Speer Bullets

K

kilotanker22

New member
I have never personally used Speer bullets. Today as I was building a cart for my 270 wsm on Midsouth shooters supply. I noticed that the Speer Hot core and BTSP bullets are pretty dang cheap!!

How do they shoot in general? If they shoot well, I certainly wouldn't mind replacing Sierra bullets with the Speer...

Gonna shoot 130,140 and 150 grain bullets. H1000, RL22, and RL 26
 
I shoot Speer bullets in my .243, very good bullets. Some rifles are more finicky than others and really shine with a particular bullet. Best bet is to try them. Price becomes important if you shoot a whole lot. Not so much if you just hunt.
 
I used to shoot Speer Hot Cor exclusively beginning in 1976 after some bad experiences with Sierra bullets.

Then they became hard to come by in these parts so I progressed to Accubonds and Partitions.

The Speer performed admirably on Texas white tails. They were super accurate as well. The Speer line of BTSP bullets are notably "softer" than the flat based counter parts and were designed for distances greater than 300 yards. You shoot something up close, the BTSP will either fail to penetrate or fragment so bad that there will be substantial meat loss.

Bottom line is I would choose a Hot Cor before anything that Sierra offers, hands down. At least as a hunting bullet.
 
Thanks Dufus,

The Hot Core is kind of what I am looking at. The reason being is with the flat base, I can seat the bullet a little further out toward the lands while maintaining enough of the bullet inside the case neck of the 270 wsm with the 130 grain pills. I am sure that I will not have that problem with the 150 grainers.
 
I am also thinking about playing around with case neck tension on this rifle. When I have some real load data with this rifle. I feel like the reasons I pretty much never meet Factory velocity with handloads is because of the purchase the factory ammunition necks have on the bullet. That along with the factory bullets being seated deeper.

I plan to use slow powders like H-1000. Its pretty bulky and according to Hodgdon is a compressed load and pressure was fairly low. Like 57,000psi. Loaded to 2.7"

Depending on how the load workup goes. Getting out toward the lands further should give me a little more case capacity. That is if the rifle/Brass allows it. Just something I intend to play with on this particular rifle.

Also trying to decide what Comparator set to purchase. I want to purchase a comparator so I have better control of the bullet jump to the lands.
 
Several years ago when ammo and components were hard to come by I picked some in 30 caliber up because they were the only brand left on the shelves. I now understand why they were the only brand left on the shelf and why they are cheaper. I wouldn't buy them again unless they were the only option available.
 
Whenever I need bullets, I look for Speer first. They are more affordable, and good enough.

-TL

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Gotta laugh out loud at folks who say they hate something, would never buy it again....but never give details as to why. :rolleyes:

Speer would never last over 70 years if their products sucked.
.
 
Several years ago when ammo and components were hard to come by I picked some in 30 caliber up because they were the only brand left on the shelves. I now understand why they were the only brand left on the shelf and why they are cheaper. I wouldn't buy them again unless they were the only option available.
Click to expand...

Its not a help in assessing the information if you don't give details. I don't like Chevy either and its because I like Fords, never owned a Chevy and I know of some darn good ones others did. Sure does not help anyone to say I hate Chevy when its just a personal thing.

I have shot Speer and if they were the lowest bang for the buck I would shoot them again.

Like Kilotanker I shoot a lot of rounds and the best bang for the accuracy buck wins. Horandy and Nossler Blemish do fine.

I would have to look at brand, a while back I did up some 270 in lead tip for hunting. I was hoping for 1.5 MOA. I got a bit under 1 MOA. Flat base, lead tip, old, not bad.
 
I think you can safely assume they didn't perform well for Jmr40 in some way (though it would be nice to know that way). I've used some speer products over the years without problems. Mostly pistol bullets except for some light half-jacketed 30 cal plinkers. They all did what they were supposed to. Nothing remarkable either way that I can recall.
 
I get that, but give us the data so we can judge for ourselves.

I have researched tires, you read, god, those are the most awfully tires in the world.

Realy?, I have those tire, they work fine - I can then dismiss that as fact and put it into the opinion category (I have no problem with people having opinions, I want to know its that vs a fact and details and it it really applies or there is other factors) .
 
Yes, but rather than laughing at him or jumping on him for frustrating us with the omission, how about we just ask for the information?


Jmr40,

If you would be so kind, please tell us the tale of your problems with your Speer bullets.
 
I too would like to know what issue JMR40 had with Speer bullets.

His experience would likely give some insight to specifics. And maybe something to watch for, that we may not have previously thought about.
 
Haven't cared to use Sierra bullets for many years. As far as I'm concerned the box of Sierra bullets I purchased. There reputation fell far short of there market place advertising.

My (one season only) White Tail hunting experience using Sierra?
I punched a Sierra 6mm 80 gr H.P. thru both sides of a rib cage on a medium weight doe. My skinning that animal I witnessed no expansion what-so-ever upon that animals hide removal. A complete pass thru. With a home reloaded cartridge stroking 3500 fps velocity at muzzle. Quite unlike a Speer Game King or my favorite all time jacketed bullet the Nosler Solid Base.
Would I chance shooting Sierra again? ~~~No!~~ When it comes to my Big Game hunting. "no second chances for poor bullet performance.
 
I've shot the 7mm, 130gr BTSP from Speer.
Tried in 7mm-08AI, 280 Rem, 284 Win, 7mm Rem Mag.
Accuracy wise they shoot just fine.
Haven't tried them on any game yet.
I will say that within 200 meters if a silhouette is anchored, don't shoot it with a Rem Mag.
Drills nice holes right through the steel, you can put your pinky in.

Armor piercing???? Lol
 
Funny thing.... I saw someone earlier posted that they had a bad experience with sierra bullet. I have always had great experience with them. Until now...

The other day I bought a box of the 130 grain Game kings for the same 270 wsm. I always open the box of bullets and count them, then weigh them all. With all bullets if they are more than half a grain different from the average weight they get separated and marked. Then used for fouling shots etc.

In this particular case. I noticed a couple bullets that looked longer in the box. And when all was said and done. I have 5 bullets from that Brand new box that are actually 150 grain!!!

I get it. Mistakes happen. I am not really even mad about it though... I did send Sierra and email letting them know about it. I did not ask for replacement or anything, because I still have 95 perfectly adequate bullets, but i figured best to let them know there were bullets of the wrong weight in the box.

I have recently had an issue with a box of Hornady E-LDX .264 cal bullets as well... The bullets are perfect, but the box only had 87 bullets when opened new.

My primary reasoning for checking out Speer bullets is cost. They are only 60% the price of the sierras I shoot on average. Which will make a very big difference in cost over the course of a few thousand rounds a year. (total between all my guns)
 
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