Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Speer Deep Curl Bullets

I have almost 500 of them (90 gr.) for the .243. I want to load them up and use them. Looks like 3000 fps from the muzzle is a decent velocity. I need to know what the minimum impact velocity is for reliable expansion if any one knows.

Can’t answer your question. But I bought a bunch of those several years ago and they have proven very accurate in a couple of 243s. Great performance on deer, too. Bet you will like em

Speer used to have some very limited data online. I used then in a Cooper 6mm Remington but had to develop my own data. All I can recommend is start low and work up. I'm pretty sure I used up all my 90 grain 6mm Deep Curls, but still have them in .270 and 7mm. Very accurate but apparently they didn't sell well. I'm not sure the reasons why Speer recommended not using regular data, but I may have discovered one reason on my own. The 7mm 160 grain Deep Curls I have measure around .285" instead of .284". Perhaps the added diameter raises pressures, but maybe the extra girth also accounts for the accuracy. I don't recall the diameters on the 6mm and and .270 bullets.

I've never used a Deep Curl on game. Perhaps others can comment on this.

Speer has plenty of load data available online, but I could not find any reference to a minimum velocity for expansion for the Deep Cure bullet.

https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/rifle/recipe/?setId=e1294300-f449-45a5-8b87-916f880d7533



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I emailed Speer and they said instead of minimum impact velocity for the deep curl they recommend 1000 ft/lbs of energy.

I love Speer bullets and have been using them for many years with excellent results on game. However, I don't understand why Speer tends to stop producing a bullet when it has proven to be a very good bullet. Right when I got a great load worked up for my 25.06 with the 120gr Deep Curl they stopped making it. They did the same thing with the .257 120gr Hot-Cor as well as the .264 120gr Hot-Cor and I used both. I would like to give the .264 120gr Gold Dots a try in my daughters .260 but i'm afraid they'll end up getting rid of those too. I know other manufacture's do the same thing but it just seems to be a pattern for Speer. Mike

The Federal Fusion looks an awful lot like the old Deep Curl?

I think the only difference is the base of Fusion is BT while the Deep Curl is flat. I got some 180 gr. .308s that haven't shown much accuracy in several '06s.

When you find something that works, buy 10 boxes.

Good advice and that's what I did back when I heard they were going to discontinue the 120gr Hot-Cor, I purchased 8 boxes so i'm good on those for a while. I didn't do that with the 120gr .264 Hot-Cors but I replaced them with the Sierra 120gr Pro Hunter and bought 8 boxes of those.

I got a bunch of the Gold Dot, 6.5, 140s, on sale at Midway. I had never used them before and they are pretty good, I think. They shoot 3/4 moa out to 400 yards. I have shot four deer so far and they have performed well. None of the shots have been over 200 yards. Three were high-shoulder and the last one was a lung shot-just to see how that bonded bullet would do. The shot was at about 100 yards and blew right through the lungs, leaving an exit hole of about an inch or so. The white tail doe went about 20 yards.

I have not shot many Speer bullets over the years, but this one seems to be very good. They don't seem to shoot as well, if I push the velocity very much. I have them loaded to 2740, using Reloder 19.

Most jacketed hunting bullets will have a min. fps of about 1800 fps for expansion. I think I would use that figure for a premium jacketed bullet like the Deep Curl.. I bought some Speer 8mm Deep Curl 200 grain bullets for some load development on my 8x57 JS Mauser when they first came out. As I recall there was some online discussions about minimum bullet expansion velocities at the time; and the consensus was 1800 fps. I can's swear to it, but that's what I recall and I feel comfortable using that as a guide.

CJ

This is the only Deep Curl I've ever caught. Pretty good performance. Sorry about the poor background.

I called Speer and asked about differences between their Gold Dot rifle bullets, Deep Curl, and the Fusion bullets. The first two are chemically or mechanically bonded bullets while the Fusions are molecularly bonded bullets. I shoot most all my bullets in a box filled with wet packed newspapers to judge their expansion and penetration capabilities. The Fusion bullets always have lead attached to the jacketed petals. That's not always the case with other bonded bullets. I am a huge fan of the Fusion bullets and only wish Federal will continue to sell more of them as components.

Thanks, Dinny