Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Speer .224 70grain soft point on deer

My 225Win puts the 63gr Sierras into very tight groups. But the 62 gr Power Points go into 4" patterns. go figure...

I've had trouble getting 60 Nozler PT's to shoot, and the 64 PP is another bullet I'd use if I didn't have about a world supply of 63's...grin

Flinch mentioned the 55 Horn w/c and I've used that one quite a bit as well.

Actually of the soft points seem to work well on deer/lopes. I kind of gravitated to the 63 Sie cause they shoot so darn well! And, I kind of have a thing for bug hole groups even though I know that in the real world it don't matter that much on deer/lopes.

Now ya wanna hear my stories about the 40 NBT....gasp

Dobro

I was shocked by how well the 64 grain PP worked in my .22-250 1-14" twist. I'd had a couple bags a guy gave me in a trade sitting around. I just loaded them long, stuffed into the rifling, with a fairly light load to iron the kinks out of the brand new brass I'd bought. Frickin' quarter inch groups ... and I don't know what I used. 4064 or 4320 I think but how much? I hate it when that happens!!

I've stuck deer with 3 different .22 bullet. First was a 55 grain Nosler solid base from a .223. That didn't go well. Head-on shot high under the chin. The bullet mushroomed, but didn't have enough momentum left when it met spine to break anything, it just mashed out and stopped. Buck went down but got back up when I was trying to cut it's throat. We had a rodeo. My rifle was a ways away and I was in the way of the guy I was with, he couldn't shoot it. I eventually stabbed it to death. The second one was a head shot with a 52 grain Sierra Matchking shot from a .22-250. That was instantly fatal and pretty icky, there was nothing left forward of the base of her ears. It was sprayed all over the front of the stump in little gray and red pieces with bits of hair. The last one was with a 55 grain trophy bonded bear claw. It messed up a lot of meat but it sure put the deer down.

So ... on average my .22 cal attempts haven't been entirely satisfactory. I hate to lose. At the moment I have no .22 cal centerfires, I have bigger and smaller. If/when I go back I gotta try again. I'd like to give that 55 grain trophy bonded a run at .223 speed instead of .22-250 speed. I'd like to try the 60 grain partition in a little faster twist to see if I can get accuracy. I'd like to try out that 64 grain WW powerpoint and the 65 grain Sierra. I'd like to try the Barnes X 53 grainer.

And ... yeah, I want to hear the 40 NBT story ...

Tom

Mike-sorry that I missed this. I bought a couple of boxes of the 65's when they first came out. But, I never got around to running them and a bud made off with them.

I didn't worry none too much though cause the 63 has been so good to me. If you can find the 63 Sie or the 64 PP then I'd say it's search over. Load em up and go forth and fill up an ark!

I do spect that the 65 would fly a little flatter.

Dober

I have used both the 63 SMP Sierra and the 70 grain SMP Speer out of both 223s, and 22.250s to take deer..both always got the job done on the spot... giving performance similar to a larger caliber and heavier weight bullet...

I prefer the 70 grain Speer, just because if nothing else the extra weight isn't going to hurt... these two bullets have been around for a long time, and remain available because they sell.. and they sell because they work...

all these newer trendy bullets, are trying to fill a niche that the Sierra and Speer SMP bullets here have already been accomplishing for a long time..

I've also shot ONE and ONLY one antelope in my life... but that was taken with a 223, and a 40 grain Ballistic Tip...I had a tag, and the opportunity presented itself when I was carrying that rifle, looking for much smaller game...

had confidence in my shot placement ability ( 150 yds or so).. and put the bullet into the boiler room... antelope ran about 3 paces and was down for the count...

my preference for a bullet would have been the 70 grain Speer first and the 63 grain Sierra in second place..

the 55 grain SMP is also a good choice for antelope sized deer or antelope themselves...

not to steer this off topic, but what are some factory loads that would be good for whitetail deer hunting? So far at the local sporting good store, I've only ran across the Winchester 64gr powerpoints so I bought the only box they had.

Leo

Is that to say they worked or no?

Federal has been loading the 60gr. Nosler partition in both .223 and 22-250 in their premium line for a couple years now...
Ingwe

thanks ingwe, I keep an eye for those loads!

Leo

Federals plain Jane 55 sp is another good load, as is the Rem 55 sp.

Dober

The 70 gr. Speer is a great bullet for deer. My brother shot a 2-point mulie with a 22-250 AI at 150 yds. The deer deer didn't go far at all. My dad shot a doe with his 22-250 with the same load with the same result. Very accurate and deadly on deer.

thanks Mark!

Leo

I used the 70 gr. Speer in my 22-250 for years and had great success with that bullet on deer and a couple of antelope. The last couple of years I have swithed to the 60 gr. Nosler Partitian bullet. Same great results and it shoots a little flatter and more in the same place as my coyote loads. Both bullets hold togather and expand well. I have recovered some on the far side next to the skin and I have had some pass thru. No problem with penetration and minimal blood shot meat.

I sooooo need to get into reloading!!!

You are right on that one, not only does it give you umpteen options, but the old "tailor the load to the gun" thing comes up. Some of the aforementioned factory stuff may not shoot well in your rifle. The big plus with using light, accurate rifles is that you can place with bullets with great precision... well you can't if the gun/load combo isnt quite right.
Im sure youve heard the BIG reason to reload...it saves money.... Yeah, right!
Saves money per shot, you just shoot more! Which of course helps with that precise shot placement. No downside to it,a lot of good info on this site for someone getting started...
Ingwe

I love the 70 gr. Speer. I shoot it in my Remmy R-15. They shoot under and inch as well as the 63 gr. Sierra's. I chose the 70 Speer's since I had about 5 boxes. I took a few pictures this winter for refernce to feed the fire for those that say hunting deer with the 223's is crazy. I killed 3 deer with this bllet last season.



Entrance



Internal entrance



Internal exit



Exit



The shot was about 150 yards and got the top of the heart and both lungs as I recall. She ran 30 yards or so and fell dead. Hope this helps.

Joseph

Fast twist? I looked @ the Rem site, but darned if I could find it.

I believe its 1 in 9.

Joseph

ingwe,

yes, that is the nice thing about reloading:cheaper per shoot thus can shoot more Even before the ammo shortages of today, it is difficult to find factory "deer ammo" in .223rem at the local gun stores. Now, even on-line places are out of .223rem ammo! To add more insult to injury, I went to two local places and they're out of business. Very dissappointing!

I've read that the maximum practical range for the .223rem on deer is about 200 yards. Is this a good estimate? Also read that only good for broadside shoots, no quarter shoots should be taken with this round. Any truth to this?


Leo