I find that to be a remarkably short sided business approach. I do find Sierra Matchkings fly well. However, I also found that 215 Gamekings don't open (at all) at reasonable speeds and Sierras engineering was rather lacking in that example.
P,
What cartridge, impact velocity and game etc have you been shooting when using the 215 SGKs that weren't opening?
I'm assuming you're talking about the .338 cal version?
Could be the 215 was designed for 338 Win Mag speeds since that's clearly a far more popular 338 than the Federal. I don't see that as a failure of Sierra engineering. Increased speed and rpm's still count with some designs.
I emailed Sierra and that is exactly what they said, that it was a stout bullet designed for the 338 Win Mag. But I was shooting out of a 338-06, 2600-2700 impact velocity, so that's not that far down range with the WM. And I tried more than one.
I do like other Sierras, and if they made a .338 Gameking or Pro Hunter in the 180-200 range I'd definitely give it a good tryout.
Edit: My comment about their business plan was meant to get at the idea that it seemingly lacks innovation. That they choose not to innovate. Maybe they won't make a bonded bullet, but they ought to look for ways to build a better mouse trap. Looking at the target bullets, I can't imagine they are growing their share of the market with Lapua, Berger, and now Hornady ELD-Ms on the market. I used to use the 175 SMK as the baseline for my 308 loading, and will still use Federal GMM to test, but I now have more confidence in starting with a 155 Scenar for handloads. At the end of the day they make good bullets, just lack any wow factor, or filling a niche, right now giving me a reason to try them over others.
