I’m Excited
RANGE time for me is a
precious commodity. While I
live 15 minutes from the
largest rifle range in the
Southern Hemisphere, I get
very limited time to shoot for
more than 15-20 minutes to
carry out load development,
and that was the case with a
new bullet I elected to use for
an invitational 300 metre
“Sniper” Match to cater for
NSW Federation of Hunting
Club members.
I had spoken to Jim at OSA
about trialling the new 125gn
Tipped Match King in my M
.308 in match conditions at my
range, but needed to get some
loads made up.
My 20 minute load
development session
consisted if shooting six loads
progressing in half grain
increments from ADI
recommended minimum up
to maximum charges. I seated
the bullets out to 2.870-inch
OAL (over 100-thou' off the
lands (.30-06 length
magazine) and shot the test in
the style of Dan Newberry's
Optimal Charge Weight(OCW) method – Google it -
and all it did was confuse me.
Two of the 3-shot groups
(maximum and minimum)
printed one hole groups and all
the ones in the middle were
around or slightly over MoA at
100 metres. Significantly, the
MPIs of the groups moved for
windage and elevation with
every increase in charge and
velocity uniformly climbed in
an arithmetic progression for
all shots to top out at 3104fps- on a graph it indicated I
still had potential to go higher.
The accuracy gap in the middle
vexed me, so I had to pluck
a charge.
I brought my 18 spent cases
home, annealed the necks
with a candle and loaded them
again, knocking 11-thou' off
the OAL and point-one of a
grain off the charge (dunno
why – just a feeling in my
water) and took 28 loaded
rounds to a 400 metre sniper
match and won my class with
11 of my 20 counting shots
hitting the 6-inch bull,
exposed in different places for
four seconds each time;
resulting score was 91/100.
In a strong consistent 15 mph
wind I had 3.5MoA wind
allowance – same as guys
using 155 Berger target bullets
in other .308s.
The guys who won the
top class (varmint/target)
garnered 93 with a shared
highly accurate 6.
Creedmoor chassis rifle
shooting 142gn Sierra Match
Kings for 2 MoA of wind.
Now here's the kicker. My
shots which missed the bull
all went to 10 o'clock and were
only out a smidge – the lighter
bullet's recoil meant I could
follow through really easily
and I was actually able to see
the reticle jump to 10 o'clock
on discharge. The overall
group in my second 10-round
stage was well into sub-MoA
territory, but my natural point
of aim was slightly awry – not
next time Mr Creedmoor.
Interestingly, the 125-grainers
are meant for use in the.
Blackout, so driving these neat
flat-based long-secant-ogived
bullets so hard, under such
challenging conditions was
going to be a lottery.
Now Sierra does not
recommend using Match
Kings for hunting, but I don't
reckon it would hurt to use
these new lightweight TMKs
to smoke rabbits, foxes and
dogs a way out there with your
.308 or .30-06. Kiwis have
been hunting with some of the
new TMKs recently and
reporting good expansion
results on smaller deer, but I'd
be a bit leery myself.
I gave these awesome bullets
less than half a chance and
they ate up the challenge and
spat it out. Thankyou Sierra.8 | SPORTING SHOOTER _ MAY 2018
ON THIS PAGE
Sierra’s new
Tipped Match
Kings perform
well in initial
tests.
OPENING
SHOT A FEW WORDS FROM THE EDITORMARCUS O’DEAN
EditorThe 125gn Sierra Tipped Match
King bullet is an awesome
mid-range target performer.
Background shows the rat t y old
sporterised Eddystone M
which shot them so well.