A pic worth a thousand words:

[goodgrouper]

THese two holes are about 15" into newspaper and were made by a 225 grain .338 accubond and a .338 250 grain Sierra MK. The ab is on the left.

The paper was 420 yards away and the accubond left my barrel at 3290 and the mk left at 3065.

Another view:

And the recovered bullets:

I might get flamed for this one because
I know many here have had nothing but good luck with MK's on game, but in numerous tests like this one, the MK's have given me inconsistent performance at best. Maybe it is just bad with the 338's because they have a much thicker jacket than lesser calibers. I don't know. But one thing I know for sure, the AB's work so darn good why go to anything else for hunting purposes. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Nomosendero]

Goodgrouper, thanks for sharing your results! I think that most of us are busy, otherwise we can't buy toys, so the more info that we share for all the calibers, guns etc., the
more we all benefit.
Although I have been hunting since I was 10, the concept or
practice of long range hunting (beyond 400-500 yds.) is fairly new to me, only in the last 2-3 years. My observation
may not be totally accurate, but it seems to me that the
hunters that use the MK for the most part are the ones that
have been in this game for a long time & continue to do so,
probably because when they started you needed a MK to get
the BC & long range accuracy required. If they get good results, fine but it appears to me that more bullets like the Accubond & Wildcat are showing up that have the BC &
Accuracy along with terminal results we want, so you can have you cake and eat it. Probably in the next couple of years we will have all the bases covered with these bullets.
I think at this stage of the game I will use game bullets
for hunting except for Deer & Antelope where I may use a MK
or more likely an A-Max, but that is a different story. But
for those who use a MK on bigger stuff and it works for you, great!

 

[davewilson]

i'd use whichever shot the best at long range.

 

[Ballistic64]

I'm planning to use the 180 Accubonds in my 300 SAUM for hunting,hopefully I'll get good accuracy from them.

 

[lerch]

HA HA HA

I bet you just made Pop's day


Hard to argue with results like that.

take it easy
steve

 

[James Jones]

not realy an apples to apples test is it?
the AB has a 200+fps velocity advantage and I'm sure that the 225gr AB is a bit shorter than the 250gr MK , not positive but I would think.

 

[Jon A]

Thanks for the results, it's always interesting.

One thing I'll mention is I believe SMK's vary enough from cal to cal and weight to weight that one shouldn't generalize about them (as so many anti-MK types do). Each specific bullet should really be tested to see if it performs the way you want. I've many done similar tests in 30 Cal between the 200 AB and the 240 SMK and the results have always been the opposite--the 240 making a much bigger hole all the way through. But that doesn't mean I'll automatically assume the 210's will perform the same way--I wouldn't use those until I've tested them the same way.

 

[Dave King]

Let me be the first this time..


Where's Pop??

Too late, I see Lerch already mentioned Pop /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif


I guess pretty soon it'll be down to just me shooting those MatchKing into critters. I have learned a few things here though... Never shoot a critter if it's behind a newspaper. In reality, there are better critter bullets but so far I've been pleased with what I shoot.

 

[Jon A]

[ QUOTE ]
I guess pretty soon it'll be down to just me shooting those MatchKing into critters.

[/ QUOTE ]
Nah, if Richard can't get me my dream bullets in time I'll be using the 240 SMK this year. You primarily used the 300 in 338, right Dave? Did you use the 250 much?

 

[JD338]

I just know that Pop will offer some words of wisdom /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Right Pop /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

GG, good job on the bullet test. Now if Nosler would offer a 250 gr AB, life in LRH would be a whole lot better. One of the Nosler guys told me earlier this week that they won't be making a 250 gr AB, too long to stabalize in the smaller case size calibers. You guys might want to contact Nosler and let them know that there is a need for the 250 gr AB for the RUM, Laupa, Thunder, Kahn ......
http://www.noslerreloading.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=3

Regards,

JD338

 

[davewilson]

they won't make a 250 when they have a 225. now a 275 would be the ticket!

 

[goodgrouper]

Actually, it is apples to apples because these were the speeds my rifle would shoot these bullets if it had been at an elk or phonebooks. And at 420 yards, these two bullets are closer in speed than one might think. It was as fair a test as I could do.

 

[goodgrouper]

Dave,
had a feeling you would not be silent on this one.
I know you've used MK's with great success and I would never argue with success but in my rifle, at my distances, in my own experiments, and with the big 338's, they let me down.

If using a smaller caliber, MK's obviously work great from what I've been told but the 338's must use a thicker jacket and they resist mushrooming in every test I've run.

Believe me, I really wanted them to work but I would be foolish to not follow what I have learned from my own hard won results. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[goodgrouper]

I contacted someone at Nosler awhile back and they told me the same thing. I wonder why they think a 250 AB would not stabilize in a 10" twist when a 300 grain MK will?!

Oh well, maybe Swift will put out a 250 grain Scirocco. I will call and ask them!