Looks like I'm switching to the Sierra pro hunter.

[RAY]

I could not get my Nosler 165 gr BTs to group under 3 inches with my 3006 using imr4350 at temps 30 ° , although with w760 it was better.

I tried some 180 gr pro hunters with some w760 &cci250 s and 52.5 gave me .4 with 4 shots, I saved the 5th for a 3 to 4 " cedar ( wow ) !

I just hope these 180 s will do the trick on these deer I hunt ,their not really that big.

Ray

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[Polaris]

Give the 150 Speer a whirl over 4064. Lights out in my 06, 300 Sav and .308. Great deer bullet, pretty good BC for a flat base. Your 180s should do as well, but as you know, they're a bit heavy for smaller deer.

 

[JD338]

+1
The 180 gr will work well on WT deer but a 150 gr will put them down faster.

JD338

 

[Elkman]

Ray
I re-learned a lesson last fall that I had learned years before. I was unable to use my primary hunting rifle so I went to my backup. I had developed some loads with it a couple of years ago and tested them and they shot very well. I wanted to use the AB but the groups were not nearly as tight as the other bullet. Later I shot a small cow elk in Wyoming at 300 yards, and the bullet did not hold together at all. I came home worked over the AB load and went hunting again. A few days later I shot a small bull elk at 300 yards and recovered 1 piece of lead weighting 120 grains with a perfect mushroom, textbook expansion. I haven't seen a Sierra Bullet come from an animal for a lot of years but when I did, dad and I switched to Nosler bullets. I guess the whole point of this post is that accuracy isn't everything in hunting situations, and bullet performance is important.

 

[Richracer1]

My '06 didn't like 165ABs very much. Went to 180ABs an WOW, what a difference. It loved them.

 

[RAY]

Elkman , you are right.
I do have some 165 gr Speer hot cores that are flat base bullets.

I really like the performance of the ballistic tip !

I shot a buck this season with the BTs at 50 yards , it plowed right on through , left a big ol' hole.

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[RAY]

My '06 didn't like 165ABs very much. Went to 180ABs an WOW, what a difference. It loved them.

Watcha' shootin' at ?

My '06 didn't like 165ABs very much. Went to 180ABs an WOW, what a difference. It loved them.

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[Richracer1]

My '06 didn't like 165ABs very much. Went to 180ABs an WOW, what a difference. It loved them.

Watcha' shootin' at ?

My '06 didn't like 165ABs very much. Went to 180ABs an WOW, what a difference. It loved them.

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Primarily elk, but it has taken a couple of hogs and a muley.

 

[BretN]

Those 180 gr Pro Hunters should have no problems with your average white tail. You could also try a standard BT and see how it does. Nosler and Sierra tend to be the only bullets that come home from the store with me lately.

 

[Guy Miner]

Ray - that's interesting.

The 165 Nosler Ballistic Tips shot very poorly, 3" groups at 100 yds.

Switching to the 180 gr Sierra Pro Hunter resulted in a .4" group. Wow! Amazing improvement!

As I recall, that's a fairly hard bullet, slower to expand than a Ballistic Tip. Been a while though.

Guy

 

[Firebird]

I killed my first whitetail with a 140 gr sierra pro from my 7mm08 and a couple others since then. At first I did not give them enough credit, nothing fancy, no cool poly tip, no fancy cantilever, no initials in the base, just a plain old nothing special bullet. They completely changed my mind, and have never failed me yet. Not sure the comparison between -06 and -08 and 140 and the bigger sizes but I would not hesitate to use the pro hunter under normal circumstances and for sure on whitetail-I'm shooting the Nebraska corn fed version-If a bullet works well in a given rifle you use it until you think you've found something better, no matter the label on the box. . .

 

[diverdown]

I've tagged a few Elk with my 300WSM using 180 grain Sierra pro hunters and they've definitely worked well.

 

[PJGunner]

For many years I used the Sierra 180 gr. Pro-hunters from my 06. Many big Nevada Mule Deer died from the use of that bullet. My current go to 06 is a custom on a McMillan stock with a 24" Douglas barrel with a 1 in 12" twist that I had built on a whim. I learned that is wouldn't shoot 180 gr. bullets worth spit. One day I decided to try the 165 gr. Nosler AccuBond. Almost perfection right off the bat I got my best accuracy just shy of 2900 FPS. Took a nice cow elk with it last year. One shot, a short 30 or 40 foot dash and drop. Bullet didn't exit and was probably in the mess that was left in the left lung. Will be working with the Nosler 165 gr. Partition next to see how the rifle works with that bullet.
Paul B.

 

[Alderman]

My first deer loads were the 165 Spbt and hpbt with 48 grains of IMR4064.


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[OU812]

Ray I too had the 165 BT shoot very poorly in my 06 with IMR4350 and WLR primers but I switched to Fed 210 and they shot amazing. Might give some 210's a try if you have any or can find any.

