GAME KING BULLET "A" OR "B".

[Siskiyou]

A question for those who have some first hand experience with the Sierra Game King bullets?

Is there a performance difference on game between the Game King available to reloaders, and those found in Federal Premium ammunition.

I was recently given a box of Federal Premium 270 Winchester ammunition loaded with 150-grain Sierra Boattail bullets.  They are noticeably different then the 150-grain .277 Game King 150-grain bullets I have reloaded.  The bullet in the Federal Premium bullet has a cannelure, the off the shelve bullets do not.

Typical performance on behind the shoulder shots has been exiting and the bullet not recovered when using 150-grain Game King .277 bullets in reloads. 

But what performance attribute does the cannelure offer in the Federal Premium version of the bullet?

1.   Increased retention in the case?
2.   Improved retention of the lead core in the jacket?





 

[yooper77]

All factory rifle ammo is usually crimped, so it needs a cannelure.

Factory ammo can find it way into single shots, bolt actions, pump actions or semi-autos, so they need to crimp in order to ensure the bullet doesn't move during firearm cycling.

Increased retention in the case = yes!

Increased retention of the lead core in the jacket = maybe, probably not?

I have recovered 277 caliber 130 grain Sierra GameKings from deer shot out of a 270 Winchester, had perfect mushroom, peeled down past the cannelure.

yooper77

[cwlongshot]

All factory rifle ammo is usually crimped, so it needs a cannelure.

Factory ammo can find it way into single shots, bolt actions, pump actions or semi-autos, so they need to crimp in order to ensure the bullet doesn't move during firearm cycling.

Increased retention in the case = yes!

Increased retention of the lead core in the jacket = maybe, probably not?

I have recovered 277 caliber 130 grain Sierra GameKings from deer shot out of a 270 Winchester, had perfect mushroom, peeled down past the cannelure.

yooper77

 I agree with Yopper.

 Adding a cannalure is no big deal. Done properly, I doubt any appreciable differences will be noticed. Tools for the hand-loader are even available and not very expensive. 

CW

[Sweet 6.5]

I used a .264 140gr Game King without a cannelure on an impala.
I have no bullet to show, only 2 holes on a broadside shot
and the impala 70 meters away.

[Sweet 6.5]

Found a picture of the impala I shot with the Game King (6.5x55)

I think this might be the biggest one of all the impalas
I have hunted so far.
If you look just behind the shoulder in the light brown part is a little
dark patch - that is the entry hole.

[Siskiyou]

Sweet 6.5:

Good documentation, which challenges the myth that Sierra bullets are not good hunting bullets. 

Friends and hunting partners who use the Sierra Game King and Pro-Hunter bullets on game up to Elk have not expressed any regrets.  One friend killed an absolutely large Colorado Mule deer using a Sierra Pro-Hunter 130-grain in a .270 Winchester.  The recovered bullet was a classic mushroom.  That recovered bullet dispelled the myth that Sierra bullets were not good hunting bullets.

Sierra makes a number of bullets to fit different categories.  The MatchKing bullet is designed for record setting accuracy and not as a hunting bullet.  Unfortunately there are those who choose to use it for hunting then complain that Sierra bullets are not good game bullets.  The problem being is they choose to use the wrong bullet for the job.

The MatchKing might prove effective on deer but not on larger animals.  I have learned a little about using Match bullets on deer.  In my case the bullet is the Norma 150-grain .277 Match bullet.  On side-to-side shots the bullet will fully penetrate a deer but leave the jack hung up in the hide on the edge of the exit hole.  It is also common to find a couple of jacket fragments inside recovered game.  In comparison the Remington C-L, WW Power-Point, Hornady Spire Pt. and the Sierra Game King (reloading component) penetrate and do not display the jack shedding, and fragmentation on deer. 

Getting back to the subject of a cannelure I believe a number of manufacture use it to serve a number of purposes.  The primary purpose being retention of the bullet in the case, but it also indexes the bullet for proper loading.  I have seen a number of bullets that have two different cannelures on the bullet.  I believe this is a component bullet that maybe loaded into different cases detecting different overall lengths for the finished round.

It appears that Remington, and Hornady may use the cannelure as a mechanical lock to retain the core in the jacket of some of their bullets.  I believe the early Hornady bullets I loaded used the cannelure as a mechanical lock and then it was enhanced with the Interlock feature.  I just went back and look at the glossary in a couple of Hornady manuals.  The drawings of different bullets show the cannelure pressed into the lead core.

http://www.remington.com/products/ammunition/centerfire/core-Lokt.asp

How would you rate the internal damage compared to the other bullets you have used in the 6.5?

[Sweet 6.5]

For me the performance was about the same as the Speers. I just like the Speers
more because my rifle likes them more!
Not much blood shot meat with any one of them, but the low velocity helps.
I only used one Hornady and that was a round nose - so I can't compare it the the first
two. The round nose realy made more of a mess - meat and inside - it was on the bluewilde beest so I really don't care because it put it down fast.

My brother used Sierra Pro hunter 150gr in his .303 for the last two years.
So far he had one shot kills on 2 kudu, 1 redhardbeest, 1 blackwildebeest and 2 warthog.
( He didn't tell me, maybe he did shoot something in the *ss and it is still running)
 
Still no recovered bullet to show. Once again I think the low velocity of the .303 helps to keep the bullets in one piece and that again helps with penetration.   

[BBF]

 My wife just shot a small doe( we are not horn hunters) using the 150 gr Sierra RN  loaded to approx 2400MV fps.* The deer was about 50 yards away. The bullet hit the brisket and severed a major artery. The was a pass thru shot.

Prior expierence showed the 180 gr. BT in 30 cal is not expanding well out of a 30-06 on black tail size deer.
The 300 gr. 338 BT is also a very tough bullet and should be used on large game only preferably from a 340 Wby or similar.

Reduced load from a 30-06 using IMR 4895