The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Sim G wrote:300m was the “standard” for a long time. Standing, kneeling and prone. It was dropped from the Olympics in the early 70s and the discipline has been in decline because of the unavailability or suitable ranges. The Sierra 168gn Matchking I’m sure was created for this competition.

You're correct Sim. The 168 SMK was originally called the '168gn International' and was I believe Sierra's first HPBT match model. It was introduced specifically for 300M competition at a time when western countries and their national shooting bodies were moving across from the previous heterogeneous collection of 6.5-8mm military cartridges to adopting the 308 Win as the standard paper punching round. This must have been late 50s or more likely early 60s I reckon.

I remember reading a quote from a Sierra guy some years back confirming the 300M association and (quite rightly) saying that for a bullet designed specifically for this distance its performance at out to 600, or a bit more, was an unexpected bonus and a tribute to the soundness of its design. At that time, the vast US military apparatus and its many shooting teams didn't expect or intend to adopt any commercial match bullets as it made its own Frankford Arsenal match version of the 173gn M1 heavy ball bullet of the 1920s, but the 168 performed so well in 30-06 and 308 in XTC service rifle competitions out to the make or break 20-round 600 yard stage that National Guard and national teams were soon rebulleting armoury ammunition with it and Federal adopted it for its multi-role law enforcement / target shooting 308 premium cartridge still with us today as the FGMM.