Sierra MatchKing bullets have been setting the accuracy standard for handloaders since the Truman administration.
There is a faction who have favored these target bullets for hunting. I know one experienced hunter who has used them in Africa and on critters as large as brown bears here in North America, and he claims good results.
Still, I never agreed with using target bullets for hunting, and most bullet makers do not recommend this practice. They can work, but they were not designed for that use. Why risk it when there are bullets engineered for hunting available?
Sierra recently addressed this quandary by redesigning the MatchKing bullet with a softer lead core, tapered jacket and a skived nose to help it expand. They call the bullet the MatchKing X (MKX). I assume the X is for eXpansion, and it is recommended for hunting as well as targets.
The concept is to include the legendary accuracy of the MatchKing in a bullet engineered for hunting. The bullet will retain the high ballistic coefficient of the MatchKing with its tangent ogive and boattail.
I talked with Colby Adamek, the marketing manager at Sierra, about this and he told me that the MKX might well be the ultimate long-range hunting bullet. The velocity impact window for expansion is very low, 1500 fps officially, and perhaps even lower in reality. He said that this is the “softest” bullet they make, meaning the bullet that expands the easiest of any in their product line. So, it’s like a grenade at close range, turning the boiler room of any deer into a major malfunction, while still able to expand with a long-range impact. It’s probably not the best bullet for elk or other large critters, and it’s certainly not for dangerous game. It is, however, very well suited for deer and the like, particularly for those hunters who like to stretch out their shots.
While there are whispers of rumors that factory ammo is in the works, for now this is a handloader-only product. The MKX is currently available in several bullet diameters and weights. I tested it in three of my favorite “accuracy” cartridges, the 6.5 Creedmoor (this one is required to be included by gun writer union decree), the .308 Win., and the .300 Win. Mag. I didn’t do any load development; I simply picked a load that has worked well for me with other bullets. I used new brass and Federal Match primers. I set the overall length to SAAMI specs and tested the ammo in guns that are practical for hunting rather than in precision rifles.
I loaded the 6.5 Creedmoor with the 142-grain MKX with 41.0 grains of H4350 propellent. The .308 used the 175-grain MKX bullet and 43.0 grains of Varget. For the big .300 Winny, I used a 200-grain MKX with 73.0 grains of IMR7828ssc.
I couldn’t resist first trying the .300 in an ultra-accurate, precision rifle that I built. (This is the Magnum Opus rifle from my book Gunsmithing Modern Firearms.) For the record, I do in fact use this 15-pound rifle for hunting. It’s my go-to for watching over potential long-range shots, like power lines or big clear-cuts. Providing, of course, it’s a very short walk to the stand.
The load proved to be a bit spicy in the tight, match chamber of this rifle. While the first three shots produced a .5-inch group, the cases stuck in the gun. So, I switched to the rifle I planned to use anyway, a ’90s era Winchester Laredo rifle that I tuned up for long-range hunting.
Remember I did zero load development, just picked one and ran with it for all three cartridges. While the accuracy is excellent for all of them, I believe that with some tweaking it could be even better. Of course, it’s a Sierra bullet, so it is supposed to be accurate.
How do these bullets perform on game? It seems that shooting deer in mid-July riles up the game wardens. So, instead, I shot the 6.5 Creedmoor into some Clear Ballistics 10 percent ballistic gel. This synthetic gel is a great tool to test bullets. It’s much easier to use than traditional ballistic gelatin and because it’s reusable the cost is reasonable.
Impact velocity was 2500 fps, which duplicates a 100-yard shot from most 6.5 Creedmoor hunting rifles. Average penetration was 17 inches. The average retained weight was 79.55 grains or 56 percent. The bullets expanded to an average of .498 inch.
I am thinking this bullet would be a great selection for deer hunting this fall, no matter what the distance you are shooting.
Sierra MatchKing X Bullets
- sierrabullets.com
- Bullet Type: cup-and-core
- Point: hollow point
- Base: boattail
- Core: lead
- Jacket: tapered and skived gilding metal
- Coatings: none
- Calibers/Weights Available: 6mm, 105-gr.; 6.5mm, 142-gr. (tested); .270 cal., 135-gr.; 7mm, 175-gr.; .30 cal., 175-gr. (tested); .30 cal., 200-gr. (tested)
- Ballistic Coefficient: .477 (6mm, 105-gr.); .595 (6.5mm, 142-gr.); .505 (.270 cal., 135-gr.); .597 (7mm, 175-gr.); .505 (.30 cal., 175-gr.); .553 (.30 cal., 200-gr.)
- Uses: medium-sized game
- MSRP: $50.99-$63.99/per 100-rnd. box
