Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Speer/Sierra bullets

Is any one loading the Speer or Sierra bullets for big game hunting. What are your thoughts on them.

Have used many Sierra bullets on big game.. Not so many Speer..They work ok.. The Sierra's can be a bit soft, but with a lung shot they do fine.. Loaded some 165 HPBT for my .300 Short for this fall..

For game up though deer/antelope, they are all a guy needs.. Used them for years on elk, moose, blk.bear etc. but now I prefer Nosler AB for bigger game.. But the Sierra's do ok if the lungs are taken out..

I use the Sierra Gameking 165 grain HPBT in my .308. It's accurate and has, so far, made two holes in every deer, even front to back.

Leaves a blood trail Stevie Wonder could follow.

I've also used the 100 grain ProHunter in my .243, and while it is an accurate bullet, I prefer one that is tougher. But, it DOES kill deer. It's not as likely to go completely through on a raking shot

I've used Speer 165 grain hot cores in a couple of '06s and .308s and it seemed to do exactly what I wanted.

As far as Cup-n-cores, the Speer, Sierra HPBT, and Hornady Interlok are where I look first.

I've shot a lot of deer with Sierra Pro Hunters without issue. Never was much of a Speer fan and tend to go with any other maker over them. YMMV.

I shot Speer Hotcores for years in NA without any problem in my 30-06. They worked fine at -06 velocities. When monometals came out I switched to them for no particular reason except they were new.
Used African Grand Slams in my 375 for a safari in RSA. They were too soft for buffalo but my PH said they would be great lion bullets, never had the chance to try for lion though.

I've loaded 120g Speer Hotcores 6.5x55 and 165g for 30-06. I have also loaded 130g Sierra GK for a 270 Win and 100g GK for a 257 Roberts. In my experience the Speers seem tougher and the GK are to soft until the range get well beyond 200 yards. My best results have been 300+ yards with the 130s. I have had good expansion and full penetration then. The Sierra's have been more consistently accurate although the Speers were pretty good too.

Shot a few deer with .277 140 grain Sierra's and used the 120 grain .25 calibre Grand Slams (old type) as well as 140, 160 & 175 Grand Slams (old type) in various 7MM's. All of the above are/were very accurate for me, and no complaints about their effectiveness in the field.

I use the Sierra 170 grain FN in some of my 30-30 loads for 100 yards and under work and they really do a nice job of DRT's on deer sized game. They are accurate with LeverEvolution powder and create a good wound channel.

I've also used Speer in 30-06 but now just found a supply of 180 grain Hornady RN bullets for the -06 and switched to them.

If I can find Hornady, Speer or Sierra 170 grain for 30-30 or Hornady, Speer or Sierra 180 grain RN for -06 I buy them as I think they all do the job intended of them. Buy what you can find!

How do you like the 120g Speer HotCor's? Have you used them much on game? What's 3/5 shot accuracy like?

I've gotten good results accuracy wise from the 140g HotCor but haven't had a chance to to use them on game yet. I've been curious how the 120 grainers would perform both on paper and game.

Thanks.

Used Speer 120gr BTSP's for years in my 25-06. 3-shot, 5-shot, 10-shot groups under 1". Took a Texas hill-country doe at 576 yards with one.
Used a Sierra 180 gr GK in my 30-06 and now use it in my 300 Win Mag. Accuracy has been sub-1" in both.

Years ago I developed the opinion Sierra bullets were great deer killers and nothing has changed that belief. The 150gr Prohunter out of a .308 or 30.06 is the champ at DRT results. A 130gr out of a 270 or a 140gr. out of a 7x57 and a 7mm08 are just as good.

I like both brands for hunting, and use the btsp's of both in my 30-06. Prefer the Speer 180's and any from 165 to 200 in Sierra's line. Both brands are "soft", but I find the Speer to be a bit softer than the Sierra. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing. I shoot everything in the forward ribs, and the animals die quick. Blood trails are made with buckets. I own harder bullets, but when I am hunting for deer, the Speer 180 is often in the gun. I wouldn't be afraid to shoot an elk with either brand. I don't care what the recovered slug looks like. I care what the recovered animal looks like.

I like the Speer Hot Cor but prefer a Win Power Point over a Sierra

The BTSP of both brands have good Ballistic Coefficients. I am not really a long-range hunter, mostly because I don't have the right equipment, but BC really matters to me because I get factory ammo Win Mag performance at around 350 and out with my '06 handloads just by picking sleek bullets. I don't like recoil, and 400 is a close shot in the canyons and mountainsides I hunt. They are cheap, accurate, easy to find a load for, and have worked very well on the animals I've used them on.

I've used Speer and Sierra cup/core boattails on deer/hogs. At 2,600-2,900fps, they are very good killers. Not big-time penetrators, but sub-250lb animals don't require a crazy-stout construction when talking medium weight .277 - .308 caliber bullets. I generally get exits on broadside animals and blood trails are usually good, sometimes great. Soft 140-200gr bullets at those speeds are quite predictable. The Speers are pretty cheap too.....

I load both brands in our rifles. We shoot speer 165 flat base hot cores and the 200 gr. In the Sierra we shoot the game kings, 225 out of my 350 Rem mag, awesome elk bullet, 200 gr out of my 300 Weatherby kills deer and elk with authority, and my wife shoots 180 game kings out of her 300 wsm, she has killed one big cow elk and piles of deer with it.

Another thing with these 2 brands of bullets, and the Hornady interlocks, they are fairly inexpensive to shoot. Usually $30 or less for a box of 100 and they shoot accurate and kill just as dead as the more expensive bullets.

No experience with Speer bullets in rifles, but Sierra ProHunter's are some of the most accurate bullets I have found in my rifles and I have used them and they worked fine on deer-sized game. They are my practice bullet, as they are a lot less expensive than any of the premiums which I prefer for hunting. Just me...........

Been using 165gr. 30-cals from my 308 for a very long time. Killed just about everything on this continent with them. I like that they plow through anything without deflection. Get into big bones in moose and big bear and you don't work about the bullet getting thrown off track.

Have used both 150 sierra and 150 speer in my 3006. In my experience the speers hold together and always expand , The sierras seldom hold together. Switched to 165 speer flat base hot cor and it it a real good bullet always expand, always holds together and penetrates. Also used 120 gr speer flat based hot core in my 2506. Again they always held together and always opened. They provided instant death on anything hit with them. but in my opinion lacked penetration. so I switched to the 115 gr nosler partition and was completely happy with it. After two years "loony" got the better of me and i had to have a 270, so I could use conventional bullets instead of nosler partitions. So I saved a bunch of money by buying a new rifle and scope so that I didnt have to buy a box of nosler partitions. Pretty soon i had to try partitions in it. You all know how it goes.

Exquisite logic.