matchking bullets on p.d???

[1qaz]

I got some extra 52 match king hp bt. Never tried them on p. dogs. Has any tried them and what were the results?

 

[Klong]

I used them some years ago and they worked fine! I shot these out of a 223. My primary bullet was the 50 gr SX. The 52 SMK were a little better in the wind and held together better for shooting doubles with good kills.

 

[Eddie Harren]

I used them for years. The 52 gr. Sierra MK was a great shooter but I got a lot of 'pass throughs' and ricochets. I found that if I used a small center drill to 'flair' the hollowpoint a little, they blew up just like varminter bullets. I even did this with the 107 gr 6mm MK in a 6x284. I saw no decrease in accuracy.

 

[dmickey]

Don't forget, Sierra does not recommend the Matchking bullets for use on live targets! Not made for fast or even reliable expansion but solely for accuracy!

 

[pdog06]

I used some matchkings last year on prarie dogs and wont do it again. It was a 308 with 168SMK's I was using for target shooting, but wanted to use it for some long range dogs. I had 150 loaded up so I just used them. This year I will be taking some 165gr Nosler ballistic tips instead.

The SMK's that hit were pretty much pass-thru hits instead of explosions. The ones that missed riccochet and kept goin, which I feel wasnt safe.

 

[BradY]

I use 69gr nosler custom competition hpbt bullets for hunting and on foxes i have had a few pass throughs. Im going to stay with varmint bullets for varminting from now on.

 

[AckleymanII]

I shot up 1000 of the 53g Sierra Match Hp and a few hundred of the 52g Match HP at 3550 out of a 22 PPC on p. dogs.

The results were poor to say the least. While accuracy was fantastic, often the dogs would just keep eating then in a few seconds, flip over on their backs and start kicking. Lots of crawlers. Good thing that I had a super accurate rifle so that I could place my shots.

I switched to the 50 and 55g Sierra lead tip blitz, accuracy is spectacular and they blow dogs way up in the air. These two bullets also blow up coyotes. Glory, you ought to see a coyote shot with a 55g Sierra lead tip blitz at 3500 fps...no runners, gimpers, or spinners.

Good luck!

 

[P1ZombieKiller]

I just got back from shooting and I used the blitz kings in my 204. While not all shots produced the explosive results I hoped for, they all were good enough to not have too many crawlers,if I placed my shot right).

The balistics may not be as good as the match kings, but you only have to shoot 1 MOPD,1 minute of Prairie dog) to be successful, and these certianly did.

 

[RJinTexas]

I was unhappy with the way 87gr Vmax's were grouping at 100yds out of both my 6mmBR 8tw and my 6-6.5x47 8tw. So after reading Stan Stewart's article on long range varminting with Berger's Varmint high BC FB 6mm 88gr match grade bullets I decided to give them a try. Both of these rifle had no difficulty shrinking the groups produced with the V-max's in half and proved they were capable of putting the 88 grainers into one ragged hole when I did my part. As most who read the Varmint & Hunting Form know the Johnson's and I just returned from my annual p-dog shoot in Kansas. I assumed being this bullet is listed as a varmint bullet it would give you the results of a varmint bullet. THIS WAS ABSOLUTELY NOT THE CASE. The bullet did anchor the dogs, they were DRT. But there was no sound effects and very few dogs were blown into the air. It just passed through them and they fell over much the same as Stan stated he experienced when shooting a groundhog. This bullet is deadly accurate but I very much missed the splatter factor. I may try DocEd's suggestion of opening up the hollow point before giving up on this bullet because of it's accuracy. I would be great if Berger would address this issue even if it meant giving up a little BC.

RJ

 

[AckleymanII]

RJinTexas, that was my experience with all heavy bullets. I am glad to see you state your findings, I had the same experience.


It just is no fun without p. dog helicopters.

 

[patchhound]

A guy could say it `till the cows come home, match bullets just don`t do the 'trick' for pd`s. Just takes one bullet to but a BIG ragged hole in a pd, not five... Past 500yrds I switch from 87`s to 105 A-max w/ my 6br. My well used Kreiger 1:8 will shoot the 87 a bit better than .75 and it`s good enouph for 400 easy. I started playing w/ the lite -60gr. pills and been real happy by there preformance to 300yrds. My best advice is if you cant get one varmint bullet to work, try a different one. You and the pd`s will like `em better than a match bullet.

 

[bheadboy]

The Sierra 55gr blitzking, is the 53gr hpbt matchking with a tip, the tip causes it to explode and increases the BC, without loosing accuracy, they are fantastic out to 600+ from my 22-250 at 3750fps Hart bbl 40x.
dont use match bullets!!!
bheadboy

 

[lpreddick]

DocEd: just read your note on drilling the small hollow point larger in a match bullet to promote varmint behavior in a match bullet. last fall i started doing this in heavy,high b.c.) .224 .243 and 6.5 match bullets to use in my fast twist .22-.250,.243 AI,6-.284 and 6.5-.284. compared effect by shooting one gallon milk jugs filled with wet newspaper,tennessee ground hog consistency). the results were EXPLOSIVE! l first grind the tip of the match bullet to a desired level, insert into homemade jig, thendrill press with a very small drill, opening the point and removing a good bit of jacket material. polish the tip with fine steel wool and load. did not notice any change in accuracy from parent match bullet. some long match bullets have a large empty space ahead of their lead core and seem to really come apart on the ghogs. 350 yards instant kill with 130 berger in 6.5-.284 left a 3 in. exit. over kill? maybe. we can have gusty wind in these hills and misses and woundings are not what i enjoy. if i can see you, i can touch you. BANG!

 

[Rustystud]

Another reason for super explosive bullets. Is preventing problems down range. Remember centerfire bullets can go several miles.

Nat Lambeth

 

[kkeene]

Sierra .224 diameter 1410, decided to load them up to use on the Kansas PD trip last month as I needed a few more rounds of ammo. Using a 223 at about 3,300 fps, I was **EXTREMELY** impressed with bullet performance even past 500 yards.

They were actually more effective,both accuracy and expansion) than the 50 gr v-max's at longer distances.

They were very effective, but they were not as spectacular as the 50 gr v-max's at less than 100 yards though. If I had a solid hit the 1410's anchored them right there!

I did not see any skipping off into the distance from them either.

Some other Match Kings do NOT make good varmint bullets but the 1410's sure do!

PS - The 105 gr 6mm A-Max match bullets are great PD bullets also!

 

[farmboy]

I have used the 52gr SMK in 22-250 for the past 6 years or so. This is the only load I use. I have been more than satisfied with performance on PD's and coyotes. Never lost a critter that was hit with it. 2eeks ago shot a coyote with it at 40-50yds and it ripped 3/4 of his neck off at the shoulders.

happy shooting

 

[lpreddick]

a followup to my post #13 re hollowpointing match bullets: dropped a 10#+ ghog yesterday at 371 yds pushing a berger 105 vld at 3400 fps out of a kreiger 6-.284. my leupold dot was on his center chest and the bullet went there leaving a 1.5 in. hole in it's place but more impressively was the empty space where his heart and lungs once were! gross but impressive. the energy in that bullet was expended in his chest with no exit wound! a pass through would carry most of this energy with the bullet. this happened last year with the same load. hollowpointing match bullets is labor intensive but i love the handson aspect of this hobby/sport. if i can see you, i can touch you! BANG!