Thread: MatchKings for hunting?

Just a quick query on if anyone's using Sierra MatchKings for hunting? Shoot great out of my rifle. After googling its a bit of a split vote but I'll believe what I hear on here rather than a bunch of yanks arguing from their armchairs.

What cal? I tried the 69SMK from factory Fiocchi 223 match ammo on wallabies and was unimpressed - it killed well enough at close range but further out it tended to pencil through and not kill fast at all. Pretty slow load though, MV not far over 2700 from memory. In comparison the Hornady 68bthp @ 2850 has given pretty instant bang-flop on the two wallabies I've shot with it so far, at 135 and 305.

308, MV of 2700. 168gr MatchKings.

Originally Posted by MattyP

Just a quick query on if anyone's using Sierra MatchKings for hunting? Shoot great out of my rifle. After googling its a bit of a split vote but I'll believe what I hear on here rather than a bunch of yanks arguing from their armchairs.

Yeah, 180 grain Sierra Match Kings shoot the best consistency out of my .300 Win Mag, out of any of the projectiles I've tried so far on paper at 100m, so I'm interested in knowing the answer to that question too!

I haven't used the match kings but i would be inclined to use the 168 amaxes you also shot 5 under an inch.

Ive shot quite a few deer with the 150gr 168gr in the 7mm mag and the 190gr in a 300 win mag and all have worked pritty well.

300 grain match kings from a 338 are superb hunting projectiles. Results may vary in smaller calibre s though

I have used 120 smk's in the 6.5 and dropped goats on the spot at 300m only had one goat walk about 30m from it. Used 150 smk's in the 300wsm and well I have never shot an animal with them my brother droped a stag on the spot and nailed a few goats with them. So I'd say they work.

SMK not designed for hunting. What some guys do with the high BC match type projectiles is to invest in a meplat trimmer to improve expansion.

What are you trying to achieve ? Do you want higher BC / better ballistics ? Are you shooting far enough for it to be necessary ?

Personally, I'd stick with hunting bullets for hunting. For 308 you have oodles of choice

Originally Posted by Steve338

300 grain match kings from a 338 are superb hunting projectiles. Results may vary in smaller calibre s though

I've shot a two of sambar at less that 50y with my .338 and 300g SMK. Neither moved and the exit hole was more than impressive.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I haven't used the match kings but i would be inclined to use the 168 amaxes you also shot 5 under an inch.

Yeah, I just didn't like the velocity of those is all - they were shooting under 2500fps. Putting the info in my ballistics app the holdovers on my reticle don't work as well. Can only use 12.5x zoom to line them up instead of 15x with the SMK's. That's for holdovers at 300, 400, 450 and 500yds and zeros at 200.

Am I being too fussy? Have recalced the accuracy of both and it was 0.9 MOA on the AMAX's and 0.54 on the SMK's. So almost twice as accurate. And just under 2500fps vs 2700fps on the SMK's. What would you use taking all of that into account?

Originally Posted by ebf

What are you trying to achieve ? Do you want higher BC / better ballistics ? Are you shooting far enough for it to be necessary ?

Personally, I'd stick with hunting bullets for hunting. For 308 you have oodles of choice

Just for hunting, I guess 0-400m. I shot groups of nearly everything available in 150gr and 168gr, excluding FMJ, etc. The two above performed the best by quite a bit. 150gr SST Superformance was good too except for 1 flyer in a 5 shot group.

Edit - everything available from one shop anyway.

Sounds like they will work goin on others experiences.

That is quite slow for the amaxes.

The reason why Sierra list the SMK as "not for hunting" is so that the American military can use them and not have to worry about the Geneva convention side of things.

There is a thread on snipers hide with animals of all sizes opened up pretty good.

The 155gr Scenar also seems to be popular over there.