First experience with match type bullet on game

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

Thanks for all of y'alls input. Normally I use tipped bullets, but this is all I had at the time. I didn't know if my experience was typical or not. I was only concerned about the deer running off because normally we hunt in pretty thick brush and a deer that's not DRT means a tracking job. I'm more partial to the boom flop. I know the bullet did it's job this time, but was just checking to see what others experience is with it. This was factory ammo that I can one hole 5 shot groups from 200 yards with this rifle. So if everyone had positive results, I was going to stick with it. Since there seems to be mixed results, I'll probably look for an accurate load with a true hunting bullet. Again, thanks for telling me your experience with this bullet.

 

[BH107]

Mark up 2 more kills for me with a SMK this year. First was a good sized bull elk at 400 yards with a 142gr 6.5mm SMK hit just behind the shoulder. The bull never took another step, bullet went off like a grenade behind the rib and the heart and lungs were soup, and no tissue damage to any edible meat. Second was a big mule deer at 525 yards with the same bullet, similar shot broadside right behind the shoulder. That one kicked and ran out of sight. When I got down there he had spun around the bush he was standing next to and hadn't gone 20 feet. Same results inside as well, grenade inside the chest cavity and no lost meat.

I've used the Berger VLD with similar results from a 300 Win but with a softball size exit from having so much more energy.

Is the SMK the perfect hunting bullet for everyone and every situation? No probably not but I've been happy with them this year.

 

[Tikkashooter]

not all match bullets are created equal for hunting. bullets like the TMK and ELDM expand very consistently. plain old SMK bullets don't always expand reliably

 

[Canhunter35]

I am with @KyCarl if it says match it is not made to expand and while this may have been a successful hunt I would worry about the consistency of expansion. Also @Canhunter35 if you are shooting Hornady, they make matching hunting ammo for each of it's match rounds, you can shoot these hunting https://www.hornady.com/ammunition/rifle/308-win-178-gr-eld-x-precision-hunter#!/ and these for match https://www.hornady.com/bullets/rifle/30-cal-.308-178-gr-eld-match#!/#specs

I load 178eldx in my buddies 308. On deer and antelope the 168eldm is a better performing hunting bullet. I've lost count how many animals I've shot with them, but they're some of the best, most consistent performing bullets on game.

 

[5RWill]

I load 178eldx in my buddies 308. On deer and antelope the 168eldm is a better performing hunting bullet. I've lost count how many animals I've shot with them, but they're some of the best, most consistent performing bullets on game.

Interesting Ive had good luck with match bullets but particularly wanted to try the 168gr ELDM in my brothers 20" 308. We were getting 2755fps out of the 165gr gamechangers but i wasn't wild about the terminal performance on the two doe i took last year. I was going to switch him to 178gr ELD-X but have 500 or so 155gr AMAX, of which lots have had good results with.

 

[Bigeclipse]

My son shot a whitetail deer last weekend, and it's the first time I've used a match type bullet on a game animal. Just wondering what everyone's experience with this is and if what happened to us is typical? He was shooting a semi custom .308 that I traded for using factory federal premium ammunition. The bullet was a 175 grain Sierra match king.

The deer appeared about 300 yards away, and I was ranging him to tell him how much to dial, he started walking towards us. He ended up stopping at 110 yards, quartering hard to us. My son made a perfect shot, hitting him in the point of the right shoulder. The bullet broke the shoulder blade in half, liquefied the heart, clipped a lung, and came to rest in the paunch.

The deer actually turned and ran about 15 or 20 yards and tipped over and fell. He kicked a few times and jumped back up, stood broadside, and just as I told my son to send another one, the deer fell back down and died for good. All my hunting experience has been with some type of tipped bullet, and I've never had this happen. All well placed shots have been DRT. This bullet did it's job as the bone and vitals were destroyed, but I'm not happy that the animal was able to run off. Is this typical for an SMK bullet, or did this deer just have an extreme will to live?

DRT is great but I think it's quite the opposite experience for most other hunters. Unless hitting neck or high shoulder, id think almost all boiler room shoots would have the animal run 100 yards or less and die. I think maybe you are asking for too much to expect DRT every time.

 

[clawman]

The point of the shoulder is where the shoulder blade angles down toward the front of the animal and then turns back and angles back down towards the elbow. It's the front most point on the shoulder blade.

I have to wonder what he thought it COULD have meant???

 

[Alibiiv]

My son shot a whitetail deer last weekend, and it's the first time I've used a match type bullet on a game animal. Just wondering what everyone's experience with this is and if what happened to us is typical? He was shooting a semi custom .308 that I traded for using factory federal premium ammunition. The bullet was a 175 grain Sierra match king.

