Since we can't get the Berger 195 EOL bullets, we have been changing over to the 197 SMK bullets. I'm curious if anyone has used this bullet on animals yet. If so, how has the terminal performance been? This is mainly for the 28 Nosler round, but would also work in the 7 Mag and other magnum 7mm rounds. Thanks!!!

Chad

A 150 swift scirrico was the most accurate I could find in that species. Anything longer just seems like a weed and feed problem. Kicks more too.

Greg Rodriguez penned a good article in “Shooting Times” about the inconsistency of target bullets on game. Even Sierra itself says the SMK is not intended for use on game. The final paragraph of the article:

Match bullets are to get you there, game bullets are for after it gets there. This seems to be getting lost in more and more conversations.

I'm more interested in what the bullet can do, than what they say it's supposed to do.

Well a 197 grain 7mm is a big old long pencil of lead, I suspect it will react the same way, the Match King is a pretty thin skinned critter.

That makes no sense. It’s not a hunting bullet. What it can do is give wholly inconsistent results (i.e. blow up on a bone, not penetrate, and waste an animal) on game because it’s not designed for game. A few anectdotal stories on a hunting forum will not change that. You want to rely on them instead of the facts? The maker says don’t use it on game because that’s not its purpose. Thus, the name.

There are dozens of great, accurate bullets designed for game.

If an in-accurate shooter shoots an accurate bullet & misses by an inch at 50yrds. How in-accurate is the accrate bullet off at 200yrds.
& is it better ta shoot an in-accurate bullet at longer distance for the acracy of the in-accurate shooter.
?

I'm sure your post is all about the proven performance you have seen with a 197 grain SMK.

150 Scirocco, bonded hunting bullet, G1 BC of .474, running about 3400 fps in a 28 Nosler
197 Sierra SMK BC of .780 running 3050 fps

Their is a HUGE difference in these 2 bullets when it comes to long range performance.

The data I am seeking is actual field performance on game with a 197 SMK.

That was already lost in translation on every post.

Load some, bring me your 7-300, and I'll go look for some hogs.

Look, here’s the straight skinny - you want to use a SMK for hunting (proven because you’ve already loaded up a bunch for that purpose), so you ask for anectdotal “evidence” about its performance on game. Which really will tell you next to nothing. But you’ll get a few that say they worked for them, and I’m sure you’ll consider them good to go.

The fact is it’s not a hunting bullet. It’s a match bullet. It’s not designed for use on game. The manufacturer itself goes so far as to say DO NOT use it for hunting - even though that’s directly against their pecuniary interest. Why? Because they understand the difference between a match bullet and a hunting bullet.

A few of you guys are “shooters” more than hunters - the proof in that is you’re constantly looking to fit square pegs into round holes trying to find ways to transfer your long range shooting stuff to the field of hunting. Some of it transfers and some of it doesn’t. This is just one of several examples that don’t - yet you are apparently unwilling to give up a mil or two of accuracy and are willing to throw the baby out with the bathwater by risking wounding or lost game. Hunting is about cleanly killing animals. Period. If you are trying to kill game NOTHING is worth risking a clean kill.

I almost never post on you guys’ long-range shooting threads. I dang sure don’t post a bunch of stuff I know little about, give seat-of-the-pants “advice”, and then double down on my wrongness because someone disagrees with me. I know what I don’t know and know when I am out of my depth. Others could learn that lesson sometimes.

But forget about me. Sierra dang sure knows more about its bullets than you do. In an attempt to be kind I did not say so in my initial post, but it’s really should be an unnecessary question. If the common-sense deduction that you don’t want to be shooting animals (with the possible exception of thin-skinned varmints) with frangible lead bullets is not something you can understand or accept, then at least you could heed the manufacturer’s advice.

Hornady always listed the A-Max as a target or match bullet. Those of us willing to experiment, learned they were excellent as a hunting bullet. Others took our word for it, and found it to be true as well.

Same story as the SMK. Just another example of playing with fire for no good reason. Which is simply not necessary at all with all the great bullets designed for hunting available today.

I use the Winchester 308 Match BTHPs for hunting. It became tough to find the hollow points with new names in advertising like "ballistic tip" and anything with a "V" "Z" or "X" in the name took over and HPs were hard to find. It didn't mean that they were no longer good hunting bullets, it only meant that everyone wanted the lastest-greatest cool sounding ammo.
With these BTHPs I have (or our guest) killed approx 200 hogs, and probably a 100 animals like gemsbok, oryx, red stag, axis, whitetails, fallow, black buck, sika, etc. My 308 is the go-to gun at our place when a guest doesn't bring their own gun, and they are never disappointed in the ammo.
To say all match ammo is not good for hunting, is simply not true. I have hundreds of examples to the contrary.

Chad,

The 180 gr ELD-M could be an option, to keep the weight and BC up. It reportedly beats the Berger in B.C.

.796 (G1)
.401 (G7)

Member Cody killed a cow elk with an ELD-M out of his 7mm-08. In the 28 Nosler the 180 gr will come out like a bat outta hell!

Might try longrangehunting.com I bet someone there is using it or has tired it.