Thread: Projectile questions for the experts

I have a range of factory projectiles in various calibres. Among them Sierra Matchkings. I'm specifically looking at a box of 140gn .264 dia 6.5mm HPBT. I don't (yet) do competitive range shooting with rifle. Sierra promote these as a longish distance paper puncher. They don't recommend them for hunting.

Q1. So why the hollow point ? What value does a HP have on the range? Me thinking HP was all about expansion and no one needs an expanding bullet on a paper target. I'm guessing the HP is to achieve less weight up front to change the bullet's BC or weight distribution. Correct?

Q2. So at up to 200-300 metre , how effective are these going to be, A. On small game e.g. hares, B. On say goats, wallabies or fallow deer? In a pinch.

Q3. In terms of load development, how close will these be to equivalent GameKings performance wise? I.E. if I get 1/2 MOA at 100m with Match Kings or zero at 200m, at say 2500fps, will this then translate closely to equivalent GameKings?

Or do I just leave them.on the shelf until a NZDA range comp comes long?

Asking out of genuine ignorance...

If you are using them for hunting please tell how they go for you, any calibre.

A hollow point is easier and cheaper to make than a perfect tip, and a tip that isn't perfect will reduce accuracy.
I read somewhere years ago that a hollow point effectively creates it's own tip of air, and works well as long as the hollow point is 1/6th of the bullets diameter or less.

All target pills are just fine on varmint and small game. I use the Eld-m on Tahr out to 680yds (longest) so if you hit them right they work just fine. Apparently the match rounds have a tendency to explode at close range though.
I should note that you stated the question for experts and that isn’t me lol

My experience is that the Sierra Match Kings are inconsistent on game animals with some expanding and others penciling through. The cause of their inconsistent terminal ballistic behavior appears to be associated with the diameter of the hollow point.
Match Kings produced in the 1980’s had tip diameters of 0.028” to 0.038”, while recent Match King tip diameters appear to range from 0.012” to 0.024”.

However the smaller the tip diameter of the hollow point, the more the Match King tends to behave like a FMJ bullet. Conversely, increasing the tip diameter enhances bullet expansion in tissue. When the SMK open tip is enlarged to at least 0.055”, it offers consistent expansion and fragmentation with virtually no change in accuracy.

So what I would advise is to get a meplat trimmer and enlarged the tip to 0.055". If I didn't open up the tip of the SMK, I would use a different bullet which offers both acceptable accuracy and more reliable terminal performance (ie the Gameking range).

It has long been known that bullets with the centre of gravity further back are more stable and hence, more accurate. There are various ways of achieving this, probably the aluminium (or compressed paper) frontal core in the Mk VII .303 being the most complex. Another, unplanned but beneficial effect (from a military perspective) is that base heavy projectiles flip sideways when destabilised by bones, etc, which greatly, but unpredictably, enhances their wounding effect whilst complying with FMJ provisions of the Hague Convention. Hollow-pointing as part of the forming process in manufacture is the most cost effective way of achieving the base heavy effect and is why it is used in match bullets. I use Sierra 69 grain HPBT match bullets in my .223 and they kill goats in a most satisfactory manner out to 500 metres, subject to proper bullet placement (head, neck, chest) of course.

Q1 if you look at almost all of the Berger target projectiles in use at the top end of F-class comps, those are hollow points. The jackets on those projectiles differ from the jackets on hunting projectiles. Some of the top end guys also spend a fair a mount of time pointing the tips of the projectiles to make them more consistent.

Q3 in my experience the design of Sierra matchkings and game kings have been different enough for a given weight to make me do load dev for each. One is a sleek target projectile, the game king is much more of a traditional design. But then again, it kinda depends how far you want to shoot them. Less than 300m, you could probably get away with a single load for both...

All the plastic tipped bullets are just hollowpoints of one design or another with a tip bunged on to make then uniform, so most of us are shooting hollowpoints.

My experience with bthp on game are that they pencil through unless you hit bone, then they fairly explode.
Shooting hares and magpies with the 6.5 creedmoor 123gr L scenar showed the above. Hares that you could barely see a hole in them, while a hare I hit front on in the head exploded it's back half.
Same with the. 223 77gr L scenar. Magpies and rabbits you couldn't see a hole in and moved like I hadn't hit them and died a few moments later.
I drilled the tips on the 77gr pills last night and shot peacocks and rabbits today at work with them. Big difference! They hit with a solid wack and made large exit wounds killing fast. I tested accuracy at 100m first with a 3shot .3moa group ��
Shot one peacock at 290m and nicked another at 550m ��
I have shot alot of goats to 400m with the 223 77gr L scenar bthp. It definitely kills them better and further than the 55gr sp I was using.

While the 6.5 142 SMK is very accurate in my rifle I have used them only on wallaby sized game and only twice ie two shots in the one morning then retired them for paper punching and gong ringing , I would not do it again.

Excellent responses and info thanks team. I will do my load dev with the MatchKings for the new (to me) rifle to get a good feel for it. I'll do a bit of field work with them on magpies, rabbits, hares etc, first opening the HP slightly with an appropriate twist drill in my hand, not having a meplat thingamijig.

When I get to take it into the bush I'll transfer my loaddev to a hunting projectile and confirm particulars on the range first.

Thanks again for the edumacation and please, keep the thread going if you have more good, or bad, stories to add. J.

Originally Posted by Jhon

I'll do a bit of field work with them on magpies, rabbits, hares etc, first opening the HP slightly with an appropriate twist drill in my hand, not having a meplat thingamijig.

Before I bought a meplat trimmer I used the 'twist drill method' to expand the open tip SMKs.

Use a 1.5mm drill and you should find the SMKs expand enough to be effective on game.

Ha ha and here I am doing my best to close up the tips on my projectiles using a Hoover die.

Originally Posted by zimmer

Ha ha and here I am doing my best to close up the tips on my projectiles using a Hoover die.

Ok so I had to go lookup "Hoover Die", I found the Hoover Meplat trimmer, perhaps you have something different.. At $130USD for a compete Meplat Trimmer calibre setup then a further $78 per each additional calibre I figure I'll start with the drill bit lol. Could not see how you would close the HP up with it so maybe there is a different tool I missed. Interesting tho...

For what you wish to achieve just load em up and the hold the bullet tip against the side of a bench grinder wheel

The Hoover meplat trimmer was too expensive for me.
I just bought his tipping die and that wasn't cheap. (I was a lot keener back then plus still working.)
My meplat trimmers were purchased from Montour Custom Rifle.

The benefits or not of tipping is another long discussion.....

Some manufactures are now producing factory tipped projectiles (eg Sierra 30 cal 155 Palma 2156) so need need to bother with the whole tedious task.

Originally Posted by zimmer

For what you wish to achieve just load em up and the hold the bullet tip against the side of a bench grinder wheel

The Hoover meplat trimmer was too expensive for me.
I just bought his tipping die and that wasn't cheap. (I was a lot keener back then plus still working.)
My meplat trimmers were purchased from Montour Custom Rifle.

The benefits or not of tipping is another long discussion.....

Some manufactures are now producing factory tipped projectiles (eg Sierra 30 cal 155 Palma 2156) so need need to bother with the whole tedious task.

Yes I thought a hole in a piece of steel to emulate what is done with a trim die for brass. A couple of strokes with a fine file or a stone across the top would do the trick. Consistency in how much is taken off would be the goal.