Sierra 120 Tipped Gameking

[LRRPF52]

Settled on
26.8 gr of TAC
BR CCI SR
OAL- 2.255

Took this small eight point. I was not feeling well and was short on time so I did not have time to investigate the results in detail during field dressing. Shot was 75 yards broadside placed for a double lung. Deer went less than 75 yards before dropping. I was a little worried because he didn’t act like he was hit. The chest cavity was full of blood. On the entrance side there was bullet hole in the lung without a lot of damage. Almost like a perfect puncture about the size of a bullet. Didn’t see any evidence of fragmenting. Maybe I am not getting enough velocity out of the 12.5 SBR. Will do some more testing when I am feeling better and have some more time to hunt. Starting to get a little worried though.

For a 12.5” barrel, I think I might lean on the 129gr ABLR, one of the lighter Maker TREX bullets, or Cavity Back 105gr MKZ.

You could also try CFE223 under the 120gr TGK.

Looking at my load data for TAC under the 120gr SMK from a 16” AA/ER Shaw barrel over 10 years ago, I was getting an average of 2470fps with 28.8gr of TAC in Lapua brass with Rem 7.5 Primer.

28.3gr 2404fps
28.6gr 2456
28.8gr 2470

Running that through an internal ballistics engine calibrated for 6.5 Grendel on Shooter’s Notes website, I get the following from a 12.5” barrel:

28.3gr 2304fps
28.6gr 2326
28.8gr 2341

This is assuming the start pressure characteristics are the same between the 120gr SMK and 120gr TMK, which they likely are not due to a thinner jacket in the 120gr TMK.

With CFE223, I would work up from 29.0gr to 31.4gr. That might get you over 2350fps, which is in the weeds compared to TAC.