I just gained new respect for Eland. I took a 750kg bull last year with a 300gr Sierra boatail in my 375H&H and knocked him flat at 80 meters with a high shot through both lungs. He fell and never got up and this gave me a great deal of "killing confidence" in the load. Last wekk I took a 950kg bull with 33 1/2 inch horns that had lost both ears to ticks using the same load and with a velocity of 2450 at muzzle. I was taking the eland so that my students could skin it with stone tools so I wasn't picky about the trophy. After a short stalk I took a shot at about 137 meters broadside. When I pulled the trigger the PH said "good hit" but the animal didn't flinch. No jump or even startle, it just started into a fast trot. After about 50 meters, the PH said "take another shot if you've got it" and so at about 150 meters and angling away I took a second shot and the animal still didn't flinch or even jump. Loading my third! round and feeling pretty stupid I was about to take a snap shot as the eland was dissapearing over a rise when the PH said "hold on, he's going down" and he did drop. We walked up and both shots had landed side by side on the left and there were no exit wounds. On skinning the animal we found that the first had hit a rib going in, knocking a fist sized hole, gone through top of aorta, both lungs and smashed through the ribs on the right side then stopped under the skin in a textbook mushroom. The second had gone in 3 inches behind the first, passed through the remnants of the left lung traveled upwards, bounced off the vertebrae and angle down slightly into the right shoulder wher it stopped. It mushroomed well but the lead core had fallen out of the jacket where it stopped so both were there, just seperated. Yet the animal never even flinched, covered maybe 140 meters and was probably dead on the first shot! Just made me think about if it had been a buff......

It just shows you, there can be a big difference between how animals react. I have seen it many times with Kudu, some will go down easily other will take their time

I'm happy to hear they work for you but no Sierra will ever be shot out of my .338 WM again. They never exit and almost always break up. My eland ran about 1/2 mile after being shot through both lungs. I don't need that kind of stress on a hunt.

Ski+3

Ive had Gamekings break up on Antelope and deer on me. For those critters it aint such a big deal, tho I wouldnt even use them for deer anymore.

For a larger animal ? Never ! And yeah they are a very accurate bullet but odds are they will break up and not exit. For me they are target bullets now................J

I shot a whitetail deer on my ranch using a Ruger 1B 30/06 with 150 Sierra...Deer died instantly but there were three chunks of bullets inside when I opened him up.
That is the last Sierra I have used on a critter.

That's a classic! Another instant death from bullet failure.

Reminds me of another post which extolled the virtues of a certain bullet which, in the view of the writer, performed flawlessly: "Punched right through and left an excellent blood trail which we followed for about a half mile where we found the bull bedded down and were able to give him a finisher."

You got lucky and killed, as happens on most ocassions but in each case your bullets failed in my opinnion...

Had you hit the big shoulder going in you probably would have lost the eland...knocking a big hole going in is an indication of openning up too fast and angleing off the spine is another failure...I'm sure they work on lung shots broadside but I want two holes in everything I shoot, one going in and one comming out...

Berger,

I've had 150 grain sierra fail in my 303 on warthog at 2500 fps. Lung shot trough both lungs and went on to go another km before we found him not dead yet. Since then I've never used sierras again I had more success with Hornadys and as they are cheaper I have never looked back just don't expect wonders wehn pushing the velocities I keep the velocities down to a maximum of 2500 fps in my 375 H&H with them.

Safari-Hunt

www.Safari-Hunt.com

Allow me to step in and get hammered.

I've reloaded only Sierra for forty years. The calibers I load are .308 Win, 25.06 Rem and .41 Mag. Never had a failure, but never made a point of digging out bullets to be honest. My criteria for success is that the animal dies quickly, and I don't have to apply a follow-up shot.

I've had forty years of success with Sierra on javelina, mule deer, whitetails, axis, aoudad, sitka, turkey, jackrabbits, coyotes and pronghorn.

I use light-weight bullets and the critters keep ending up in my freezer and on the wall. Can't complain.

I did get in a discussion recently with a fellow employee that said the Sierras weren't doing him a job, so I can't say.

The key to me is that I have confidence in what I'm holding, whether it's a five wood over a water hazard or a Sierra handload. Use what makes you feel good. If I shoot a 110 gr hollowpoint and you use a 200 gr. premium roundnose bullet for the same situation, we'll both be happy.

Yeah I know, "at what poin t in the animals death did the bullet fail" ? Thats not the point. The point is when I spend $10,000 to go to Africa I want a bullet that will hold together and give me an exit wound and a blood trail. Most of all for an animal in the 500lb to 2500lb range.

I feel the same way for moose , Bear,or Elk. I spend the money on A-frames, a buck-apiece by the way. There are 4 or 5 others I'd have as much faith in but the Gameking isnt one of them.....................J

I've shot a lot of game with 300 Gr. Sierras, and I have actually been pleased with the results. Would I shoot an Eland or Buff with one, no. I have taken Gemsbok, Elk, Wildebeest, etc. The Sierras usually shed their jackets, but they kill the animals.