Gold Medal Match for deer?

Okay the .308 WIN Gold Medal Match 168 gr BTHP... a buddy gave me some as I have a new rifle and swore by them. I saw a buck he shot last year with em and nice exit hole and the deer couldn't have gone five yards...

But I beleive these things use the Sierra Matchking bullets,,, anyone have any experience with either of these ON DEER? If so, I would love to hear it....

I am a lil reluctant as it is a match round, but then this is the round that snipers in the military and Law Enforcement use... It must work pretty good for them as it is the standard...

There have been plenty of game animals killed with Match King bullets and plenty of people who swear by them but the bottom line is they were not designed for hunting. Penetration tests have shown them to have very erratic and often explosive expansion characteristics at velocities over 2500 fps. There really are better choices out there, starting with $8 a box Wally World Remington CL and going up from there.

Try Sierra 165gr BTHP Game Kings!

If you reload, I'd suggest you try Sierra 165gr BTHP Game Kings.

This bullet is specifically designed for deer hunting and is nearly as accurate as the Match Kings.

My Tikka 30-06 loves this bullet loaded on top of 57.0 grains of IMR-4350.

The deer hit with this bullet don't care much for it though.

The Sierra 168 gr BTHP Match bullet is NOT a hunting bullet. Though it is extremely accurate in the 308 Win, it does not open up enough to be a hunting round. From experience, the 168 gr match bullet did not open up and punhed a small hole clean through but did little damage other than the small hole. The deer was recovered but very little as fas as a blodd trail goes. I would not use it

Member Rooks is correct. I wondered about this myself many years ago and called Sierra about it. As he says, they indicated that the jacket is built heavier than the 165 HPBT and could not be counted on for the expansion you would want. I've used the 165 HPBT for many years in .30-06, either loaded to near factory velocity or, more often, loaded back to about .300 Savage level (around 2600 fps). It is an excellent performer in accuracy and expansion and would be just what you are looking for in either respect.

I will say this. Thousands of hunters use these bullets on game. Even at ranges you will find unethical. I will use a SMK on a deer in a heart beat. Everybody I know that uses them does not loose deer with them.

Schulze said:

I will say this. Thousands of hunters use these bullets on game. Even at ranges you will find unethical. I will use a SMK on a deer in a heart beat. Everybody I know that uses them does not loose deer with them.

Click to expand...

Maybe we should shoot matches with hunting rounds. : : Match bullets are for matches and game bullets for game. Yeah they willwork but not as effective.

this is a very debated subject. I said my peice and I would not hesitate to use them. But then again I dont think "hunters" should shoot a box of ammo and say " By gawd I am gonna shot me a deer" :

Thanks all

I know its not a hunting bullet... I know it wasn't designed to kill deer... but I know people who do on a regular basis, and swear by it... the question was not if you would use it? It was if you have personally used or seen it used? I was looking for first hand knowledge that said it had failed them...

I have known of people who have used it, and they shoot much better in my rifle than anything else I have yet to try.... I like to know that I can hit the animal where I am aiming, not just close enough...

I know people who hunt with .223 and kill plenty of deer and those who use .300 Win Mag... I even have grown up knowing folks who've used .22LR... the deer doesn't care if it kills em dead... I know theres always a story about a guy who knows a guy, who has a cousin... its right there along most other urban legends...

I was looking for real world testimonies as I don't reload or finding an accurate bullet/load combo would be much easier... However, I haven't found any load that performs as I like yet!!! I ordered some more less common stuff that i couldn't find locally,hopefully it'll be acceptable to ME,,, but since I only will take a shot I know I can make!!! If I took the match bullets, I would feel comfortable out to 300 easily... with the rem loads only to 150ish...

Since that would greatly increase opportunities, I definately like stacking the deck in my favor... I will decide next time out at the range what will be in the gun on opening day... Next week I will probably use something else, but this is 2 days from opening day and the only round that my rifle is liking and the groups are consistently in the area I want it to be!!! This is not the sandbagged bench shooting but supported similar to as in the field... off the bench over an inch is no big deal, but a lightly supported position opens up to 3in at 100... so those 1/2 in groups off the bench open up to 1 1/2-2in @100...

I am sure by November it will inconsiquential as I probably would have had the chance to find a hunting round that fills the bill.... but I haven't yet...

As for having a box a bullets so I'l go Shot me a deer, I have Nos ballistic tips, corelokts, silver tips, econo SP's ;but these hunting bullets are horrific shooters in this rifle... were talking over an inch to over 2in off the bench vs. under 3/4 down to just over 1/2 in when I do my part. So, I have confidence in the Match bullets!!! I would not want to go over 150 wth the others unless I had a real good rest!!!

I think that confidence in being able to make the shot makes a world of difference... I have asked this since I am confident I can make the shot with these rounds, but would much less confident with some of these others... Where I hunt most shots would be 75 yds or less... but I also have the chance to go out to 300yds at the same time... as the deer don't always show up where we expect em to... Nothing like having a 12 slug gun and look over your shoulder only to watch the big boy 200 yds away walk down a road bed and browse for over 5 min.....

Thanks

Slasher

Field Test 5.0

approx 125 yds, behind shoulder deer DRT!!!! Dropped in his tracks with a quarter sized hole on exit.... I was quite pleased....

Slasher, I Don't recommend Fed GM either, but if you want to try another accurate factory round the Black Hills Match works as well or better for me in .308. I only ran a couple of boxes through since I handload 90% of my rifle ammo. The Black Hills is a little cheaper and I would buy it over Fed GM for shooting targets. I second the Gameking 165's, I find Gameking bullets to be about as accurate as Matchkings personally. I love the Gamekings in my .308 but I haven't tried any factory loaded.

Too bad there isn't a factory load for the 165 Gamekings! I wonder why someone doesn't use that bullet?

I've personally killed 3 deer with Federal Gold Medal Match, 168 grn loads. The first one, the bullet performed extremly good. It was about a 125 yard shot. The exit wound was over 1.5" diameter. The next one was a head shot, so the bullet performance didn't matter much. The last one the bullet performed pretty well, but I didn't make the best of shots.

I've read both sides of the story about using the Matchking bullets. The biggest reason that I've seen to not use them is the in-consistent expansion.

I used the Winchester 165 grn silvertips for a while, but didn't get the bullet performance I wanted out of them. They grouped pretty well though...nothing like the MK or GK bullets though.

I load my own now and use 165 Gamekings for hunting and target shooting. I killed 2 does opening day with them. Both ran about 25 yards and crashed hard. Both had about 1"+ exit wounds as well.

Milliam

I hear ya

I am using them until I can find another that performs as well... I have seen nothing but great expansion, but all 3 ofthe deer were shot very well( 90-150 yds...) and the deer went down right there or within 10yds...

I feel that it is only a matter of time till the expansion fails me, but hopefully find a load that performs for accuracy and expansion...

Millam, you talked me into to it, I'll take a couple boxes of those GK's as I don't reload...