Sierra Match King .224

[SixPointEight]

What's the deal with people and their love for the SMK bullets? I've been doing a lot of reading and making a list of bullets to try for when I get my Savage 10fp. I did some ballistic calculations and checked the BC of a bunch of bullets, and the SMK bullets consistently have a lower BC than almost any other bullet in the same weight class as them. The Nosler, Hornady and especially Berger bullets, have way better BC. They should buck the wind and hold velocity way better than the SMKs. So what's the deal?

[freonr22]

on the 55 gr, .224 my friend had much better luck w/ the sierra's over the hornady's. I am a hornady fan in general, but for his rifle, it worked much better after working loads w/ varget

[phish]

Sierras have the well earned reputation for just flat out working more often than naught. Hornady A-maxes still suffer a bad wrap for blowing up when loaded hot, Bergers are more expensive, Noslers, erm...can't remember the last time a national title or record was broken using them.

[SixPointEight]

Anything will blow up if overloaded. I meant if theyre good, theyre good. But either way they won't go as far for a given velocity. And they are blown more off by the wind than other bullets of similar weight.

[phish]

What's the deal with people and their love for the SMK bullets? So what's the deal?

relative cost and reputation, not everyone wants to pay substantially more for Berger, JLK, or Lapua

And they are blown more off by the wind than other bullets of similar weight.

Berger or JLK would be the solution then

[SixPointEight]

So I'm gathering that SMK are like lee reloading stuff. Budget stuff that just works. Not the best, but for the money they're good?

With that said, I'm not that cheap, and the prices I'm seeing aren't that much cheaper. I'll spring for the nicer bullets. Or even hornady's

[EL_NinO619]

So I'm gathering that SMK are like lee reloading stuff. Budget stuff that just works. Not the best, but for the money they're good?

With that said, I'm not that cheap, and the prices I'm seeing aren't that much cheaper. I'll spring for the nicer bullets. Or even hornady's

Sierra is for sure not budget products. They are top of the line, just that they are a few bucks cheaper. Sierra has more titles then anyone, they just work and shot great. I use them in .308, have used every other bullet and sierra wins hands down. You don't always need the top BC for accuracy, you want consistency.

[SixPointEight]

BC has little to nothing to do with accuracy. Only bullet drop and wind drift really. Until you get to the point that BC causes the velocity to drop under the speed of sound, then accuracy goes to hell.

[EL_NinO619]

Well you sound like you have something against SMK, so don't buy them. There are plenty of good bullet's on the market. Find what suits your needs and send them down range..

[SixPointEight]

Well you sound like you have something against SMK, so don't buy them. There are plenty of good bullet's on the market. Find what suits your needs and send them down range..

I don't have anything against them per se, I feel that at least the .224 bullets are over-rated. Perhaps their noteworthy-ness came from their .308 bullets, or perhaps other bullets are so inconsistent that they can't be shot accurately, even if they will travel further.

I'll just say, the one box of smk that I bought, didn't look all that consistent. Though we measured to the meplat not the ogive, and the hollow tips were all kinds of crazy shapes, but mostly not round or even.

[EL_NinO619]

I hear you. Have not really tried the .224, just .308. But the hollow point is not really a big deal, its just there because of the way they jacket the bullet.

[1lostinspace]

I load the following bullets for .224

60Vmax 75grJHP from Hndy
69gr JHP and 77SMK from Sierra

The Sierra rounds are better uniformed weight is always dead on and the accuracy is far better then any other bullets I have used! As far as the BC maybe they are telling you the truth and other companies are upping their numbers.

Here are my loads
.223
69 gr SMK 24 gr Varget 400 CCI (got a good deal on them) Winchester brass
2.35" COL

24 gr TAC 77gr 400CCI primer COL 2.28

[SixPointEight]

Here's what I've come up with, to the best I can know. It's a combination of things.

#1 bullets are very consistent in weight and shape. While it's not the most aerodynamic shape, it's much easier to produce the tangent ogive that sierra uses vs the secant ogive used on most other match bullets. The ogive is determining the BC of these bullets.

#2 Because of their shape, they "jump to the land" more readily. They are more likely to catch the lands straight on instead of slightly off center, this is really only a factor if you don't seat you bullets to the lands of your rifle.

#3 the "it worked for this really well known guy, so it much be good" factor. Person A sees person B win a long range match using sierras. Not wanting to put time into good load development, he steals the bullets. They perform enough to make person A happy, person A conjectures that since this bullet works good for me and it worked good for person B, it must be really good. And so person A goes to the interwebs to spread the word of the good bullet.


What I've come up with overall, is that I should just try out any and all of the well known match bullets, that fit the weight range for my rifle, and see what does and does not shoot.