Has anyone had extensive experience using Sierra Gamekings on deer-sized game? I made up several handloads for my .270 and get 4-inch groups at 300 yards, but I haven't used them to punch anything through the lungs yet. I'm a little suspicious about expansion capability due to their appearance. Also, I wonder if the Gameking design isn't just a compromise design aimed at hunters who like to fire the ultra-accurate Matchkings into game animals despite Sierra's warnings not to do so. In other words, better on game than the Matchking but possibly still not very good. Anyone have actual experience on this?

Sierra Gamekings make fine deer bullets, especially in std cases like your .270. If there is a knock on them it is that they expand too rapidly at Magnum Velocities or on really big animals like Elk, Moose, Bear.

Take it hunting.......

JimF

I grew up around Tucson(Tanque Verde). My Couse deer rifle was a 270 pre64 M70 and I shot 130gr. Sierra bullets on them, pigs, and coyote calling. Back then they were not called GameKings but I'am sure they are of the same construction. Here in Idaho I've used them on deer, bear, mt.goat, antelope, and 4 elk. I have since decided a stouter jacketed bullet is the way to go for elk. On every thing else they did just fine. Pete

I have killed several deer with game kings. For deer they perform quite well.

I've used quite a few 300 Gr. Sierra's in my 375 H&H. They have killed everything I shot with them, but they always lost their jacket. I've killed up to Kudu and Wildebeest with them.

i use them in my 358s pretty much exclusively, after a good deal of testing with others. I normally use them on feral hogs/boars and I have yet to recover one.. that is, I've always had exit wounds.. but I can surpise that they do over expand a tad. I've only found pieces of lead and jacket once. I have, however, shot them into wet sand at 3 feet, in recover test. Other than barnes X, they are the highest weight retention of speer, hornady 200 and 250, barnes x, and hawl .030, not to mention remEXPLODOington corelock 180s.
jeffe

The "Pro Hunter" flat base design usually exhibits a bit more structural integrity than the boattailed "Game King". For deer and less, I think the Game King is fine. For heavier animals, the Pro Hunter would be preferred. Either will expand more rapidly than the "super premium" bullets (not including Nosler Partitions which do expand rapidly in the front third). When you get up into the .338 and above, Sierra uses a rather hard 3% antimony core, so they perform quite differently.

More game is lost due to poorly expanding bullets than to bullets which expand too quickly. I would have no problem using the Pro Hunter Sierras for tougher game, and no problem using the Game Kings on lighter game. Although it's not my favorite bullet, I've seen plenty of whitetails downed effectively with Sierras.

I like the above answers.

While 99% of all the Sierra bullets that I have fired have been at targets everyone that touched game brought it down and it stayed there.

I have a very warm feeling about Sierra bullets due to my competition experiance with them.

Perhaps the best thing about Sierra bullets is that you might practice with them. They are not expensive at all, group as well as anything, have excellent ballistic coeficients and are very consistant lot to lot.

Thus you might shoot a little more with them and not spend time developing loads and after shooting a group you might fire a few shots from a sitting position or off hand and get some real field practice instead of rushing back to the loadiing bench to try another load.

I hunted a few years with 250 grain Sierra BT bullets in my 338 and shot a couple of deer with them. One deer was shot broadside at about 100 yards. The bullet expanded well and exited the off side. The second deer was a quartering away shot at about 175 yards. At the shot the deer ran about 100 yards and went down. The bullet angled through the chest and stopped against the off side shoulder. The bullet was expanded perfectly but I was disappointed in the amount of penetration. I would have expected more from a 250 grain bullet.

I used Sierra Gameking 140 gr. in .270 & 165gr. in 30/06 for several years killed a lot of deer with them always performed well. Used Hornady SST last year worked good also, but this year I will go back to Sierra Gamekings. Sierra has a real good Tech. Support line they are aviable until
10 PM week nights. 1-800-223-8799

After much deliberation and some experience Ive come to the drastic conclusion that nearly any bullet designed for hunting purposes is absoloutly fine for anything up to Dangerous Game, given of course that enough bullet and velocity are applied for the game in question. I also think that "too much" velocity can be a major problem with conventional bullets, read into that what you will.

