Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sierra Game King on Whitetails

Back when I used a .30/06 for all of my deer killing, I used the 165 BTHP, at around 2850 fps. Deer killed inside of 100 yds. (which was most of them) had huge amounts of bloodshot meat, often resulting in the loss of an entire shoulder. Kills were always nearly instantaneous. Then I wised up and started loading them down to around 2500 fps and life was good, not to mention easier on the shoulder and hearing, and kills were still nearly instantaneous. Accuracy which was great initially actually improved at the lower velocity levels. I don't use a .30/06 much anymore, but the reduced load with the boat tails is still the go-to load when I do.

Note: these observations were in Eastern white tail hunting conditions. Long range shooting conditions would have probably tempered my attitude toward reduced power levels.

Whitetail at 100 yds? If I didn't know that's what you all were talking about. I'd think it was for elk.

A core-lokt should kill it with no problems. Since when did deer get so tough?

Don't do it man.

They'll bounce off.

I have used GK from my .35 Whelen and they are very accurate. Kills deer quite well as well as a couple of small black bears but they do tend to separate jacket and core, but it has not seemed to make any difference with the killing power.

I've shot a dozen or so whitetail with my Whelen using 225 gr. Game Kings. I haven't recovered a bullet yet, all pass throughs.

This issue has been hashed and rehashed many, MANY times here, but I guess not everybody reads all the threads, or chooses to learn from them. So here it is again, from me and everyone else, for better or worse.

Sierra GameKings are "soft" bullets, relative to many other kinds of bullets. Soft bullets are more frangible than hard bullets, and tend to penetrate less reliably as velocity increases or target hardness increases. If we shoot soft bullets, we need to either shoot them at lower velocity, or keep them in soft spots on the target to ensure sufficient penetration. The 7mm RM is not a low velocity round, so if we use soft bullets in it, we must place the bullets in softer spots on game. That means broadside ribcage shots. Bullets placed in the ribcage of a whitetail deer only have to penetrate about one inch to reach vital organs and kill the animal. IME, a 160gr Sierra GameKing will definitely penetrate the ribcage of a deer and kill it quickly. The high velocity of the 7mm RM and rapid bullet expansion will turn everything in the ribcage to mush. Mush can't breath air or pump blood, so the deer will die quickly. The bullet may or may not exit, but it doesn't matter because the killing damage is done.

OTOH, if you shoot a soft bullet at high velocity and place it in a hard spot, like a shoulder joint or at a severe raking angle, you risk not reaching the vitals due to insufficient penetration of the soft bullet and wounding an animal that may run for miles and be lost.

I recommend you take your 7 mag and Sierra bullets doe hunting. There are usually a lot of does and usually more shot opportunities and time to wait for a broadside shot than when hunting bucks. The does will die and you will reap copius venison.

Sierra + whitetail deer = meat in the freezer.


Simple as that.

Absolutely use game kings on whitetails. Harvested two this year with game kings.

Not to derail the thread, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the killing power of Match King bullets yet. That stirred up a hornet's nest some years ago!



What!!?!? Is that deer wearing a vest?

Picking up and updating... I never doubted the killing capacity of the bullets, I was concerned that on a double lunger they might not expand quickly enough.

Brief summary - I got my first 2 WT deer and my first animals with my reloads!

Conclusion:
7mm RM + 160gr SGK's, 64gr of RL22 and Rem 9 1/2Mag primers do expand quickly enough vs WT spike, even on a broadside shot at ~80yds. DRT and all reflex movement stopped in less than 30seconds, hit it 2 inches too far, but destroyed 1 lung, diaphragm and the liver.

I also had found 3 bullets loaded with 160gr NPT over the same components but 63gr of RL22 instead, same POI at 100yds for all practical purposes.
A white tail deer spike does stop a PT on a frontal shot center chest, though does not live enough to even realize it. DRT at 100yds and actually got turned about 30 degrees with the impact.
Pulverized sternum and ribs, broken front leg bone (not from bullet but from impact) and dislocated the other one, heart smushed in half, intact lungs, tore diaphragm, poked a clean hole in the paunch and got lost somewhere in there. I did a freaking autopsy (I am actually an MD too) and could not find the bullet in the stomach, no exit hole in it and no entry hole in the rest of the abdominal organs, so it got lost there somewhere.

I am uploading some gory pics for illustration purposes, I hope people brought their eye bleach

Texas Hill Country


First Spike - no entry wound visible, but about 2 inches behind the shoulder on the on side


Entry wound into the chest cavity


Exit wound in the chest cavity


Exit wound on off side


Both spikes


Thoracic mess from frontal hit with 160gr PT. Except the stomach nothing else was disrupted in the abdomen.
[img]http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i474/Sponxx/IMG_7590.jpg[/img]

Congrats on your first two whitetails!!

Used to shoot the 165's out of my 7 rm . To much wasted meat for me I don't use them anymore. They fly good , just don't hold together well for my likes. OMMV

+1

Don't let anybody tell you different.

Damm!! Surprised those deer went so far

The old feller that taught me how to load said "Son, just use Sierra's for everything and use the rest of your time scouting and hunting". It makes sense now.

Love the Sierra 130's for my .270 and the 165 HPBT in .308

I shot a big 10 pt buck that dressed at 200 lbs. right through the heart at 80 yds. quartering away with a 7mm Rem Mag 160 gr Sierra @2900 fps. It died in mid step and fell right there.
I couldn't have been happier. I guess you could scare up a box of 120 gr. Nosler Ballistic Tips if you want to make sure they expand to your liking?
whelennut