Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting question about sierra gameking performance on deer

Steer clear of boatail bullets and you will slow the expansion of most cup and core designs. On the other hand, most any jacketed bullets will kill whitetails...

I used the BTSP gamekings in my 270 a few years back, they were very accurate and both exited. The first was on a doe at 60 yards, entered in front of the shoulder exited just behind the opposite, DRT. The second I hit a 150# midway up in the lungs, heart and lungs were pudding but he still made it 75 yards with out spilling much blood even with an exit. I attribute the lack of blood to my shot though not the bullet, the heart wasn't working anymore so there wasn't any pressure to push the blood out, and the entrance and exit holes where high and the chest cavity would have to fill with blood before gravity could cause a blood trail.

Sierra GameKings were my bullet of choice in the .30-06 for many years because of their accuracy and impressive performance. I loaded them down to mid-range velocities to limit their explosive effect and got sterling results- a necessity if your like me and only hunt the thick stuff where a 100 yard shot is a long one, for a bullet designed to perform at longer ranges (loaded to the max they are almost explosive on 40 yard targets). Even though I switched to cast bullets for the bulk of my shooting long ago, I still keep a couple boxes of 165 HPBT's on hand for one particular '06. They have never let me down.

My hunting buddy has been shooting the 100 grain btsp Gamekings in his 6mm (now rebarreled to 243) for over 30 years. It's the only bullet he will use and he swears by it. If he shoots lungs he gets an exit, if he shoots shoulders he gets a dead deer on the ground. It's pretty much that simple.

I have a new 243 I am going to use this year. I already purchased some Sierra 85 grain HPBT and some Nosler 95's so I am going to stick with those for the time being. That 85 Sierra has a reputatiion of being a wicked deer killer.

100 or 105 gr C&C bullets out of a 243 or 6mm have proven to be effective deer killers. I think you will be dissatisfied with the lighter bullets you mentioned.

I'd rather go with the 100 gr that your buddy has proven to be effective than to rely on rumors of this or that bullet being wicked deer killers.

Saddlesore,

You think I will be dissatisfied with the 95 grain ballistic tip? It's probably the most highly recommended 6mm hunting bullet on this forum? Lots of folks on this site use the 85hpbt as well and I don't really consider their advice rumors. But, I do understand what you are saying, why not go with what my friend has been using for years? I may very well do that, but since I have already purchased the bullets I mentioned and I have no-limit on deer here in South Carolina I am sure I will have an opporutnity to try them out if the other bullets I purchased are not up to my expectations. In the end, as long as I hit them well, I doubt it's really going to matter.

That is your problem. Recommendations on this forum are not the most reliable. Actual experience trumps advice any time.

Based on a couple of deer taken with Gamekings, I think they work fine at moderate launch/impact speeds on deer, and kill very well. But out of a warm loaded .270 the 130 pretty much blew up inside the deer. The kill was instant - the buck was 100 yards off, quartering away, and the shot landed as planned just behind the near shoulder. I found the jacket under the offside hide, in front of the off shoulder, but no exit, nor any core found. Lungs were soup.

I would use the Gamekings again on deer, but I wouldn't launch them over ~2800 fps - unless I was sure the shot would be very long. The .300 Savage is an ideal platform - don' think I would use them in an '06 sized or larger case.

I'm using them in an -06 at 2,800 fps.

Everything from DRT anchor hits, to complete pass through, with a decent blood trail, short track.

I've had 1 doe that didn't leave a blood trail, but had a clear exit and soup inside, but still went about 50 yards. Freak.

In order to GET experience, one has to start somewhere.

And with the number and amplitude of variables in hunting, very few will ever get enough experience to reach a statistically supported conclusion.

"Literature search" is a perfectly acceptable research technique. Granted one must apply some common sense when drawing data from the inter web. But I would agree with slidellkid, that there have been enough positive comments, by folks whose opinion I have learned, over time, to trust, regarding the 95gr BT, that I would try it with confidence. And I am not a BT fan.

Was the 95 grqin Ballistic Tip meant to be included in your reference to lighter bullets? I know 95 is less than 100, but the 95 Bal Tip is "more bullet" than the typical 100 & 105 cup and cores.

The 95's would be the very lightest I would go. Launching a light weight bullet out of a .243 is going to be in the 3Kfps realm. A 50 yard shot into a deer is going to be very explosive.

The 95 gr nosler maybe a better bullet, but it is still risky IMO

Ive shot 150 grain gamekings and pro hunters out of a .308 for years. No problems. They shoot accurately. Never recovered a bullet in a deer. They are a bit much for antelope though. I also shoot 200 gr spitzer boattails out of a .30-06 at elk. No recoveries yet, and most elk drop quickly.

I have had good luck with sierras for a lot of years for deer in rounds including the 223 and 22-250, 243 and 6mm, 270 win, 308 and 30-40 krag. all were gamekings except for the excellent 63 grain smp for the 22s and all have resulted in quickly killed deer from 30 to 400 yards. Some have opened up pretty violently but the result was a dead deer.

The above posts make me feel like I need to defend the 6mm 95 grain nosler BT. I think this is one of the best big game bullets ever designed and it would be my choice for any animal I would feel comfortable hunting with a 6mm caliber rifle. I have never seen a more well balanced big game than it in my opinion.

Did the Sierras exit? If they didn't, you probably didn't really kill anything. You just thought you did. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news....

Another victim of Not-Barnes.

Man I Hate to hear that. Let me survey the freezer and mounts on the wall to make sure they aren't just playing possum. Clever rascals.

Yep,
I have yet to have an elk crawl out of the freezer that was killed with a Sierra

My experience with the game kings is they are more predictable than ballistic tips. This is limited to 25, 7mm and 30 caliber.

I have been loading the 165 gr GameKing HP's in my Dads 300 RSAUM for the last couple years.. when I hear him shoot.. I usually have a deer laying in front of his stand or a blood trail Ray Charles could follow! They have done better on our South Arkansas whitetails for him than Accubonds. I had some 150 Hornady SST's blow up and not exit in this caliber. I killed 2 deer last year with the same bullet out of a 308 and both deer had two holes in em.. not much tracking either. I have been loading 120 gr GK's in my nieces 16" 7-30 Waters G2 carbine and she has been getting bang flops on most deer she has shot with it. I shot a 300lb sow hog from end to snout once with 140gr GK HP's out of my 270 at 75 yds. I was surprised it exited!!!

Sierra makes the hpbt Gamekings tougher than the spire point versions. I actually prefer the softer bullets, as I don't care about the exits, and I want internal destruction.