Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Sierra "Pro-Hunter" bullets?

Mr. Jeff Olsen:
We�ve used Sierra bullets to kill deer with 180gr in the .30-06, 150gr in the .308 and 120gr in the 6.5x55. I believe the 120�s were Pro Hunters, but the others I believe were Game Kings.

The picture I posted this year of our 2 daughters with their mule deer showed a 120gr. Sierra caused death on the right deer. That particular Sierra 120gr. went into the left brisket/front shoulder, penetrated through the ribs, then through one lung and got lost in the rumen. We�ve found that shot angle is quite often pretty tough on bullets. However, that buck, which was 125lbs carcass weight made maybe 5 jumps afterward. It was dead before I got to it within about 45 seconds.

I believe that I�d concur with Mr. Klikitarik�s opinion on shot placement with Sierra�s, but certainly for deer, I would not be hesitant to use them.

I�ve only shot one bear with a Sierra, a 250gr in .338 at less than 3 yards on a medium-small black bear. It surely died, but we did no complete post mortem to find the bullet. Tissue damage was of course very extensive at that range.

Good luck with your rifle, whichever bullet you choose.

Regards,
Dwayne

Thanks for all the great info, guys! Very much appreciated.

One nice thing about using an 8mm is that it does simplify your bullet choices somewhat!

A fellow 8mm fan on the Campfire is selling me (15) 180-gn TSX's to try... which is perfect, I should be able to tell if I want to invest in a box of 'em. That's probably about the "sexiest" load out there for this rifle I think- a 180-gn TSX at approaching 3100 fps I bet. Best load? Probably not.. but interesting!

-jeff

Jeff, I have used the 195g a lot. They are Interlocks and they are extremely accurate in my 8mm-06AI.

The folks that coplain about the Sierras ar usually the ones who push them too fast in the mags or even conventional cartridgesor take any shot peresnted on game becaue they have too much ego wrapped up in bringing game animals home. They buy a rifle that thy can shoot 500 yds with and then complain when they shoot an elk or deer at 50 yd and the bullet comes apart, or take a double shoulder shot at 50 yds with the same complaint. Yet if they used the same bulllet at 400yds,they wold be praising it.

I have an old baby foodj ar about 1/2 filled with Sierras I dug out of game. Obviously the game died or I would not have them. Most of them were found under the hide on the off side.

Even Mule Deer ( JB ) haswritten many times that he has used them probably more than any othe rbullet in his life as I recall

Sierra uses the same core alloy (3% antimony) in the ProHunter and GameKing, the only difference being the boattail. Both work pretty darn well if not carelessly applied (say over 2800 fps impact velocity on deer, 2400 or so on bigger game). I use the 160 GameKing a lot in the 7x57 on deer-sized game, and have yet to recover one.

At least one other bullet company uses a MUCH softer core in their boattail bullets, which is perhaps one reason boattails have a reputation for coming apart. But I did an analysis of hundreds of bullets shot into big game and found that the common belief that boattails shed their cores more easily than flat bases is pretty much myth. Or at least it was in my sample of several hundred bullets. In fact, more flat-bases separated than boattails, on a percentage basis.

OK, it's just irresistable... saddlesore, don't take this as a poke at you, or at Sierra, etc. I've learned some stuff on this thread. But this is too funny to NOT pass along.

Q: What's the Sierra Stalk?

A: it's when you spot that trophy animal at 60 yards and go "oh, DAMN!" and start very slowly, carefully, stalking backwards to get at least a couple hundred yards away!

Just thought that was one of the funnier bullet jokes I'd heard...

Well, it sounds like that 175-gn bullet would be a useful bullet for deer as long as I don't go wacko and try to push it at 3100 fps and then shoot a deer 40 yards away!

I'm gonna call Hornady right now on that 195...

-jeff

Jeff, Hey, I think it's pretty funny too and damn true for those who worship at the alter of speed.

IMO, any of the Green, Red, or Yellow box bullets will work if one uses them as they were designed for. If I were a magnum or super speed shooter, you can probably bet I would be extolling the virtues of all the premium bullets

That's what I used in my 30-40 Krag for deer this year. I shot a yearling doe at 80 yards and she went right down.

I like the Sierra BT in my .35 Whelen and in my 7mm-08. Work real well on deer-sized game. The common thread there is that I usually try for 2700-2800 in my handloads. Except the Whelen is 2600 with the 225 grainers.

Doesn't seem to matter much with the .35's, huh? I mostly use a .358 for deer with 200-gn Hornady's at 2600 fps and it just whacks 'em.

We're on the same page. Pretty much all my hunting rifles except the .358 are 2700-2900 fps rifles. Just the bore diameter and bullet weight changes.

-jeff

I shot a deer at 40 yards today with my 25-06 using 117 gr Gamekings. It was a shoulder shot with a small entry hole and a quarter size exit hole. Deer dropped on the spot.