.35 Caliber 220-grain Speer bullet - 10/17/12
I wanted to ask to ask for help in expressing a thought on bullet performance. On another board I have posted about bullet performance on deer. �Deer� can mean different things I suppose but in my part of Texas it means 80- to 170--pounds on the hoof with the majority of mature bucks I have shot weighing less than 160-pounds.
From my point of view the discussion centered around lever action cartridges and I was commenting on a fellow posters use of the Buffalo Bore 35 Remington ammunition which uses the 220-grain Speer Hot Core bullet.
I have used the 220-grain Speer bullet in the 356 and 358 Winchester cartridges to take our white tail deer and local pigs which weigh considerably less than 200-pounds on the hoof. I load this bullet to a muzzle velocity between 2,250 and 2,300 fps. I have hunted with the 220-grain bullet loaded to a velocity as high as 2,350 fps. In my hunting area it is unusual to be able to see a game animal further than 80 yards. My experience has been that deer and pigs hit with a well placed shot (crossing the body cavity and damaging at least one lung) using the 220-grain Speer bullet at these velocities will run or trot some 30- to 100-yards. I believe from their reaction to the shot that the animals are dead on their feet but have not yet run out of oxygen and the lights have not flickered out.
Switching to the .35 caliber 200-grain jacketed bullets - Sierra, Hornady and Remington - driven between 2,400 and 2,500 fps, the animals generally drop in their tracks or move less than 30-yards.
My explanation for this is the 220-grain Speer bullet is designed for tougher animals and the bullet is not expanding on our light critters or has not expanded very much by the time the bullet exits - I have never recovered a 220-grain Speer bullet from an animal. We process our own game so I have seen all of the entrance and exit holes and have cut along the bullet path through the lungs on a few of them to look at the damage. On several deer where bones were not broken and where a shoulder was not involved, the 220-grain Speer bullet does not appear to have expanded at all.
As a young man my father showed me pictures of gelatin blocks and explained that bullets expand quickly upon entering an animal. Reading the Expanding Bullet chapter in MD�s new book reinforces these thoughts. My difficulty is in describing my thoughts without putting the �Bad Word� on a good bullet. In my opinion the 220-Speer bullet is not failing to expand, my target medium is not offering enough resistance for the bullet to work as I expect or desire it to.
Can anyone here report on the use of the 220-grain Speer bullet for deer from the 35 Remington?
From my point of view the discussion centered around lever action cartridges and I was commenting on a fellow posters use of the Buffalo Bore 35 Remington ammunition which uses the 220-grain Speer Hot Core bullet.
I have used the 220-grain Speer bullet in the 356 and 358 Winchester cartridges to take our white tail deer and local pigs which weigh considerably less than 200-pounds on the hoof. I load this bullet to a muzzle velocity between 2,250 and 2,300 fps. I have hunted with the 220-grain bullet loaded to a velocity as high as 2,350 fps. In my hunting area it is unusual to be able to see a game animal further than 80 yards. My experience has been that deer and pigs hit with a well placed shot (crossing the body cavity and damaging at least one lung) using the 220-grain Speer bullet at these velocities will run or trot some 30- to 100-yards. I believe from their reaction to the shot that the animals are dead on their feet but have not yet run out of oxygen and the lights have not flickered out.
Switching to the .35 caliber 200-grain jacketed bullets - Sierra, Hornady and Remington - driven between 2,400 and 2,500 fps, the animals generally drop in their tracks or move less than 30-yards.
My explanation for this is the 220-grain Speer bullet is designed for tougher animals and the bullet is not expanding on our light critters or has not expanded very much by the time the bullet exits - I have never recovered a 220-grain Speer bullet from an animal. We process our own game so I have seen all of the entrance and exit holes and have cut along the bullet path through the lungs on a few of them to look at the damage. On several deer where bones were not broken and where a shoulder was not involved, the 220-grain Speer bullet does not appear to have expanded at all.
As a young man my father showed me pictures of gelatin blocks and explained that bullets expand quickly upon entering an animal. Reading the Expanding Bullet chapter in MD�s new book reinforces these thoughts. My difficulty is in describing my thoughts without putting the �Bad Word� on a good bullet. In my opinion the 220-Speer bullet is not failing to expand, my target medium is not offering enough resistance for the bullet to work as I expect or desire it to.
Can anyone here report on the use of the 220-grain Speer bullet for deer from the 35 Remington?