Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sierra... Why no premium bonded bullets?

That, and they got rid of those freaking melting tipped bullets. How can anyone shoot those with any accuracy whatsoever?

Rule #1: When you find something you LIKE, buy an truckload of it, because they probably won't be making it next week.

That, and they got rid of those freaking melting tipped bullets. How can anyone shoot those with any accuracy whatsoever?

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.

No it's exactly the opposite in my experience. I spoke to a tech a Sierra and they told me the 215 was designed with a thinner jacket for 338-06 velocities. They work well for me and have never recovered one. Elk and all were DRT. Also a very accurate bullet.

Also don't agree on match shooters. Sierra is rapidly losing the match shooter market. Hornady, Berger, and Nosler are rapidly taking a good portion of their market. They still make good bullets though.

If a rifle will not shoot Sierras,there is something wrong with the rifle.

Sure, at those pumpkin roller velocities, even Sierras get the job done. Overall I like Barnes' the best, but I use and like Partitions, Hornady Interlocks, A Frames etc. Sierras not so much

This has been an interesting thread.

We've heard from several people who've used Sierra hunting bullets in magnums at over 3000 fps and either didn't like the different ways they expanded or how much meat they shot up. This isn't odd, because Elmer Keith was saying the same things about cup-and-cores in high-velocity magnums from about 1930 on. Of course, I had to confirm it for myself, but had pretty done so by my mid-20's, whereupon I started using either heavier cup-and-cores, enough so muzzle velocity wasn't much above 2800 fps, or premiums--though I also discovered that at least a couple of the so-called premiums of the day didn't work exactly as advertised. Apparently, however, every generation has to rediscover the same things.

However, the 7x57 160 GameKing load I've used with such consistent results both in North America and Africa is one stolen from Elmer Keith. He loaded thousands of them for Don Hopkins (the "H" in OKH) for the many lengthy safaris Hopkins and his wife made. They used the load for smaller plains game, what might be called "deer-sized" but ran in size from Thomson's gazelles about the size of a large Eastern coyote to animals more on the order of caribou--and probably some larger. They shot the animals for trophies, camp meat, and baits for cats, and kept requesting more 160 Sierra loads, because they worked, killing quickly and reliably yet not shooting up much meat. It was a load Keith himself recommended, which is exactly why I tried it--and so far have gotten got exactly the same sort of results, several decades later, on a similar range of animals.

Good. Nice. Glad that's what you see.

In my neck of the woods Sierras aren't rapidly losing to anything among the shooters I know.


I was merely speculating on the 215 Sierra. Both the 338/06 and that bullet are way off my radar. I have no skin in Sierras for hunting and no much use for a 338 of any type.

Why they would design a bullet for an unpopular cartridge is beyond me but I guess they did it.

This has been an interesting thread.

We've heard from several people who've used Sierra hunting bullets in magnums at over 3000 fps and either didn't like the different ways they expanded or how much meat they shot up. This isn't odd, because Elmer Keith was saying the same things about cup-and-cores in high-velocity magnums from about 1930 on. Of course, I had to confirm it for myself, but had pretty done so by my mid-20's, whereupon I started using either heavier cup-and-cores, enough so muzzle velocity wasn't much above 2800 fps, or premiums--though I also discovered that at least a couple of the so-called premiums of the day didn't work exactly as advertised. Apparently, however, every generation has to rediscover the same things.

However, the 7x57 160 GameKing load I've used with such consistent results both in North America and Africa is one stolen from Elmer Keith. He loaded thousands of them for Don Hopkins (the "H" in OKH) for the many lengthy safaris Hopkins and his wife made. They used the load for smaller plains game, what might be called "deer-sized" but ran in size from Thomson's gazelles about the size of a large Eastern coyote to animals more on the order of caribou--and probably some larger. They shot the animals for trophies, camp meat, and baits for cats, and kept requesting more 160 Sierra loads, because they worked, killing quickly and reliably yet not shooting up much meat. It was a load Keith himself recommended, which is exactly why I tried it--and so far have gotten got exactly the same sort of results, several decades later, on a similar range of animals.

The 215 Sierra Gameking was designed for 338 Win Mag velocities, not so much the 338-06.