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Hi Jack. 3 months ago I was trying to figure out how the average person is supposed to deal with Sierra’s published BC specs. The BC changes with the velocity. I also looked at the Hornady program. This is all described in a post entitled “Hornady ‘4DOFF’” under the “Precision long range hunting and shooting” section. I agree with your theory that a 150 grain bullet out of a 30-06 a deadly combination, due to the MV that is possible. However, I’m convinced that a heavier bullet, at a slightly sl..

Jack, As Nathan says, a 150 grain bullet out of a 30-06 is ideal for lighter medium game. However, I have seen them run out of steam past 400 yards. It’s difficult to figure out from Sierra’s published specs what their bullets will be doing at distance. However, they have a Windows program available with their bullets’ specs pre-populated. Might be worth it to decide where to start: https://www.sierrabullets.com/products/other-products/software/

Jack, the TMK 308 is available in 195, 175, 168, and 155 grain weights. Wouldn’t it make sense to start at the top and work down? In other words, if you can get the 195 to shoot well in your rifle, why not have the extra insurance of more mass on quartering shots? According to Nathan’s book, the jackets on the MatchKing and GameKing were the same. But it was published before the TGK was introduced. Now Sierra have the 165 and 180 TGK options. Their website says, “Optimal jacket wall thickness co..

Thanks Nathan and Scott, I hadn't listened to the webinar, but ive gotten onto it and I've just finished listening to the now, which was really good! So my take away from that was to be wary with game sizes, but to do some experimentation and adjust from there. I'm out at sea at the moment and don't have my books with me, but I've just been going over the body weights to projectile sizes in the 30-06 profile on the website. Nathan when you say to treat the 155gr tmk as a typical 150gr bullet, wo..

Hi Jack. Good question. Did you see the brief discussion of the 175 gr. TMK a month ago? I remember, either somewhere on here or maybe in one of his weekend podcasts, Nathan said Sierra know their match bullets are good for long range hunting. But they refuse to market them as hunting bullets, because people would complain to them about bullet blow-up when attempting close-in shots. Seems like maybe you should consider dual-loading a tougher bullet for use in the woods, or when hiking in.

That sounds like a very promising load for red deer. It will quite possibly cause a bit of a mess with close range hits in the shoulder bone, but good in most other ways. The less dramatic meat destruction at close range is one benefit of the slightly heavier bullets at less velocity (I have used the 208 eld-m @ 2500 a bit, and it is not really bad). But the 175 has a slightly better PBR, like you say. So it depends a lot on personal preference and whether your emphasis is more towards meat savi..

Good info, guys. Thanks.

I'm no insider Paul, so my observations are limited. I would think a prime wild red stag would be unlikely to exceed 400/450lbs, with the average being smaller. Hinds, as in all deer species, significantly smaller than stags. Our Kiwi friends may be able to offer something more accurate. As regards using the 195 TMK on large (whatever we regard as "large") animals, I think we need to keep in mind the old saying "horses for courses". If I was pursuing 600/750lb moose, I would probably use a parti..

Edit to the above: 250# for calves, 400# for cows

Update. Pleasantly surprised that this rifle is NOT slow. 175 TMK, 42.4g of H4895/2206H, 2650ish fps. from 24" bbl. A little slower and a little more weight than my 168 TLK load. A whisker under .3 MOA for three. I need to run a string for ES, but this will give a comfortable PBR of 300yds. Zero to be close to 3" high at 100 yards and set O stop at 300 yards. Nice and simple. Curiosity pulls me toward the 195 TMKs but this close to the roar I'm not starting the process again.

Hi Iain, I suggest that you give this a run for a while to see if it suits you. Those of us who started with the Lee Enfield were happy with the muzzle velocity of 2400fps, no complaints whatsoever and with a steeper trajectory than your proposed load. Nevertheless, you will still need to run it for a while to see if the basic trajectory (without or prior to dialing) suits your hunting methods (does not slow you down / cause errors). In my rifle, running Winchester brass and a Federal 210 primer..

HI Ricardo I managed to pick up a spare 30.06 barrel for my tikka (currently 270) my plan is to when I eventually use it is to run 175grain tmk from what I can workout the step up in bc vs velocity is worth it and hopefully touch of extra weight will help with the 30.06 extra velocity over 308. I can't say for sure that's the best combo as I haven't tested it yet. But thought I would share as it would be used in same situation. General hack from bush stalking to cross valley shots on upto red de..