Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles The Speer 145gr .284 BT

Anybody use this bullet nowadays on big game? I had about half a box from the 1980's on my shelf and found my 20" 7mm-08 really likes them over 47gr of H4350. I'm likely going to order a few more boxes and give them a go on deer and hogs. Considering the MV is likely 2,700fps or so (I'm loading them just into the lands), I'd imagine it won't be too much strain on a medium-weight cup/core. It's just not a bullet I hear folks speak of these days.....

I use a lot of Hotcors in 30 cal and 270 Win. They are good killers on pigs and goats.

I use the 130 in the 270 and MV is about 3050fps. I have never experienced anything other than good solid performance. In the 308 MV is around 2700fps using 150s and they work well too.

I think your 7mm version at 145g doing 2700fps will be a great general purpose deer/pig bullet.

I have shot them in a 280 Ackley over 3000 and killed 5-6 mule deer, shot at various distances and presentations. I haven't caught one yet. They seem to be a good bullet for the money.

I loaded some up in my 7mm08 over Varget and they shot 6 into a ragged hole,and my daughter killed a nice 3x3 with them last year@ 85 yds and they left a pretty big exit hole ,I normally use Accubonds and BTips but had these left over from another project,they will work fine....!

I figured they would likely be "soft" like a Gameking, but all I ever hear about are the Hot-Cor versions, which are supposedly a bit tougher. At 7mm-08 speeds they should work, it's just rare that you hear about anybody hunting this bullet these days.

bobknob17,

The Speer boattails aren't Hot-Cors. Instead they're swaged, with softer-alloy lead cores.

That said, they work if not pushed too fast.

My .280 shoots them into 1 m.o.a @100 yards with a 2900 f.p.s velocity. I have not fired them into any animal though.

From my 280, I have killed a heap of deer from all angles with the flat base 145 hot-core model, They are well performing and very deadly at 2900 fps. Groups with the hot-core model are a wiggle bigger than the BT model. The flat base shared the exact point of impact with the 160 spitz load that I had concocted. A very nice find having two loads with different intents to shoot like that.

I would not hesitate putting the 7mm 145 speer BT into anything in the deer/'lope size range, just have not done it yet.

I,m shooting them in my 280 and getting very good groups with RL19. Shot a large whitetail at 210yds this last season and had a complete pass-thru. I shot a 400yd target from a bench last week aiming for the bullseye. The bullet hit the horizontal line 7" to the left of bullseye. If I would have compensated for the crosswind, I very well may have hit the 1" bullseye. I am very happy with them and am going to stick with them for all of my hunting in Kansas.
AB

Hmm dead right, I came back later and realised I had dropped a bollock with my misread of the original post. I was hoping no one would pick up on it!

Must admit I have not shot the BT version. So like so many of my posts, disregard entirely!

I also used this bullet back in the early 90's, in a 7mm Rem Mag. Didn't have a chrony back then, but was pushing them as fast as I could. I don't recall ever keeping one in a deer and shot quite a few with that combo.

I bet they will act like a premium bullet out of your 7mm-08.

Good deal. Most medium-weight cup/core bullets at 2,700-ish seem to work nicely on deer. I'll have to get a few boxes of recent production and see if they still want to shoot in this little rifle. It's a lightweight little carbine I put together to drag around and will likey get shot quite a bit, so cheap bullets are certainly a plus.....

There is a good chance your rifle may like hotcors as well as the speer boat tails? I had a Speer 160 BT disintegrate completely in a mule deer. But, it was from a 7mm mag and it was up close.

The 145 hotcor is a stick together bullet, The 7 mag barel I uded to have liked'em.

I was pondering getting a mix of Hot-Cors and BT's, as I've never run either one. $55 will buy a 100ct box of each, which isn't too shabby. The 145 HC certainly has a good reputation around here.

I was going to try the 120BT in this rifle, but it just doesn't seem to like that bullet, even with three different powders and several different OAL's. Additionally, the nose profile of the Speer allows me to hit the lands inside a 2.8" OAL, which may be part of why the gun shoots them well. I'd assume the BT and HC have fairly similar shapes, excepting the boattail?

Thought I'd add some input on this old-school bullet, as I've finally gotten a chance to use it a bit. A sample of three isn't much to go on yet, but there will hopefully be a few more beasties on the ground over the next 3-4 months.

The bullet seems to be relatively soft, but the construction is sturdy enough to avoid massive seperation at moderate speeds. I'm probably running close to 2,700fps in my 20" 7mm-08.

I took a 175lb-ish hog at 150 yards, right through both shoulders. She went down and spun around on her side for a few seconds before going still.

Shot a doe yesterday at 90 yards, purposely going for lungs to save the shoulders. I saw the hair blow out the other side when I hit her. Big blood trail and an exit about the size of a golf ball.

Had a chunky bodied, runt-racked 8pt come out before dark last night following a big doe. Hit him in the center of the onside shoulder and it exited just behind the opposite shoulder. One step forward and then his feet were all up in the air.

Thus far, I'm thinking this cheap and basic cup/core is a fine deer and hog bullet at medium speeds. May have to give the 165's a run in 308win as well.

Excuse the phone-camera blurritude, but I do like finding stuff such as this after the shot. Usually means, "you got him".......

I used them in my .257 Roberts (100 Gr). They were accurate, but I feel they are softer then the old Nosler BT. Speer says they are softer than their Hot Core as Mule Deer mentioned.

As I recall Speer metnioned they are for long range shooting and designed to open up easier than the Hot Cores.

I'd probably shy away from them in the lighter-weight varieties or at 2,900fps+. I couldn't find any of the 160gr version and think it would probably also be a good deer bullet at 2,600-2,800fps. A touch more weight couldn't hurt things.

Certain 7x57 advocates on the Fire like heavier bullets, like 175's.

DF

Seems like a 175 would be kind of a burden on a 7mm-08 carbine, but new powders can make good speeds out of the 160's.

My father is running high-speed 110TTSXs this season in a 20" 7mm-08, so it will be interesting to compare our results at season's end. He's having good outcomes when bone is hit.

Also, I'm fairly impressed with the M7KS pattern McMillan I have on this rifle. Even though the gun is quite light, the recoil from that 145gr load is not bad at all. I suppose the stock fits me pretty well. I could see getting another one someday for my M7 7mmSAUM.

Yeah, 175's would be best reserved for the 7x57.

Better choices for the 7-08.

DF

My dad shot a pile of them in years gone by that I had loaded for his 280. It was a 740 auto so I wasn't pushing them too hard.
54 grains of IMR4350 , never chronied them.
Every deer he shot was DRT, never had to go looking for one.
He was a shoulder shooter too. Never recovered a bullet.
Accurate enough that he would shoot turkeys in the head with them.