Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why Sierra ?

Not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Sierra can keep their regular line, just curious as why they dont offer controlled expansion bullet.

My bet is for the same reason Barnes doesn't offer a mono match bullet. Barnes has found their niche, Sierra has their niche. Sierra may not feel the return is worth the investment. R&D, new tooling, new processes cost millions of dollars. It takes time to earn that back to make a profit. Barnes is the established mono bullet supplier, Nosler has the AccuBond, Hornady has the Interbond. Seems to me that base is covered. For the dollars invested vs. return, I just don't see why Sierra would do it. I may be wrong.

PaPa260

sierra are good bullets, can't wait to run some through the 45/70

Yep, I shot my thin skinned bull elk last year with a sierra 250 gr. in my 338 win mag. Didn't even take a step and full penetration of the core, the jacket was found on the offside up against the hide.

Antelope are thin skinned and easy to kill. Ballistic tips for the win!

A quick glance at one of the online retailers shows .284 140gr Ballistic tips at $34 a hundred, Sierra 140gr Gamekings are $26.

I have used both. They are equally accurate out of my rifle, but the Ballistic tip is a grenade on game. The Gameking, in this instance, is a tougher bullet.

I don't consider a plastic tip to be an improvement to any cup and core bullet. Sticking that plastic tip on it is what ruined the Nosler Solid Base. They performed just fine on game with a conventional lead tip. The plastic tips turned them into grenades.

I'll still be sticking with Sierras.

I've been to the Sierra factory; it's a good factory tour with nice people. My bet is that Sierra is selling all the bullets it can make already. They have a nice new factory going full blast making their regular line of boxed bullets plus contracts for ammunition companies and various militaries. I doubt they see a need for a whole new design.

Those 300g .45 Gamekings work well in the 45/70.

Before I got bitten with the black powder/lead bullet in the 1990s, I worked up a few loads for my 1886 Browning levergun running them at about 2,000FPS with a stiff load of IMR 3031.

The loads would crowd 1 MOA for three shots with my 20 something eyesight at the time. I had a ball popping a few prairie dogs with it out to about 100 yards one summer. A 300g Sierra HP hitting a PD at about 80 yards is about like hitting a Volkswagen with an RPG.... Parts just fly everywhere.

The load also shot flat enough that dead on at 150 yards, it was about 12" low at 200- flat enough for Elk.
One winter I filled a Colorado Cow tag with it. It was a boadside shot at 200 yards. The slug was running about 1,300 FPS when it hit her low on the shoulder and it punched a nice, silver dollar sized hole on the offside when it exited.

She took about five wobbly steps and nosedived into the snow. It's about as fast as I have seen any Elk go down that was not hit in the spine, etc. I have always wanted to use that load on deer at woods ranges. I doubt you would have to worry about any well hit deer traveling far enough to get tagged by someone over on the adjacent property.

amen on the 300s. Killed a bunch of deer down here in Dixie land with 300s and a case full of Re7. Used 3031 for a long time but my rifles seem to like re7 better.
Back to Sierras. Just came into possesion of a fine old 9.3x57 and immediatly went to the Sierra website to see what was available. Nothing, so I had to "fall back" on Speer 270gr.
Sierras are my go to...

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If a rifle won't shoot Sierras well with a little work, it usually has some problems somewhere. Why do you suppose Cooper Arms uses Sierra to test their rifles. And don't be afraid to shoot at bigger stuff with a heavier SBTGK bullet. I have killed many Elk with 180 game kings out of my 30-06 at about 2800fps. I shoot a lot, so I like go to gun shows and buying those junk C&C bullets cheap that everybody is getting rid of. Dead is dead.

Wow, about 45% higher than when I started buying them.

I've been killing deer deader than dead for more years than I care to admit with plain old cup and core bullets. Almost ruined a good barrel with the cursed blue coating that Barnes put on some of their original bullets because I allowed myself to be convinced that it was a worthwhile gimmick; returned to shooting Sierras and haven't looked back. Lots of folks like using the boutique bullets and enjoy all the friendly dialog that goes along with it. Fine and well but I'll stick to cup and core from now on.

One problem with Sierra bullets is that people use the wrong bullet for the application. There are descriptions including recommended uses in the front of their manual. Sierra's tougher bullets are their Prohunter flatbase spitzers and round noses and their heavier for caliber Gameking boattails and boattail hollowpoints. Using a caliber lighter for the game animal and a lighter for caliber boattail is not recommended especially at close range and high velocity impacts.

Bad use example: Large bull moose, 3006, 150 Gameking, 2950 muzzle velocity, 50 yard shot

Good use example: Large bull moose, 338 win mag, 225 Prohunter (new bullet offering), 2900 muzzle velocity, 50 yard shot

Sierra make a good and very capable product. A cup and core bullet typically does not have the versatility of premium bullets. Premium bullets can have a broader range of suitable uses.

I think Sierra has concerns about how they might shoot. I don't ever remember having ANY rifle not shoot Sierra game king really well if I didn my part. I am not a bullet engineer, but the more complex you make a design, the less apt it will work correctly. If i had to guess, i would think it is much harder to make a bonded bullet concentric than it is a cup and core design. I use many different bullets, accubonds, partitions, game kings,ballistic tips, inner bonds , scricco etc.....when I check my notes on group performance...it's always. Ballistic tips and game kings that shoot the smallest groups......many others work fine for hunting accuracy......but do not shoot anything like the basic cup and cores do. Many times....simple is better.

The 300 gr 44 cal Sportsmaster is one tough bullet for the 44 mag. I've been tempted to try to reload some after digging them out of a dirt bank and shooting them again.
So far reason has prevailed and I havent tried, but it is a tough bullet that breaks heavy bone.

I like Sierra bullets. They've always worked well for me. It might be true that the bullet is the cheapest part of the hunt, but when you like to buy your bullets 500 at a time and shoot your hunting loads a lot the cost of premium bullets gets up there. I've tried most of the premiums out there at one time or another, finally realized they weren't doing anything for me that Sierras won't do. I suspect that a large number of the Sierra bashers have little or no direct experience with them, just repeat what they've heard the big boys say on the internet.

I go through a box of 100 bullets just working up loads!

sounds like maybe you're over thinking things a bit...
i've used the sierra game king on some of my toughest and most challenging shots, bad angles and all...
a bullet really is a bullet... put it in the right spot and things will go your way....

price a box of hornadys cup n core against a box of sierras and you'll see that the guy shooting hornady cup n cores is paying the bill for the premium bullet user....

$23 per 100 139gr Hornady Interlocks.

Highway robbery!?!

Don't sound like that would subsidize anything.