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I can't find my standard 140gr Speer Hot Cores anywhere, but Graf's has 140 Grand Slams available. I know that the current production Grand Slams are not as tough of a bullet as the old dual-core design, but is it still too tough of a bullet for Swede velocities on deer? | ||
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no Mike  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | |||
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Place one into a deer vitals and you will have a dead deer. | |||
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I dont think so. It is basically the old deep shok bullets. The downside is there is no soft point, it is an "open tip" bullet. The upside is they have a fluted tip and a single core. The real toughness of the GS is the lower part of the jacket. Hit a rib and she's going to expand. A 140 is more than you need though. At the speed of a swede I think you would be better suited for deer with a 120 grainer or a 140 gn hot core. Depending of course on shot placement. | |||
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I have never shot animals with the Speer GS but historically they tend to behave as conventional cup core bullets with a touch more resistance to shedding their core, definetely not in the same league as Partitions or even most of the bonded bullets of today,, back in the day the MagTip speers were considered every bit as tough as the GS bullets and some tougher by many who actually took game with them and they cost half the price to boot. bb | |||
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I stocked up some Mag tips when they were being phased out. Not the best BC but excellent hunting bullets. Todays GS bullets are really not much different. In fact the Mag tips probably had more reliable expansion. | |||
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I wrote to Speer and thought I would share their answer: The Grand Slam has a tapered jacket that will provide more controlled expansion than the HotCor will for you and slightly better weight retention. Rather than velocity we use a minimum kinetic energy for expansion on many of our rifle bullets that we make and for this your minimum would be 1000 ft/lbs for a deer sized target and about 1200 ft/lbs for bear and elk sized. With these in mind for minimums you should see great expansion results. | |||
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I recall the day when the Speer GS was considered buffalo deadly, and the berries for Brown Bear,the best out there, has that changed or are some just guessing??according to many at the time.. I used them on elk a few times and never recovered one and got full penetration, nice exit holes and lots of blood and short tracking..about what I have learned to expect from a 250 Nosler, that btw will pentrate more than the 210d Nosler as claimed elswhere and by a well known gun scribe.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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well they charge twice as much more for the G/S's so they gotta be twice as good. | |||
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The original dual-core Grand Slams went away years ago and they may be on the third generation design for the bullet now. As I understand it the current Grand Slams are not much more than hot-cores with heavier jackets - which is not necessarily a bad thing depending on your intended use.
They're not even "premium priced" any more - Grafs has them at .35 per bullet, while regular hot-core's are .26 per bullet. | |||
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They have them advertised only, not in stock, and Ive been told they are discontinued.. I used them in the 70s and 80s on large animals, and DG, and found them excellent in all counts, not speculation..Speers have always been less money than their counterparts as I recall..I used the 285 gr. Grand Slams in my 375 H&H, at 2450 fps.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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They should work fine and they show in stock this morning. I shoot the 140 Speer hc in my 260 along with rem 140 cl and Hornady 140 il and privi 156 on whitetail and they all work well. "The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights." ~George Washington - 1789 | |||
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