Looking to try SGK in my 7/08 to be used solely on Whitetails up to 300yds max. Sierra's have been the most consistently accurate bullet in most of my rifles. I have on hand 140 and 160's. At the expected velocities from a 20.5" bbl how will they hold up on game? (discounting shoulder bones)
I am most interested in meat friendly bullets given a meat friendly shot! Suggestions appreciated.

I prefer the Pro Hunter. but that's just me.

great choice for deer size game. i use eather gameking & pro hunter 140S.. 43 grs RL-15 or IMR 4064. WLR primer I shoot Sierra more than anything..

I am with the beeman on this one. I believe the SGK is kind of fragile unless the shot is strictly through the boiler room, cause if it hits any sizeable bones first it very well might not be up to the task. I have used Sierra ProHunter bullets and Hornady IL's with confidence but I think the guilding metal is tougher on the Speer bullets. I shoot the Speers in my 308Win and really like them.

I've used SGK in 7-08 from a 20" barrel on roe deer.
worked always well, BUT the deer never dropped dead. Instead they ran for up to 50m and dropped then. In the woods not really nice.
I've also shot two red stags in Scotland. Same result.
Not bad, but the Barnes TTSX, which I used last season worked much better, i.e. instantaneous.
Precision with the SGK was very good though.

the sierras are accurate but have a soft jacket and core.
that's why they are accurate.
they behave like a varmint bullet [so do the winchester bullets in the cxp-2 loads they use]
i like the hornady 139 plain base interlock at speeds from 2600 up through 2850 fps,
in the 7mm's.
it will punch the shoulders at those speeds.
and the broad side [lung] shot leaves a 50 cent sized exit hole
i have used it on cow elk for the shoulder shot several times.
my wife punched through two deer lengthwise pushing it to 2750 in her x57.
[luckilly her dad was there with a tag]
like the others said i'd use the pro hunter over the game king.

I use the 139 Horn IL flat base in both the 7mm08 and the 7x57 for deer and antelope. The bullet has performed well on paper and in the field. They are less explosive than the Sierra of the same weight.
I would also use the pro hunter if I used the Sierra and also in a flat base.

Used them for years (SGK) in all my rifles and they shoot damn good....I switched to Accubonds some years ago to reduce off shoulder meat damage in deer.

My son killed a crippled deer this year that had been shot dead-on the shoulder blade two days earlier with 120-grain Sierra Game King fired from of a 7x30 Waters. The bullet had broken the shoulder and disintergrated without entering the vitals.

Now, I realize that 120 grains is too light with a low a sectional density compared to 140 grains in 7mm. But had it been a more substantially constructed bullet, the initial shot probably would have killed the deer.

BTW, my son shot it with a 286-grain bullet from a 9.3x62. Penetration was not a problem.

I load the 140 Sierras for my bro in law and he tells me the deer go right down w/o any issues.

Come on, guys. The game sought is whitetails, not buffalo. Of course the 140 Gameking will do fine; in fact it will normally result in quicker kills (regardless of limited anecdotal stories to the contrary) than most "premium" bullets. It is always possible to have a bad experience with one, but bad experiences occur with ALL other bullets from time to time simply because something flying at 2000 miles per hour can do funny and unexpected things when it strikes a stationary object.

Use it with confidence.

I've only used the Sierra Game King one time and that from my .270 Win. The bullet was the 150 gr. GK that left the muzzle at2950 FPS. Animal was a pronghorn antelope at 75 yards after about a hald\f mile stalk. The bullet hit the third rib from th back and exited just behind the right shoulder. The antelope ran in a short, maybe 30 foot half circle and dies. Entrance wound was about one inch wide and the exit about 1 1/2 to maybe 1 3/4" wide. Seems to me the bullet did what it was supposed to. I have used Sierra bullets for more years than I care to count and while some mangles an awful lot of meat, some punched through leaving wounds that made me think the bullet had not opened up. Generally, I've always used the Pro-hunters and they've always broght the game to bag.
I haven't done much with any 7MM yet other than playing with load work ups. I did shoot one deer about 6 or 7 years ago with a 140 gr. Nosler ballistic Tip but that der was lost, not because of the bullet's action but because my foot rolled on some loose rock and I ripped the cartilige out of my right knee. To be fair to Nosler, the bullets were the early version from when Nosler was still selling them in 100 count boxes. That deer when hit took off down into a gully and I lost sight of it. My hunting buddy showed up and he and his son literally carried me off that hill. Theywere more concerned about getting me to a doctor than recovering that deer. Maybe this year I'll brak my bad luck run and draw atag. I haven't hunted deer in my home state since that time. Just cannot draw a damned tag.
Paul b.

I've used both 140 grain pro hunters, and game kings in my 7-08 Ackley, and never had to chase a deer yet.

Lung shots with the 140 grain would be ideal.......they won't go far as it should be very disruptive.

The only Sierra's I have loaded up to kill is the Sierra 215 GK in my nephew's .338-06....use to be mine. His first shot at 60 yds was a pass thru in the lungs and his second was in the shoulder of a 4yr. old bull moose this past fall. Retreival of the second bullet weighed like 118 grains and pretty mangled up for a bullet that is down sized from the 250 grain GK.

My other Sierra's perform on paper like this 215, extemely accurate but if the 2 bullet weights you posted is all you had I'd probably use the 160's. I've 3 boxes of them myself for my 7x57 but I don't believe I will use them on any animal except for Caribou and paper.

I've had extremely good luck with Sierra Gamekings in several different calibers. Can't see why they wouldn't give outstanding performance for you.
The 7mm 08 won't be driving them to any hyper velocities so I would assume great performance.
In my 257 Roberts I shot a Large Mule Deer buck with 117 Sierra Gamekings, 2800 fps muzzle velocity and entered in ribs behind front leg and exited out the opposite side in the neck (he was quartering away) nearly 2 feet of straight line penetration including ribs and vertebrae. I'd say pretty dam good performance.
Shot numerous elk and a mountain goat and bighorn all with 180 Gamekings out of a 30/06 at 2750 fps and never recovered a bullet.
For me I'm sold on them and will continue to use them, very accurate bullet too.