Hunting with Sierra HPBT

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bob4

bob4

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This is asking about Sierra GK HPbt specifically. Your weight and caliber may vary and that's fine. I'm loading the 165gn in my 300 WM. Also if you load your own and have FPS would be a help also. Has anyone ever hunted with this bullet? (2140) I have used their SPBT with good success in my 270 but I don't like the bent tips that happen in the magazine during recoil. It's a bit frustrating when you load for accuracy and all of a sudden you have a tip that looks like it's designed to do a nose dive. Id like to hear your thoughts on it. Good ,bad or indifferent.
 
According to the Sierra website, it will expand at "muzzle velocities ". above 2500 ft./s. That doesn't make much sense to me, because what counts is what the velocity when it impacts the quarry.

At several hundred yards, I doubt that very many rifles still have a project all velocity above 2500 ft./s.
 
I used to use them in a 30-06 years ago. They really expanded well and killed everything they hit in the vitals. If they haven't changed since then I wouldn't worry about them not expanding. In fact, I started loading them down slightly because of meat damage. No chrono in those days so no data to report.

I don't know what they mean about 2500 fps. But with a 300 WM I wouldn't be concerned with under expansion.

Laphroaig
 
Used them a lot in 30-06 and .308 Norma Magnum , they will work just fine on deer, moose, elk black bear etc, they do not smash through big bones ( shoulders on moose,elk so well) but have devastating shocking power on most hits other than direct shoulder shots, where blow up is maximum. :)
The .308 Norma Mag hand loads were around 3100 fps. The 30-06 was 2800+ fps.
 
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I discovered that from my '06 at 25 yards on a doe, it's a "blowup" bullet. :) A fist-sized exit wound.

FWIW: At 500 yards on steel, it made a slightly deeper ding than a 150-grain SP. My thought is that once below "blowup" velocity, expansion and penetration would be good.
 
They are messy up close, but most bullets are at 25 or 50 yards, other than the toughest controlled expansion bullets, of which these controlled expansion bullets in my own experiences lack expansion and shocking power at very long distances, 450,500, 600 yards,
Can't have it all ,,,
 
I lost a buck that I thought I hit well. It was the first deer is shot with my then new 25/06 back in 1973. I bought some Nosler Partitions and would recommend them to anyone that will listen. I can't complain one bit about the switch. The Sierra's were more accurate though, but I am sold on the Partition's terminal performance.
 
Thanks everyone. I appreciate your time and experience. Good place to get honest answers. Seems like the "I's" have it and it's worth a try. This will be my back up rifle more than likely but this bullet for deer. In the meantime I emailed Sierra and simply asked about it's effect on deer in a 300WM at different ranges. Here is an exact copy of the reply.
Sierra email reply said:
I personally use the #2140's in about 3 different 300's on big whitetail. I have yet to recover any of the bullets as they always exit. The ranges that deer have been harvested have been anywhere from 5 yards to well over 300 yards. I have had excellent performance everytime and highly recommend the bullet. Thanks
Click to expand...
Now that can be encouraging although I wouldn't expect them to tell me it's a bad choice for hunting. :what:
And for one that mentioned it, this is not the match King. I think the match king is a 168 gn bullet.
 
Bob, I stumbled on the 2140 years ago while searching for something that would not turn the bullet nose into a 'mushroom' when I topped up my M/70. ............I know, I know they shoot just as well, but look like.......!

That 2140 bullet turned out to be one extremely effective and accurate choice. In nearly every instance, in my experience it's produced a one shot kill. Even relatively poor hits at up to 300 yards have dropped deer instantly and I recall only one that got to it's feet even tho the forward part of it's chest looked as tho a grenade had hit it.......partner dropped that one for me.

I recall one 300 lb plus rooter that I walked out of a cypress head at around a hundred that took a quartering shot from the left rear shoulder to the brisket that dropped like a bag of dirt as well as several dog driven bucks that were going flat out that I struck too far back that folded on the spot.

On the negative side, the bullet is more than just a little tough on eating meat with a poor hit. Hit one buck too low trying for a neck shot in W.Va and succeeded in running one up his backbone, hulluva mess.

Placed right I've gotta say that in all my years I have yet to see a better bullet for it's intended purpose. I wish I'd have had it back in the '60's when I was in Alaska.

