Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Long Range Hunting Tipped Sierra MKs?

Good day.

I have to ask this as we only receive products from the US some time after you guys get to use it.

Does any of you guys know whether the tip will help the expansion of the MKs? It seems like the BCs will be improved as well?

If they expend better I would love to try some 168s in my 30-06. But guess we might only be able to get them mid to late 2015.

Pieter

Yes. Consistent terminal performance is greatly improved over SMK's.

Looking forward to trying them.

Have you tested them?

They aren't out yet, supposed to be "this month", but somewhere I ran across suggested perhaps not in component form until next quarter.

Built for easy BC #'s.

I ordered some directly from Sierra,they said avaliable 1-2015.
They also said"not recommended for hunting"
Mike

The TMK's were designed for a specific purpose. Increase the BC, increase terminal performance while reducing variability, and be mag length tolerant. They do all four.

Is the base to ogive length still the same as the 175 SMK without a tip?

Form:

I thought terminal performance was never a concern for Sierra, just accuracy.

Jeffbird,

The ogive is different between the SMK and TMK.








Depends on the application.

Seirra MatchKings are only tested for accuracy and Seirra's and are not recomended for hunting And never will be as long as themilitary is using them.

might not be suggested.. but I've never seen one fail to kill very well....

I have seen 168gr MK fail to open from the .308 Win but would agree in most cases it is a decent game bullet.

This new Tipped MK has a bunch of potential in the 5.56. I have used the 75gr AMAX in mag length 5.56 and it kills deer better than most anything else. I just keep getting too many weird flyers to really trust it for longer range game shooting when loaded to mag length.

I hoped the Berger 70gr VLD would beat the Hornady 68gr HPBT but it really is not a great improvement. Both work great on game out to 350yds but get spotty at 16 inch velocity beyond.

What I really wish for is a 70gr AMAX, 69gr Tipped MK, or a 70gr Tipped VLD with a secant ogive setup for mag loading. Better intial muzzle velocity than the 77gr with the fast expanding qualities of the poly tipped bullets.

Until then I am going to try a few of the Tipped MKs in 77gr.

The 300 SMK out of the 338 Laupa is devastating on game, so is the 175 SMK out of a 300 WSM. The 240 SMK is also out of a 300 RUM

I will be testing the 350 SMK for long range steel killing out of my 375 VM2. Just topped the rifle with an NF NXS 8-32 power.

Gotta be a blast at 3400 fps!

There was an article written some years ago now, titled "the best hunting bullet", by Gary Sciuchetti. Was a comparison of 30-cal bullets fired into deer at varying velocities.
The 175SMK has a narrower window, or higher velocity requirement in order to fragment; but that shouldn't be a news flash to anyone.
That article, can still be found online

Here it is

A tipped 69 SMK would definitely spark my interest. I am down to 300 69 SMKs. Maybe the lowest total in decades.

Like Hornady, Sierra is even MORE reluctant to combine hunting with match bullets, IMO. IME, they want you 2 buy 2 different bullets for 2 different things, not one for everything.

Take note, that Hornady used to recommend A-maxes for thin skinned game(check the old manuals). But, as soon as more bullets were developed/produced, they now do not recommend them for hunting(check the new manuals). This has nothing to do with a change in the bullet or it's performance, but merely a change in marketing strategy with sales the obvious driving factor.........

Do you work for Sierra?

Just curious how you know this, if they aren't available yet.

When can we expect these? Any idea on price?