Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sierra Game King on Whitetails

I have had superb results with the Sierra Pro Hunter line of bullets. The couple I have recovered are peeled way back to the shank of the bullet (6.5 120 grain). They are super accurate as well. Deer aren't hard to kill, so your 160's will be fine. I would HIGHLY doubt a deer could keep one inside...especially a doe. Shoot for the ribs if you want the meat. White tail doe meat is among my favorites. Flinch

I've done in a couple with the game king, and a couple with match kings. They work. like forty 'leven have already posted, deer ain't that hard to kill.

Unless it's in a smaller cal.

My friend recently called Sierra about the 160 GameKing to be used in a 7WSM....tech told him the 175, and I believe the 150's had heavier jackets then the 160's. I could be wrong, but its worth a phone call to Sierra. I could be mixing up the 160 and 150, but I don't think so.
Anyway, I don't think you'll have any problem if your aiming for the boiler room, or through the boiler room towards off-side shoulder.

Good luck with your hunt,
johnny

+1. I shoot the 165 HPBT in my '06 over IMR4064. Very accurate and it performed well on deer this year.

A Sierra Tech rep told me the same thing, that the bullet had a tougher jacket than the standard Gameking. Have not tried it, but he stated that it would also hold together using my 300wm.

My first couple of mulies were downed with 150 gr 30 cal SGK's from an '06. Killed effectively but blood shot a bunch of meat. I moved on to 180's and the blood shot meat pretty much ceased. I do like the fact that I can develop a load for a Partition and Sierra pretty much has a GK in a similar weight and BC. Practice with the GK and hunt with the Partition.

Alan

Thanks guys. I guess I wasn't worried about the bullet not killing the does, and should have explained myself better. My concern was that the bullet might be too though on a ribs shot and not expand enough for a quick kill meaning waaaay overpenetrate...
But I guess it seems it will be fine enough.
My only 2 other animals a pronghorn and a mulen deer were shot with the same gun, the goat with the same weight Partition (DRT) and the mule deer with a 150 Winchester CT - which I think is a ballistic tip... both did the trick.
My plan with the SGKS was just as GSSP said, to develop a load and transition to the PT's... will experiment and see if it is necessary, since I do want to eat them.

"My concern was that the bullet might be too though on a ribs shot and not expand enough for a quick kill meaning waaaay overpenetrate."

Back in 2009 I finally got to do a hunt for pronghorn antelope.
My choice of rifle was a Winchester M70 XTR in .270 win. shooting a 150 gr. Sierra game King at 2950 FPS powered by Winchester's long discontinued WMR powder.
After about a half mile stalk, I took my shot at roughly 75 yards. The 150 gr.GK hit the left side at the back of the rib cage and exited just behind the right shoulder with about a 1.5" exit wound. The "goat" moved off in about a 30 foot half circle and expired. The bullet just nicked the stomach but didn't mess up the guts real bad and there was very little meat damage. The antelope weighed about 110/120 pounds.
I'm guesing you load isn't a heck of a lot faster than mine so i think you should not have any problems provided you make a good rib cage shot. Not too sure what'll haappen on a shoulder hit of some kind though. Good luck on the hunt.
Paul B.

I shot a whitetail in '08 with 225gr. Game King in my .35 Whelen, shot square in the lungs the buck went only 30yds. Left a blood trail a blind man could follow.

These posts are quite a bit different than some time back when even the mention of Sierra bullets brought out throngs that said only a Triple Shock could stop a whitetail....

Glad to see a return to common sense.

Long

Yep...

Double-lunger last year with the .308 at 50 yards.

At impact, on the far side:



The "death run", which wasn't too far:



'Twas purty easy to find..

What bullet in the 308 was that? I'm considering the 150 and 125 Pro Hunter. How fast?

165 HPBT Gameking, 2690 fps.

I've used the 160 SGK on deer. Mule deer and the 160 went right through pencil hole in dime size exit. I switched back to my 139 Gr. Hornady to put him down. By the way you don't need more than cup and core bullet on deer.

I used 165 SGK in my '06 for years and never recovered one.

I wouldn't hesitate for a min. to use that combo again.

Personally, I'd probably opt. for a 165 NBT, but that is my opinion.

Only because I am a Nosler slut.....

Tony

No reason to go with the Partition. Your load will work just fine. I wouldn't worry about the bullet not opening, in fact I'd stay away from the shoulders to avoid wasting meat. If you had time to work up a new load, you might even try to load up the same bullet a couple hundred feet slower. It'd kill just as dead and be less apt to blow away a shoulder if you happen to hit one.

Good luck!

Thanks Vic. I've got some of the 165 in both BT and BTHP but thought they might be a little too tough for lung shots. Looks like that is not the case. How far did that deer go?

If you look in the upper right corner of the last pic, you will see the bank of a dry creekbed. He tried to jump it, fell in, recovered, and made it to the top on the other side. All-in-all, he went about 20 yards.

Dry creekbed shot:

I've killed a lot of deer with Sierra Pro Hunters over the years. Excellent performance (never lost one) and very accurate in my 280 A.I. I use 140 grainers for deer. I love Partitions but use them for heavier game than deer. I think partitions are overkill for deer sized critters but I never saw a deer too dead.

reloaded 140gr game kings over IMR 4350 for years for a .270, extremely accurate but also more bloodshot meat than anything else i've ever used. I switched to the barnes TSX in my hunting rifles for that reason (with the exception of a long range rifle that gets bergers) and have never regretted the decision.