Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Sierra Game Kings

Might be a reason they are accurate...

If Sierra would toughen up the SGK, it would probably be all I used, as they are very accurate for me.

As they are right now, they are bombs. So many better choices for bear. Fine for deer if you go lungs, otherwise you're losing some major meat.

Funny, back in the seventies Elmer Keith bitched about them not opening up well enough.

I wish I had a picture of the pure carnage inside of a buck that I hit with a 140gr SGK out of my 280. It wasn't pretty....

I hear ya. Last year I shot a buck with a 130 gr. from my 270 and the carnage was impresive to say the least. Many people talk about lungs turning to jelly this guy didn't have but a few scraps of lungs left.

I have gone to the 140 GK's in my 260. My load is middle of the road and man do they drop deer. In my 270 I use Hornady though. Just seem to get faster kills with the 260.

Elmer was quite contradictory to his own statements and theories of the years, much like a drunk giving a lecture during a black-out phase. He seemed to prefer cartridges with velocities just slightly faster than a sling-shot, so he didn't get a lot of bullet expansion. He knew his stuff, but he was also quite stubborn. I have read a few of his publications, and I have concluded that he was just a crotchety old fart with a single track mind. I'm pretty sure he felt that everyone was entitled to his opinion.

While the Sierra Gamekings don't always end up looking like the deadliest mushroom in the woods they sure seem to kill quickly. Very good bullets out of my 7x57, the 150 and 160 gr. Gamekings.

I have probablly tried ten different factory ammo in my 700 30-06, the Federal with game kings shoot the best so far.

I had a few long talks with them a couple of times. I asked them about making a premium bullet and they declared, " We do make a premium bullet. The Gameking."

Well they are still in denial I guess, if they think their Gameking is a premium.....

I used 150 grain Sierra Gamekings from my .30-06 for several years and had no problems with them on deer. I pretty much got a bang flop every time and the few that ran left a pile of blood on the ground. The only reason I quit using them was because they became hard to find in my area and I found other bullets that worked just as well.

I have used the cup and core Sierra GameKings in several of my rifles over the years, and found accuracy and performance on game to be exceptional.

I would still be shooting those 160 SGK's Federal loaded today in my 7 STW, if it was still available, having taken several head of game with them. Moose, elk, deer, mountain goat and bighorn sheep, from ranges of 30 yards out to 475.

It is the 215 gr bullet that I am currently using in my 338-06, getting 2750 fps and shooting 1/2" groups.

150 gr Sierra GK , '06, on yearling caribou @70yards, 8/13/09. Book ballistics about 3K, but probably not thru a 17 inch barrel. 20 plus year old reloads. Entry wound.

Exit wound at base of neck opposite side about the same diameter. Lots of "blood shot", thru membranes, etc. Mostly trimmed out during processing (self, not commercial! - they will hack and throw!). 'bou ran 30 yards and fell over.

'bou are generally too stupid to die easy, which is not to say they are easy enough to get close enough to kill.

I tried a box of federal 100 grain game kings in my .243 last year. shot a spike at 40 yards with a side shot to the shoulder. The bullet blew up. It messed up the shoulder, mushed the lungs and pieces of the bullet went back and cut the gut bag which oozed into the meat in the shoulder. The deer ran 30 yards and died. what a mess. It killed it but I was less than impressed with the bullet. I used my 30-30 for the rest of the season. maybe the larger game king bullets won't do that.

My understanding of GK bullets is that they are highly accurate (certainly in my rifles) but they are designed to open quickly, at reduced velocities- ie -long ranges. If this is true, then they perform exactly as designed.

At shorter ranges, they will perform as they did on my son's caribou. = open quickly and explosively on contact. But they do seem to"punch through" as well, retaining about the same diameter all the way thru (I've never recovered one, even on moose).

Can't fault the bullet for performing within it's design parameters, can we?

That said, a GK is not my first second, or even third choice of bullets,generally. But I inherited a pile of them,so I will be using them for a few years, in at least two calibers.

For equitable quality and price, I'd choose Hornady Interlocks.. They may not be quite as accurate (what's a half inch, under field conditions?), but they perform as well or better at the terminal end, with out as much "bloodshot' thing,.

Sierra GK are my staple bullets for most of my hunting calibers. In over 3 decades of big game hunting, I only recovered 3 of them, and all from frontal shots with close to full length penetration.


L to R :
7x64 on Muntjac at 80 m, 160 BTSP found in ham, 181% expansion and 48% retained weight.
.300 Win Mag on Red Stag at 250 m, 165 BTSP recovered from hide pouch on opposing flank, 204% exp. & 78% ret. w.
.30-06 on Roebuck at 180 m, 165 BTSP also in hide pouch on flank, 256% exp. & 59% ret. w.

I never had a problem with the GK bullets, knowing and taking into account that :

* GK BTSP = fast expanding bullets meant to be shot at standard velocities from standard calibers ;

* GK HPBT = contrary to popular belief associating all HP bullets to soft & fast expanding projectiles, Sierra's HP are harder magnum bullets destined for heavier game and/or magnum velocities.

The nice thing about them is that, their ogive being the same, you load them the same and they shoot as accurately and to the same POI. I regularly carry both SP and HP when hunting were both light and heavier game are present.

My son used some handloads that I worked up with the 140 gr. HPBT Sierra to take his first deer last year. Deer went about 4 steps from a distance of 110 yards. The handload was pretty mild at about 2750 fps from a .270 Winchester. Complete pass through at that range.

i hear the term "DRT" and i think of 2 bullets that, when driven at higher speeds have almost always given me that kind of performance...

the first, and the one that i have by far the most experience with, is the game king... it has routinely given me lightning like performance on deer, hogs and medium game...
they are explosive, though... and i occasionally destroy a little more than i intend to given good shot placement through the lungs...

the second bullet that gives me that kind of performance is the partition... i'm convinced that the front core of those bullets are designed to come apart with explosive performance... they are every bit as destructive as the game king, IME/IMO....

i've used both bullets on bear, although they were in different cartridges... the game king in a .243, the partition in 30-06... both very effective, giving one shot kills...

more to the point, when fired from the same cartridge, i see no difference in the destructiveness of the 85 gr game king or the 100 partition, on deer or hogs...

Use heavy for caliber, 180s in .30, 150s in .270, 160s in 7mm, etc., no more than 2700 fps mv.

The oft forgotten rule for standard bullets which was quite commonly known before there were so many choices in fancier, more expensive bullets types. Know thy bullets.