hunter338

Has anyone on here had any trouble with the 180 Gr. Gamekings shedding their jackets?

I went on a hunt the otherday and I was useing my 300 Win. Mag loaded with the 180 gr. Sierra Gamekings. I put two rounds in a Oryx ( Shoulder Shot) and ended up haveing to use my 338 RUM to put the animal down with a third shot.

While capeing the animal I found the two 300 rounds in the vital area , but they were just the jackets.

I have never had any trouble with other bullets shedding their jackets before this.
I was just woundering if this was a common problem with the Gamekings, Or if this is a fluke with the box of bullets that I have?

Thanks for any info that you might be able to help me with.
hunter338

handloader1

I would not use Sierra bullets for anything tougher than medium game. Sierra's are a very accurate bullet, but do not have enough integrity for big heavy game. Good luck.

HighDesertWolf

never knew anyone who carried 2 rifles while hunting, the weight of one rifle is enough to lug around............unless you were hunting from your vehicle???? that portion of your post seemed odd to me.....

which gamekings were you using?? the BTSP or the BTHP? and what range were your shots at???

I think on a Oryx especially with a shoulder shot, I would have used either a nosler partition or a trophy bonded bear claw.....

Sierra gamekings are good bullets just not controlled expansion bullets likes partitions or TB bear claws are. The only animals I would use gameking bullets on wether it be the BTSP or BTHP, would be large midwestern deer or smaller. think of the gamekings as high quality winchester power point, Ive never experienced jacket seperation with gamekings yet but have with core lokts at close range and power points at longer shots and close shots.

hunter338

No I wasnt hunting from my truck.

We were horseback, ( A friend and myself) he was useing the 338 RUM. I was useing the 300 Win. Mag.

I loaded the BTSP bullets, the range was around 150 yards. This was the first time that I have tried the bullets. A friend of mine has praised these bullets for years, so I gave them a try.

I normally use a Swift A-Frame out of both the 300 and the 338. Which I ended up useing to put the animal down with.

You are right in the saying that they are very accurate. But Not enough bullet for this type of game.

Thanks
hunter338

oldelkhunter

Lately Sierra has been putting out ads in some of the magazines touting their accuracy and retention weight. They are comparing themselves with some of the bonded bullets or premium bullets in their charts. I think it is BS. I have heard good things of the 338 game king 250 grain bullet I think the Jacket is a little light in the smaller calibers. Had that Oryx been at 350 yards you probably wouldn't have noticed a problem. I would say A Frames are the best big game bullet out there without hesitation.

bigcountry

I can see that happening with an animal like that. I love Sierra for Deer, prong, varmiting, but won't use em in my 300RUM for moose and wouldn't for elk. I have seen them come apart in deer with a quartering to me shoulder shot. Deer fell like a hammer. I am kinda thinking a accubond or scirroco would have done the same thing with a shoulder shot. Maybe not shed its jacket but mushroomed out to a pancake. The A-Frame, Barnes, TBBC, failsafe, and partition I believe would have did the job at hand better.

I was talking to Paul Box the other day suggesting a bonded bullet. He's a Sierra Tech guy. Nice guy. He went on giving me that whole talk about they wanted to see if they were missing something with new bonded bullets and all, so they did that tests that they advertise, and found out it was all hype. I believe it in comparing the bullets they did, like the accubond and the tests they did. But you know the outcome to a A-Frame or even partition. Not sure if they did a partition. But their tests wasn't realistic. This whole wet paper crap, just isn't enough. Put shoulder bone in there. Put some fure on it. Why not spend the funds and do the test on a real medium, like cattle.

Then you would see who does what.

I will continue to use them on deer. But over that, barnes the bullet for me.

oldelkhunter

Yep if you talk to any Sierra Tech guy they swear their bullets are the greatest bullets ever designed. They are high quality that is for sure but I would be reluctant to use them in Magnums unless 338 and above.

elkaddict

I used the 250g gamekings in 338 about 10 years ago and was so disappointed, I have not used them since. I had a load with muzzle velocity of 2800fps that regularly shot into .75 moa. Although very accurate, the performance was incosistent. I shot a cow elk through the lungs and the bullet did not look like it opened up at all. Exit wound was just about dime sized, as was the hole through the lungs. Damn thing ran 250 yards. I'd of been in real trouble had there not been snow on the ground. Any partition in 33 would have left a racquet ball sized exit wound, and the animal would have not gone more than 30 yds in my experience. As I recall, I also had expansion problems on a big mule deer buck shot through the shoulders with the same bullet. I called Sierra and was informed that they had a batch of bullets that were a little hard! The reputation of the lesser weight/size gamekings is as a soft bullet--something that's not helpful for large big game or magnum velocities. Unfortunately, my experience with the 250 was they were far too hard--like shooting fmj. I would love to see sierra perfect a bonded bullet--Sierra accuracy with controlled expansion would be a real winner for everyone!

oldelkhunter

Elkaddict..hmm now your making me wonder about the 338 Gk's. Maybe there was a batch that wasn't up to snuff during that time period. I pretty much thought that any 338 bullet 200 grains and above was an Elk bullet. Still one experience like that could make one turn off on a particular brand and understandingly so. I feel the same way towards Hornady 7mm 162 grain BT's l

Whitehorn

Yep, a few years back I shot a whitetail with a 270, 150 grain Sierre Game King Premium Federal. It was a clean shot but the deer still ran at lest 300 yards in an open field, when dressing it there was adequate damage to the heart and lungs but we found the copper casing in the skin at the small exit would and no lead and it looked like it mushroomed funny to one side.

After that I switched to Winchester Supreme Partition Gold's in a 150 and out of a handful of animals I only recovered one bullet and it shroomed perfectly however the bullet lost the rear lead core. That 5x6 elk took 7 steps after that one shot and went to ground. I was impressed with what the partition did.

My buddy and I are now going to load up 140 Barnes X triple shocks, my first reloading experience but he's done it for 16 years.. Look forward to next fall.