How is Sierra Gameking 215 gr. in .338 Win. Mag. performing on big game such as Moose, Elk or Wild boar ? Is this bullet strong enough, can I expect complete penetration through these animals or do I need a more expensive bullet such as 210 gr. Nosler Partition for this kind of performance ?

Thanks,
Ingvar Johann.

After seeing how they came apart at the 200 yd backstop, do yourself a favor and at least use a 225 grain Hornady, they do much better, but a partition in the same will do about all one needs with a 338 mag. 210's work, as well as 250's. Depending on range, size of animal, and penetration desired. The 250 Sierra may be a whole new animal and work much better.

Use the Partition and you won't have to ever worry about bullet performance. With the Sierra you might...........................DJ

Game Kings are soft but so is the front end of a Nosler Partition. When it hits the partition, weight retention from there on is positive and should drive through except on real heavy bone. For moose I would consider something heavier.

Ingvar, I picked 3 boxes and got them in last week. I'm going to develop an accurate load with them in one of my .338-06's and try them out. I can guess velocities and will field test them soon. I have many various bullet makes for my .338's and these 2 .338-06's I now have.

For quite along time I have read just how accurate these bullets are and would like to try them out. Cost is cheap considering what I would pay for NF's or Swifts etc...as metals go up and bullet cost as well it never hurts to load up here and there and make your own judgements.

Speer grandslams will work quite well with normal velocities and they are relatively cheap--cheesh I hate to use that word but I lack any other.

I've used the .338 mag/Partition 210's on moose before and I was not thrilled to say the least. I went on thereafter on using either Swifts and Barnes. Perhaps as one mentioned the 250's could be the ticket in the Sierra flavoring.

Lots of fine bullets to choose from for the .33 caliber all the way up to Woodleighs 300grnrs.

why not just use a hornady 225gn pill, found sierras too soft in this cal, generally accurate though.


cheers cc

The word "Gameking' is a misnomer, as it is not meant for game, nor to a king's taste. They are extremely frangible and will blow up/fragment and lose near 72% of their weight and are bound to wound large animals where a fair amount of penetration is needed. Rather go with Nosler Partitions, at least you can expect some 55% to 60% weight retention. Rather consider even stronger constructed bullets, such as a Swift A-Frame for Moose, with around 85% weight retained.

I noticed you referred to "complete penetration" ... and that on as big an animal as Moose, then you must rather consider a Barnes TSX, that typically gives you 100% weight retention with a smaller mushroom than other bonded type of bullets, for deeper penetration.

Chris

Dont do it, I took my last moose with gamekings from a 7mm rem mag... Had i not gotten a standing head shot after hitting it three times(all kill shots) it would have gone who knows how far. No bullets exited and nothing but fragments were found...

For those of you who like the accuracy of the Sierras Game Kings but not how soft they are, try the Sierra ProHunters. They are just as accurate but a tougher bullet with more weight rentention and better penetration at nearly equivalent cost...Rusty.

I shoot 2 caribou last year with 30 cal. Sierra Gameking, killed them right in their tracks but with no exit wound (the range was 100-140 metres), and when I was skinning the animals I found nothing but bits and fragments of the bullet ! Caribou are not hard to kill; big wild boar or red stag bulls are a different matter.
Isn’t the jacket on the Sierra bullet thicker for the .338 the on the .30 cal? It’s a pity that the Nosler Partition costs almost twice the price of the Gameking . I’m going for an 8 day trip in Poland next week and I can only bring 100 rounds so they better be good .

Ingvar Johann.

Ingvar,

As someone said they are soft, unless they have been changed and I doubt it, the 215's would be best left for deer/caribou and smaller animals.

The 250's not sure if prohunter or what but I seem to recall they are harder, What I would do is buy one box of 225 hornady, another 225 partition, and the POI should be same, my 338-06 shot 1.25" with the Speer, Hornady, and the Nosler all same POI.

Your 50 partitions will kill lots of game, use traditional bullets for practice and load work. 225 hornady's hold together fairly well but do separate at times. Traditional 250's might work, but on large game, I would feel better using a premium so you are not limited on shot placement/or penetration to vitals if you hit lots of bone.

quote:

my 338-06 shot 1.25" with the Speer, Hornady, and the Nosler all same POI.

it is what I am getting shooting NorthFork 225's out of my .338-06, have not freefloated yet, still fully bbl.bedded.

quote:

I would feel better using a premium so you are not limited on shot placement/or penetration to vitals if you hit lots of bone.

exactly what the case would be if the bullet has no integrity, good viewpoints. Have digested how some of these bullets have held up under impact --curious bullet behaviour.

FYI, the 1.25 was at 200 yards by the way. Also, FWIW, my buddy shot a large buck with 225 grain Sierra in 350 Rem Mag about 150 yds or so, smashed both shoulders-stopped just before contacting hide. Deer dropped on spot.

I'd think a 250 Sierra might behave more that way, but the 215 won't. If you want flatter trajectory again try a 225 partition or similar premium. I heard the old 230 Winchester Failsafes were very reliable killers-Ray from Alaska used it a good bit on large animals in a 338 Win mag

If you want a bullet slightly less expensive than the Nosler Partition, you could use the 200 grain Nosler Ballistic Tip. In .338, the BT is plenty tough enough for larger game (Nosler designed it to be adequate for wapiti). If you're not comfortable with the B Tip, then move up to the Accubond. It is a bit pricey, but still less expensive than the Partition. As for me, I use the tried and true 225 Partition -- after all, a box of 50 will allow you enough to work up a load and hunt for a several normal years, so what's the issue with price?

