It’s powerful to get a hunter to attempt new ammo. Like vehicles and camo, model loyalties run robust–and I’m no totally different. For a very long time, I’ve been a fan of the Precision Hunter ammo. It’s all the time carried out properly for me, and the final deer I shot took one spherical from my 6.5 Creedmoor and dropped in its tracks at 422 yards. So, I’ve caught with it for the final six or seven years and have been pleased up to now. However this yr, I’m going to combine it up and check out one thing new.
Background
For a while now, MeatEater and SIG Sauer have been working collectively to develop a brand new line of premium looking ammunition. However we didn’t simply slap a brand new emblem on one thing already in manufacturing. This ammo went via tons of improvement, suggestions, and testing earlier than it hit the cabinets.
In reality, the lineage of this ammunition will be traced again even additional. In 2020, SIG was chosen by the U.S. Military to provide cartridges for the navy’s Enhanced Sniper Rifle weapons system. This was no small feat for the reason that navy had very demanding efficiency benchmarks that the rounds needed to meet.
A kind of benchmarks was extraordinarily constant velocity, which is measured utilizing a metric referred to as “commonplace deviation.” Customary deviation (SD) refers back to the consistency in a bullet’s velocity from one shot to the subsequent. Whereas most looking ammo I’ve shot has an SD between 15 and 30 feet-per-second (fps), handloaders chase single-digit numbers, with a sub-10 fps being superb. So it’s an enormous deal for a manufacturing unit spherical to carry a single-digit SD, and that’s precisely what these sniper rounds needed to ship.
Which brings us to 2024 and the brand new SIG Platinum Hunter ammunition. This ammo relies on the know-how developed for that military spherical, so it’s held to exceptionally excessive efficiency requirements.
(SIG MK248 MOD1 cartridges. Picture Credit score: SIG SAUER)
The Ammo
The Sig Platinum Hunter ammunition will initially be accessible in six go-to looking cartridges: 243 Win, 270 Win, 300 Win Magazine, 30-06, 6.5 Creedmoor, and the great ol’ 308 Win. Every spherical is loaded with the legendary Nosler Accubond bullet, famend for its uniform growth and strong efficiency on sport, each huge and small. Circumstances are nickel-plated for corrosion resistance and smoother motion biking. There’s additionally waterproofing between the bullet and the case, which is one thing not many different looking cartridges provide.
All that to say–these items is constructed for looking within the harshest circumstances on the market.
(Taking pictures the SIG Platinum Hunter 300 Win Magazine.)
Efficiency
We predict that is wonderful looking ammunition–we wouldn’t put our emblem on it in any other case. However I personally don’t take ammunition into the sector until I’ve examined it totally, which is why I’ve been capturing the 300 Win Magazine providing for the previous few months.
To get straight to the purpose, the Platinum Hunter ammo works as marketed. In vary periods capturing over a Garmin chronograph, I’ve achieved single digit SD’s with my SIG Sawtooth delivering a 3 fps SD. The opposite two rifles I’ve shot it with have carried out equally and produced SD’s within the 3-5 fps vary.
Velocities had been additionally on par for the 300 Win Magazine with a mean of 2982 fps out of a 24-inch Proof barrel.
(Gathering velocity information on prototype 300 Win Magazine ammo, Could, 2024.)
Accuracy can rely rather a lot on the rifle and the particular person pulling the set off, however this ammo has carried out properly in that class. The Sawtooth delivers .5 MOA teams like clockwork. My different 300 Win Magazine rifle didn’t look after the 180-grain bullets (it normally likes the 200+ grain projectiles), however nonetheless delivered accuracy round 1-1.5” and constant velocities.
Conclusion
SIG’s new Platinum Hunter ammo delivers the whole lot you could possibly ask for in a premium looking spherical: rock-solid efficiency, wonderful accuracy and pace, and a bullet with a confirmed monitor report. It additionally doesn’t break the financial institution. The fee for many calibers is barely $59.99 a field, with the 300 Win Magazine coming in at $74.99 per field.
Click on right here to examine some out for your self. You’ll be glad you probably did.
