Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Sierra Game Kings

I never hear much about good old Sierra Game Kings. How are these as a bear bullet? Are they bonded or old fashion cup and core?

Old fashion cup and core boattail.They're usually always scary accurate.Imagine a heavier GameKing moving at modest speed would work on a bear.But wouldn't be my 1st pick...Prolly the last I'd use.

For bear I would not use them in my 270 or 300WM, but would, with confidence, in my 35 Whelen.

I loaded some up for grins, 180's out of a 30-06 with 55 grns of 4831, scarry accurate like you say. I was hoping they were a bonded bullet.

You're probably thinking black bears I suppose and the 180 would likely work out fine for most (average) blackies. I have shot brown bear with the 300 grainer in a 375. It wasn't a giant of a bear either so it was probably no surprise that the animal didn't stop the bullet.

Wish Sierra would enter the Bonded and Lead Free bullet market.

Not a big Sierra fan....
But as with all things, its subjective, got a buddy who swears by them...
They ARE accurate...I just havent seen consistent terminal performance out of them....
Ingwe

My best whitetail and speed goat both fell to a 130gr. Game King out of a Win. M70 in 270. That said, I haven't used a Game King in almost 9 years.

+1 on that, there are dam accurate out of my gun.

I would welcome that as well!

168 gr. GameKings loaded atop IMR4831 in my 30-06 knocks 'em floppen. Have taken a few deer and one elk with this load and no complaints from the game about not being dead enuf!

I had to use them for years, back then Sierra and cup and core Hornadys were just about all the reloader had..

Sierra's are not my choice, but they work Ok if you don't push them beyond their velocity capability. I "think" you could pretty well say anything over 2800 FPS will cause failure in any cup and core bullet without some kind or retention such as a partition, interlock, weld core, or whatever..

I much prefer the pro hunter to the GameKing however, its a tougher bullet.

I second that. I prefer the Pro Hunters also. I've gotten better accuracy and shot a lot of deer with them.

180's in the '06 will do fine on black bear.

The Pro Hunter is crazy-accurate too. Sierras are my go-to bullet for practice and accuracy testing. I'm skeert of them for hunting though. Might find that perfect buck/bull/bear at 40 yards and have to do the "Sierra stalk".

Not if you can shoot under hunting conditions. You place a properly chosen (ie. 180/30-06 for example) bullet in the correct place on your elk and it will dispatch him easily. Of course, if placing said bullet properly in a target moving 25 mph is something you are not up for the challenge of, something better may help some. (Then again, it might not.)

I lament the demise of many of Sierra's excellent hunting bullets, their round and semi-pointed Pro-Hunters. I may have put more meat in the freezer with the 100 semi-pointed 6mm than any other single bullet. And of course there is no more 160 .264 or 170 .284 either. Clearly the market was ignorant in failing to support them.

I use heavy for caliber. I've found them to be a bit softer than I like, but the animal still dies. 180's out of a .30-06 should work well.

+1 on the 160 .264 Semi-point. I found a box a few years ago at Sportsmans Warehouse and it was on clearance and so I bought the last box. It was quite accurate out of my gun. I was disappointed to find out the reason they were on clearance was because they had been discontinued. I still have about 50-60 left though.

The 160g Gameking is also the first bullet I've been able to get to group worth a darn in my 7mm RM. Although I'm working up a load with the 162g Hornady BTSP that looks promising.

Sierra doesn't have the reputation for being a bullet that holds together well when things go south (hit heavy bone, animal is severely quartering away, etc). But man, they ARE accurate bullets aren't they?

I use Sierra Game Kings all the time the 150gr SBT. Only one Deer has ever ran and that was about 30 yrds. The five i shot last year all of them dropped like a rock. I did recover one of the bullets and it mushroomed nicely. I can understand why different hunters like different bullets i just prefer what works for me.

Bob Hagel used to write that if you are using cup and core go heavy for caliber.
IE 160-175 grs for 7mm or 200 gr. 30 caliber.
The 160 gr 7mm bullet is very accurate in my 7mm Magnum.
I would trust it on Black Bear and just might use it on an oats field hunt next week. My son thinks I should bring it along, in case I see one to far away for the 35 Whelen.
Does anyone hunt with two rifles at once in the looney rank and file?
whelennut

Shot an average size black bear a few years ago with a .35 Whelen, shooting 225 gr. Gamekings. That bear was DRT at a range of about 80 yards. The bullet did shed its core, but the bear didn't know the difference. If I was going for game over 350 lbs or so, I might use something heavier.