 

[preacher]

Sometimes a bullet just won't shoot. However, it would be worth it to you to get a bullet comparator ( that measures the ogive. When I find a bullet that shoots well at how I set it up ( or a factory load even) I'll measure the C.O.L. with the comparator, then whatever other bullet I set it at "that specific" COL with the comparator before trying anything else. Most of the time it turns out it is the sweet spot, other times it makes no difference! ha But at least you are saving a lot of time and components. As a handloader I can't leave well enough alone and love to try different weights/styles...I had an old 1917 sporterized Enfield that shot that same 180 Sierra PH into bug holes! I never killed anything with it. I did kill a lot of stuff with the Sierra 165 SPBT in an old 742 '06 of my dads as a younger man. My BIL has always used the Sierra 150SPBT in his .308. For grins try a 150 with 50-52 gr IMR 4064. Good luck to you Pard

 

[filmjunkie4ever]

Sometimes a bullet just won't shoot. However, it would be worth it to you to get a bullet comparator ( that measures the ogive. When I find a bullet that shoots well at how I set it up ( or a factory load even) I'll measure the C.O.L. with the comparator, then whatever other bullet I set it at "that specific" COL with the comparator before trying anything else. Most of the time it turns out it is the sweet spot, other times it makes no difference! ha But at least you are saving a lot of time and components. As a handloader I can't leave well enough alone and love to try different weights/styles...I had an old 1917 sporterized Enfield that shot that same 180 Sierra PH into bug holes! I never killed anything with it. I did kill a lot of stuff with the Sierra 165 SPBT in an old 742 '06 of my dads as a younger man. My BIL has always used the Sierra 150SPBT in his .308. For grins try a 150 with 50-52 gr IMR 4064. Good luck to you Pard

Preacher -

What was your load for that 742 and the 165 SPBT? I am close to buying one of those and that load intrigues me. I was thinking of using H4350 but the 4064 is also a powder I frequently use.

Dale

 

[preacher]

FJ- it was the old "Red Box Federal" factory ammo when they first started loading premium bullets...1978 or so? Been awhile. It wouldn't matter much as I never killed a deer nor hog beyond 60yds with it! ha. I noticed it killed well yet didn't bloodshot any meat. It made that particular "jammomatic" a 3" rifle from a 6" ( with Rem 150 corlokts) at 100. I would guess around 2700-2750 would be the velocity...super easy to get with 55-57 gr H or Imr 4350. I would use either Federal 210 or CCI BR2 primers though.

 

[26NosFan]

Sierra bullets are no slouch. I grew up 60 miles from Sedalia and we would go over once every two weeks and buy "seconds" and pay by the pound. .30 cal 150gr SBT and MKs. I was my job to go through and cull if needed. Most of the time I just used a nail file and/or a nail clipper to clean up the tips. I killed a lot of everything in my 308 with those 150s. We ould also buy 158gr .357 JSPs too most of the time the problem was they forgot to put the cannelure on them. Didn't bother us.

 

[SJB358]

Ray
I re-learned a lesson last fall that I had learned years before. I was unable to use my primary hunting rifle so I went to my backup. I had developed some loads with it a couple of years ago and tested them and they shot very well. I wanted to use the AB but the groups were not nearly as tight as the other bullet. Later I shot a small cow elk in Wyoming at 300 yards, and the bullet did not hold together at all. I came home worked over the AB load and went hunting again. A few days later I shot a small bull elk at 300 yards and recovered 1 piece of lead weighting 120 grains with a perfect mushroom, textbook expansion. I haven't seen a Sierra Bullet come from an animal for a lot of years but when I did, dad and I switched to Nosler bullets. I guess the whole point of this post is that accuracy isn't everything in hunting situations, and bullet performance is important.

I learned a similar lesson this Fall myself. Just happens to be a Sierra bullet. I had jug tested a few Sierra bullets from my 444 Marlin, the 250 Full Profile Jackets. Every time I put them into jugs they came out PERFECT. Well, muzzleloader came around and decided to try them in the ML with BH209. They shot well, zeroed up nicely, so I hunted them. I also had .429 250 PTs that shot to the same POI... I said to myself, "self, how is a dinky Va WT going to hurt one of these Sierras". Well, I shot a buck at about 40 yards right on the front leg. Buck ran around me about 60 yards and flopped over, then a minute later had his head up. Well I loaded another and drilled him through the tops of the shoulders. Found the bullet down near his penis, perfectly mushroomed. Couldn't figure out why that first bullet didn't kill him dead. Once I skinned him I realized that bullet blew up on that front leg leg and just trauma'ed up the near lung.

Lesson learned by me, if I'm hunting for keeps, use the good stuff. Not a knock on Sierra or any other bullet company but I don't like losing animals I spend a lot of time trying to hunt, so I should have stuck with what I know will work every time.

Also, the 2nd recovered bullet was a perfectly mushroomed specimen. Same deer, two bullets that acted entirely different.

Ray, not saying those Sierras won't work excellent, just wanted to add my experience as to why I try to not leave anything to guess work. Noslers have NEVER let me down. I know that's a big statement, but I've taken enough animals now to know,they flat work when things go sideways.