Sig Sauer has been branching out of their typical role as a firearms manufacturer and is now producing various other products including sport optics and ammunition. I snagged up a few boxes of their Match Grade 300 Win mag ammunition for part of my review of the Christensen Arms Long Range Mesa.
The ammunition comes loaded with 190 grain Sierra Match King bullets at a claimed muzzle velocity of 2850 fps. Before shooting any of the ammo I measured an entire box for the base to ogive length using a Hornady bullet comparator and some RCBS calipers. The results of these measurements can be seen in Table 1. The loaded rounds were very consistent with a total variation of only 0.003”
Cartridge base to ogive measurements
I got a Vortex Viper PST2 mounted on the Mesa LR, grabbed some of the Sig ammo and headed off to the range to get the rifle zeroed. At the range I did a quick bore site and sent the first round down range. I observed the impact and made a correction in the scope before sending 3 more rounds down range in quick succession and was rewarded with a nice 0.6 MOA group. This group was only rounds 9-11 down the barrel (See Broz’s video for the first 7) and showed serious promise for both the rifle and the ammunition.
First 3 round group with the Sig Ammo at 100 yards
After the 3 shot group, I made an additional correction in the scope and proceeded to fire a 5 shot group. Figure 2 shows the results. 4 of the 5 shots fell within 0.34 MOA and all shots went into 0.94 MOA. To say I was impressed with the combination of the factory rifle and ammunition would be an understatement.
Five round group at 100 yards with Sig Match Grade Ammunition
Before shooting the ammunition at distance, I shot 5 rounds through a Magnetospeed and found the average velocity to be 2872 fps with an ES of 36 and an SD of 13.8. This lines up well with the advertised velocity of 2850 fps on the box. To further investigate the ammunition I broke down an entire box and weighed all the powder charges. The results can be seen in Table 2.
Powder charges from a full box of shells
To finish the review I sent a few rounds down range at 600, 800, 1000, and 1300 yard targets. Hits out to 800 were easy and predictable as long as I watched the wind. The day I shot at 1000 and 1300 I struggled mightily to stay on target, but I also struggled with other rifles that are proven at those distances, so I chalked it up to some tricky winds and a bad shooting day on my part.
Overall the Sig Match Grade ammunition delivered sub MOA accuracy in a factory Mesa LR and had multiple groups under 0.75 MOA. It performed well for me out to 800 yards and I have no doubt that if I had a few more boxes I could have proven its effectiveness at longer ranges as well.
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