Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters .257 Sierra 90 gr. HPBT GameKing ?

Has anyone used this bullet on whitetail deer
out of a 25-06?

Was wondering if it is too light or too explosive
for deer?

jr1968.

jr, I shot some W. Va. whitetails with this bullet in my .25-06.. Did ok?? but I didn't shoot many..

According to what Sierra says and what has been reported here, IMO,it would be a little soft for WT's at 25/06 velocities. Probably work fine on broadside heart/lung shots. wouldn't want to have to take a quartering shot with one.

Should work fine in a 250 Savage.

I used it as a ground squirrel bullet some out of a short barreled .257 Roberts. If the way they blew up is any indication of what's going to happen on a whitetail, I wouldn't do it.

Tom

It isn't. Most expanding rifle bullets start to expand the instant they hit stuff.

I have splattered prairie dogs just as violently and widely with a .375 220-grain Hornady flat-nose at around 2000 fps as with a .22-250.

Used it for groundhogs in the 25-06 and believe it wouldn't be the best for whitetail in this round unless you took nothing but broadside behind the shoulder shots. I do believe this would be a great bullet in the 250 Savage for deer tho.

I shot one yearling doe with it and quit. It was by far the most explosive bullet I've ever launched into big game flesh, and that includes some of the notorious ones like Ballistic Tips.

It was a broadside shot and the bullet seemed to blow into a billion pieces, some of which traveled laterally into the abdomen. Real mess to gut that critter. I've seen animals shot through the guts with Barnes X that were less messy.

There's far better deer bullets out there if you're looking for a quick killer. Those things are too much of a good thing, IMO.

Au contraire, my friend. I and others have experienced unreliable performance out of our 250's on midwest Whitetails. Really impressed with the accuracy of that bullet, though.

Sounds like a 90 gr. Scenar out of a .240 Wby.

Only once...

DF

Starting in 1982, I shot a bunch of whitetails with the 85 grain .243" and 90 grain .257" Sierra HPBTs, but after having four failure, two in each caliber, where the bullets came apart so fast that there was zero penetration through the rib cage and into the plural cavity. There were dinner plate size pieces of hide blown off, but nowhere near enough penetration. I was shooting them from 243s, 6MMs, 250-3000s, 257 Bobs, and 257AIs.

I would recommend a tougher bullet, with my preference being Partitions, but any bullet that will stay together longer than the 90 grain Sierra BTHPs. Actually, I don't shoot Sierras at anything except varmints and paper.

bea: Should you ever decide to breed the Mutt.....Please give me first dibs on pick of the litter.......Too much of the [Undesirable] element drifting up from the [deep] South.

WILL

Ok, good to hear actual experience! What puzzles me is how different the collective feedback is on this bullet vs. the 6mm 85gr HPBT, which according to Sierra is similarly constructed. Yet many folks love the 85gr for deer.

I'll admit to using neither for deer. I'm not convinced that Sierra can make a good controlled expanding bullet, even when they try... Too many other good options.

Both work great most of the time if you shoot them behind the shoulder. I have never seen deer die more quickly, as the impact wound is often so large that you could put your fist through the hole in the rib cage. I was happy to use them until I had the four failures, but after that I decided to use a more ruggedly constructed bullet on game. I still like to shoot them at varmints and paper.

Early on, my Dad, Uncles and I started loading them in our Savage 99's with 1-14" twist and all but one rifle stabilized the bullet. Excellent accuracy. Velocities out of our 22-24" barrels varied from 2950-3025 fps.

The love affair with the bullet quickly went the other way when we experienced less than desirable killing efficency. Finally after a few rodeos my Uncle called Sierra tech support and shared our experience. He was told to load the bullet to 2800 fps. for more expansion control.

We abandoned the bullet for deer and went back to the Speer 87 grain SP (later Hot-Cor).

Today I load the bullet in a 99-A that I carry in the truck, tractor or on the ATV for shooting varmints. That bullet provides the best accuracy in that rifle.

In additon, when a 25 caliber comes thru my hands it is tested with the Sierra bullet first and have found, with only a few exceptions, if the rifle does not shoot, the rifle needs tweeking.

Wayne

The 90 grain Sierra BTHP was my favorite varmint bullet when all I had was a .25-06. It shot well below MOA out of a sporter barrel. I don't think I would trust it on deer at 3400+ fps.

I killed a lot of feral animals with it in the late 70's and early 80's, in fact both mine and a mates .257 Weatherby's which I loaded for, shot them very well but that is too long ago now and bullet integrity is forever changing for various reasons, meaning an old endorsement does not carry the same weight as a recent one.
John

Back in the late 70's I used a 25-06 for varmints.
I shot a few hundred of these on prairie dogs and Jack rabbits.
I suggest 120 gr. bullets on deer and seventy five grain on varmints.
Another suggestion is 100 gr Nosler ballistic tips for varmints and 100 gr Partitions on deer.
You won't have to resight the rifle.
The first deer I ever shot was with a Sierra 100 gr 25-06. I switched to a Nosler 115 partition the following year with much better results.
The most accurate bullets I have ever tried from any rifle were the 225 gr 35 Whelen bullets.
My wife shot the 125 gr out of her .308 her entire life.
whelennut