Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Why no love for Speer bullets

The 125 grain TNTs have a reputation for being good in Garands for 200 yard targets.

Four Speer bullets are mainstays on my bench;

.224 - 70gr RNSP for .223

.308 - 100 gr "Plinker" RN half-jackets in .308, .30-40 Krag, and .30-06 for opportunistic small game hunting and for loads to teach young 'uns and small ladies to shoot.

.308 - 130 gr FP in .30-30, 30-40 Krag, .308 Win, and .30-06 for youth/ladies loads for whitetails and pigs.

.458 - 400 gr FP for .45-70 & .458WM for 1600-1800fps "plinking" loads for "trigger time" and practicing fundamentals.

Other than that, I have a mix of Bergers, Noslers, Hornadys, and Sierras depending on the caliber and anticipated use.

My LGS doesn't carry many Speer offerings. Hornady and Sierra fill 75% of the shelf space with Nosler and Speer behind them.

Ed

150gr Hot Cors were my choice for 30-06 loads maybe 20-25 years ago. Inexpensive at the time, worked really well on whitetails and were accurate enough. Even loaded up a coupla boxes of the 165gr version, when no one around here had any 150s.

At the time I was loading for myself (two rifles) and a few others, so probably went through several hundred bullets over about a 5 year period.

The 150gr Hot Cor proved a tad too tough in my 8x57 loads, as expansion on deer was iffy to nonexistant. Switched to 150gr Sierras, then 125gr Hornady spire points, which is my prefered load. Or will be until I run out of 'em.

I really like speer bullets. I use them in a .243win, 280rem, & 30-06. I like the spbt for the .243, and the mag-tip & grand slams for the 280 & 30-06.
One thing I have always wondered about is all the dislike for the newer version of the grand slam. Switching to a single lead core instead of 2 different ones is what everybody complains about. But now if you think about it, you have the same bullet as the mag-tip with the exception being, the grand slam has the heel lock, making it "better", maybe. Lots have said they like the mag-tip, but no longer like the GS. Makes no sense to me. I have only used the MT & GS on deer and a few bison for butcher with very good results. I Haven't tried them on elk, but plan to someday. I love the 7mm -160gr. magtip & grand slam, and the .308 - 180gr, mag-tip & grand slam. I AM ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE 180GR. MAG-TIP, wish they wouldn't have discontinued them.

My own testing of the new 165 gr G.S. showed it would lose it's core which didn't happen with the previous dual core version. It became just an expensive Mag Tip bullet, there are better bullets out there for the same money now. I do miss the 180 gr Mag Tip as well, it was a great bullet at a great price.

The Speer 235 grain .375 bullet is my go-to bullet for all "lighter" game - up to moose - kudu - etc.

Great bullet! Astonishing accuracy!

Terry

outdoorsman74,

I tested the 200-grain .30 caliber "new" Grand Slam from a .300 Winchester Magnum in dry newspaper, which provides a very good indication of what might happen when a bullet it hits heavy bone. Two out of five lost their cores.

I liked the old Grand Slam a lot, since it always held together in tests or game.

Glad y'all reminded me that I'm out of Speer 130gr .308HPs. Great bullet..

Speer 270gr 9.3's were super accurate and deadly on WTails at a max load of RL15 out of a CZ550 for 10 years for me. 1st 4 rounds with a 3 gr under max break in load gave me 3 rnds touching and a "flyer", with all 4 covered by a quarter.

Miss the 9.3 CZ, don't miss the heavy arsed rifle out in the field, so it became a box blind shooter that a neighbor lusted for for 2 years and finally talked me out of it. His first shot on game at a 250 hog at 240 yards was spot on DRT.
Ron

I like the handgun bullets more than rifle from Speer. That being said I have a finicky Cooper that loves the 130 BTSP. At 7mm-08 speeds it should do just fine.