Until I become so lucky as to draw a bear tag Im now using Hornady almost exclusivley, but I do have some Gamekings loaded up for deer this year.

I have shot quite a few deer with Sierra Gameking bullets at various ranges, also wild boars and coyotes, never had a performance problem.

Wstrnhuntr: Well put. The concept of "premium" bullets, especially for ordinary North American game is greatly oversold.

I shoot Nosler Partitons in a couple of my guns, not because I feel the need of their performance, but because they're the bullet that shoots best in a particular gun.

Whitetails, muleys, carabou, inland black bears, antelope, most exotic deer and antelope, and game of similar size just don't fall any "deader" with an expensive bullet than with a conventional one. And a deer hit in the leg with a Barnes X or Trophy Bonded is in the same shape as one hit in the leg with a Federal Hi-Shock.

My experience with elk is that they are tenacious, and using something like a Nosler Partition gives me some psycological comfort, but truth be told, a Corelockt through the lungs will put an elk down just as quickly. I've never hunted moose, but I understand that they seem to give up more quickly than elk, and alot of moose have been killed with one shot from a .303.

Most people tend to overguess the size of "big game". Hard "premium" bullets that zip through a whitetail's lungs without much expansion will let that deer run a lot further before going down than your ordinary Sierra or Speer. A lot of deer are lost every year because a hunter who "demands" the best was sold a box of $35 shells for his .30-06, and when the deer didn't go down on the spot when shot with "the best" he assumed it was a miss and went on his way to find another.

I've never heard so many sane comments in one place at one time in my life. I'm sure we are all going to be locked up or banned from the Internet.

I've reloaded Sierra's for over 35 years. I've never had anything weird happen. Everything I hit, died; quickly.

Whenever I hear someone tell me that Sierra's suck or that premium bullets are the only ones that can kill game, I mentally move them over in the Loser Column, and discount anything else they have to say about any subject, including the weather.

There is more Macho bullshit out there in the way of bullet advice than there is in a Texas Panhandle feedyard.

I've killed many deer with the .270 130 grain Gamekings and all went down like a rock except for a smallish muley buck that I shot in the chest (frontal shot) at about 30 yards. He ran about 20 yards before piling up at the bottom of a small hill. That bullet exploded in the heart and did not make it past the diaphram into the abdomen. I think the Prohunters are a bit better, but that is my preference. And now for the smart- ass remark--there is very little bullshit in any of the Texas Panhandle feedlots--most of the bull calves have been converted to steers by the time they get to the yards to be fed out...but you can't tell that from the green stuff!

Good Hunting,

[ 09-22-2002, 00:14: Message edited by: ACRecurve ]

I believe that the combo of an accurate light 270, with 130 Game Kings are just about the ideal load for deer wherever they are hunted. I like the fact that they erxpand at all ranges and wherever the shot location is. The cost means that I use them for a lot of target and varmint applications as well. While I'm sure other brands give identical performance, Sierras are good bullets.

BR

audsley,

I wish there was something that I could add that the above posts haven't.

I to have experienced good accuracy and exceptional results on deer with the 130gr Game Kings. Your can't go wrong with the combo of this bullet and good shot placement.

best of luck
cjw3

I think they have outstanding accuracy out of my 270. But I wouldn't expect those pretty mushrooms to come out. At ranges less than 100 yards, I noticethe copper comes right off. But for deer, I don't mind. I won't take them on a moose hunt with velocities over 3K.

I would echo Stonecreek and Wstrnhunter. My own experience is that you take a current conventional hunting (not varmint and I have no experience of match) bullet in an above marginal calibre and of above marginal weight and given conventional shot placement you have a dead deer.

I would not include 6mm and mule deer on this due to the experience of others on red stags.

I used Sierras for years as that is about all the handloader had and they worked OK, but I don't use them anymore, I see no need in using an inferior bullet these days when so many premium bullets are available and very little price difference....

I use the sierra 300 gr HPFN's in my 45/70 and there OK for thin skinned stuff but they do expand very quickly.