Sierra Game King Bullets

[aachey]

Killed two deer with gamekings, accurate and does the job. Pictures are from a 20 yard quartering shot 6.5 rem mag.

 

[Shō[t]gun]

I have some of the new 308 175gr hpbt game king. I will be using this year on deer and aoudad

For how ugly the grille is on those it’s shocking how well they’ve shot for me!

 

[Shō[t]gun]

It was either 115 or 117 grainers. I couldn’t get anywhere close to a consistent exit. No bloodtrails on those.

I ultimately switched to 110 grain Accubonds and my issues went away. Much better bullet for me.

Yeah the soft points are going to do that at higher velocities, similar story out of my 7RM with 140 hpbt gamekings but I was happy with the performance. The new tipped ones are tougher and probably more to your liking.

I guess our outlook on blood trails and exits is different. In my experience I’ve seen some exits that didn’t bleed at all and ran further, while everything I’ve shot with a fragging bullet either dropped on the spot or had such a short run that blood wasn’t necessary.

 

[N2TRKYS]

Yeah the soft points are going to do that at higher velocities, similar story out of my 7RM with 140 hpbt gamekings but I was happy with the performance. The new tipped ones are tougher and probably more to your liking.

I guess our outlook on blood trails and exits is different. In my experience I’ve seen some exits that didn’t bleed at all and ran further, while everything I’ve shot with a fragging bullet either dropped on the spot or had such a short run that blood wasn’t necessary.

The deer I’ve shot with fragmenting bullets would have been lost, if shot at or near dark. They also ran as far or further than deer I shoot with exits. Yeah, I’ll take the exits and blood trails over the other from my experience.

 

[SloppyJ]

Funny about all of the easy to load comments. I've had much better luck with noslers or Bergers when it comes to accuracy. But I think the game king and gamechanger is a fine choice.

 

[2Stamp]

"I'm currently using the 165 tgk out of my 280 and I'm happy with the performance I've seen so far."

That's the one I'm interested in, the TGK (game changer), for my 280ai. I just done see a lot of real world informing how they perform. They're supposed to be pretty tough bullets.

 

[bigunit]

That's the one I'm interested in, the TGK (game changer), for my 280ai. I just done see a lot of real world informing how they perform. They're supposed to be pretty tough bullets.

I killed a bear with it Friday evening. 175lb boar. Shot at 280 yards. Had a 2" exit hole and he didn't take one step after impact. Just fell on his side and moaned. I've also killed 3 coyotes with this combo and they all just fell over dead with a large exit hole. All shots were around 350 yards. My load is peterson brass, cci200 and 58.9 gr of 4831sc.

 

[2Stamp]

I killed a bear with it Friday evening. 175lb boar. Shot at 280 yards. Had a 2" exit hole and he didn't take one step after impact. Just fell on his side and moaned. I've also killed 3 coyotes with this combo and they all just fell over dead with a large exit hole. All shots were around 350 yards. My load is peterson brass, cci200 and 58.9 gr of 4831sc.

I know they aren't bonded like n accubond, but I've seen a couple references to them being that tough
Thoughts?

My gunsmith loads them in everything 7mm he works up loads for. Loves them.

 

[bigunit]

I know they aren't bonded like n accubond, but I've seen a couple references to them being that tough
Thoughts?

My gunsmith loads them in everything 7mm he works up loads for. Loves them.

Honestly hard to say without recovering one but judging by the size of the exit holes I would say they aren't holding together but are definitely expanding quickly.

 

[Fireflyfishing]

I tried the TGK in two rifles and couldn’t get them to group. The older versions always worked well and were deadly though.

 

[crowlja]

Thanks for all of the responses!

I've seen a few folks mention "inside of 300 yds" and I noticed that Sierra's website also mentioned inside of 300 yards.

I would imagine that this should be more of a velocity marker than a yardage marker. Is 1200fps to slow for this bullet? I didn't see anything on there website about minimum velocity, but as a spitter style bullet, I was thinking that min velocity should be in the 1200-1500fps range.

 

[eoperator]

I would imagine that this should be more of a velocity marker than a yardage marker. Is 1200fps to slow for this bullet? I didn't see anything on there website about minimum velocity, but as a spitter style bullet, I was thinking that min velocity should be in the 1200-1500fps range.

The tgk has a thick jacket, a bit thicker than eldx and a harder lead alloy. In my limited experience they perform nearly like an accubond with less fragmentation than typical cup and core bullets.
~2100fps would probably be a better min speed for reliable expansion.