When I started reloading in '80 or '81, I was exclusively loading 38 caliber pistol bullets. I would save my pennies for "yellow boxes" of 148 HBWC and **wow** jacketed high velocity bullets like the uber-cool 110 JHP (which got me to Blue Dot instead of Bullseye!). Speer was the only choice at our drugstore that had a gun counter. Reloading Manual #10 was my first; I almost wore it out--cover-to-cover many times. Vernon Speer was almost family. ;o)

Sad to watch the company change hands, etc. over the years. I want them to win, but I've always turned to Hornady, Sierra, Nosler and Barnes for game.

I read this whole thread again and realized Travis hit the nail on the head with one sentence.

That's true, but this is the "Ask The Gunwriters" forum. If Travis really wants to be a gunwriter (and he has confessed to at least mild yearnings in that direction) he needs to quit summing stuff up in one sentence.

I did that once in my youth, submitting several pieces to Gray's Sporting Journal that as I pointed out in my cover letter, went directly to today's need for short, to-the-point articles for ultra-busy hunters and anglers. Here are some samples:

How To Shoot Ruffed Grouse"--Shoot fast.
How To Catch Big Brown Trout"--Fish at night.
How To Kill Big Mule Deer"--Don't shoot the small ones.

Gray's ran all of them, but did not pay worth a s--t. I learned my lesson, but obviously Travis hasn't learned anything so far.

Ha!

(But I really did like the DeepCurl)

I load the .35 Speer 180 gr for my .358 Winchesters. My late dad made a tool that swages a spitzer nose on them.

My Kimber .22 Hornet likes the Speer 45 spitzer.

My .240 Weatherby really likes the 105 spitzer which isn't around anymore although I have a few left.

One of the most accurate bullets in my 7 MM Weatherby is their 175 Mag Tip which has been discontinued; the 160 Hot Cor is right there with it.

My son's .308 Model 7 really likes the 150 Hot Cor.

The .30 cal 170 FP has done really welli in a couple of .30/30's.

The 7MM 160 Deep Curl has been very accurate in several 7 Mags. Fortunately I have a pretty good supply.

A pistol bullet that I really liked but I believe has been discontinued, is the .38 cal. 146 semi-jacketed semi-wadcutter HP. VERY accurate in every .38 or.357 I've used them in.

Their lead 158semi-wadcutter HP has also been very accurate in my .38's and .357's when loaded at around 1000fps.

In my mind, Speer is all about doing volume through universal distribution of Gold Dots and Lawman for handguns. Gold Dots are one of the top three, all of which differ only slightly in their performance. Lawman is pretty nice practice ammo if a given spec doesn't happen to spray from your gun, and reasonably affordable if you look in the right places. When it comes to the rest of their stuff, I can't figure out who buys it, although this thread has provided a few answers to that.

My dad always had a lot of Speer yellow on the bench when I was a kid. He used them on a bunch of stuff in a bunch of different guns, and I've inherited some of his stash. Speer and RCBS seemed like they were joined at the hip back then. And Speer seems to be stuck in 1980.

I thought JB summed the Speer situation up nicely. Speers aren't just the vanilla of bullets; they are the cheap, artificially-flavored vanilla. At least in rifle bullets. I do like their BTSP for hunting though. They are rather soft, but they work well for the broadside ribs shots I take. I pick the heavier-for-caliber versions; they go through and make a big hole. I'd not trust them for anything other than mostly broadside ribs shots though.

There's just no reason to use Speers other over designs, unless you have a specific caliber/cartridge combo where they work well, and don't want to bother finding a replacement. Their shoddy marketing/distribution practices, in particular their discarding of the handloading market, have sullied them for me and many with whom I've interacted.

I don't think the Speer company itself "discarded the handloading market." Instead I suspect ATK, which owns Speer, told them they'd primarily be making bullets for Federal and CCI ammunition, rather than for handloaders. That's what sometimes happens when a company becomes part of a much larger conglomerate.