No exit wound, Sierra Game Kings

[memtb]

I'm not surprised!!! My "only" experiences were with 300 grains from a .375 H&H, in the late '80's. Of the 3 animals I shot, 2 recovered, I failed to get an exit wound. One was an average sized mule deer, shot broadside, just behind the ribs. The other, a decent black bear, again broadside, behind the shoulder. No bone hit, no exit wound....an empty jacket found against the ribs on off side. The third, an elk, was "not" recovered. When testing against bullets of that time....the Sierra's failed miserably, while others performed as expected! I've never used them since!

After my Sierra failures, I went to Hornady interlock's (270 grain, .375)and was very happy...great accuracy and good bullet performance. Until...I got a modified (AI) 375 with about 200 to 250 fps higher muzzle velocity. The bullets were dramatically opening (large frontal area), and shedding 35%+ weight. With this happening, penetration suffered.....a behind the shoulder shot on a spike bull elk, failed to exit. This was the early '90's. I was told of the new (then) Barnes X bullet. On my first elk hunt,with my new bullet, I "full-lengthed" a mature bull elk. Three hide penetrations, some major bone destroyed....with the recovered bullet weighing approximately 95% of it's original weight. I used Barnes ever since, only changing bullets, as Barnes technology improved. memtb

 

[mtgianni]

I have had good luck with Hornaday Interlocks for deer, antelope and elk. The only failure to exit from 280, 308 and 30-06 was a 165 gr Barnes X that penetrated 63" of moose while loosing one petal. I like Sierra as a target bullet but have never used them as a game bullet.

 

[Nevada Ed]

If you push a normal bullet too fast it will blow up or disintegrate..........
Even a fast 60gr Nosler22/250 will do better at 200-300yards, after it has slowed down on Antelope and small deer.

Most quality bullets will mushroom at half of their MV and kill game.
Look at the old 30/40 Krag or the little 30-30 Winchester rounds.
They were not "Magnums" but have killed tons of deer from the
time they were invented to the 1950's, where we were brain washed that faster was better.

A 165gr 30-06 at 2960fps is a good factory load but it will also kill 283 pound mule deer at just 2530fps at 200 yards, if placed right.

My 270 140gr slams deer in their track at 100 yards only doing
2710fps vs a full load doing 2978fps that waste a lot of meat.

True some bullets are better than others but I just don't think
that a 100% load is needed for deer, inside of 275 yards, with
a .30 cal. bullet, over 150 grs.

 

[beagleye]

Great posts, great information. Thanks to all!

 

[memtb]

If you push a normal bullet too fast it will blow up or disintegrate..........
Even a fast 60gr Nosler22/250 will do better at 200-300yards, after it has slowed down on Antelope and small deer.

Most quality bullets will mushroom at half of their MV and kill game.
Look at the old 30/40 Krag or the little 30-30 Winchester rounds.
They were not "Magnums" but have killed tons of deer from the
time they were invented to the 1950's, where we were brain washed that faster was better.

A 165gr 30-06 at 2960fps is a good factory load but it will also kill 283 pound mule deer at just 2530fps at 200 yards, if placed right.

My 270 140gr slams deer in their track at 100 yards only doing
2710fps vs a full load doing 2978fps that waste a lot of meat.

True some bullets are better than others but I just don't think
that a 100% load is needed for deer, inside of 275 yards, with
a .30 cal. bullet, over 150 grs.

Very true! My "HUGE" disappointment with the Sierra Gameking BT was that....a .375 cal., 300 grain bullet, potentially to be used on dangerous game, completely "disintegrated" at impact velocities below 2600 fps on a deer and an slightly larger than average black bear!!! 30 years later....I'm still in utter disbelief! memtb

 

[nachogrande]

STICKING WITH SIERRA

When loading hunting bullets & the options are not too far apart $ wise & one's called the "PRO HUNTER", you chose the hollow point??? Just guessing if your shots were > 200 yards MAYBE you would have had an exit???

 

[SMSgt]

I'm trying to wrap my head around hunting mule deer with a .375 H&H. That must be some really tough deer. I can't imagine what he'd used on an elephant.

 

[nachogrande]

THE HIGH SHOULDER SHOT

I used to use the Sierra 165gr. SPBT, but found that it damaged too much meat. They obviously fragged because I would get multiple exit holes.

