Just bought some seirra .30/180 pro hunters for range work. Couldnt find any 180 accubonds. Hell , these are cheap (get hunderd of em) and accurate. Ive used them for other calibers like 6.5 & .270.
Anyone shoot a elk with these boys?

I'm sure they'd kill an elk in a behind the shoulder/boiler room situation but would still prefer a premium for tough shots.
I think nosler has the accubond "first" quality on hand at their on line "shooters proshop"....and many say the ballistic tip is a very good practice bullet for shooting and load developement for the accubond...a virtual twin except the bonded core.

I have not used the Pro Hunters but have used the Gamekings with great success on Elk.

7MM Remington Mag 160 gr.
30-06 180 gr.
300 Weatherby 200 gr.
8MM Remington Mag 220 gr.

They work just fine on moose.

I have used them from mexico to africa, and in between. They will work on anything if put in the right place..

Lee

The Sierra Pro Hunter is about as good as any conventional cup-and-core bullet can be made. My experience is that the flat base design tends to hold it's core together a little better than the boattail design. While I might theoretically prefer a Nosler Partition for elk, I wouldn't feel as if I were handicapped if I had to hunt with a Sierra Pro Hunter. Even with game as large as elk, deep penetration is greatly over-hyped these days.

IMO the term "Sierra hunting bullets" is an oxymoron.

In all fairness I bought a box of Federal premium ammo years ago loaded with 130 sierra boattails for my 270 and went pronghorn hunting. Bullet performance was as poor as anything I ever saw in my life. A .277 hole in and a .277 hole out and the goat ran 150 yards like he was never touched.

Just as I was about to shoot again it jumped straight up in the air and came down dead!!!!!

If that's an example of "premium ammo" then I want nothing to do with it.

Hornady makes conventional bullets that work.

Vapodog. My experience with Sierra bullets is exactly 180 degrees out from yours. I used the 150 gr. spitzer flat base (The did not call them Pro-hunters back then) for years on deer in the 30-06 and later on in the .308 Win. Most deer were bang/flops and only a few running more than a few feet after being hit. I switched to the Speer 165 gr. Hot-core for the .308 and the 180 gr. Sierra Pro-hunters for the 06, not because the 150 gr. bullets were not working, but that they were way too destructive of good eating meat.
I did load some 130 gr. Pro-hunters up in a .270 I have and they dropped a big Nevada Mule Deer (195 pounds dressed) bang/flop at roughly 150 yards.
I don't know if your case was just bad luck or a bad bullet, but so far, they have worked decently for me.
Paul B.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
IMO the term "Sierra hunting bullets" is an oxymoron.

In all fairness I bought a box of Federal premium ammo years ago loaded with 130 sierra boattails for my 270 and went pronghorn hunting. Bullet performance was as poor as anything I ever saw in my life. A .277 hole in and a .277 hole out and the goat ran 150 yards like he was never touched.

Just as I was about to shoot again it jumped straight up in the air and came down dead!!!!!

If that's an example of "premium ammo" then I want nothing to do with it.

Hornady makes conventional bullets that work.

Do I have this right? You are making an evaluation based upon a factory load which you used on one animal at an unspecified range and made a one shot kill with it? And you weren't happy with it? And you refuse to consider any other bullets by the manufacturer, choosing instead bullets with similar construction but not made with the quality controls to assure the precision accuracy of the brand you reject?

You write a lot of things, most of which I read, many of which I agree with, and (most importantly) all of which make me think, but I have to say that this case seems to be more an emotional choice for you than a logical one.

I make no secret that I am not a big fan of Hornady bullets. They perform as well on game as any other bullets of similar construction, but they are not as accurate in any of the hundreds of rifles and handguns I have tested them in, and I have been loading since the 1970's. New (or new to me) guns I would routinely buy three brands of bullets to test, red, yellow, and green. I gave up on the yellow ones in the early 80's, and the red ones in the late 80's. I could not get the accuracy out of either of them consistantly. I have in all fairness found the occasional rifle that would shoot Hdy's acceptably, and in a hunting situation - especially where ranges are not long - sub MOA accuracy is unnecessary, but it does nothing but bolster my confidence when I know that the rifle/bullet is capable of it. I will buy and use premium bullets like Nosler PARs when necessary, but for most hunting and all target work I rely on Sierras when my own cast boolits are inappropriate. I do a lot of loading for other hunters and shooters, and the merits of Sierras on game and on targets have been proven conclusively. They may not work that way for everyone, that's why the others are still in business, but Sierra has earned my personal respect the hard way over many years of satisfactory results.

quote:

Do I have this right? You are making an evaluation based upon a factory load which you used on one animal at an unspecified range and made a one shot kill with it? And you weren't happy with it? And you refuse to consider any other bullets by the manufacturer, choosing instead bullets with similar construction but not made with the quality controls to assure the precision accuracy of the brand you reject?

1....yes....that's right
2. the range was 100 yards.....it was known and not specified
3. it was a "one shot kill...yes.....and a darn poor one!!!
4 Hornady's are interlocked....this is not similar construction
5. It's you that said Hornady's are not made with quality controls.....I know for a fact that they're fired periodically thru the run to confirm their accuracy. As a matter of fact they're known to be an accurate bullet as are the Sierras

Yes....I have to make my decision on something......and one failure is all the experience I have with Sierra......I've never had anything approaching such a failure with Hornady bullets. Am I to try Sierras again to see if it was a fluke?.....How many failures does one need with a bullet before he moves on to something else??? In my book, one is enough.

When I have such a failure with Hornady, I'll move to something else.

Maybe I should also mention that Federal also said that loading that bullet in their "premium" line was a mistake.....that the experience I had was a common experience and they've not loaded the Sierra boat tail in their premium line since.

I had 3 disappointing experiences with Sierra bullets, 3 core-jacket separations. I almost loosed a nice Mouflon ram (3 hours, 1.5 km tracking) some years ago. No more Sierra bullets for hunting now. This is only my personal opinion.

I got some .30 sierras flat base for range shooting. Ive used them in .270 and 6.5 for just range stuff. Also got some hornadys 180 .30 cal, some more accubond and partition 180s. Waitin for the brown truck