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

Golly gee, whodda thunk it?

I ordered 400 69 gr TMK's directly from Sierra on Saturday,just got an e-mail from UPS.
They're on their way !!!
Mike

In my earlier years I used 7 mm Match Kings out of my Ruger #1 Rem Mag on elk. Deadly accurate and and not a single elk ever complained. Then I found out one should not do that.

That's interesting.

BC is supposed to be 0.365 on the G1. That equals the 70gr VLD and the 77 SMK but adds, hopefully better expansion.

If it is as promised this is going to be a great bullet for mag fed ARs.

Will the 77 grain work in AR mags or is that why Sierra offered the 69 grain version?

Just trying to figure out which ones to order as I'll be using them stricly in my ARs.

According to Sierra both the TMKs will work through the mag when loaded normally.

I think the 69gr will be better for me as I shoot 16 inch barrels and the 77gr starts pretty slow (2700 for full power 5.56) from a 16. The extra 125fps for the 69gr flattens the shorter range trajectory and aids in getting expansion.

Both have the potential to substantially increase performance over the non tipped SMKs.

Thanks for that info, John. All my barrels are 16" also, but do have a 20" in the works. Time to order up a bunch of the 69s.

I am looking froward to someone trying these out and reporting back. THe one thing that might be a headache is the price, as Sierra prices went through the roof over the last few months here in South-Africa.

Hopefully some of the 30 cal offerings will reach us soon. IF they expand these to more calibers, we might see the first 7mm Sierra with a decent BC

Pieter

Yes, I may try the 69's in my 20", I have a great shooting RRA 24" Varmiter, the 77's should be just right for that one.

I brought back some sample bullets from the SHOT Show this year. I added them to the bullets I had on hand for the picture. I don't have everything on the market pictured, but it's a pretty decent summary of the higher-BC .224 bullets currently available:


From left to right:
1 - Hornady 68gr BTHP (.355 BC)
2 - Sierra 69gr Match King (.301)
3 - Sierra 69gr Tipped Match King (.375)
4 - Berger 73gr Match BT Target (.343)
5 - Hornady 75gr BTHP (.395)
6 - Hornady 75gr A-Max (.435)
7 - Berger 77gr Match OTM Tactical (.376)
8 - Sierra 77gr Tipped Match King (.420)
9 - Berger 80gr Match VLD Target (.445)
10 - Nosler 80gr HPBT Custom Competition (.415)
11 - Berger 80.5gr Match Fullbore Target (.436)

The folks at Sierra said they designed the new TMKs to fit in confines of an AR mag. The 77gr version seems to be the highest BC available for AR-length mags, while the 69gr seems to be the highest BC available for 1-9" twist rifles. Sierra said the new TMKs were already shipping.

The Berger 77gr Tactical is supposed to fit in an AR mag, as well, but it does't seem to offer as high of a BC as the Sierra.

Thanks for the info!

My 69 SMK's arrived yesterday.
4 days !!!
Hope to be trying them soon.
Mike

Always nice to see new bullets.

Mike, please post your results

Here ya go
http://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/9559579/all/Sierra_TMK_range_report

I was able to get 500 of the 77's on the way from Midway also.
Mike