They would do for deer or caribou sized game but nothing bigger. I think Craig Boddington has used the sierra 300gr in 375H&H for buffalo but I think that's asking too much as well. I would opt for a partition/premium type bullet for the bigger stuff.

How depenable are the Speer bullets like the 200 gr Hot Core for the 338. And the Accubonds
by Nosler 225 gr for the 338. I have both of these loaded for my 338 RUM. They both shoot tight groups at 200 yds but I haven't hunted with either of them. I have no idea how they would preform. Does anyone know?

We will soon know how these 225 grain Accubond are dependable! I loaded 1 box this morning with VV N-160 powder and another with 230 grain Norma Oryx.
The store only had Nosler BT in 180 grain, just a little too light for my specific purpose. Some of the guys in my group are using 250 grain BT in 9.3x62 with good results.

Ingvar Johann

Here is the result of my reloading the other day. I think I really hit the jackpot this time The bullet is Norma Oryx 230 grain from my Sako 75 .338 win mag. 7 shots at 100 metres in 0.56 inches. (1.44 cm).



Ingvar Johann

Maybe I’m lost on this subject of “full pass through†bullets. I’ve been hunting big game (mule deer, elk, black bear, and antelope) for years.

For years I’ve heard the argument about bullet weight retention. I just don’t get it. Out of all the animals I’ve killed my best kills happen with bullets that never exit the body. In fact the best “drop-dead†kills have happened with bullets that I’ve never recover more than the cup of the base of the bullet (Nosler BTs and more than once and Sierra Gamekings more than once) and that made me very happy. I didn’t complain about how bad the Noslers preformed because it did what it was designed to do, kill an animal and do it very nicely.

A full “pass through†bullet doesn’t leave behind it’s full potential which is kinetics energy. Once it passes through it has no more effect on the animal that you’re trying to kill and it carries with it the last of it’s energy.

Re Pass throughs. You can shock a 150 pound deer,etc to death with the average hunting rifle. The "foot pounds" required to do it to an animal 3, 6 or 10x the weight of a deer would increase on a linear scale. No one enjoys shooting a load with 3x the foot pounds of a 30-06. Bell remarked that it would take a howitzer to shock an elephant to death.

Penetration and blood trails are integral to shooting large game. You don't shock them to death unless you get the central nervous system-they bleed to death.

I use Sierre Game kings for deer hunting.
Paul

I just started reloading as most of you know. I killed my first mule deer last week and my first killl with reloads. I used a 180 SGK out of my 300 win ( IMR 4831 71.3 gr about 2900 fps) slow but accurate. The SGK entered my buck nehind the shoulder and exited the chest, buck died 75 yds later. Very large blood trail, easy to follow. Prior to my hunt I asked my outfitter what bullet he like to see his shooter's reload. He said SGK. While at camp a canadianoutfitter came down to shoot a Bison. He guides for caribou and bear. He used a 308 Norma Mag to kill his bison. One shot 100 yds bang flop. I asked him what bullet he used he said SGK. I asked him if that is the bullet he recommends, as the rifle and load wasn't his, he said in a French/English lingo "SGK"

I believe you'd be better off with a Nosler Partition bullet. I would use the 250-gr. for moose, but the 210 will do the job on all three critters you mention. Have a good hunt!.

"It’s a pity that the Nosler Partition costs almost twice the price of the Gameking . I’m going for an 8 day trip in Poland next week and I can only bring 100 rounds so they better be good."

When one is spending a lot of money on a hunt, I think the cost of a couple of bullets would be the least concern!

If not, I have found that you can often develop a load using Sierra bullets, then switch to Nosler Partitions of the same weight, use the same powder charge, primers and cases, and get the same, or almost the same, point of impact. For example, here's a 100-meter groups shot with both 200-grain Sierra GameKings and 200-grain Nosler Partitions, same load except for bullet brand..... (Rifle was a 1909 Argentine Mauser 7.65X53mm, 29" barrel, using .308" bullets, NORMA brass.)

quote:

Originally posted by MickinColo:
Maybe I’m lost on this subject of “full pass through†bullets. I’ve been hunting big game (mule deer, elk, black bear, and antelope) for years.

For years I’ve heard the argument about bullet weight retention. I just don’t get it. Out of all the animals I’ve killed my best kills happen with bullets that never exit the body. In fact the best “drop-dead†kills have happened with bullets that I’ve never recover more than the cup of the base of the bullet (Nosler BTs and more than once and Sierra Gamekings more than once) and that made me very happy. I didn’t complain about how bad the Noslers preformed because it did what it was designed to do, kill an animal and do it very nicely.

A full “pass through†bullet doesn’t leave behind it’s full potential which is kinetics energy. Once it passes through it has no more effect on the animal that you’re trying to kill and it carries with it the last of it’s energy.

As the game gets large and thick the bullets that separate too quick are less desirable since they don't penetrate and damage enough internally. I used the gamekings for years on deer and they killed just fine and will work fine on the game that you listed that you have hunted. I personally hunt for meat and I got tired of too much blood shot meat with the gameking. The Barnes TSX is my go to bullet now. I like blook pouring out of two holes rather than one and I like a cleaner kill with less meat damage.
You may not get it but there is a reason for all the designs available to us.