The deer appeared about 300 yards away, and I was ranging him to tell him how much to dial, he started walking towards us. He ended up stopping at 110 yards, quartering hard to us. My son made a perfect shot, hitting him in the point of the right shoulder. The bullet broke the shoulder blade in half, liquefied the heart, clipped a lung, and came to rest in the paunch.

The deer actually turned and ran about 15 or 20 yards and tipped over and fell. He kicked a few times and jumped back up, stood broadside, and just as I told my son to send another one, the deer fell back down and died for good. All my hunting experience has been with some type of tipped bullet, and I've never had this happen. All well placed shots have been DRT. This bullet did it's job as the bone and vitals were destroyed, but I'm not happy that the animal was able to run off. Is this typical for an SMK bullet, or did this deer just have an extreme will to live?

Not trying to be a smart--- but........ "The bullet broke the shoulder blade in half, liquefied the heart, clipped a lung, and came to rest in the paunch"!! I'm thinking that the bullet did everything that a well placed bullet or "not" ought to do. I'd like to suggest that if you would like better bullet results to move up to 50BMG cartridge. I've shot a deer with 165gr Nosler partition, out of a 30-06, from 75 yards. The shot was a through-and-through just behind the shoulder, breaking both shoulder blades disintegrated the heart and the deer ran 300+ yards after it was shot before it died standing up and lodged between two trees; 175lb (dressed out) 7 point buck!! Sometimes deer are just simply tough to drop even when hit with a well placed shot and a good bullet. I'd also like to say congratulations for making great hunting memories with your son.

 

[Blackdirt Cowboy]

I wasn't disappointed in the bullet performance. I was shocked, actually, since it is a match bullet. I was disappointed that with all that damage, the deer didn't drop in it's tracks. But I wanted to mainly see if that kind of performance is expected out of an smk, or if it was just a fluke.

 

[Short Case]

My son shot a whitetail deer last weekend, and it's the first time I've used a match type bullet on a game animal. Just wondering what everyone's experience with this is and if what happened to us is typical? He was shooting a semi custom .308 that I traded for using factory federal premium ammunition. The bullet was a 175 grain Sierra match king.

The deer appeared about 300 yards away, and I was ranging him to tell him how much to dial, he started walking towards us. He ended up stopping at 110 yards, quartering hard to us. My son made a perfect shot, hitting him in the point of the right shoulder. The bullet broke the shoulder blade in half, liquefied the heart, clipped a lung, and came to rest in the paunch.

The deer actually turned and ran about 15 or 20 yards and tipped over and fell. He kicked a few times and jumped back up, stood broadside, and just as I told my son to send another one, the deer fell back down and died for good. All my hunting experience has been with some type of tipped bullet, and I've never had this happen. All well placed shots have been DRT. This bullet did it's job as the bone and vitals were destroyed, but I'm not happy that the animal was able to run off. Is this typical for an SMK bullet, or did this deer just have an extreme will to live?

I live in the town where Sierra bullets are made. If you were to call Sierra bullets
they would tell you that there match bullets are made for match shoot and are not made to open like a hunting bullet. Hitting bone like you did help making the kill

 

[Canhunter35]

Interesting Ive had good luck with match bullets but particularly wanted to try the 168gr ELDM in my brothers 20" 308. We were getting 2755fps out of the 165gr gamechangers but i wasn't wild about the terminal performance on the two doe i took last year. I was going to switch him to 178gr ELD-X but have 500 or so 155gr AMAX, of which lots have had good results with.

For plugging deer, it's hard to beat the 168

 

[Deleted member 48126]

I wanted to mainly see if that kind of performance is expected out of an smk, or if it was just a fluke.

Just a fluke. If it were a rib cage shot it would have penciled through.

 

[lancetkenyon]

I guess all the game we have killed with "match" bullets are a small sample size that we got lucky with. I will keep that in mind. I have at least 10 examples of big game from this year alone. Don't announce the fact that "match" bullets don't kill to the animals. Thank goodness they don't surf the web.

 

[Deleted member 48126]

@lancetkenyon this type of thread comes up all the time. It's right up there with what rifle, what scope, what caliber? Of course match ammo kills. Does it kill effectively? With the four deer I shot, I would say no.

It might be different out west being able to glass, see further, and watch game after a hit (I honestly wouldn't know. I haven't been out West). But a no blood trail, serious lost of confidence if I even hit it, tracking job in the thick southeastern woods is no fun.

Shot 4 deer, on 4 separate occasions, through the boiler room, all pencil through. I wish I had calipers since the holes in these deer were literally the size of a .308. 200-300 yard tracking jobs through briars, thickets, and vines is a no go. Thats my experience. Clearly the op had a different experience. Which is awesome, and I'm glad it worked out. But the op asked is that expected performance. No, just based solely on what I have had happen with me, I would not say that the SMKs will cause DRT, liquified guts all the time. I wouldn't even call it the norm.

I'll keep hunting with my Remington corelokts at 50 yards.