I got a ruger m77 allweather .308 for my 17th B-day. Figured i try some of those bullets. How do they work for deer? .308win 165grn gameking.

Critter Killer,

I have used Sierra Game King .308 165 grain one time. One shot One Dead Deer. Heart shot at 125 yards, he ran about 20 -25 feet and flopped over.

Hugh

I use Hornadys 165Gr.BTSP.I love my 308!

Critter,

Happy Birthday!

I've killed coutless Deer & Wild Boar with this very bullet in .308's, .30/06's, .300 Weatherby & Win Mag's. Works just fine.

They are a good starting place with this cartridge, you probably won't end up straying too far either.

Critter, I shot a cow elk at 50 yards this year with a 165g game king that was shot from my Ruger .308. I hit her in the neck, she dropped in her tracks but wasn't dead. I had to shoot her again in the head. Neither bullets exited.

When I dug the bullet out of her neck, all I found was just tiny bits of lead and a tore up chunk of jacket. I think if I had been a little farther away, the bullet would have held together better, and given me a nice mushroom.

Well, the bullet didn't fail, but I knew I should have loaded up some Barnes X instead! I personally prefer a bullet that retains 95%+ of its mass. I bought a bunch of the Sierra's just for target shooting, but thought "hey, it says Game King, let's give 'er a try". I'll know better next time. I thought for a moment I had found a cheap alternative hunting bullet. I think I keep to my Partitions or Barnes when it comes to shooting at living meat.

I'm sure on a deer, they would work fine.

Just my two cents.

MG

Hey madgoat, if the bullet explodes into tiny fragments, at what point would you call it a failure? Just stirring the pot, but the SGK is a bit soft for any bone shots, fine for lung shots but keep them off the bone.

fredj338,

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Hey madgoat, if the bullet explodes into tiny fragments, at what point would you call it a failure? Just stirring the pot, but the SGK is a bit soft for any bone shots, fine for lung shots but keep them off the bone.

That bullet failed the minute it broke into a million pieces. Bullets should hold together and shoot through-and-through animals. This is a moot point though, as most good-quality bullets will not break apart.

Every deer/antelope I have shot with 130 GK bullets out of my .270 Win performed as they should (with exit wounds).


Good luck,

Tom

I shoot Sierra Gameking BTSP 165 grain bullets out my 7mm REM MAG and they work just fine for deer and hogs. Every animal I have shot with this round has either dropped dead in his tracks or run 20-25 yards and then dropped dead.

Give it a try and see how your rifle shoots it.

The gameking will kill any deer walking. I used them for a long time and have switched to Barnes TSXs which are a better bullet for hunting purposes but more expensive. If budget is a factor stay with the Sierra and have fun killing some deer next season.

Actually Fred338, I never said the bullet failed (the result was a dead elk), just that in that particular instance it really SUCKED!

Shooting an elk in the neck is common for many people who have hunted elk. There is a lot of meat in the shoulders, and I didn't want to ruin any meat (or in this case, pepper my steak with copper and lead fragments).

If I would have shot that cow at that same distance with a Barnes, it would have exited and cut completely through her spine. She would have been dead before she hit the ground, and a follow up shot to the brain wouldn't have been necessary.

I think we owe it to the animal, to have as quick and humane death as possible. If I have to spend an additional $10 for 50 less bullets, but use 1/2 the amount of rounds to make a humane kill, it is worth it in my opinion.

MG

No MG, you said the bullet didn't fail, I was just asking what you concider a failuer?
You'll get no argument on the value of a good bullet with me. It never ceases to amaze me when guys spend days & days in the field & $100 or $1000 of bucks hunting & then worry about the cost of good, reliable bullets. I also never worry about ruining a bit of meat if I think my shot placement brings the animal down faster.

Hey MG and Fred, Got a question for the two of you about the meat on an Elk.

Is there more usable meat on the shoulder portion(s) or neck?

The reason I'm asking is because on our Southeastern Deer, there is often more usable neck meat than usable shoulder meat, depends on their age. Are the Elk just proportioned differently?

HC, a big bull will have a lot of neck meat. Their shoulders are also quite large, an explosive bullet in either will wreck a lot of meat but neck meat is all grind for me anyway.

Sierra bullets are for punching holes in paper or shooting varmints. That's all they're good for.

