Had a friend give me a box of speer 150gr SPBT's and thought i would try them in my 30/06. Was wondering if anyone here has had any experience with these or the 180gr SBT's. Like accuracy and performance on game such as deer and hogs with the 150's and maybe Elk with the 180's. I've mostly shot Hotcore's and Grandslams from Speer but don't have any experience with these. Thanks Karry

I did some backyard tests in paper medium with several bullets a few years ago. One bullet I tested was the Speer 180 gr. .30 cal boattail. This particular bullet exhibited less penetration and more fragmentation that the other bullets I tried. Those included Nosler Partition and Solid Base, Sierra lead tipped conventionals, and maybe a couple of others. I don't think there is any question that the boattail design and lack of the "hotcore" manufacture method contributes to this frangibility.

Far from being a "failed" bullet, such a bullet is perfect for <200 lb game. For larger game like elk, the flat-based Hot Core bullet would be more desirable.

Hey Karry, I've used all the bullets you mentioned on lots of Deer. I prefer the Hot-Cor bullets inside 200yds and the SPBTs beyond 200yds for Shoulder Shots.

I've never shot an Elk, but would probably go with a Grand Slam or Nosler Partition in the 180gr weight for a 30-06. I'd not want to pass on a shot because I had a Quick Expansion Bullet design loaded up.

Can't say for sure, but I probably used H4350 or H414 with the 150gr Bullets in my 30-06s with Loads found in the Manuals.

Good Hunting and clean 1-shot Kills.

I took the 180 Speer BT on a Plains Game hunt and found they worked just fine in my 30-06.

I'm not sure I'd care to tackle Eland or very large Blue Wildebeet with them, but for Kudu, Impala, Blesbok, etc, they sure did a fine job.

Have killed a number of mule deer and at least one elk with Speer spbt in 6.5 and 30 cals.

The elk was running full bore about 70 yds perpendicular to me. The 180 spbt caught him close to body center just behind th shoulder. He did a nose dive into the dirt. There was no exit wound as I remember.
From what others have said about this bullet had it hit the shoulder the result might not have been so good.

The performance on mule deer was always satisfactory. roger

You won't know until you try them. My Bob is the most accurate rifle I've ever had, so long as I use flat-base bullets. Going from speer 100 grain spitzer to their boattail makes that rifle much less.

Thanks for the replies. Next time i get a chance to do a little shooting i'll give them a try and see how they do. Thanks Karry

I have a 280 that just loves the 145grn Speer boat tail bullet. The Hot-Cor variety would be better suited for the heavier animals though the 180grn at '06 velocities should do real well. The last two bucks my son shot with the Speer boat tail were both close shots. The first was at about 40yds, and he shot him right on the front of the shoulder where the ball of the scapula meets the front leg. The bullet passed through the off-side of the neck taking several bone fragments with it. The bullet exit hole was not much larger than the entry. The wound channel was a nice sized tunnel.

His last-year's Columbian Whitetail was shot at about 85yds quartered away. He was hit in the liver on entrance and exited the off-side shoulder. We did find the jacket underneath the hide, but the lead core passed through. The wound channel was large, the lungs were jellied, and the heart was ripped apart on one side. This is bullet failure to many, but considering that bone was hit on both entry an exit, I would say that this bullet did the job quite well.

I used the Speer 180bt on a moose this fall from a 300H&H. Went in just behind one shoulder and out through the offside shoulder. I didn't find any of the bullet. MV about 2950. I have about 500 of these and until they quit killing stuff I'm not going to buy "better " bullets at $1+ each.

Just proves ... bullet placement is everything.

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Blauwkamp:
Just proves ... bullet placement is everything.

No, I'll disagree. If that were true, we could all Hunt with BB Guns and get complete pass-throughs and instant drop-in-the-tracks kills with every shot.

I agree Accuracy is very important, but it is not everything.

you guys with your 180-grain 30 cal bullets for deer amaze me. i am sure that they are beneficial with ultra-velocity mag cartridges, but my 25 years of dead deer and antelope from 20 ayrds out past 330 yards tells me that they are competely unnecessary for .308 and .30/06.

that said, if they shoot well out of your rifle, then go for it; i am simply suggesting that you give the 150-grn bullets a try in your .30/06s and .308s.

quote:

Posted 25 February 2009 21:17 Hide Post
you guys with your 180-grain 30 cal bullets for deer amaze me. i am sure that they are beneficial with ultra-velocity mag cartridges, but my 25 years of dead deer and antelope from 20 ayrds out past 330 yards tells me that they are competely unnecessary for .308 and .30/06.

that said, if they shoot well out of your rifle, then go for it; i am simply suggesting that you give the 150-grn bullets a try in your .30/06s and .308s.

More true then you think. So much depends on bullet construction as to if they will work on small deer. Years ago I helped a fellow drag out a small buck in PA. He shot it with a 180 gr Silvertip. It fell and ran off. He kept tracking it in the snow and after the sixth shot, he kept it down. About 1-1/2 miles of tracking. All shots were in the chest that I could cover with one hand. Without snow the deer would have been lost.

I shoot the 145gr/7mm in my 280 & while accuract, IMO, is just to fragile for anything but 250yd shots or impact vel. above 2800fps on deer size game. The bullet fragments & loses more than half it's wt. I would suspect the 150gr/30 would be sim.

fred - keep doing what works for you, but that has not been my experience.

on deer and antelope, i have had excellent results with winchester's 145-grain power point at 7x57 velocities, which are well below 280 velocities. complete pass-through shots with instant death. my results with 150-grains in 308, whether my own or observed by me eprsonally, have been similar.

in fact, i would think that the opposite of this is true:

quote:

to fragile for anything but...impact vel. above 2800fps on deer size game

it seems to me that a 145-grn bullet hitting a deer above 2800fps has more, not less of a chance of fragmentation, shed cores etc, but having said that, i have not used that bullet with a .280.

i have not used or seen used 180-grn in .30/06 or .308 for deer or antelope, but the overwhelming majority of what i have heard (first-hand accounts) dovetails with what bfr says above. chest shots that should be lethal, but instead they end up tracking because there was no expansion.