[Johnny Guest]

When working up elk loads for Elder Son's .300 WinMag a few years back, we made a couple of calls to the Sierra technical assistance 800- number, and we'd pretty well settled on the 180 SBT GameKing. I was contemplating use of the same bullet in my .30-06, to take along as a spare rifle. I mentioned to the technician that I'd been well impressed with the 165 GKs on deer. He strongly suggested that I use the same load on elk, and not go to the 180. Said that the 180 is a strongly constructed bullet, and, especially at longer ranges, would not perform nearly as well at '06 velocities as the 165.

He went on to make clear he was speaking of the 165 GameKing, and NOT the 168. I told him I'd read the same suggestions elsewhere. He said they had done further testing, after initial poor results, and made clear: Typically, the match bullet striking a game animal simply collapses the front end with little true expansion, the bullet turns and breaks in two. Loads with the 168 MK are well-thought-of by military and police marksmen, because of the pin-point accuracy capability at any range. But, clearly, for antipersonnel use, uniform expansion and penetration are secondary considerations.

Respect for a game animal demands that we make an effort to ensure instant kills whenever possible. I strongly urge you to use a good game bullet for sporting use.

bernie - - In re-reading your topic-opener post, I see you don't mention the cartridge in which you intend to load the bullet. Most of what I've written about the '06 would apply to the .308 as well.

Best of luck,
Johnny