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Nathan Foster

Many of you will have received the latest news letter from Sierra showing their latest TMK (plastic tipped Matchking) line. Upon observation it can be seen that the line up is already increasing and now boasts a 7mm 160gr (G1 average .600) bullet along with a nice 95gr .243 bullet (G1 average .480) that will hopefully go OK in 10 twist bores.

Recently I have been testing the 168gr .308 TMK on feral goats. This has been going well so far. I will keep testing this and other TMK bullets as the year progresses but so far, results are comparable to the A-Max as far as killing goes. All in all- very good results with extremely good BC's.

Note also that the TMK has a different ogive shape to the A-Max so if your rifle has proven a bit finicky with the A-Max A.K.A ELD, the TMK may be worth testing.

I also recently retested the latest Russian .223 hollow point ammunition. In the past, I have found this ammo to be very good in that the steel bullet (copper coated) tends to fold at the ogive, causing the bullet to tumble. The net result is a wide wound combined with relatively deep penetration as a result of high bullet weight retention. But this time around I found the ammo to be immensely cruel / slow killing. The first shot adrenalized the animal while consecutive shots failed to cause fast bleeding. Shot placement made no difference as far as shoulder bones versus ribs went.

As a future test, I will try to weaken the tips of the Russian ammo that I have here, then shoot dead animals to avoid any further risk of cruelty. For now, please be weary of any Russian steel jacket ammo (soft or HP). This batch shows just how easy it is to get the temper of a steel jacket wrong.