No, wait. Matchkings are for shooting elk. Locate one at 500 yards, step back to 800 yards, and fire. Then get out your posterboard and sharpie and get your hero's picture taken. Post on longrangehunter.com.

About the Sierra bullet coming apart in the above instance.. That is normal. In every instance where I have hit animals square in the spinal column at fairly close range the bullets, (Speer Hornady Sierra etc.) fragmented. The spinal column bones are very tough and thick and it would take a solid or a very tough premium bullet to hold together under those conditions. Generally when this happens the bullet shatters the bones and destroys the spinal cord instantly killing the animal. I can hardly call that a failure on the bullets' part.
Sierra bullets have been killing game for many many years, and given what they are, compared to what is available today with all the premium bullets, they work just fine in most cases..

It was either that or some kind of 170grn somethin i dont even remember. But in the mean time i'll shoot these untill i run across some trophy bonded bear claws... I was just wander about how they perform on deer at a reasonable distance anyway.

In a .308, the Sierra Game King boattails will work just fine. Between my buddy Wayne and me, we have killed around forty or so whitetails with them. I have used them in my .30-06 (180 grain), my .257 Roberts (117 grain), and in Wayne's .308 he uses the 180 grain. For deer, they are fine medicine at moderate velocities. Where you might get into trouble with them is if you push them out of a magnum at above 3000 ft/second. At close range they will self-destruct on impact and become a bunch of little fragments if they hit bone. Used in your .308, the bullet will be potent deer medicine, and will be as accurate as your reloading can make any bullet. If you want to go elk or moose hunting, use a better bullet and maybe one of those high fangled magnums that aren't much use for deer at moderate range.

quote:

neck meat is all grind for me anyway.

Hey Fred, Thanks for the info. Same here about turning the Neck meat into burger.

An old Doe or Buck down here has a good bit more Neck meat when compared to what you can get off that same Deer's shoulder.

Sierra 150 & 165 SBT GameKings are fine deer and black bear killers out of my .308's and -06's. No bullet in that class will hold together striking solid bone.
My personal, and I emphasize personal, view is that those who have had poor results with these bullets have either attempted marginal shots, or placed the bullets poorly. They are some of the most accurate hunting bullets made today, but there is no magic that will make up for a poorly placed shot. Whether caused by overexcitement, poor marksmanship skills, or by attempting an ill-advised quartering or running shot, it is more likely in my experience to be operator error than bullet failure. If a hunter has neither the patience nor the maturity to recognize the limits of himself and of the bullet he is hunting with, and to wait for the shot consistant with those limitations, then he better face it and use a Nosler Partition, a Barnes X, or some other premium bullet. The fact is however, that the Sierra GameKings are more than adequate for deer sized game, and their inherent accuracy gives them an advantage over all other bullets in their class. There is not a bit of argument from any of the deer in my freezer.

"Federal??? Sierra Game King btsp". Does Federal own Sierra now? I must have slept through that one.

I only reload Sierra GK. Never lost an animal, never had a bullet "failure". More than forty-five years of serious hunting. I don't spend much time listening to ghost stories.

quote:

Originally posted by Kensco:
"Federal??? Sierra Game King btsp". Does Federal own Sierra now? I must have slept through that one.

I only reload Sierra GK. Never lost an animal, never had a bullet "failure". More than forty-five years of serious hunting. I don't spend much time listening to ghost stories.

Bullet Failure is an interesting topic that has been discussed many times here. The way that I see it is that if a bullet kills the intended game it did not fail. Bullets of different design do different things on entry whether it be lung shots or bone shots. I never lost a deer using Sierra HPBT but I don't use them any more because I like the Barnes TSX characteristics more and I am a reloader with lots of choices. Bullets don't fail but perform differently. My view anyway.

Kensco, Federal loads Sierra bullets in some of its loadings, I use their Federal "Classic" in my .338 with 225 gr Sierras and in my .375 H&H with 270 grain Sierras.
Many people have already stated the correct answer, the Gamekings in 165 in a .308 are great for deer size animals anywhere on the this continent. If going for Elk move up to a premium 180 grain bullet. With that said I've killed a lot of game ( Deer ELK Antelope Bighorn sheep and Mountain Goat ) with a Sierra 180 grain in my 30/06 ranges from 21 paces on the goat to 425 yards on a bull elk, all with exit wounds and all killed with one shot except an Elk that took 3 he just wouldn't fall down so I kept shooting him till he did, which is excellent advice on Elk "keep shooting till they are on the ground".