Switched to Nosler Ballistic Tips and found that they were also a bit fragile, but they seemed to hold together better. For the past ten or so years every animal shot has been with Nosler Accubonds. The meat loss seems minimal and the animals didn't really seem to go any farther with lung shots.

For he past three years I've been forced to change my hunting practices due to health. The last couple of deer taken have been with high shoulder shots since I can no longer do any tracking. You lose a bit of backstrap, but the deer are dead before they hit the ground.

In MY exp with the high shoulder shot, (140 gr 7mm08) they do not go ANYWHERE but it might take 10ish seconds to die from shock/blood loss???. I may be hitting a bit closer to the shoulder than the spine to avoid the backstrap. Nosler accubonds seem like the love child of the partition & ballistic tip. I've only shot them at paper & golf balls at 100 yards. They kill the heck out of golf balls.

 

[memtb]

I'm trying to wrap my head around hunting mule deer with a .375 H&H. That must be some really tough deer. I can't imagine what he'd used on an elephant.

He's right here, and can hear you! I have since retired it, and went to something with a little more velocity...though the same caliber.

I've hunted with one caliber since the early '80's, and the same rifle and caliber (.375 AI) since '90. I believe in using one rifle for all big game. I use this rifle a lot, and am confident that I am prepared for most anything from Alaska to Africa. It occasionally makes a coyote hunt.....and is pretty effective within my coyote range (around 300 yards, from sticks). I'm a firm believer, that if, you use one rifle exclusively.....you'll likely be pretty good with that rifle!

It's pretty likely, that you may frown upon my wife's "only" hunting rifle, also. Same philosophy, slightly different caliber! memtb

 

[Nevada Ed]

It's pretty likely, that you may frown upon my wife's "only" hunting rifle, also. Same philosophy, slightly different caliber! memtb

If she shoots anything from a "Roberts" to a 8mm...........

I think things are groovy.

 

[memtb]

. No Ed....next step up! . A .338 Win. Mag.! Barnes, 225 TTSX's at 2950. It's worked well, for her, since the mid'90's! memtb​

 

[paplinker]

I've taken no less then 30 deer with the same bullet out of a .308 they don't always have a large exit wound. What I have found is that if you keep the shot slightly behind the shoulder were the bullet is only hitting ribs it will have a very large exit. But either way the bullet does such massive damage the deer won't go far. personally I've never found a better bullet on medium size game.
P.S. my bullets chronograph at about 2650 FPS.

I have used the sierra Game King 165 grain BTSP in 30.06 for roughly twenty years now. This round has never let me down.

I shoot just behind the shoulder blade hitting ribs only and easily 98% have dropped in their tracks. Including this years buck. I normally see 2 broken ribs on the exit wound. Of course you don't always have the luxury of that shot. I do not get through shots on a shoulder hit deer and have found the shell at times.

I am curious about the nosler and HP rounds but am not ready to experiment if i am have great results already.

 

[SMSgt]

Since we're discussing various bullet brands, I'll pass on a bit of my experience.

In AK I had use of a 300+ yard range. I bought some Nosler 150-grain ballistic tips to try in my -06. At 100 yards, hitting a dime all day was a piece of cake. Nice! At 200 yards, a quarter didn't stand a chance. Really nice. At 300 yards however, I could barely keep them on the target. Somewhere after 200 yards they were becoming unstable, and neither my -06 or I was going to like them. They would have been great under-200-yards deer loads, but not much more.

I went back to my Sierra bullets that pegged tennis balls at 300 yards and never looked back.

 

[jaymoore]

6,5 Creedmoor exit on a deer at 175yds. Hornady bullet, i think. kdiver58 did the deed last week. What surprised me was that the entrance wound was thumb sized. Broke ribs both sides, but the lungs weren't as damaged as I'm used to with my usual .223 hits.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Jaymoore;

was that deer up in a tree above you ?
That shot looked like it came real close to some "Prime meat".......

Whoa, baby.

 

[jaymoore]

Jaymoore;

was that deer up in a tree above you ?
That shot looked like it came real close to some "Prime meat".......

Whoa, baby.

kdiver58's deer. It did range forward a bit versus the entrance, but at 175yds, small angles are hard to detect...
Slight elevation change downwards, i think, but no sign of such in the wounds.
I was off to the east about 100yds in medium brush when he took the shot in an open area.

Nice blood trail, which went about 75yds. But I found the deer first and tracked it back to the impact site. Never have i seen so much hair removed by an exiting bullet! Should have taken a photo of the "barber shop".