Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Sierra Gameking HPBT bullets

I have never shot anything with a Sierra bullet and would like to give them a try. I am looking at trying the 130 gr HPBT in 260 Rem, the 140 gr HPBT in 270 Win and 165 gr HPBT in a 308 Norma Mag.

I'm looking for people who have actually used them to comment not those who just want to bash but never have tried them. Would love to hear the good and bad and also if you would use other Sierra bullets instead of similar weight in all 3 rounds.

I used some on pigs in my father's 308 Norma coincidentally and they worked very well. These were the 165g versions you mention.

Apart from being very accurate which I have found just about every Sierra I've used to be, they worked well on the pigs. Usually clean pass throughs. Dead pigs.

They certainly seemed a good deal tougher than the 150g soft points we used at other times.

We weren't using a chrony at the time but I feel the MV would have been pretty mild, maybe 3000fps.

Hope that's of interest.

I've used the 85 grain .243" and 90 grain .257" Sierra HPBTs to shoot whitetails, but stopped using them when I had four failures. The bullets disintegrated on contact and didn't penetrate through the rib cage and into the pleural cavity. Now, I only shoot Sierra bullets at paper and varmints, if I don't care about the fur.

The larger ones are designed as game bullets, and IME the 165 HPBT out of a 308 is pretty good.

I've shot four fallow deer with the .260 cal 130 grainers at about 2800fps muzzle velocity.
First was slighty quartering on at about sixty metres. Entered the onside scapula angling towards rear ribs on the offside. Didn't exit. Deer ran about twenty metres.
Second was broadside at about eighty metres shot low through shoulders breaking both knuckle joints and exited. Went nowhere obviously.
Third was pretty much as per the first but exited. Deer went nowhere again.
Fourth was a good size buck broadside at ten metres. Shot low through onside shoulder, was a two rib wide hole into the chest cavity and through the heart. Didn't make it to offside ribs.
So some mixed results there but four very dead deer.

I've shot my share of the 140's in a 270. We're always very accurate, expanded well and never caught 1.

Roy

Have used them 120gr 25 cal, 140 in 270, 160 in 7 mag and the 165s in 308, 30/06, 300WSM, 300 Win Mag and 300 Rum. they all killed hogs and whitetails without a problem. Had a friend use them on elk out of his 30/06. They are one of my go to bullets.Rick.

I've shot a bunch of deer with the .30 cal 165 in both a .308 and a .30-06, no complaints from either myself or the deer.

I don't blame you for giving up, I gave up on hollow point bullets for big game back in 90 or 91 for the same reason. This is what's left of a 257, 120 grain Hornady hollow point that blew up on impact at 175 yards on a deer out of a 25.06.











I now either use 117 pro hunters or 115 BT's

My experience (257 120s, 270 140s, and 30 165s) is very positive. Impressive accuracy, and excellent terminal performance on deer and hogs.

There are other parameters that have much more bearing on terminal performance than whether a bullet has a hollow point or not. Sierra's HPBTs are significantly "tougher" than their SPBTs or PHs, at least for those weighing more than 100gr.

I have suggested the .308 165 HPBT many times. Always accurate I have never not had a pass thru and they kill quick.

The 90 grain Sierra HPBT is an interesting bullet that intially peaked the interest of myself and some others back in the early 1970's. Some of the Savage 99 1-14" ROT 250-3000 rifles we were using would stablize the 100 grain Speer SP so perhaps the 90 grainer would work and they did with one exception.

Accuracy was excellent and we went forth to slay Whitetails with them and results were unacceptable. A couple of guys called Sierra with their experince and were told to slow the bullet down to 2800 fps. In some cases accuracy improved, however some were still experiencing poor put down results. We all lost confidence in the bullet.

Sierra still advocates the bullet on big game. See below...


.25 CALIBER (.257) 90 GR. HPBT
The 90 grain #1615 Hollow Point Boat Tail bullet was designed originally as a varmint bullet, but it has taken on an expanded role. This bullet is extremely accurate at all velocity levels, making it suitable for the entire range of 25 caliber cartridges. It will perform as a varmint bullet at high velocities, but it may also be used on medium game from smaller-capacity cartridges, such as the 250-3000 Savage and 257 Roberts.

Today, I use the bullet in a 99 250-3000 1-10" ROT that I carry in my various vehicles for popping varmints. Also, when a .257 caliber rifle comes through my hands I use it to test for accuracy. If the rifle does not shoot with the bullet, I know to start making changes to the rifle.

I have never used the 6.5 bullet you have a question about, but I have used the .270 with 140 gr. HPBT.. So far I have shot mule deer, whitetails, antelope, hogs, and coyotes with it. At present it is my favorite bullet in the .270.

