Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Varmint bullet for thin skin big game ?

Sierra 63gr. is listed as a varmint bullet.

55gr. SBT is listed as a game bullet , anybody shoot deerlopes or small hogs with the 55gr bullet ?

Didn't want to ask questions in the other thread .

MIke

mike, when game was thick in several states I hunted, I shot many head with 63 gr. Sierra, 55 gr. Sierra HPBT, and 55 gr. Horn..

I wasn't trophy hunting and in most cases was only shooting meat.. At that time I only had a probably three or four rifles, an 06, .300 & .22-250... The .22-250 got a lot of use for meat in those years.. Now not so much.. Most of my shots were double lung.. I would pass if the shot looked ify..

Lately I have shot a few does with the 50 grain Sierra Blitzking.. But under the same conditons.

Yes and no.

Yes, if you are willing to pass on shots that you're not 99% sure of.

No, if you can't help yourself from taking any shot that presents itself.

I used to shoot deer with 85 grain .243" and 90 grain .257" Sierra BTHPs, but no longer use either of those bullets for deer after having four failures to penetrate on broadside shots. Like others, I use them for meat and cull shooting, but I pick my shots and don't use them when hunting trophies that might not wait around for a better shot. If given a choice, I prefer to use Partitions in my .224", .243", .257", and .264" bore rifles.

OK thanks you'all.
Here in the florida panhandle [jungle] deer are spotted only for a few seconds -they don't stand around and pose here.
I have a 22-250 Mickey built for me -just kind of wondering what people thought of c&c bullets for deer.
Hogs -I get shots at 65 yards from a feeder often , so I'll whack one soon -in the head w/a 55gr. blitzking.
These have shot the ever so lucky group size of .191" so I should be able to hit a hog in the noggin at 65yds.

You said "big game", I don't think a Florida deer qualifies

The 55gr SBT has the GameKing moniker, but I don't think Sierra considers it a game bullet:


".22 Caliber (.224) High Velocity 55 gr. SBT

In rifles chambering 22 caliber cartridges of moderate to large powder capacity, this famous bullet is perhaps the most efficient 22 caliber bullet available for varmints at long range or targets."

The Sierra 1365's are a good deer bullet, from what I've seen, at 22-250 speeds. May want to consult with Sierra, but I believe they have a stout jacket. They hold up to high-impact speed just fine.

When I run out of the 65gr. gamekings I'll try a box of the 55's and see how tough they are.

I had a 6mm 70gr Nosler Ballistic Tip varmint bullet fail to anchor a yearling blacktail at 30 yards broadside and decided to drop the use of varmint bullets on game, though in hindsight, I should have neck shot him. He showed every evidence of being hit besides dropping to the ground or bleeding. Hunched up and gimped into the thick stuff. Spent hours trying to find a drop of blood to narrow down where he went without a sign. Same bullet is said to work perfectly well by good sources, just didn't for me and left me sorely disappointed. Like they say - your results may vary.