OK--I know this gets into "ethical controversy land" but let me say from the get-go that I neither use nor advocate the use of target rounds for taking big game--but am intrigued to ask nonetheless and am interested what the collective group-think is.

I happen to know a professional hand-loader (meaning he does this for a living for match shooters, LE etc.) and he tells me he hunts with matchkings. He's been hunting probably longer than I've been alive--which is saying alot since I'm well north of 50.

His reasoning sounds absurdly simple. #1, he says the matchking is the most consistently accurate bullet he knows of across the wide range of calibers and ranges being used for; and therefore is the easiest to work up to a good load. and 2) He says he's DRT'd over 100 deer with it. When I asked about the problem of fragmentation--he says that's why he likes it--basically by fragmenting after impact 100% of the kinetic energy is absorbed by the tissue resulting in massive tissue destruction. We were talkin 6.5 caliber on up--so penetration and smashing through bone he says are not a problem.