Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 225-gn Sierra Game King at a MV of 2450 fps... your opinion of terminal performance?

Jeff,

I think your "way over thinking" this issue.
Use the Sierra for practice - if you don't trust them and the NP for game. Simple Simon and it saves money to boot.

Thats what I'm doing right now with my .358, but my major target is elk.

Either bullet will harvest a deer as far away as you can hit it. You might want to use the Barnes Bullet shooters trick and try to involve a shoulder, when the range is long.

JM2cents!

Yep, yep, and yep!

Overthinking 'R' Us. Or me anyways.

I wish the Sierra shot to the same POI, or even close... but it doesn't.

Interesting.... mine will group together.

My rifle must be better than yours... laughing

Well I am going to try the 225 grain Sierra as soon as I get a couple boxes of them. I like Sierra bullets and though a few have not ended up looking like the picture in the Corelokts add all have brough game to bag. However I don't think I'd use em at 375 yards starting at 2450 fps.

I'll be looking forward to your range report...

They still have 1800 fps at 375 yards... FWIW... that's Nosler's minimum.

My thoughts, had a M77 SS in 350 RM, loaded 225s both Sierra for deer and NPs for elk, as my buddy bought it as he borrowed it one evening 2 seasons ago, and darned if it brought him good luck, SLAMMED a deer, 10 pt buck NICE at 200 yds w/Sierra, around 2700 it seems for MV. Bullet was BEAUTIFUL pic perfect mushroom and IIRC weighed 158 grains, core intact, found the bullet on off shoulder just under hide, thought I felt bullet when got to deer, later at camp, cut hide and there was the bullet, no problems.

If I were you, shoot the Sierras, a 35 cal slinging 225 grains of lead is doing close to what handgunners throw at deer at FAR less mv and impact vel.

Perhaps you are like many of us and over think things, but that is ok, you are just trying to maximize your success.

Ironically, my buddy booked an elk hunt last season, and the airline regs now would not allow him to carry my handloaded NPs, as they were in a zip lock bag, not a properly marked box.

In a nutshell, he dumped a nice 6x6 at around 150 yds using none other than the lowly factory loaded 200 corelokt!

To your point re: low BC on 200s in 358, that is precisely why for a short mid bore I like the 338 fed as its 200 hornady has a better bc, at close ranges the 35 is fine w/them. I did take and buy some Rem CLs for my 350 as they were cheap, did not shoot near as well as the 225s, and surprisingly plinked a bit with 158 JHPs/JSPs and to 200 yds, very deadly to water filled milk jugs! Would not hesitate one second to bust a deer at 200-250 if I could get a broadside shot thru lungs, it would destroy them I am sure as there is violent expansion going on.

I'd also not worry as to anyone telling you what you can do/or not w/358, or how far.

"Beware of the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it" so that said, the fact that you have practiced more than most and know your rifle/load/scope reticle set up, I'd say any deer w/in 375 yds is yours whether you choose the sierra or np.

Could be possible the nose on the PTs are softer and open further out easier as Rich -tech at Sierra (uses the bullet himself in a 358 Ruger 77 under healthy dose of H335 IIRC for around 2500 mv) assured me the 225 is a stout bullet. I am sure it'd take elk fine. Core separation is not a guarantee of failure, nor a sure correlation of 'lack of desired quick kills' but on an elk, the cost of a box of NP's is cheap vs the hunt as I told my friend.

Sure you have seen this but perhaps others have not:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/358_wcf.htm

Or you could just buy nosler seconds and shoot the 225 partitions for everything and quite worrying about it.

Even if it cost a few bucks more to shoot everyday I bet the difference is still less than a cost of a gallon of gas to get to your range.

Quit making sense now...

FWIW, while the 225 Gameking is hard cored, just like the .338 and .375 heavyweights, it is a bit "light" for the 35 caliber. I would imagine that is the, or part of the, reason for Sierra only showing data up to the Whelen/350 Rem Mag sized cases. I would imagine it would be a fine bullet at 375 yards when launched from a Norma Mag or maybe even the STA. I would also imagine the Nosler BT or AB would be great at 375 - if they shoot well- when propelled by the little Winchester case. Single loading would be required though in order to make the most of the diminutive case volume. (Those really long, plastic-tipped bullets really intrude when seated short enough to feed.)

