start at 25 caliber, not saying I havn,t used small calibers I have but in truth its not a particularly good idea unless you keep ranges very short..

Bullet placement has always been king.

As I have gotten older and shot more game.

I have come to prefer heaver tougher bullets except for varmints.

Yeah, my point was not blaming the bullet, I have no idea what it did. But I strongly suspect it was a combination of being under-gunned and poor shot placement on a larger, tougher animal than a white-tail. The .270 was a little surprising, but again I think it was more shot placement. May have hit her too high/too far back. Not recovering "shot" game leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

So what part of the Sierra Game king is “misunderstood”?

It’s a good cup and core bullet.

Those have been killing game since the 90’s… 1890’s.

quote:

Originally posted by crbutler:
So what part of the Sierra Game king is “misunderstood”?

Not Game Kings, in general. Specifically, the hollowpoint boattail version.

Read the initial post. I outlined it pretty clearly.

A game hollow point.

Again, I don’t get the misunderstood part.

And yes, I read your first post.

They have been working for years.

As above, the plastic tipped bullets are hollow points.

A controlled expansion bullet is a controlled expansion bullet.

The question at hand centers on the fact that Federal has marketed the same bullet/load (same catalog number, even, as noted above) under two different categories of "recommended use". Hence, the "misunderstood" aspect. It is a commentary on Federal's "understanding" of this projectile, not anyone else's.

Too much gets blamed on this and that, much is incorrrect..

There is a lot of difference in a 60 gr. sierra and a 160 gr. Sierra, regardless which bullet or bullet placement..

The Nosler balistic point comes in two types and both look exactly a like....Some time ago Nosler changed the scheme of things, and it came out in Big game hunting and varmint hunting and so states on the box..Todays hunting balistic tip is a great deer and elk bullet, Yesterdays BT was a poor bullet, prone to coming apart, so chech the box...

Any balistic tip, accubond, and many others with a plastic tip are in fact hollow points, the tip serves the purpose of jump starting the Hollow point..

Too many bullets are judged on a single kill or two, mean nada, takes probably 15 kills minimum, but 100 is where the truth comes..

As a result of all this some great bullets get a ban rap and some bad bullets get raves...I blame this on the bullet manufacturers and lack of knowledge by those wherein a little knowledge is a dangerous thing...

A friend of mine from the Army started reloading several years ago. He asked me what bullets I was using and I told him the Sierra Game King. He went out and bought a box of the HPBT version and proceeded to load them up. He sent me a picture of his first loaded ammo and then the group on the paper. Looked like he did a great job. A few months later he sent a pic of the Whitetail he shot with them. It's all he uses and he hasn't lost a single deer to date.
I've bought a box of them in 6.5/264 but have only ever shot paper with them so I have no on game experience with the HPBT. However i've used the SBT from 300WM, 25-06, 243Win, and loaded them for another friend in his 30-06. All those listed have taken Elk and Deer.

You shoot an animal and get whatever results. Had you been using a different caliber or bullet or whatever, the results would have been different? Pure speculation--you'll never know.