Part 2: Sierra 150 grain HP Varminter

[Bobby Tomek]

OK, today I decided to try this bullet out at 300 yards. Conditions were bright and breezy and not the best for any range work, so this was quite limited but still managed to quell some of my curiosity.

First off, I found I couldn't use my normal 300 yard spot due to branches and grass, so I had to move my shooting position to the side and back a bit. I did not range today's spot but will venture 315 yards as a close guess. I did chrono the load at impact. It registered 1792 fps. Because of the wind and mirage, I chose to only put one bullet into the medium as I did not want to press my luck and damage my chronograph. I'll continue this again on a better day.

The recovered bullet weighed 87 grains and had expanded to a frontal diameter of 0.495. While I won't draw any conclusions from a single bullet, this sample of one -- judging by the width of the wound channel and depth of penetration -- certainly would have ruined the day of any hog or deer at that range. I've actually loaded up a few more of these and have them in the cartridge carrier with hopes a hog will soon present an opportunity.

If nothing else, at 2484 fps from the .300 Savage, it is mild and a pleasure to shoot.

[FyrepowrX]

Back several months ago, i bought a 500pack of those, looking for some stuff to feed the .300 blackout bolt gun...loaded some for a test run, then got stuck at home a bit, so never tested them.

some stuff i had read on the various .300 blackout forums had suggested these did pretty well on deer, and my other 150gr bullet loads were running about 2150fps or thereabouts...from the appearance of that bullet, seems like it'd be a good performer in the assorted small .30's, as well as TC carbines in 30/30, etc.

Hope a piggy or 2 will volunteer to be your expansion test.

[Bobby Tomek]

I've made sure the next thing I shoot with the .300 Savage will be with that load. The scope's settings have been adjusted, and the carrier only has rounds featuring that bullet. So hopefully a piggie will cooperate before long.

I hope you get some range time in soon and see how these will do in your rifle. I did not tinker much with the load I am using. The current accuracy is more than acceptable but not the type of groups the Nosler 125s have been producing. Some day, I'll fiddle with seating depth and maybe even try another powder.

[FyrepowrX]

Back several months ago, Midway had the 135gr version of this bullet available as overstock blems at a really cheap price and i grabbed a couple boxes, as i pack around .300blackouts a fair bit when rambling around on the farm.....kind of wondering if those will perform about the same. my shots are seldom very far.

[Bobby Tomek]

When I tried the 135 grain version, I found them to be much more fragile and decided against using them on game. With careful shot placement, they'd likely be OK, but anything other than a ribcage shot into the lungs (or a CNS shot) could be problematic. I'll see if I took any photos of the remnants of the bullets shot into test medium. There were no mushrooms -- just random pieces of core and jacket material.

Penetration, of course, was minimal, but the width of the wound channel was impressive. On smaller deer and hogs, they'd likely kill rather quickly -- if not spectacularly. I just wouldn't want to try and reach the vitals of a 200+ pound boar with that projectile.

[FyrepowrX]

Good to know they made the 135's way more fragile, i'll probably keep them in my more sluggish small sized .30's, and that give me a thought....last year i added a 10" factory barrel in .300whisper, and for some time i've had carbines in 30-20, and 30reece....in all of those my loads were pretty mild, think i might see how these expand when running slow.

If nothing else, they were about 1/4 the price of the Barnes Tac-TX 110's i was wasting on skunks, raccoons, etc...