In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options

Match bullets on critters

MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 13,778 ✭✭✭✭
edited November 2012 in Perry Shooter Competition Shooting and Reloading Forum
Just a comment on my experiences with Nosler .308 155 HPBT match/comp bullets on some varmints last week. I used the offal/scraps from deer to setup my usual bait pile. The range is 350 yards and the variable winds forced me to go to the old reliable .308 HB target rifle. It's prefered load uses the match bullet and I didn't care about fur damage-just wanted them dead.
Three animals hit/killed and no appreciable expansion noted.
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Options
    perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,390 ✭
    edited November -1
    IMHO because the base is the most importat part of a projectilematch grade bullets are most often made as HPBT The core is loaded into the jacket from the nose and then the nose is closed up . They are NOT hollow points to help in expansion but rather made that way to be more uniform in jacket to core and not needle nosed because this would be more easily damaged.They make POOR hunting bullets.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    FrancFFrancF Member Posts: 35,278 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Mobuck
    Just a comment on my experiences with Nosler .308 155 HPBT match/comp bullets on some varmints last week. I used the offal/scraps from deer to setup my usual bait pile. The range is 350 yards and the variable winds forced me to go to the old reliable .308 HB target rifle. It's prefered load uses the match bullet and I didn't care about fur damage-just wanted them dead.
    Three animals hit/killed and no appreciable expansion noted.


    Try 155 A-Max.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Target/match bullets are designed with NO CONSIDERATION WHATEVER to expansion or terminal performance. Just because they are accurate does NOT make them a reasonable choice for use on big game.

    (We can possibly make an exception for varmint hunting.)
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    MobuckMobuck Member Posts: 13,778 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I agree RR, that was my point in bringing this up right before many of the midwest deer seasons open.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    62fuelie62fuelie Member Posts: 1,069 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Sierra is very specific in their manual stating that MatchKing bullets are not recommended for hunting purposes. The description by perry shooter spells it out; the bullet is designed to put its center of gravity at the center of rotation so the Open Tip Match design evolved leaving a small air void between the lead core and the tip and the jacket tends to be very thin at the tip, neither of these things provides for good expansion control.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    bpostbpost Member Posts: 32,664 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Put a bullet into the critters head and bullet construction has little impact upon the outcome
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    sandwarriorsandwarrior Member Posts: 5,453 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've killed 18 deer with varmint/light match bullets. I've never had a problem with them even moving. Shot placement is number one. Number two is how much energy the bullet puts into the body of the animal. I don't believe people who tell me my 85/87 gr. bullets bounced off those armor plated deer. They penetrated and made mush of the inside of those deer. They also do a whale of a job on coyotes.[;)]


    MYTH: BUSTED...

    Added:
    A 300 gr. .338 SMK @ 2050 yds.

    DSC_0428.jpg
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    JustCJustC Member Posts: 16,056 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    it's not recommended, of course. I have however taken many animals with match bullets, from match kings to a-max.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    BGHillbillyBGHillbilly Member Posts: 1,927 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Forget the bullet makers hype and realize a well placed bullet that hits its target is going to be sufficiently effective regardless of design on critters with few exceptions.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    guntech59guntech59 Member Posts: 23,187 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by sandwarrior
    I've killed 18 deer with varmint/light match bullets. I've never had a problem with them even moving. Shot placement is number one. Number two is how much energy the bullet puts into the body of the animal. I don't believe people who tell me my 85/87 gr. bullets bounced off those armor plated deer. They penetrated and made mush of the inside of those deer. They also do a whale of a job on coyotes.[;)]


    MYTH: BUSTED...

    Added:
    A 300 gr. .338 SMK @ 2050 yds.

    DSC_0428.jpg



    Steel plate?

    I have found bullet bases from shooting 69gr SMK at steel, 200-300 yards, but never anything like that. I'll try 400 yds.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Options
    yonsonyonson Member Posts: 903 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Neck shooting (I refuse to aim anywhere else) makes the type of bullet a non-issue, expansion not needed or desired. Deer usually drop in their tracks, no good meat lost, lead contamination virtually non-existant. No need to hit bone. Theory is disruption of nerves concentrated there. Has worked exceptionally well on the last 30 or so I've taken, have been doing this more than 15 yrs. An old technique expounded by elephant hunter WDM Bell, who shot probably tens of thousands of meat animals in his safari years.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.