 

[Jim1187]

Thanks for all of the responses!

I've seen a few folks mention "inside of 300 yds" and I noticed that Sierra's website also mentioned inside of 300 yards.

I would imagine that this should be more of a velocity marker than a yardage marker. Is 1200fps to slow for this bullet? I didn't see anything on there website about minimum velocity, but as a spitter style bullet, I was thinking that min velocity should be in the 1200-1500fps range.

Been a while since I spoke to Sierra regarding this and it was for the 7mm gamekings but the general minimum they recommended was 1600-1800fps depending on exactly which gameking.

 

[gbflyer]

Also like the Pro Hunters with a flat base.

 

[Vern400]

I've shot near 100 whitetail deer with 308/150s at 2720 fps. I've lost one. I am a high shoulder shooter because a 30-yard run can put them in the river, and that's where they all try to go. I believe tracking is for bad shots. And I don't care if that offends anybody.

They are nearly as accurate as match Kings out to maybe 400 or 500 yards. They initiate expansion rapidly, and typically leave quarter size exit holes. They usually shatter two ribs going in, and three ribs coming out, average over so many deer.

I would caution against using SBT game Kings at impact velocities over 2750. I shot one buck at one yard, plus 8 yards up. A spine shot directly between his shoulders did not exit. It drove both his front feet 4 in to the mud and he didn't even fall over.

At impact velocities from 2000 to 2500 they make a beautiful mushroom. They are less aggressive than old Remington cor lock bullets and a little less aggressive than Hornady SSTs in the same weight.

I have had core separations on wild boars over 200 lb shot in the shield when I had no choice. It knocks them down but they WILL get back up screaming. I use Nosler partitions now for them.

Elk? I suspect they would work great out of your 308. I also suspect it would be a total screw up to SGK out of a 7 PRC. You are wise to consider a bullet that doesn't need extreme velocity to perform coming out of that rifle. But I have never shot an elk and I'm not going to claim I know.

My experience after loading for many 6.5, 7, and 7.62 rifles... If traditional SGKs won't shoot well, there's a good chance the rifle just won't shoot. I don't understand why but they tend to be fairly easy to work with to get accuracy.

Hope this helps, and hope you get a 5x5, Chief!

 

[saltfork]

Crazy how different opinions can be. I loved the 117 gr out of my 25/06 for deer, it mushed the vitals and the furthest track job was 40 yards, which is basically the same as any heart/lung shot deer.

I killed a lot of deer with that bullet out of my 25-06, it always worked really well. Fast killer on whitetail and hogs.

 

[N2TRKYS]

I killed a lot of deer with that bullet out of my 25-06, it always worked really well. Fast killer on whitetail and hogs.

Did you consistently get exits and good blood trails?

 

[KenLee]

I killed some good bucks with 120 gr SGK from a 7-30 Waters back forever ago.
Great performance for the slow fps

 

[FLS]

Excellent bullets and usually easy to tune.

 

[crowlja]

I've shot near 100 whitetail deer with 308/150s at 2720 fps. I've lost one. I am a high shoulder shooter because a 30-yard run can put them in the river, and that's where they all try to go. I believe tracking is for bad shots. And I don't care if that offends anybody.

They are nearly as accurate as match Kings out to maybe 400 or 500 yards. They initiate expansion rapidly, and typically leave quarter size exit holes. They usually shatter two ribs going in, and three ribs coming out, average over so many deer.

I would caution against using SBT game Kings at impact velocities over 2750. I shot one buck at one yard, plus 8 yards up. A spine shot directly between his shoulders did not exit. It drove both his front feet 4 in to the mud and he didn't even fall over.

At impact velocities from 2000 to 2500 they make a beautiful mushroom. They are less aggressive than old Remington cor lock bullets and a little less aggressive than Hornady SSTs in the same weight.

I have had core separations on wild boars over 200 lb shot in the shield when I had no choice. It knocks them down but they WILL get back up screaming. I use Nosler partitions now for them.

Elk? I suspect they would work great out of your 308. I also suspect it would be a total screw up to SGK out of a 7 PRC. You are wise to consider a bullet that doesn't need extreme velocity to perform coming out of that rifle. But I have never shot an elk and I'm not going to claim I know.

My experience after loading for many 6.5, 7, and 7.62 rifles... If traditional SG case won't shoot well, there's a good chance the rifle just won't shoot. I don't understand why but they tend to be fairly easy to work with to get accuracy.

Hope this helps, and hope you get a 5x5, Chief!

Thank you!