Singular problem I've had is finding any locally.

By the way, my current go to gun is a Browning lightweight BAR in '06 and a stiff load of IMR 4350 gives me right at minute of angle accuracy.
 
+1 on the meat damage. That's why I quit using them.

I found a couple of them rattling around in their box awhile back and loaded them up with a batch of 165 Hornadys to get rid of them. I'd put them in the mag and top off with the soft points so as to not damage points.

I was so loaded when I killed a black bear a couple of years ago. It was my third shot and the Sierra did the job. At about 100 yds., it entered the rib cage from behind on a quartering shot, took out four ribs and lodged in the spine at the base of the skull. DRT. Unfortunately, the bullet was never recovered.

Laphroaig
 
Used the 55 grain a bit.

The noses suffered on semi-auto feeding with following accuracy issues. Single feed and bolt action, they were hell on coyotes - better terminal performance than MKs... go figure. I never cared to note "meat damage" on them though.

Todd.
 
I've used the Sierra GKBTHP 165's in 7 mmRM for whitetail, and found it a bit much for the 90lb Hill Country deer of Central Texas. I chose it for accuracy as it was my rifles favorite load (federal premium). Never had a single run-off, of the 20 or so deer harvested with it, all were DRT. Several were pretty mangled, one animal was completely ruined with this round, but that was very poor shot placement through the hip joint, blasting it forward through the animal quartering away. (It was a panicked animal in a 20 acre pen, with a marginal, non-fatal wound courtesy of the owners 12 year old son; I was asked to drop the back & forth sprinting animal after the kid ran out of ammo; I was not able to place a shot where I would have liked).

If I were hunting 175 lb+ animals, it would be my prefered round. On the medium sized deer around here, I alternate between a .30-30 and .308, using Remmy cor-lokd.
 
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Used it on deer up to 225 pounds in .308 and 30-06. Shoots like a matchking and hits like a grenade. On a side shot, leaves a blood trail Ray Charles could follow. Not so much on the Texas heart shot...
 
I use the 140 grainin my 270 for white tails and love them. There extremely accurate and leave one hell of a hole. I've shot deer out to 300 yds and have never had an expansion problem,.
 
I used these 165 gr Sierras in my .30-06 for decades and never had an issue with them. They always worked well and are quite accurate. I really like them.
 
I have taken several big northern whitetails with the .264 142gr SMK similar to the GK but a lighter skin, at 2850fps muzzle velocity. All were neck shot at 250yds or less. Every time the bullet disintegrated but the deer never moved an inch after dropping in their tracks.
 
I try to not shoot deer in the meat. So if I had a fist sized exit wound in the ribs id call that a success because I doubt that deer took a step. If I had a bullet blow up inside and not exit and didn't have a blood trail on a deer that ran off id call that a failure but id bet most of the reports of shots like that are misses or gut shot deer that were never recovered to really know. I met many of the hunters that think they just cant miss if if the deer ran off its the bullets fault not theres. Ive used them in the .30 cals and 7mms and if you hit a deer where you are suppose to youll eat backstraps the next day.
 
I forgot to mention I also have shot 2 deer with .223 75gr Hornady BTHP match (2800fps) that are very similar to the SMK. One was shot in the chest quartering away at 60yds went 30yds and piled up. The other was hard quartering away 80yds and that one went 60yds and piled up. No blood at all to follow and the hard quartering deer the bullet entered just in front of the back leg and was found in the off side front shoulder intact.
 
I have had difference experience than some on here. I shot one smaller buck at about 40 yards with a handloaded .308 168 grain bthp. The first shot went through the heart, the second was a bit behind the ribs. The deer ran fifty yards, and the bullet came apart. I have since converted to the game king 165 grain. I have heard rumors the 165 grn travels about the same as the 168 bthp.
 
JohnhenrySTL said:
I have had difference experience than some on here. I shot one smaller buck at about 40 yards with a handloaded .308 168 grain bthp. The first shot went through the heart, the second was a bit behind the ribs. The deer ran fifty yards, and the bullet came apart. I have since converted to the game king 165 grain. I have heard rumors the 165 grn travels about the same as the 168 bthp.
Click to expand...
If I'm not mistaken the 168 gn is the Match king. Not really meant for hunting.
 
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