Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Speer or Gameking.

The 270 Win is the weapon. Deer to 400 yards are the game. What will it be? 150 grain Gameking or Speer boat tail? Thoughts,opinions.

Sierra has only one bullet I like for game, and that aint it....

Between those two I don't think there's enough difference to discuss. I'd shoot whichever one grouped better in my rifle.

Sierra would be my choice. Since 400 yards is your max, B.C. isn't king - I would also give Sierra's BTHP Gameking a look. They shoot really good in my rifles and are killers!!!

I'd use the Sierra. In my experience they usually trump Speers in the accuracy department.

Many hunters don't realize the Speer boattails are NOT Hot-Cors. Instead they're swaged around a cold core, and the cores are pretty soft.

Sierra GameKings work fine as long as they're not started much faster than 2800 fps, but of course many handloaders try to push any bullet as fast as they can--and with the 150 .270 GK that can easily be 3000+ fps with Reloder 26.

As others have noted, the slightly higher BC of softpoint boattails doesn't mean squat at ranges out to 400. If you want a noticeably higher BC, for whatever reason, try one of the newer .270 bullets like the 140 Berger Classic Hunter, 145 Hornady ELD-X or Nosler 150 AccuBond Long Range. If you want a 150-grain softpoint spitzer that's reliable both near and far, even at 3000+ fps, the Hornady Interlock Spire Point is hard to beat.

JB,

Might the .277" Sierras have been engineered around a bit more speed since the 270 Winchester has been the primary cartridge for that diameter? My late father had no problems on deer with 130 grain Sierras launched from a 26" barreled Ruger No.1.

m

Anti-Hornady?

Me? Certainly not. I've loaded and used a bunch of Hornady bullets for a long time.

That said, I am a bit miffed because I can't get newer production 150 and 165 grain .308" Interlocks to shoot like the older ones. They've made changes in shape and location to the ogive/shank transition area and my rifles don't like it.

I have used both on deer. .270 Win (130g GK) and .257 Roberts (100g Speer). The .270 was used on several deer and one antelope. The Speer on one deer.

The GK was totally unreliable inside 200 yards. The only animal shot beyond 200 yards was an antelope at 360 yards. That was the only GK that exited and in fact the only one that hit the ribs of the offside. Every other one came apart even on smallish deer before hitting the offside ribs. This led to dramatic kills or deer that needed to be shot again because the bullet failed to penetrate enough when heavy bone like shoulder was hit. It has proven very accurate however. I have decided if I use them again for deer I would go with the 150g as you are asking about to see if they would give better penetration.

I only shot one deer with the Speer. It hit just in front of the shoulder causing a big entrance hole and no exit, killing the deer. Speer does say the boatail is softer than the "Hot-core" and is meant for long range shots.

No not at all. I was curious what the concenus here was between the two bullets listed. Neither advertises any prevention from separation. Gamekings have a bad rep pertaining to core loss. I've personally never recovered either from a deer. My T3 drills the prettiest little groups with Gameking 150s. Considered picking up a box of Speer b-tails to see if they would do the same. The only other non-premium boat tail Id consider is the Hornady. Currently out of them. Ballistic tips for whatever reason,don't give the accuracy I'd expected.

I wouldn't pick either one!

Speer BT's is the reason I switched to flat base a long time ago. But with other manufacturers' bullets BT's work out fine. For some reason I get better accuracy with FB over BT's in Hornady bullets in general.

If I were to go with Speer I'd choose their hot core bullets (I.E - FB). If I were to choose Sierras I would stick with paper at the speeds from a 270. However, if you kept your bullets from hitting the shoulder, the Sierras 'may' work. They have failed for me.

If FB Speer bullets are not to your liking, try Interlock Hornady's.

My first choice for a non-premium bullet for the 270 is Hornady Interlock and I'd try FB and BT's or and I don't have experience with Hornady Interbond bullets, but I'd think they would be good bullets too.

I have used mono-lithic bullets in the 270 and I think that if you wanted a bullet for anything a 270 is good for the monolithic bullets work well.

Having said that if there were only Nosler Partitions available for the 270 - they might be tied, but they can't be beat.

4 seasons ago I loaded some Speer 150 gr boattails I had in "inventory" for my hunting partner's .270. I used H4831 and added powder until the velocity reached 2800 fps. At last count, if I remember correctly, he is 17/17 on deer, coyotes and feral dogs. In the past I have shot the Speer 160 gr boattail in my .280 at the same velocity and killed several deer from 60 to 200 yards. Performance was all you could ask with massive internal destruction and golf ball sized exits on broadside shots. Only shot ribs not shoulders though.

In my own .270 I use the old Nosler 150 gr Solid Base and it always worked well on deer and antelope. I stocked up on those before the supply dried up and I probably have 9 or 10 boxes left on the shelf. Another good deer bullet I loaded for a couple of friends was the Hornady 140 spire point boattail.

Back in the 80's I lent my .280 to a local warden in Idaho when his rifle went screwy and he killed two elk with it using the Speer 160. He killed a cow with one shot from above and behind that took out a foot of spine and a spike broadside that he shot high through the spine. Both were one shot kills. Based on this experience my vote is for the Speer.

Speer 130 gr Hotcore

Gameking

I would choose GK over Speer.

The 2 different Speers I've killed with didn't impress me at all. One was a 145 and the other was a 140.

I have only used Speer bullets in my .338 Winchester Magnum, the long discontinued 275 gr. RN which worked well on elk and mule deer. My preference is for Sierra Game King and they have performed well on whitetail out of my .35 Whelen.

I've noticed the same thing. Sucks. They are still good performers,but seem finicky.

I've noticed the HPBT Game King has something of a following. Is there any difference in them beside the hollow point?

I've read someplace, that the HPBT Gamekings have a harder core in them, so they penetrate better. The HP is so the nose won't deform, as can happen in some magazines. So I've been told, anyway.

Personally, I'd just use a 130 ProHunter and be happy.