+1 to saddlesore's post.
Those who understand cup-and-core bullets will always gets what they want out of Sierras. Others will demand something that works to some other ideal than killing the animal.
So how do we explain the 165 in 06 in and out through a rib each time, around 120ish yards, never opening up, and never killing the deer through both lungs?
The SAME way we explain the Barnes bullets here and there supposedly(I've never seen it) not opening.
I was sitting and thinking after I replied a minute or so earlier, when still doing taxidermy I saw a lot of bullets and without a doubt the game king was the one most likely to have seperated from the jacket. Of course we do note that every deer brought to me was already dead.
I think you both nailed it on location of shot and the one I mention was pure fluke. Run it at suggested speeds and distances and all will generally be well. But that limits uses and such and thats enough of a reason for me to at a minimum to think bonded as a minimum.
While I use Sierra 200g in my .375 Winchester, that is the only place I use them. Like rost495, I prefer bonded and monos, North Fork SS, Nosler AccuBond and Barnes TTSX to be specific.
Shooting various cup-and-core bullets through water jugs with a paper witness target a foot or so beyond demonstrated pretty conclusively that cup-and-core bullets at close range tend to come apart and pepper the background with tiny pieces of lead shrapnel. A TTSX through the water jug put two holes in the witness paper – one that looked like a 3-leaf clover and one made by the 4th petal that had broken off.
Contrary to saddlesore’s description of load development, I long ago started using a much more conservative method. First I load 10 bullets over 0.5g powder increments. Each test load gets chrono’d and the point of impact gets recorded. Then I compare the POIs and look for a group of consecutive shots that produced a small group. Picking a middle load out of such a group has generally produced very good results when more were loaded for a second range session. Instead of a couple boxes of $40 bullets ($80 total), I’m often done with using only about $20 worth of bullets. For practice I develop cup-and-core loads that shoot more or less to the same POI as the premium bullets. Before hunting season I will verify POI and drop at extended ranges but even if I shoot up 20 of the premium loads (which would be rare unless there is a problem) , my total cost is still generally less than what non-handloaders would pay for factory ammo in similar quantities.
This photo has been shown before but it demonstrates why I like North Fork bullets. Ranges were 25, 140 and 500 yards.
Care to take a guess as to which was which?
![[Linked Image]](http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Recovered_bullets_2.jpg)
