Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles .308 Sierra 150 Pro Hunter

I picked up a like new Kimber 8400 Classic 300WSM locally from an old man (yeah, he was older than me!) who had quit hunting. He had it listed to sell and I gave him his asking price; I got it for about half to almost a third of what Gun Broker has! Anyhow, just for grins, I'm going to load up some Sierra 150PHs for deer/antelope/coyotes. I shot alot of Sierra PHs out of an '06 years before, but never killed game with them. I have a story for you about this, involves my first experience with both, the 150PH/300 Mag.

About 25yrs ago, I had bought a 300WM to try out/use in South Africa with the Barnes 180XBT. My first 300 Mag. Before that trip, I was invited for a deer hunt in Llano Tx, small Hill Country deer, shots under 100yds. I had just got the rifle so I just bought some Federal Blue Box in 150gr, thinking they would explode inside, like a bomb. Up till then I had used a variety of rifles, including 7mm Mag and 338 Mag, 35 Whelan Ackley, etc. Never a 300 until now. I shot 4 deer (3 does/1 buck) and they looked like they had been shot with the Barnes and Partitions I used in the others! Half inch entrance, silver dollar exit hole, mess in between BUT about 10 inches of shot up lungs and crap had been "syphoned " out by the bullets passing! I had never seen that! ha. I was impressed! Through the years I have shot a ton of Sierras, Speers, Hornady bullets. When I started out Handloading, I always considered "them" as "Premium" bullets! Even though I like to kill game with Monos, I still have great respect and use for these old standbys! Anyone else see that "syphoning" affect on small deer/antelope when shot with a fast 30?

The pro hunter is a great bullet. They resist core separation better than the game king and can be driven fast as they have a small bearing surface. When I shot deer with them a while back out of a 260 they exited without recovery. Usually quite accurate and not that sensitive to seating depth ime. I’d trust them run fast out of 300 wsm.

Nothing wrong with them

Great bullets, have shot some out of a 308 and 270’s. I had a Sako L-61 that wouldn’t shoot boattail bullets very good, but loved flat base bullets

Got a big big batch of that exact bullet this past yr because they were on sale cheap, so I've been using them. Like Earlybrd said, nothing wrong with them. Shoot well, consistent from 1 box to the next, and exited on a front of shoulder shot to behind the opposite shoulder exit used on a deer this yr.

Ever tried Speer hotcor?

Me? Yes. I like them. By far the cheapest bullets out there on average, shoot well enough in most calibers, some really well, and work just as well on game of comparable C&C bullets of the same weight. I rate them above Hornady IL on game performance and jug testing.

Only reason I got a big batch of those 150 Sierra PH's was that they were on sale even cheaper than Speer HC price. Couldn't resist.

Sierra Pro Hunter 308 150 is an excellent very accurate hunting bullet. For more than 20 years I killed untold numbers of Whitetails with this exact bullet and only changed to Barnes TTSX about 10 years ago. For the money I dont think there is a better hunting bullet than a Sierra Pro Hunter....Good luck...Hb

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I believe 150 308 SPH is nearly perfect for deer-sized animals IF they aren't pushed too fast. I used them out of a 30.06 at 2900 fps with excellent results. If you can't put meat on the table such a combo you should take up golf.

My new honey load that I was forced into trying by necessity when I had run myself out of 4064 is just 48 gr's of H4895 with that bullet. I believe it runs 2835 in a 22". It worked consistently well on target and worked on a whitetail this yr.

My oldest daughter took a doe at 223 yards with the 140 gr PH out of a 7mm-08 this year. 50 yds downhill and done. Great bullet.

The 150 SGK out of my middle daughter’s 308 wasn’t as good as I had experienced with the PHs, on multiple deer.

In the future I’m going with bonded and monos for making meat. GKs, PHs, and BTs can make a lot of bloodshot meat even when the shoulder is missed. I’m too old to worry much about lead, but less or zero is better for certain. Early results with three mono kills and a couple with bonded have been good.

Have a bunch of blem Accubonds and E-Tips, and enough LRXs for my duration I think. Speer Gold Dots, when you can find them, are relatively cheap, and accurate, in my Grendel anyway.

For the past 20yrs, I have pretty much done the same. I like to work up a good load with a Mono or Partition and then see if I can match it with a cheaper, more common cup n core for practice and coyotes. I even shoot a game animal every now and then, but usually its a headshot doe, so I just use the c&c. I do love the Barnes TSX & TTSX. I've never tried E-Tips. I tried and could not get consistent accuracy with the Hornady CX (sp?) the GMX nor the Interbond! Go figure. I have found Hammers easy to load for and they sure are accurate. I used nothing but Barnes (handloads) and Winchester factory Fail-safes on 4 South African/Namibia plains game hunts. With those ( and I hear the Hammers do well too) the animal can be in a very awkward angle and drive on in to the chest. Lots of money if you wound/lose and animal. Lots of money to go that far and have to "pass" because they were not broadside! ha. I'm Scots-Irish, thrrrrifty Aye?

I use 180 gr. PH's in my 7.62 Russian at about 2700 fps. I have shot both an elk and a deer head on, center of the chest. I had massive damage to the chest cavity without exiting into the paunch in both cases. The elk went 50 feet, the deer went 50 yards. No tracking.

He's right you know!^

"Anyone else see that "syphoning" affect on small deer/antelope when shot with a fast 30?"

Not that I can remember but then again, I haven't used them since about 1982 when I switched to the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core for my .308.

I' hunted with the 150 gr. Sierra Pro Hunter since about 1955/6 in the 30-06 and in 1973 when I switched to using a Remington 660 in .308 because it was noticeably lighter that the 06. The shortest shot was about 6 feet or less and the longest 426 paces. Frankly I never really paid much attention on the bullet wound back then other that to look at meat damage. Always was quite a bit of bloodshot meat but it could be salvaged up to a point. The only one I remember was the 6 foot deer. About a two inch hole going in and the entire odd side was wide open. About all I had to do on the gut job was remove the windpipe and remove the rectum at the pelvis. Turn the deer over and shake. I lost a lot of meat off that one.

Shortly after the move from Nevada to Arizona I picked up a Ruger M77 RSI in .308. Took a while to find a load than that rifle and me happy and it was the 165 gr. Speer Hot Core and I've been using ity ever since. Velocity from the 18.5" barrel of the RSI is 2550 FPS on average. That same load works well in a Winchester M70 Youth Ranger that I won in a raffle. It does 2610 FPS from a 22" barrel. I've never clocked a load from the 660 but a rough guess would say about 2580 FPS. I've never had a problem killing deer as far out as 250 yards with the RSI although most were closer.

PJ

I used the old, soft Nosler Ballistic Tip in 165/308 back in mid 90's on my first Axis deer. I had sold my 257 Weatherby ( a 25-06 Converted/Rechambered to magnum Classic) to my outfitter right after taking my first Blackbuck and Black Hawiyan. I had my god sons rifle as a spare, a Mod 70 fwt/308 with a Tasco World Class scope. I used the 165 as it had less soft lead up front than the 180 and 165 was not as fast as that 150. It worked swell. I didn't clock it but I figured I was around 2600. 230 long step! Longest shot I ever made with a 308. The other one was 15yds, ha. That's it, shot 308 many times (especially in Military and my mid 90's Springfield M1A phase!)