anybody using Sierra MK bullets for game

[PrimeTime]

Darryl-
My friend was using a 308 Norma Magnum. My velocity is around 2925 with the 142 and 3150 with the 120 grain.

 

[Darryl Cassel]

Sam

It was the mass difference of the bullet weight with more Foot pounds of energy, since the velocity was very close.

When you have "both" speed and mass, the killing power is VERY apparent on larger game and would apply to the "tough" little ground hog also.
It depends on where they are hit too, just like most animals.

DC

[ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: Darryl Cassel ]

 

[Mike Liane]

After 35 years of killing fox and coyotes I am convinced that the only good shot is a non exiting shot. I shoot the Nosler 50 g. Ballistic tip exclusively in my 4 .22/250's and probabaly go throught more than 1000 rounds a year. The only exits I get on coyotes is if I make a bad hit on the edge of his outline (ie: an inch below his backline). Then the bullet will blow out. Fox I try to set up facing me from 125-150 and if I do my part I won't get an exit. I'm a fur buyer and have been a wild fur processor for 30 years. After conducting thousands of "autopsies" I believe that any exit is potentially a blown up pelt. Back in the 70's before the ballistic tip type bullets we all experimented with solid jackets to try to prevent damage to those $70-$80 fox. The truth is shattered bone does just as much pelt damage as a fragmenting bullet. Try to keep the bullet inside the animal and you'll be much more satisfied with the result. Back in the 70's we had little choice but to become experts with the needle and thread. Today we have much better bullet choices.

 

[Tim Behle]

Mike,

I'm in full agreement that the best shots are the ones that don't exit. Not only for the sake of the fur, but I've found they make the animal easier to recover.... They don't tend to run far.

I've been watching this thread with great interest, looking for thoughts on how others hunt coyotes. My favorite shot is to the lungs, coyotes typically can be recovered at the point of impact. Hit low, into the heart and the coyote runs 50-60 yards, too far back, into the liver and spleen and you will have to track him for 100-200 yards.

But once a bullets exits, all bets are off. It almost always ends with a long job of tracking.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to everybody that replied , as far as the saving of the pelts goes , I live in the deep south , our dogs don't get very good pelts so we just kill them to keep the population in check.
I was just looking for a bullet that would make a size hole and dump a pile of its energy

 

[Totoro]

B_B,

I am new to the forum but I do have a few ideas and opinions to share. With shooting 'yotes I will agree with the fellow posters that the MK are outstanding choices. I have also used Nosler BT and a few J4 bullets with utmost satisfaction. The J4 have worked extremely well for me. I believe that the thinner jacket creates a more volatile expansion onces it makes contact with something harder/firmer than paper.

Good Luck

Verrocchio

 

[djdcsi]

I've shot the SMK in all types of media. It is my opinion, that the large exit wounds are from tumbling, which is not all bad. Usually it will hit someting and it will disrupt itself, hense the tumble. This is what usually happens, but sometimes it will "punch thru" if not disrupted.

Tumbling is good. Thats what we need overseas right now instead of armor penetrators that allow a target to get hit 3,4,5, times to shoot back at you.

There are some FMJ's coming on the market now that are designed to do just this. 2" penetration and tumble thru. Everytime.

 

[Jon A]

In the testing I've done with the 30 cal 240 I've seen no evidence of tumbling. Just a ton of expansion, all the way down to the base of the bullet (testing at the muzzle).

I would expect if any to tumble, the 240 in a 1:10 twist might but it hasn't for me. If it doesn't I don't see why more standard weight for the caliber bullets would.

Something I noticed while sectioning them...it's funny how this "target bullet" has jacket serrations from the hollow point down the jacket nearly 1/2". That's usually a technique used in "hunting bullets" to insure expansion initiates at lower velocities. No wonder these things expand so well at long range. I think Sierra knows more than they're letting on....