Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Experience w/sierra 165 game king hp (308) on game please...

Sierra still says they are tough and fine for use in Magnum cartridges. They are really accurate in a couple of my different rifles.
I thought when I had researched these in the past that they were on the tough side. But I was just over to Midway and when I read the reviews I kind of got scared that they might be little frangible.
So please fill me in on any experience you have with them.

111, I have been shooting this bullet since the 1960's when I believe it first hit the market.. All they guys shooting .30's and were into any kind of distance shooting jumped on it for their bullet..

I used it first in my .30-06.. Killed quite a bit of game with it.Deer, coyotes, antelope, and black bear..

Then in the early 70's, I got my old .300 Win. for years it was my bullet of choice.. Have shot everything from rockchucks though moose and elk.. I normally don't try to break shoulders with it, but it has worked for that on a couple elk.. But I wouldn't recommend it. I like this old bullet.. There are lots of newer ones on the market now.. But in its time, it was the best we had..

I still use it often for deer.. My elk hunting days are about over, but this Jan. we are going on a late cow elk hunt.. I will have some of the loaded incase of a long shot..
Maybe Mackay will relate his use of them.. I know he uses them in a .308, but I am not sure about his .300..

If you can punch an elk or moose though the lungs, they are done.. I suppose I have shot 25 or 30 elk with this bullet and no telling how many deer.. Still today when I load a 165 for my .300 it is often this one for deer, but for elk, I often go with the 165 Accubond..

Hope this helps.. It is a good bullet and has served me well over the years... I just feel maybe there are better options out there for really large animal especially elk..

Killed a few whitetails with the bullet out of a couple .30-06's, with mixed results. Driven at near max velocity, at typical short range Eastern woods distances, when I hit shoulder joints/blades they erupted violently and ruined a lot of good meat but the animals were DRT- fragments having sliced and diced the spinal columns. Ones that encountered just skin/muscle/organs were picture perfect kills, but not DRT. Bottom line: I honestly don't know what to think, but I still use them occasionally in '06's because they are deucedly accurate and my cast bullet shooting has most of my attention these days.

Thanks for the replies so far..... my intended use would be for whitetail deer in Wisconsin under 200 yards.... thinking of a mild 300 WSM load at about 2900 fps.

I use them out of a couple of .308s and a .30-06, love the results.





This blood spot at the impact was in the rain. This was virtually a straight-down shot, you can see the bullet impact in the ground on the left of the blood. The deer went about 15 yards with a similar trail to the above ones, just not as obvious, again due to rain and lack of snow.



They seem to hit hard, penetrate deep and open a nice exit. Penetration at .308/'06 velocity seems to be very good, I've shot them literally end-to-end through deer. Damage is about what one would expect, not at all excessive.

They did not do so well in my .300 mag at short range, very frangible and did not exit. Lotsa meat loss. There are better bullets for 40 yard shots at Whitetails, but then again there are better choices in rifles for said shot......

They have been very accurate in all the rifles I've tried them in.

The BC is a little low. I haven't let that stop me from using them, you'd probably want a different bullet for 500+ yard shooting, anyway.

I figure your load at 2900 fps may get kinda towards the edge, I've only driven them to 2800 fps with the exception of the .300 Winmag. 3150 fps, 40 yard impact was too much....

Surely tougher than matchings.

They are very accurate bullet shot one deer did a good job

I've only loaded in 308. At that velocity range they are deadly on deer.

I shot anice 6pt couple years ago .30 hole in .30 hole out he was still dead

I have a couple .308's that I use them in. Goofy accurate and deadly as stated above. Shots from 50 to 365 yards with pass-thru's.
IMR 4895 and a 165 GK are a sweet combo. If a .308 or a 30-06 won't shoot clusters with this mixture there is a problem.

I have used them in 30/06, 300WSM, 300WinMag and 300RUM. They have worked on whitetails and hogs from several yards to over 600yds. One of my go to bullets in 30cal.Rick.

I have been using them for over 20 years in .30/06, .300 WSM, and .300 Weatherby. Have harvested tons of deer and one elk with them. Typically I have gotten complete pass thru and great exit holes. In the case of the weatherby one almost completely took an off shoulder off.

The last 2 deer I harvested this year with the .30/06 were from a newer lot of bullets. Both were steep angled shots but should have exited. Neither did. In fact, one bullet only went in about a foot before coming apart. The entrance hole was about 3 inches in diameter. I initially thought I had hit a branch before the deer but that wasn't possible where I was at. It makes me wonder if the current lot of bullets I received (3,000) is a little soft.

I really don't like to give up on the bullet because of the historically great performance but am considering it. I may try a more recent lot of bullets for next year.

Love them in an '06....

Never recovered one.

I've since moved on, but I would have no problem shooting them at '06 velocities again.

Tony

I have used them since the early 80s in a .308, was the most accurate bullet in that rifle. Have shot probably 2 dozen deer with it, mostly 30 to 50 yards, always gave me great results, never lost any, most were either DRT or ran a few steps. Longest was a heart shot buck that ran about 90 yards.

Bullet at these close ranges expanded well, some would exit, some would not. I don't think I would use it in any of the 30 mags as I think it would tend toward too violent an expansion, however that is just my feeling based on the experience at .308 velocity.