Sierra 165gr GameKing SBT .308 recovered bullet

**dsmerrills** · 26-11-2014, 19:56

ok I have read this post and I use both Gamekings in HPBT and SBT! I have never had a problem with either, both are accurate on the range and both have done the job in the field but now which one is best?

I must admit I love topics like this when everyone has an opinion and it gets interesting listening to everyone's thoughts but as I said above can we sort of get a general consences?

**ravingDIODE** · 26-11-2014, 20:20

This is the only bullet that I could recover. The rest left a wound channel looking like shrapnel. I found little metal petals here and there but this was all that I could find form a few shots. This one was found in the opposite shoulder IIRC

IMG_0743.jpg IMG_0744.jpg

**Bonedoc** · 26-11-2014, 20:37

Jacket seems more or less same shape as the SP your dad used. Your core just seperated. What is the possibility that you were loading 168gr matchkings and not 165 gr gamekings?

**ravingDIODE** · 26-11-2014, 20:46

Originally Posted by Bonedoc

Jacket seems more or less same shape as the SP your dad used. Your core just seperated. What is the possibility that you were loading 168gr matchkings and not 165 gr gamekings?

Possibility zero.. Only ever bought GameKings HPBT myself. (I buy my own bullets, dad won't buy for me

)

Well yeah with that one I knew it was just jacket core separation, but my point was that was the only one. Other shots didn't have a clear wound channel, indicating to me that it broke up OR I might have hit bone on most of them early on causing the bullet to break up.

The GK SBT that my dad uses, we have not had a single one break up so far; from what we could gather with the bullets we were able to recover. I will still buy them if I get a good price on them, and would like to maybe try them out again because from what I am hearing it seems I just had bad luck that day. If that is the case then I would want to try them again because I like the look of them (the little cross it makes when you look from the top) but since when did looks make any difference. I had accurate groups with them and they shot well in my rifle.

I guess I could try them again, or I could just use the SBT that my dad is using at the moment. But so far I am planning on using Pro-Hunters 180gr for next year.

I also have some Interbonds 180gr lying here that I want to try. It is a shame, out of a box of 100, we only have 20/30 left from trying to get a load with load development. Dad couldn't get a good load and I couldn't either. But that was before using QuickLoad, and plugging in my results in Quickload, it seems I was far off with a node. So I am hoping that I can get a load with that.

Wow, talk about hijacking my own thread

**Webster** · 26-11-2014, 21:02

The Prohunters are awesome! Very strong and they pack a Wallop!

**Messor** · 26-11-2014, 21:07

Originally Posted by Webster

The Prohunters are awesome! Very strong and they pack a Wallop!

But man they suck at distance :)

I compared them to the gameking once in the .270, computer simulations can go fly a kite, at 500m the wind drift and bullet drop was remarkable.
So it's clear a hunting bullet is for hunting, not target practice, up to 250m they are just fine.

**ravingDIODE** · 26-11-2014, 21:17

Originally Posted by Messor

But man they suck at distance :)

I compared them to the gameking once in the .270, computer simulations can go fly a kite, at 500m the wind drift and bullet drop was remarkable.
So it's clear a hunting bullet is for hunting, not target practice, up to 250m they are just fine.

But isn't that the case with most flat base bullets compared to boat tails? Someone, a while back told me that up to 300m, a flat base bullet is fine and difference to boat tail is marginal but that from 300m onwards, the effect becomes quite visible with a flat base bullet and a boat tail bullet. Any truth to that? Or does it really depend on the bullet itself as well, which I am sure plays a factor...

**Andrew Leigh** · 26-11-2014, 21:22

Flat bases are stable out to circa 300m after which they start to wobble a little, the converse is true I have read for boat tail bullets. At 300m odd they firm up and stabilise.

**Webster** · 26-11-2014, 21:34

Yes - that is correct. Prohunters for inside 300 and Gamekings for longer work. That is where the HPBT Gamekings come into their own - they are good for both!

**Messor** · 26-11-2014, 21:44

Just for interest sake RD two years ago I shot a springbok at 450m, he was quartering away to the right, and I hit him solid in the chest but almost blew his front left leg off. Starting out at 2950 that bullet could not have been doing more 2200 upon impact. That was with a 130gr Sierra Gameking, and the reason for the mess was my silly shot, had I waited for a broadside the damage would have been none.