Well if i do ever hunt elk or bear. I still got my 30-06 with 180grn accubonds. Anything else though is a toss up between the .308 or my .270short mag

The otherday, I cooked a Venison Roast, from a Whitetail Deer taken in 2004 inKY. Well making a long story short, I remembered shooting this Deer > 100 yards. When I cut into a slice, I found a 130 grain Sierra bullet that I use to bag her. It had a very good "classic" mushroom shape. MAN!!! I am glad I found that bullet before bitting on it and breaking off a tooth or worse!!! Guess everyone should check to make sure all bullets are clear of any cut of Venison before "Chomping" down on a spent bullet!

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
Sierra bullets are for punching holes in paper or shooting varmints. That's all they're good for.

No, wait. Matchkings are for shooting elk. Locate one at 500 yards, step back to 800 yards, and fire. Then get out your posterboard and sharpie and get your hero's picture taken. Post on longrangehunter.com.

Warrior

Watch out guys Warrior is setting up to start a scrap with someone!

quote:

Originally posted by blackbearhunter:
I use Hornadys 165Gr.BTSP.I love my 308!

my bullet as well.
i punch mine out at 2550 MV and have no problems.
my buddy and i shot a couple of doe a few years back within seconds of each other. there were 6 on the field, i was proned out and he was kneeling about 12 feet behind me. I took a doe w/ my BTSP and she flopped. He took another doe w/ his MK and she ran 40 yards or so.
dead is dead, but i prefer the SP.

quote:

That bullet failed the minute it broke into a million pieces.

Several years ago I was hunting Bighorn sheep northeast of Gardiner, MT in the AB Winderness. It was a solo DIY backpack hunt in early September. I was hunting with my .257 AI with 117 gr Sierra spitzers that leave the muzzle at 3000 fps.

The third morning I was working my way up a ridge to where I hoped the sheep would be when a bull elk bugled less than 100 yds from me. I crouched down behind a tree and waited. I first saw the white tips then the dark brown antlers of a 6-pt 330 net B&C bull walking parallel to me up the ridge.

He stopped about 70 yds from me and bugled again. Enough of sheep hunting, I put a 117 gr Sierra in the crease behind the bull's front leg, and he dropped where he stood. When I dressed him out I found that the bullet had exploded when it hit a rib going in and it completely shredded the lungs. The bullet did not cut the rib cavity on the off side.

At what point did this bullet fail?

quote:

Sierra bullets are for punching holes in paper or shooting varmints. That's all they're good for.

Dreaming, just dreaming. Sierra's have cleanly taken every game animal in the U.S. and then some.

Of course a bullet impacting the neck bones of an elk will break up. That type of impact will even wreck many premiums.

The Sierra GameKings & ProHunter are terrific bullets in standard cartridges and, like some have noted, generally give match-grade accuracy in addition to excellent game-dropping performance. No bullet is perfect, and I do not use one brand or style exclusively. But Sierras have always worked well for me.

Below is a picture of a buck that I took a few years ago using a 20" 7mm Bullberry Contender carbine. The bullet: the Sierra 130 grain Pro Hunter SSP. MV: 2505 fps. The shot was at 108 yards as the buck faced me at a slight angle. From frontal chest to rear ham, it penetrated exceedingly well and did plenty of damage along the way. I'd have to go look to verify for certain, but the retained weight was something like 114 grains.

+1 Bobby,

I think it’s an urban myth that game kings don't kill, cause in the country where I hunt they kill stuff DRT

I also do not exclusively shoot Sierra bullets. Here are a few of the different types of bullets I reload.


Barnes x, XLC, Triple Shock, Tipped triple shock
Berger MEF's & VLD's
Hornady, V-max, A-max, Interlocks, Interbonds, SST's,
Nosler accubonds, ballistic tips, partitions
Sierra flat base spitzers, hollow point boat tails, blitz kings,
Speer Hot Cor, grand slam, tnt’s etc