Klik, that's correct and those who have not loaded for .358 may not realize what a limiting factor that can be.

That 225 Accubond is interesting, but I'd have to grind off the tips.

I've literally called Nosler and begged for a 200-gn Accubond but no dice...

The extra length of the Barnes stuff is an issue in the same way.

-jeff

This is a place where either a 200g accubond/Interbond/sirocco that is short enough to function in a 358 win would be a nice addition.

I really think that a 210gr .358 bullet would be just about perfect for just about any medium 35 out there. Just look at the popularity of the .338 210gr. It's the flagship bullet of their 338 line. powdr

Powdr, that's where the 338F comes in w/210s!

Yeah, a 200 (or 210) from a .35 is not the same thing as a 210 from a .33.. the .33 has significantly better BC and SD. If a guy is into those sort of things <g>.

When I sent my M7 in to Pac-Nor to have them rebarrel it, I debated long and hard about whether to go .338-08, or .358. .338 Federal had not yet been "invented".

A case can be made for either one, and either one is a very cool thing as are .308, 7mm-08, .260, and .243. It's just a fundamentally efficient little powerhouse of a parent case, is .308, IMHO.

I didn't go with .338-08 because there were rumors that someone was going to legitimize it, and I didn't want my chamber to be out-of-spec with whatever the "real" chamber was. In reality, being a handloader, that shouldn't matter but at the time, it did!

I've been extremely pleased with my .358, to say the least. But I'd never say nuthin' bad about a .338 Fed. That right there is a pretty cool cartridge, and indeed the 210 Partition is about perfecto for it!

-jeff

Three years ago Don and I built two 6 1/2 lb (scopes included) 358s for elk hunting here in Az. We have a favorite north facing slope that is perfect for slow stalking. These rifles will be in our hands without slings attached as we ooze around.

We have waited three years for our next tags, have cow tags this year.

Originally I loaded up some 225 Sierras. They shot well. Don's rifle is all set to shoot them. I later loaded up some 225 TSX but the velocities were slow at just over 2300 due to the long bullet seated deeply into the case.

I was given some 358 components from an estate of a friend. There were three boxes of 225 Nosler partitions. Did you know Nosler says the BC of these bullets is .430? It seems hard to believe. I seated some .010" off the rifling and added RL-15. Worked up to 50 grs with no pressure signs 90 degrees, had to be drop tubed and it fit with some compression. 49.5 grs was the most accurate. Man oh man this IS the load for our elk hunt! 2550 fps. It sure whips the barrel up when fired from the bench but very tolerable.

FYI the overall length of these 225 partitions is identical to the 225 Sierra.

In a word, �No.�

In two words, �Hell, NO!�

If you are not confident in the bullet�s ability, as you clearly are not, why would you choose it just because it shoots well? Plenty of other bullets will give you far more accuracy than you need.





Obviously you are comfortable with a Partition � why are you not using it?

I've done some penetration tests with various .358 bullets. At 100 yards, two of three sierra 225's shed their core and one out of three 225 Nosler BT shed its core. Both produced a decent wound channel.

I used a 225 sierra game king on a small 4x4 mulie. The distance was approx. 250 yards and MV 2500+ from my Whelen. The bullet fully penetrated its neck vertebre and exited.

I personaly like the standard cup and core bullets for deer. There is no dought that the 225 sierra will hammer one of your blacktail. If you think you need a premium bullet in the 358, then use the partition.

Azshooter,

How long is the barrel of your .358? I'm not messing with anything this year; the load I have is working. But 2550 is better than I am getting with a compressed load of I4895 from my 20" barrel.

I shot only ONE deer, a big northern whitetail with the Sierra 225 BT out of my .35 Whelen. Load was 56 gr. of IMR 4064, about 2650fps if I recall. Range was about 15 yards, broadside. Through the ribs and lungs, just behind the shoulder and exited. Bullet apparently failed to expand at all. Buck ran about 120 yards before expiring. NO blood trail, thank goodness for good snow tracking conditions. Once is a poor test of any product, but it was was enough for me. I don't use those bullets any more.