I have had the 130 Gamekings and 140gr. Hornady Boattails grenade on deer, though, and that has soured me on boattails for deer.
I have NO experience with the 130 Spire Points, but my cousin has killed a schittload of deer with it, and I've never heard a complaint out of him.
Hornady has fooled with that 140 several times, moving the cannelure around like they were shuffling cards or something. I do NOT trust that bullet for anything bigger than coyotes.
Rats.
No argument here. I am surprised at your experience with the 140 HBT.
I ONLY had 1 lot of them and they must have been tough.
As you said Hornady & others have altered their bullets from time to time.
The 140 HBTSP I had would have made great Elk bullets in the 270 W.
Jerry
Jerry, I was referencing the Hornady 140gr. BTSP, as I have thumped a few deer with it. It shot well in factory ammo, but when I tried loading it for myself, things went "messy" real quick. The first deer I shot with it dropped like a rock, (lung shot), but afterwards, the next few deer looked like someone had hit them at contact distance with a Claymore mine. There was offal spread everywhere, over my head, in a circle about 20ft. around, and the deer was still alive, requiring a finishing shot. I literally painted the brush next to the deer. I think I switched to flat-based bullets pretty quick after that, going to an R-P Bronze Point, then to the Sierra ProHunters, which I still use.
I've also shot deer with 130 and 140 NBTs, but for the current rifle, it favors the Sierra PHs.
Someone "gifted" me a bunch of 140gr. Gamekings, and some of those 140gr. HPBT Sierras, but I haven't loaded any of them yet. I've still got a bunch of the 130 PHs loaded.
