Good ballistics more tuning on your part - Sierra Bullets .30 Caliber 168 Grain Tipped MatchKing 500 Rifle Bullets

Excellent ballistic coefficient for a relatively inexpensive 168 gr bullet. Different geometry, and a tip, give it better flight characteristics but makes it’s internal ballistics vary significantly from its hollowpoint boat tail counterpart most people are familiar with. I was used to loading with the very standard Sierra Matchking 168 hollowpoint boat tail bullets. I did not get my best accuracy from the tipped version until I measured the throat depth and came very close (.010”) from touching the bullet to the rifling. This made the cartridge too long to fit the magazine of my rifle. This isn’t a problem for me but maybe for some. My rifle is a factory Remington 700 and is known for having a really long throat; your mileage may vary. This, along with a longer bearing surface, increases internal pressure so my standard 168 gr load I had worked up was on the fence in terms of pressure with this new bullet so I had to reduce powder charge slightly to keep myself from having pressure issues as the barrel heated up, even with “temp stable” powder. This required ladder testing and took a weekend to really dial in for my rifle. My point, in making this short story so long, is that it was more than just changing bullets even though they are both 168 grain Sierra Matchking’s. It does different things inside the gun. Overall I like shooting this bullet and it does a better job at long ranges. If you intend to shoot 500 yds/m and under I think this may not be beneficial enough to outweigh the caveats of bullet seating depth vs magazine length. If you want to stretch the legs of a 30 caliber cartridge and your twist rate doesn’t allow for the really heavy bullets and you don’t want to go broke buying super fancy bullets then this may just very well be your ticket. This is not a hunting bullet and is not constructed to penetrate bone and muscle. It is made to put holes in paper and ring a steel plate. I wouldn’t use this on deer or other like sized game.