My accuracy load for my .325 WSM uses the 175-gn Pro Hunter at around 2700 fps. Pretty mild load. I wonder, is that bullet any good for hunting? I have a deep distrust of Sierra's for hunting... how about the Pro Hunter, for deer and black bear?

-jeff

It'll do the job.

You read too much unadulterated Pure BS, on these forums.

I have always had good luck with Pro-Hunters. Mostly they've been 100 grain 6mm semi-pointeds , but the 170 7mm RN was also a very good bullet as is the 160 semi-pointed 6.5. Sierra uses some good core alloys to control their bullets' performance. If you get around the hype and see for yourself I think you will be pleased. Just don't try to use them in ways they weren't intended. (That isn't a Southern Pacific bullet to be used on a Northern Pacific freight train. Translation: don't attempt a "gastric bypass" on an elk with it.)

I will say, in my informal newsprint tests with my .358, the only bullet to shed it's core was a Sierra. However it tore hell out of the newsprint on the way in and went 12" as opposed to the Partitions 13", so...

DesertSandMan, I take it you've used the Pro Hunter with good results?

-jeff

Ditto what Desert Sandamn says.
I have used Pro hbunters and Game KIngs for many years. The elk and deer I shot this year died from them. Thelk was 5 yds from muzzle end of my .06. 180 gr Gane Kings went all the way through. If a bullet was going to come apart it should have at that distance. The 220 gr RN Pro Hunters I use usually get complete pass though

Jeff,
Your summation is correct, I've never had a bad experience I could attribute to a Sierra ProHunter or GameKing.

Dan

I have used the Sierra Pro-hunters in my 250 Savage and taken game reliably and all were one shot kills with full through and through penetration. These have been on Antelope up to large Muley bucks. I have also used a pro-hunter out of my Swede on Elk and had similiar results. Ryan

Interesting... I want to like 'em, because they sure shoot accuratly in the rifle! When I want an accuracy load, I look to Ballistic Tips and Sierra's...

I'll shoot my 175's over a chrono and see what I've got going. I think I could push them to near 3100 fps, at which point I would certainly not use the Sierra (sorry Sierra fans!) but at my estimated 2700-ish fps I bet they'd be great on the local bear and deer.

-jeff

The most accurate load in my .257 Roberts is a 100 grn Sierra pro Hunter at about 2950 fps. The first deer I ever killed with it was at about 200 yards angled through the chest. I recovered the bullet under the hide on the far side. The bullet was perfectly mushroomed and weighed 94 grains. I don't think I could have asked for better performance.

Jeff-I've used the Sierra brand since 1978, I've had no reason to doubt it whether I am running the bullets and slow speeds and or hot rock speeds.

For what you're prescribing I feel they would work great.

The distrust you talk about is it from experience on game or something else?

Lastly how's the 195 Hornady shooting in your rig?

Thx

Dober

I used them out of an 06 for years for whitetail. I did not reload then so they were Federal Premiums with the Pro Hunters as well as the Game Kings. I never had any problem with them and have many on my reloading shelves now along with Hornady, Nosler and Barnes. There are not any of the Main players in the bullet industry that dont have critics and on the net who really knows what is fact and what is just somebody spouting off. I'll keep going by my own experience and those few guys that I know and trust.

Long

Interesting... veddy veddy interesting!

Mark, I have no experience on game wit Sierra's, only excellent results on paper. Sierra's are routinely "dogged" for blowing up and core/jacket seperations so I've gone other directions. However, it sounds like there's an element of myth to the "problems" I have heard about!

The 195 Hornady is great! Here's a pic of the the group I shot with 'em a few days ago:



It's only a 3-shot group, but it's .675 center to center. Also got a .55 group with the Sierra's that day. I was shooting well, and holding onto the foreend of the rifle TIGHT. That seems to be the ticket with it.

However it appears the Hornady 195 is not an Interlock, which is too bad. At least it doesn't say it is on the box.

-jeff

Just checked the web site. Seems to indicate it's an interlock.

Jeff- I gotta believe that they're Interlocks, call the good people at Hornady and find out for sure is what I'd do.

One thing I know for sure about those that dog Sierra's. Like most things in life those with the least amount of experience with something tend to say the worst things. And or make things tons load tougher than it ever need be.

I've seen more elk taken with 130 Sierra BT's out a 270 than most people will ever kill in a life time of hunting elk. Never had a problemo and don't spect to either.

Seriously if you want to use those 170's go out and fill up an ark with them. They'll no doubt do the job if you do yours.

Dober

Huh! Well, that would be good news if indeed it's an Interlock. I've called Hornady before about the 200-IL I use in my .358; good folks. I'll give 'em a jingle. Because, seriously an 195-gn 8mm Interlock is going to do most of what I want to do with that rifle, short of elk. Not that it wouldn't do that, but I'll use a TSX just for the insurance factor.

Since we are givin' Sierra's the love here, have any of you guys ever heard of the "Sierra stalk"?

I sure wish I lived somewhere where killing your ONE, SINGLE, HARD-TO-KILL buck wasn't the reality. I tend to get very conservative with my choices and use what everyone says will work fine or what has worked in the past for me. Usually, that means a Partition. It'd be fun to be filling 4 or 5 deer and elk tags and be able to experiment more.

-jeff

Nope but I've heard of and seen first hand the Sierra Siesta...grins

Dober

Well, I've got a tag left yet and some Sierra's loaded in my 8mm so I'll try to bag one and give a report!

Hey Jeff,

I believe the 175 grain Sierra was actually designed for 8mm Mauser velocities. I use them in my two 8x57s for warming up with mild loads. I use the 200 grain Partions and Accubonds for hunting. Never had a chance to test on elk yet, but they sure work well on deer sized game. I would think the Horndaddy will do fine for elk and the 175 will do deer well in the 325. I'll get a good opportunity for an elk test with the 8x57 and the 200 grainers later this week. I would love to test some of the 195s myself.

A 300WM I use a lot suddenly and unexpectedly decided to hate Xs. To test accuracy I always use Sierras to maximize potential and analyze problems. The Pro-HUnters have shined repeatedly. Have used the 180 for moose, black bear, a NM oryx, WT and Sitka deer, I find it a pretty decent bullet and seldom have recovered one...
art

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.