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

I've been given some boxes of SMK HPBT .308 bullets. All have the stock number 2155 but some are described just as 'Match' while others are described as 'Palma Match'. They look identical; are they?

The Palma Match will be 155 grn Stock Number 2156, the others are just plain Match not sure what the difference is as the data on the Sierra web site is the same.

Watcher wrote:I've been given some boxes of SMK HPBT .308 bullets. All have the stock number 2155 but some are described just as 'Match' while others are described as 'Palma Match'. They look identical; are they?

if they are labled 2155 then they are the same despite the "palma" markings, I got caught like that thinking they were the newer style which are 2156.

hth
Alan

The #2156 is immediately recognisable as it has a very pointed meplat versus the more rounded and blunter earlier version

Watcher wrote:I've been given some boxes of SMK HPBT .308 bullets. All have the stock number 2155 but some are described just as 'Match' while others are described as 'Palma Match'. They look identical; are they?

The 'old' 2155 used to be described as Palma match. The 'new' 2156 is often referred-to as 'new Palma', so the 'Palma' designation is not sufficient to distinguish them. Stand them next to each other and there is a clear difference (about 0.100" in length). From accurateshooter.com: 'The old 2155 is 1.119" long while the new 2156 is 1.219" long'.



However it is much harder to distinguish the 2156 from the 168 or 175 grain Match Kings, so make sure you are comparing 155 grain with 155 grain:

Sierra 175 gr. MatchKing (left), 168 gr. MatchKing (center), new Sierra 155 gr. Match Palma (#2156) bullet (right):



..

Thanks chaps,

They are all the same length and all numbered as 2155 so I think they will be the same. My pal was clearing out old stuff so its possible that they changed the name over time.

W

They are definitely different, I developed a load last year using S2156's which ran very well in my .308, half way through the year I began to wonder why my groups had gone to sh!t, turns out I had ordered S2155's when I re-stocked half way through the year D'oh!

On the original question, rox's answer is spot on. The only thing that I would add is that both the 2155 and the 2156 are excellent bullets that will give good groups at all ranges from 300 to 1000 yards when loaded suitably and shot in a decent rifle.

Gaz

Thanks Gaz