.308 Winchester target bullet recommendations

[nettlle]

There is some talk of the Sierra tipped match kings losing their tips. May be true. Maybe not. For me the jury on the Sierra tipped is still out before I try them.

 

[nettlle]

Good thing there are a lot of great bullets out there for 308. Makes 308 both a joy and confusing when picking a bullet. 168 Sierra Match Kings are pretty popular with the M1A crowd and shoot well for me. If I were to pick a 308 bullet and then work backwards it would be the 168 gr SMK.

 

[Nature Boy]

Well, to makes things more confusing Sierra now has the 169 MatchKing. Among other tweaks it has a redesigned boat tail for improved stability at longer ranges, which was a shortcoming of the venerable 168 SMK.

I bought 500 to try but haven’t gotten to it yet

 

[nettlle]

Would be interested in a range report. I have been looking at the 169 grn MK also. Not much load data on them (yet).

 

[jmr40]

I've gotten excellent results with 155 gr Scenar's.

 

[TonyAngel]

Don't discount a bullet just because it isn't marketed as a target bullet. For shooting out to 600, look for deals on 168s. I've had really good luck with Berger Hunting VLDs with both Varget and Reloader 15 powders.

 

[Charlie98]

I'm curious about the 169 SMK. You don't hear about them. It "seems" like the best of both between the 168 and 175 SMK's.

Never hear much about the Sierra Tipped Matchkings,

Not the same....

I have some of the SMK 169's loaded up... they are a 'closed tip' BTHP bullet, they are not the same as the 168grn Tipped MK's. In reality, the 169's are a BTHP bullet, but the tip is almost closed... but still offers a 'HP' profile. The 'tipped' SMK's have a plastic tip, which, as I understand, is quite fragile. I would guess they are intended for single-shot bolts, or something that doesn't beat the bullet tip up... like an M1a, etc.

The 169's are, essentially, equivalent to the 168grn SMK, but a wee bit longer, with a better BC. I emailed Sierra, because I couldn't find data for those bullets specifically... and they are longer than the 168grn SMK. I was told by Sierra to use the same load data as the 168grn SMK, but with a loading length of 2.82" vs a max COL for the 168grn SMK of 2.80"

 

[AJC1]

Not the same....

I have some of the SMK 169's loaded up... they are a 'closed tip' BTHP bullet, they are not the same as the 168grn Tipped MK's. In reality, the 169's are a BTHP bullet, but the tip is almost closed... but still offers a 'HP' profile. The 'tipped' SMK's have a plastic tip, which, as I understand, is quite fragile. I would guess they are intended for single-shot bolts, or something that doesn't beat the bullet tip up... like an M1a, etc.

The 169's are, essentially, equivalent to the 168grn SMK, but a wee bit longer, with a better BC. I emailed Sierra, because I couldn't find data for those bullets specifically... and they are longer than the 168grn SMK. I was told by Sierra to use the same load data as the 168grn SMK, but with a loading length of 2.82" vs a max COL for the 168grn SMK of 2.80"

So the 169 is a factory pointed bullet... I've avoided pointing because I didn't want to spend the high dollar bullets to get good at it.....

 

[Charlie98]

So the 169 is a factory pointed bullet... I've avoided pointing because I didn't want to spend the high dollar bullets to get good at it.....

Basically, yes... but Sierra calls it a 'closed tip' bullet... I'm guessing as opposed to a ballistic tip, etc. It isn't really closed, but it obviously contributes to a higher BC.

 

[Russ57]

FWIW I had read that the angle on the boattail was different. Gives it a .527 BC.

 

[DMW1116]

If budget is your primary concern you might like the Speer 168 grain match bullets. I use them in a load for 7.62 NATO brass with IMR 4064. The 175 SMK beats all the others I’ve tried, but that’s not many. The 168 grain Hornady Amax is my current compromise. It’s cheaper than the SMK, but shoots a tiny bit better than the Speer.

 

[zeke]

Never hear much about the Sierra Tipped Matchkings,

Were they a flop?

In a rifle that's accepts longer than max col, have very good experience with 168 TMK's. The ballistic coefficient is significantly better than the smk's and get better accuracy at 600 yds with them. In rifles restricting the max col to spec, the longer bullet eats up some powder space. Am not sure if the lost powder space offsets the better ballistic coefficient or not. Most of time am using 168 smk's,in bolts/semi's, but do not shoot beyond 600 yds where it is repeatedly said they start losing their stability. Before buying real expensive bullets, would invest in a Redding comp seating die. And making sure my rounds were concentric.