I tag out every year on white-tails. I kill coyotes, foxes, coons and other varmints, shoot exotics, audad and feral sheep, and hogs by the truckload.
When I try for a triple on hogs, I use a 300 gr. Game King in my 375 H&H.
I also reload for my son and two of my buds, I’ve not heard them complain about the game kings in their rifles.
I have a winchester super grade in 300 wsm that has never had anything but a sierra 150 gr. spitzer shot through it since the guncrank I purchased it from sold me the rifle and gave me a box of 20 of his reloads. I shot two of these rounds into one little bitty spot on paper to check zero, and made 18 one shot kills on hogs turkey and deer between 120 and 250 yds before I rolled another 20 just like ‘em. Not one of these animals that were shot with these rounds took another step. They were DRT. (In fact when I asked a couple of them if they minded being shot with an economical bullet, they didn’t say a word.) I think I'm up to 30, one shot kills with this rifle.
My preference has always been for a bullet to pass through so I will have a blood trail to follow if I need to track. However, I have come to the conclusion that if the animal is DRT, you don’t really need a pass through.
GWB

Geedubya-

Your selection of brands looks much like my shelf. I used to have more Speer boxes mixed in, but since the quality went downhill a few years ago, I hardly shoot them at all anymore.

Despite a slight crosswind, I did some shooting this evening, and a TC Encore with a 28" Pro Hunter barrel has been treating me well lately. When I looked through the spotter, I could only see 2 holes and was puzzled. When I walked downrange, I looked behind into the next layers of cardboard & plywood, and I could see that there were actually two bullets through the lower hole. Looking closer at the target, I could see a tiny bit of feathering to uphold this.

The group was recorded with a plain-Jane, 150 grain Sierra Pro Hunter (flat-based) spitzer. It's the best group I've fired with this rig, but there have been a number of other impressive ones. And most have been with the Sierra...

Sierra gamekings work fine. To me the 165 grain bullets are perfect for the 308 but like a coupl eof others have said, my favorite is the Hornady 165 grain BTSP interlocks. I've been shooting them for over 27 years and have never had one fail to exit. I sure would like to find one for one of those trophy bullet pictures.

I'm not a one brand guy either, I use what works the best in each of my rifles.

10/4 Mr. Tomek. I read you loud and clear.

I just went into the bedroom and leafing through one of my loadbooks I took three pix of some fairly good groups using sierra spitzers in factory rifles. All were shot at 100 yds. I am a hunter, not a target guy, so all my load development is for use in hunting game or varmints.

Ruger hawkeye, 358 winchester, stainless synthetic, dead stock,


Weatherby super varmint master in 308, dead stock except for trigger job


Remington 700 sendero sfII, in 264 win mag, dead stock except for trigger job


GWB

Nothing quite like trudging up a 2 and a half year old post .

Ken....

The Sierra GameKing was a killer in my experience, the 165 grainer, of course. Killed my first Texas Whitetail with my .30-06 FN Browning in 1983 with that bullet, and the main thing about it was that the bullet was too destructive. At a hundred yards it flipped the little deer end for end and all but field dressed it. I've seen other hunters (handloaders) getting the same performance year after year. I don't think you can get much better .30 cal performance, especially when you can load essentially the same handload as .30-06 Match Ball with that bullet for top accuracy. If you like the .30-06 (or .308) I doubt if there is a better deer bullet, although the Core Lokt is a strong competitor.

(No, I did not use a Sierra for the Kudu!)

quote:

Originally posted by Critter_Killer:
I got a ruger m77 allweather .308 for my 17th B-day. Figured i try some of those bullets. How do they work for deer? .308win 165grn gameking.

my opinion is that 150 grains would be more adequate, but having said that, there is nothing at all wrong with the 165 grain gameking in a .308. i've used these and found results to show accuracy and great performance on game.

I would suspect with proper shot placement they will do just fine.
Without such they will do no better than any other bullet.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
Of course a bullet impacting the neck bones of an elk will break up. That type of impact will even wreck many premiums.

The Sierra GameKings & ProHunter are terrific bullets in standard cartridges and, like some have noted, generally give match-grade accuracy in addition to excellent game-dropping performance. No bullet is perfect, and I do not use one brand or style exclusively. But Sierras have always worked well for me.

Below is a picture of a buck that I took a few years ago using a 20" 7mm Bullberry Contender carbine. The bullet: the Sierra 130 grain Pro Hunter SSP. MV: 2505 fps. The shot was at 108 yards as the buck faced me at a slight angle. From frontal chest to rear ham, it penetrated exceedingly well and did plenty of damage along the way. I'd have to go look to verify for certain, but the retained weight was something like 114 grains.

Bobby,
i see you removed the ear tag before the picture.