Anyone shooting the 7mm 180gr SMK? (what BC are you getting?)

[mcfred]

I saw this article here:

Sierra 7mm 180gr MatchKing ? Yet Another Great F-Open Bullet « Daily Bulletin

...and see that they are comparing the BC of these bullets to the different 180 bergers. Does anyone shoot these? What BC are you getting? I've been using them in a 7WSM and the drop seems to be significantly more than predicted by using the advertised BC, so I'm curious what others are seeing.

 

[Saito]

I'm interested to hear an answer as well, as I just picked up 300 of these bullets and plan on shooting them in a 7mmLRM. Supposedly that cartridge will push them at 3100+. The barrel I have is an 8.75 twist and I'm selling it because it's a 'tight bore' Obermeyer and my smith says he'll have to get reamer bushings for it. I really hope I can find an 8 twist barrel. I don't care much for the G1 numbers though and prefer to use the G7 if possible.

 

[coldboremiracle]

When I first got my 7SAUM, I messed with the 175 and 180 gr match kings, they were excellent. I ended up going with the 162Amax for economic reasons, and the fact that at 1600yds, my 162's were hitting a whole mil higher than the 180's. But since Hornady has decided to screw with that, I may be switching back over to the 180's. I love SMK's and always have, I only deviate from them because of that sweet Hornady discount!
BTW my barrel is a 24" Barltlein 8.5 twist, and I could get the 180's right about 3075 with H4831SC when I started to see pressure signs, might do a little better with something else.

 

[Wannashootit]

But since Hornady has decided to screw with that, I may be switching back over to the 180's. I love SMK's and always have, I only deviate from them because of that sweet Hornady discount!

We need to have a serious talk with them Hornady folk....
This is the boolit of choice for many 7mm shooters- including me! Guess I need to go with the heavier SMK's (with a much lower BC) when I use up my last 3 boxes

 

[coldboremiracle]

I agree, I can only hope they are making it better. That would be the only possible positive outcome. Its a kick ass bullet.

 

[mcfred]

So no one has tested these? I guess the BC for the 180 berger hybrid is pretty well established, so I could load up a few of those and test back-to-back with the 180smk at long range and work out a BC that way.

 

[mcfred]

By zeroing at 200 yards and measuring muzzle velocity and drop at 1000 yards, I'm getting a g7 bc of only 0.3??? Anyone else tried these?

 

[Bill Larson]

Call sierra.....

 

[TexasMade]

If it helps you, my 26" krieger 1 and 8 shoots the 180s great. At 2950fps, its 5.5 mils to 900. Im not sure on calculating the bc. But with .660 plugged into my phone its working really well

 

[mcfred]

So I called Sierra and they just told me "it's not a low drag bullet" and that I can expect a different "flight pattern" from any bullet from one barrel to another despite their published .66 G1 BC. They didn't give me a range, fudgefactor or any information as to what would affect BC from one barrel to another. I feel like they told me "it's your problem, not ours." 10% deviation from nominal is not insubstantial. If there's that much difference then why bother publishing a BC let alone a BC with 3 decimal places?

I got 20lbs of steel ready for plumbing to call bullshit on their published .66 G1 BC in any barrel/cartridge/rifle.

I'm building a couple different 7mm rifles right now for friends. So between my buddy's 7mm F-class gun which has 3 barrels plumbed for, his 7mm tac rifle, my 7mm tac rifle, my 'short range' 7mm tac rifle barrel, and 2 more 7mm-08's all shot over my Öhler 35P at my 1250 yard steel target in the back yard I'll gather more evidence that refutes their bogus BC in any barrel/cartridge/rifle.

Given that a bullet's BC is so critical past 800 yards Sierra's misrepresentation of their BC's tantamount to false advertising and bad marketing.

I'm not real pleased with Sierra right now despite how well their bullets group at 200yards.

 

[jbailey]

Why even screw around with this? The 180gr Berger Hybrid is awesome bullet, better than the 180gr SMK. Just go with the Bergers and save the dime somewhere else (eat to Mickey D's one night a week instead of Ruth Chris').

I started to load the 180gr SMK and realized the ogive profile was way to fat for my chamber (which was cut for the 180gr Hybrids). I sold the SMKs and have gone to the Hybrids now. Very happy with the results.

I did speak to an F-class guy that uses the SMKs and he was getting good results with the 0.66 G1 BC from Sierra, for what its worth.