Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sierra Pro Hunter 120-gr. 7mm

I tend to go for something tough enough for the worst-case shot angle scenario on the biggest thing I'll possibly encounter. Culling does and eater pigs over bait or other setup scenarios should allow you to pick your shot, so you can maybe get away with something a little softer.

Another idea would be to develope your hunting load with something tough and use the soft ones for practice. That would possibly make a box of premium bullets last nearly the lifetime of someone of a certain age.🤔

BTW, I sectioned a 100gr 6mm PH and found it had, as advertised, a tapered jacket, quite thick at the base. However one I put through the heart of an adult doe at almost exactly 100 yards pretty much evaporated, admittedly after souping everything in the area.

The worst thing I can say about Sierras is they act like the highly touted Berger's in all regards sometimes. Get the pop corn please

.

That's another thing I like about the Sierra's so far I have had good luck matching load for load with several other bullets: Barnes, Kodiak, Noslers, TBBC, factory you name it and it just may match it.

Somewhere I have the remains of a 150gr Sierra .308 bullet, exact type forgotten, that I recovered from behind the ear of a small buck I shot about 2005. He was going diagonally away downhill from me, and the bullet struck him in the V at the rear of his brisket, apparently as his front feet hit the ground. How that little aspirin-size chunk made it all the way up there is a mystery. I didn't find it until I sawed his skullcap off.

I had one Sierra 180 out of a 300wm hit a small buck in the neck and not even sever the vertebra. I was in disbelief that he required another shot and this from what I thought was an Elk worthy load. The bucks neck was rut swollen and it was pretty tough eating unless stewed for a long time but even so. Bullets can do strange things.

I've been out for a few days and just read all the posts. Thanks for your comments.

It looks like I'm just going to stick with shooting Interlocks. I can load them down to dink with, then crank them up for game. They'll cover everything I'm doing for now. Too bad Hornady doesn't make a 120-grain Interlock. It might compete with the NBT for performance.

Ingwe, you don't have to worry about the IS being fed either Sierras or plastic tipped bullets (although I did have to do an exorcism on it when I got it since it looked like a few plastic tips may have gone down the pipe). I have a lifetime supply of 154-grain Interlocks, 160-grain Partitions, 160-grain Deep Curls, and 160-grain Grand Slams...each! There's some weird pattern developing there.

After reading the thread, seems a common theme is the Pro Hunters blowing up and causing a lot of damage...

sorta like the ballistic tips first did...

Mike, you're a Fla guy... deer aren't that big down there ( kinda like our blacktails) and
secondly I can't imagine you are shooting deer at long ranges down there....

probably more like 30/30 range as I call it...100 to 150 yds...

ya know, throttle the 120 Pro Hunters down to say 2400 to 2500 MV.. and there isn't a deer that ever
existed in the State of Fla it wouldn't drop, if the bullet was put in the vitals.

Our blacktails usually run 100 to 120 lbs.. anything over that is a BIG one!

The second largest one I shot, was 210 lbs on the hoof.

Shot that one at 50 yds, a heart shot...put a valley right down the middle of it... dropped on the spot, after 1 step.

Using a 7 x 57 just like the one I think use to be Ingwe's., that you now own.

A Winchester Featherweight...

The load that did the deed?

28 grains of SR 4759, shooting a 115 grain Speer HP...

certainly a more fragile bullet than the 120 Sierra Prohunter...

but my load was tailored to the distance I'd be hunting at and the velocity the bullet would function in
for the job...

oh and recoil.. was like shooting my 223 Featherweight...

Parson, it sounds like you had it right all along, and in keeping with the spirit of your favorite round.

Continue to convert innocent forest (swamp?) creatures into tasty comestibles .

Ain't that something? Maybe ol' Finn had it right: Either the 154-gr Interlock or 150-gr Partition and you're about done.

Seafire, do you have any idea what the velocity of that load might be? It sounds like a great practice load, although I'll need a different powder since 4659 is gone.

Thanks

I'm sitting on 32 lbs of it.. so it'll be a while for me to be out of it...

however, if you want a good practice load in anything from a 243 right up to a 30/06...

I always rely on 30 grains of IMR 4198...

in a 7 x 57 that's pretty safe right up to 160 grain bullets in my experiences with
my Model 70 and my Ruger...

If ya want I can dig up a target taken with a 7 x 57 using Blue Dot with IIRC a 130 grain
Sierra SP... a 25cent size hole at 100 yds for 5 shots...

Running right at 2400 fps...

4198 I can get! I know you've said that it's what Remington uses in the Managed Recoil load. I have more 160-grain bullets than I know what to do with, and I expect that pushing them in the 2400 fps range would be fine for anything in Florida. As you noted, it's rare that any shots are longer than 150 yards.

What you are doing won't require a really tough bullet....Serbia pro hunter bullets will work fine..

son-in-law downloaded the 120 Sierra in his 708 for the kids a couple years. Worked fine at 2400-2500 muzzle velocity as Seafire suggested. Shots were under 125 yards from a blind with a bench for them to shoot from. Granddaughter has now graduated to the 120BT out of her new M70Fwt Compact 708.

Seafire, I know you don't like H4895 for reduced loads, but I also know that you've used it in the past, so I have a question for you: I was shooting a few practice loads using Hodgdon's 60-percent rule behind a 100 grain bullet, and two of the fired cases showed soot all the way down the case body to the extractor groove. Is that normal with H4895 when using it for reduced loads? What a mess.

Thanks

I've shot a lot of whitetails, some of them pretty heavy, with 130gr. Sierra Pro-Hunters out of a .270, and never had an issue. I was running them over 3000fps, too, the old classic load with H4831SC. The deer dropped like they fell in a hole.


Using a 7mm with 120s, I'd probably back it down a bit, to 2800 or so, and use the heck outa them. I'll guarantee the corn-fed Missouri whitetails I've shot were heavier than those little Florida swamp deer, yet they die easy if you hit 'em right.

Not Seafire, but it sounds like you should up that charge a little - sounds like you're not getting enough case expansion to seal the chamber.

+1

Thanks Mark and Ken. That is exactly what I'm planning to do. The "60% Rule" is a little too light. I'm going to go up a couple of grains and see what happens.

Thanks again.

You're welcome Rev.