Thread: Match vs hunting bullets

Originally Posted by Roarless20

This guy is a fanatic but you can glean some good info out of his vids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Vzt...gehuntingGroup


TMKs are probably the same as ELDM/X and TGKs are probably too hard for medium/lower impact velocity. My inexperienced best guess thoughts, anyway...

The load for my 308 for my TMK is the same charge weight as the A max load albeit with different cases and COAL.
From what I've found. TMK and A max react the same on animals. The TMK has a better BC from memory.
On that note.
If anyone happens to have 1 box of 7mm tmk I'm after 1 box.

So at some point in the past on here I posted side-by-side sections of the Sierra TMK, TGK and traditional softpoint GameKing. When I get home this evening I’ll see if I can find the photos.

The bottom line is that there is next to bugger all difference in the construction of the TMK and GameKing. Comparing 30 Cal bullets the jacket thickness was basically the same and the simple scratch test indicated the lead core was of similar softness.

The obvious difference is the elongated ogive and plastic tip on the TMK.

Personally I have not found any difference whatsoever in terminal performance between the TMK and the softpoint GameKing.

The TGK on the other hand was a totally different beast. Way thicker jacket and much harder - like way harder - core. You could tell the difference in the core hardness just by the filing after sectioning. I got a roasting on here by some guy a couple of years ago for criticising the TGK design without actually having used it, fair enough. IIRC he was a supplier probably sitting on a big pile of them, burning a hole in his pocket. So I thought I better go and use it, in 6mm (100gr). I even bought them from the guy that roasted me

What I found was it was a bastard to get to shoot in the first place, and that it was way too hard for goats and fallow. I couldn’t get them to give me any better than 1.5 MOA so I didn’t use it for longer range stuff like normal. The bullet didn’t achieve the bang flop frequency of the 6mm 108gr ELD-M and 100gr ProHunter. I shot a couple of large red hinds and that was okay with pinning shoulder shots going straight through, with a decent exit hole. I also shot a sorry looking sow that had been wrecked by pig dogs the night before, and the TGK had no difficulty dealing with the thick as muddy shield. So my takeaway was that you need bigger tougher animals with more resistance to get the best out of the TGK. In the end I sold the unused bullets because I just didn’t like it (and I was right - too hard for our lighter framed game). Good big stag bullet in 7mm or .30 cal I’d expect, but definitely not something I would want to be using at longer range.

You can chase your tail forever trying new projectiles but in the 243 steadily thinking that the Matakohe projectile does all we want. Giving the 95gr another try out on Saturday night.

Originally Posted by caberslash

Thoughts on 7mm TMK's and TGK's vs 7mm ELD-M/X?

I shot a few goats and deer with the 160tmk in my 7mmcreed, longest shots were 2 goats at 725meters.
One was bang, flop other walked about 5 meters then dropped.

I've also shot plenty of goat and fallow with the 162gr Amax/ eld-m in my 7mm08.
Longest shot was a goat at 602meters and a red stag at 430ish meters.
Goat dropped on the spot with a heads hot while the deer went about 30 meters then curled up.

Both the tmk and eld-m are very similar and wouldn't hesitate to use either