Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 100gr SGK in 240 Weatherby?

The 85gr SGK gets a lot of well-deserved praise around here but I hear very little about the 100gr version. I have a good load worked up with the 85gr and it worked well on a large doe last year at 355yds. However, looking at a ballistics table, 350yds is about where the 85gr starts losing steam quickly due to the low BC, even when starting at 3490fps. I have plenty of other rifles to use at shorter ranges and would really like to use this one over fields where 400yd+ shots wouldn't be uncommon, and shots under 200yds would be. With my 10 twist barrel, the high BC target type hunting bullets are out of the question but the 100gr SGK is supposed to work. At .430, the BC is respectable for a general hunting bullet. The ballistics on it at 3300fps look to give me at least a couple hundred yds more effective range. I know it might be prone to explosiveness at close range at that speed, but I don't expect to be taking sub-200yd shoots with this particular rifle.

I'm thinking about using the 85gr as a long range coyote load and working up one with the 100gr for long range doe culling.

Any opinions on this bullet in general?

I have shot a few roe deer and a chamois with both the PH and the GK Sierras in 100gr in the almost identical 6X62R Freres, and have found them to be a solid performer.

I got pass through most of the time, with the occasional one staying inside.

Always a lot of internal damage... a dramatic killer, indeed.

TATE I shot deer with 100 grain in my various 6's when I had them.. They did fine.. I never had a .240, but my African hunting pal did.. He killed quite a few head of game here in the U. S. with his .240 and 100 g. Sierra's.. Seemed to work fine for him.
I have used lots of 100's in my .25-06.. They do a good job.. For my use, at longer ranges, I like a bit more caliber and bullet wt.. But if it works fine..

Glad to hear some good reports. I like the little 85gr but I figure with all that powder capacity, I might as well shoot a heavier bullet. I've got some 95 NBTs I plan to try also, but the BC on the 100gr GK is much better.

The 240wby paired with a 100gr Sierra has caused many a sad night.

Two of the bigger bucks ever seen at the place we hunt in Colorado got away using this combo. I was behind the trigger on the last buck...I still have nightmares.

The 240wby is a hard gun to find a bullet for. I've settled on the 80gr TTSX or 85gr TSX, and to be perfectly honest I find the 240wby a more suitable antelope rifle than big mule deer. Shots within 100yds, the bullets are traveling so fast they usually don't open up, piercing through like a needle... Many guys have had good success with the 100gr partition. I would stay clear of the 100gr Sierra paired with the 240wby. Now the .243win, thats a different story.

If I had any intention of using this rifle as close range gun, I'd probably stay away from CnC bullets altogether. I do have some 85TSX that may get their turn in it eventually. However, for the time being I plan on using this rifle to shoot does over bean fields where shots of 200yds+ are more the norm. The ballistics on the Sierra out of the 240 show the bullet slowing to about 2800fps at that range, so I figure they should perform as intended.

I have killed dozens of caribou with the semi-pointed version of the 100 Pro-Hunter via a M788 6mm. I think I recovered a single one, or parts of one anyway. None of those bullets remotely failed to do the job swiftly and humanely. A better bullet, if you need one, is the 95 Partition - or the 100 NPT if it shoots for you.

It works very well.
I loaded 55gn H 4831 for 3327fps
55gn of Rel 19 gave me 3464fps but was a MAX load
53gn of Rel 22 chronographed 3382fps.

My Weatherby was and original full sized 9 lug action with 26" barrel.
John

Have you thought logically about this?

I got a good deal of experience with a 6/284. Not a whole lot of difference. I think you would do better with a premium bullet. Hasbeen

Not everyone dresses their own deer.

If higher velocity restricted bullets from opening, the gun magazine industry would have died on the vine.

I have used the Sierra Pro-hunter 100 grain in a .243, but at close range, which would emulate your .257 at longer ranges, and I was not really happy with the bullet.

I like for a bullet to exit, and be able to penetrate far enough that if the angle of the shot calls for it, I can break the off-shoulder. The Pro-Hunter has not been able to do this.

The insides looked like a bomb had went off in there, but unless I broke bones, I'd have a runner on my hands. That's OK if there were an exit, which tends to leak rather well, but a non-leaky runner can be fun to find in the thicker stuff. I hadn't lost any, but decided to stop using them anyway.

Runners have been rare since I started using the TSX/TTSX bullets, I can usually reach bone with no problem, even at a bad angle. Ideally, I take out both sides, but that doesn't always happen. And, the TTSX has proven to be just as accurate as the Sierra

No offense but this is the most ridiculous argument in the ballistics panorama.

Spot on Fotis. This is simply not true and unfortunaty often requoted. Most common error made due to nimrods making a false judgement based on the size of an exit wound.
John

TATELAW-

I've used both the Sierra's in question from my .243 Win. On close shots, the 85 gr HPBT Game King was a bomb, coming apart when it struck a rib on an average sized doe at close range, about 15 yds. Using them at longer distances would make me feel better about their performance on deer. I like this bullet and have several boxes of them on my shelf, but it's not very tough. Of course, with the experience you already have with them, you're probably well aware of their limitations.

I've also used the 100 gr. Sierra Game King from both factory ammo (Winchester Supreme from the early 90's) and as a handloaded bullet and it worked pretty well from my .243 Win. The only time I had anything resembling a failure with it was completely my fault. I was in an elevated blind and had an average sized buck come in on the heels of a hot doe. I was lined up on the crease behind his shoulder and squeezing the trigger when he started to whirl due to the doe moving. The 100 gr. SPBT Sierra hit him on top of his rump, shattering a big part of the pelvic bone and putting him down where a finishing shot closed his eyes for good.

That bullet practically disintegrated and aside from some tiny fragments, there was nothing left of the bullet. Penetration was shallow, basically creating a large, but shallow void on top of one hindquarter, next to the spine. The shock to his CNS likely put him down, but I would bet that given time, he would have tried to drag himself off.

Every other episode I can remember with the 100 gr. Game King was routine with shoulder or behind shoulder shots resulting in full penetration and I don't believe I ever shot a deer with this bullet more than 150 yards and most of them were probably only 50 yds.

I've used a one-in-ten 6MM-06 on about everything but Elk over the last 20+ years. It's my favorite, but it needs tough, premium bullets to assure good penetration and fend off blow-ups.

Also, using bullets of less than 100 grains kinda begins to defeat the purpose of all that case capacity. I do use 70 grain Ballistic Tips on Coyotes now and then, but I'm losing some of my edge over a .243 every time I go to lighter bullets. My rifle shines with 100 grain loads on medium sized (Deer-type) game.