Sierra matchking performance on game

[Garrett H.]

I've killed multiple Whitetails with my .308 using 175 MKs and the results were all the same. Every one of them died. The shocking power of this round was incredible. All deer acted like they were electrocuted before taking a few steps and dropping. The deer ranged anywhere from 80-350 yards.

When metal passes through soft tissue and vital organs, things die. Are there better bullets that might leave a bigger entrance and exit wound... yes. Keep shooting what works for you and ignore all the naysayers. Especially the keyboard warriors that don't have any real experience. Congrats on your deer.

 

[Deviant]

View attachment 310453Hi all. Wasn't able to find much info on this subject before my general deer season started on nov 8 so I decided to test out the matchkings on deer. I'm shooting a 183 smk from a 26" 7 wsm @ 2860. I shot this big bodied whitetail at 180 yd impact velocity 2575 fps. It had a tiny entrance hole and the exit was 3-4" in diameter. This is my biggest buck so I'm glad I could test the load out on something other than a doe. I hit about 2" further back than I should've but that because i held wind when I shouldn't have. Ran 50yd with a great blood trail. I'm hoping to test it out on something past 500 yd. I will get some pictures of the entrance and exit wounds later today. Please post your experiences with smks and hunting on here. Thanks for your comments

I used to use SMK's out of a 308 at 2900 fps because I had a bunch of them and I had a few kills at short range. I tried this same bullet in an AR-10 at 2500 fps mv and it poked tiny pencil holes through game and took several shots to put them down so I stopped and switched to a hunting bullet. They are not designed for hunting and there are much better bullets that are designed for hunting.

 

[Case280AI]

Not much for size, but in central Texas it was ok. 289ai 183 smk 2983 fps at the muzzle. Kill at 693 yards.

 

[sturner]

Killed a lot of pigs and deer with match kings

 

[falconvision]

I took a whitetail and a black bear this year with 175 SMKs out of a 300WM. I drilled out the tips with a 1/16" bit and then filed to smooth out any burrs. The deer's insides were liquified after a 75 yard shot right behind the shoulder. Exit hole was about 2.5" wide Just barely clipped the heart. Deer ended up running about 15 yards and sprayed lung tissue out the back hole each step it took. The bear's insides were also turned into sludge on a 65 yard shot. Exit hole wasn't as big coming out of him as it came out of his back since it was a quartering uphill shot. He just dropped where he stood and rolled down the hill a bit.

 

[mercerbear]

View attachment 310643Not much for size, but in central Texas it was ok. 289ai 183 smk 2983 fps at the muzzle. Kill at 693 yards.

Nice shooting there!

 

[skipglo]

Hahaha this made me laugh so hard.

SMKs work wonders...love the 300gr .338. Beautifully accurate...great expansion...Bears don't like them anymore than your Deer did...but remember...they aren't for hunting...just shooting...really really far...if nothing gets in their way, and dies!

 

[xsn10s]

One thing to do is clear the tip on any of the "match" bullets. I didn't on the Berger 22-55 Target bullets because they have about a .030" opening and it's easy to see if they're cleared. On others I use a .027 or .030" drill to clear them.

 

[HRM Johnny]

Thanks for posting this. Real world experience; as opposed to something like ballistic gelatin, is always very important. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[falconvision]

Here are the pics of the whitetail. 75 yard lung shot with 175 SMKs out of a 300wm with MV of 3050.

 

[Hunt_4life]

Only reason I don't use match bullets in hunting what I'm going to eat is the bullets weight retention. Match bullets break up into small pieces, pieces full of lead.

I prefer to use solid copper for hunting for meat preservation and not having the lead.

To each there own, congrats on your deer

Yeah very good point. I'm up in Canada so I haven't been able to get hammers till now. Hopefully to shoot the 169gr 7 mm next year.

 

[Hunt_4life]

I used to use SMK's out of a 308 at 2900 fps because I had a bunch of them and I had a few kills at short range. I tried this same bullet in an AR-10 at 2500 fps mv and it poked tiny pencil holes through game and took several shots to put them down so I stopped and switched to a hunting bullet. They are not designed for hunting and there are much better bullets that are designed for hunting.

That's because they are not going nearly fast enough. Like said you need very heavy for caliber bullets and you get great performance. Sorry to hear that they didn't work for you.

 

[Hunt_4life]

SMKs work wonders...love the 300gr .338. Beautifully accurate...great expansion...Bears don't like them anymore than your Deer did...but remember...they aren't for hunting...just shooting...really really far...if nothing gets in their way, and dies!

Very well said.

 

[Hunt_4life]

View attachment 310643Not much for size, but in central Texas it was ok. 289ai 183 smk 2983 fps at the muzzle. Kill at 693 yards.

Great shooting. I'm hoping to be able to test my load out at long range too.