I have also used the 160 HPBT in a 7mm Wea. It has been used on the same game except hogs, but it has also taken elk and moose..The moose did require a second shot, the first was a frontal shot, it dropped the animal, but it got up and took a couple steps and stopped.. A second behind the shoulder dropped it on the spot..

As for the 165 HPBT, I used it on black bear and deer in an 06 with good to excellent results..

It (the 165) was my primary bullet in my old .300 wm for many years starting in about 1971 til the present.. The list of game is long, starting with "chucks, coyotes, antelope, whitetails, mulies, caribou, axis, moose and many elk.. I usually buy these 500 at a clip.. It is not for breaking large bones, but I have shot though both sides of an elk with a lung shot.. Over the years it has probably taken more game for me than any other single bullet in the .300.. Placement is the key.. A deadly bullet for my use..

Thanks for the replies, I like what I am hearing about the heavier versions of these bullets. I do have plans to try all three eventually but am really looking forward to trying the 130 gr 6.5mm and 140 gr .277 this fall for deer. The 165 gr HPBT in the 308 Norma would make a really good all around load and also be cheap to shoot, plan on having a heavier bullet in that gun as well for situations where the Sierra might be marginal although from the above post that might not even be necessary.

Punched the front axle on a big bull caribou last fall with a 165 out of an 06. It shed a little weight, we found some fragments while boning the fronts, but exited and did mucho damage in the chest cavity. Bull went down like he'd been poleaxed. I'm liking sierras more and more for "soft" game, they're cheap, accurate, and seem to perform pretty good though they will shed some weight.

I haven't loaded any of the 140 .277s yet but my wife has had good luck with the 150 .277 Gameking loaded to around 2800fps.

I've used the 85 gr. .243 and 165 gr. .30 caliber Sierra HPBT bullets a bunch over the years. Killed a bunch of whitetails with both bullets from the .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester & .30-06. Two years ago I had the first unusual experience with a 165 gr. HPBT fired from a 20" barreled .308 at about 2,600 fps muzzle velocity. I shot a broadside 100 pound doe whitetail on an antlerless managed hunt from about 60 yards, right through the upper "armpit." Just barely above and at the back edge from the bend of the leg there. She reacted normally for a heart shot deer, jack knifed then mule kicked and hauled butt. On the follow up I realized she was running a bit far and the blood trail wasn't very good. There was about 10" of snow so tracking wasn't a problem but there was very little blood on the snow and on dry ground in heavy cover the trail would have been pretty tough to sort out. That bullet really tears things up inside and this was not what I was used to seeing. Deer ran about 150 yards and when examined the exit hole was 1 1/2"... but a large chunk of lung had sealed that exit like a spongy plug! When skinned I found the complete Sierra jacket fully expanded on the inside of the rib cage. The core had made a huge exit so no real big deal but I've never found the complete jacket like that before.

The whole thing was interesting... Under different tracking conditions and in thick cover with an inexperienced hunter that deer might not have been found. I could see how in those circumstances the bullet could get blamed for something totally not its fault. Because if the hunter didn't find the deer and was confident of the shot they wouldn't know that big chunk of lung blocked the exit hole so effectively. Gonna blame something, right?

I had a similar thing happen a few years back but, no snow and the buck wasn't recovered in time. I was using Hornady 154's out of my 7x57. First deer I ever loas and now I aim for the shoulder.

I tried Sierra bullet's on game years ago, then they did way to much damage for me. A 140gr spitzer from a 7mm mag blew up just under the skin on a bear. A deer shot with one from a 7x57 was turned to a deer skin bag of jelly. I've never used them hunting again but I've read the new hunter bullet, well new to me, does well. I've never fired a HP of anykind at an animal but do use match kings on target's. From my 6.5x06 and 25-06 they are super accurate. As a hunting bullet, I prefer fairly heavy for caliber spitzer cup and core bullet's. HP bullet's on game couldd tend to be erratic in how they preform. If the tip close's, it pretty much turn's to a solid. I shot some SMK's from a 308 years ago into piled newspaper at 100yds. As I recall I fired five and the tip closed on every one of them. Winchester went to a plastic tip on their combined tech bullet to insure expansion. Wasn't long after that all the monolithic hunting bullet's had the plastic tip.

Have you compared the hollow points of a 168 SMK and a 165 BTHP GK? There's quite a difference.

Not sure as much about rifle bullet terminal ballistics but when discussing handgun bullets a hollow point performs differently when shot into a hard barrier than when shot into a fluid tissue simulate material. Good defensive/duty handgun hollow points will fully expand on tissue but not do so on hard barriers and will penetrate much like a FMJ. Could be rifle bullets do the same?