Growing up, Speer bullets were a mainstay in our reloading. The past few years, since they came out with Deep Curl, I am not seeing many folks talking about Speer. Does anybody load them anymore? Is there a problem with the company, product, service, etc.? I never had any problem with any of their bullets, and while I have more Nosler and Hornady on the bench these days, I still load a few Speers along the way.

No one talks about them because they are like work horses; they do the job in a steady, reliable way; nothing unusual to talk about. I use them.

I use .284 160 gr Speer Grand Slams and they are excellent bullets for deer. They may not have all the glam that Nosler and Hornady get, but they are just as good, easy to load, and also easy to recover. The Grand Slams are marked "GS" on the bottom of the bullets. I have shot them through telephone poles with excellent retention. Wound channels are about average for the size bullet. Stopped all the deer I have shot in their tracks.

I've been using Speer bullets since '64. Absolutely nothing wrong with them.

I also use Speer bullets in a couple of guns. The Speer .224 caliber 70 grain Semi Spitzer stabilizes well in my 1:12 twist 222 Remington. I've used that load to dispatch a number of animals including a deer (I can't recall any that needed more than one shot).

I also used Speer BT Spitzers in my 375 H&H Magnum for my first South Africa trip. Two warthogs, a blue wildebeest, a blesbok, an impala and a zebra were taken with that bullet; all with one shot.

I think their Deep Curl handgun bullets are the best jacketed handgun bullets on the market, with deep penetration and good expansion. Very accurate too.

What dpcd said,

I like them and use their 30 150, 30 165, and 270 130.In Canada they appear to have a marketing problem. They are practically not available in either Calgary, Regina or Saskatoon. This is not just the current situation, nobody carries the product, or if they do its one box in some obscure calibre. I say this because I have looked for them in each of the cities mentioned and was amazed buy the lack of stock. They had some nosler, hornady, barnes and sierra, but no speer.



(the three cities ive beento in the last two weeks)

quote:

Originally posted by bbell:
I like them and use their 30 150, 30 165, and 270 130.In Canada they appear to have a marketing problem. They are practically not available in either Calgary, Regina or Saskatoon. This is not just the current situation, nobody carries the product, or if they do its one box in some obscure calibre. I say this because I have looked for them in each of the cities mentioned and was amazed buy the lack of stock. They had some nosler, hornady, barnes and sierra, but no speer.



(the three cities ive beento in the last two weeks)

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Bbell:

It's not only the weekend here but our weather is dragging on too - waiting for spring at last. So I have some dwell time to pecker around on the computer commiserating with fellow shooters. Kill time and relieve boredom -

So the trivia takes on more importance, at least for the present !!!!!

Here's Midways website.
http://www.midwayusa.com/find?...hQuery=sspeer+bulets

They appear to have lots of Speer bullets. I have never used them. Sorry. There is lots of competition these days. Personally I have the gut feeling that all of the bullet manufacturers are fairly close in product quality and performance. There are some cheapies but the serious ones seem to have several lines of very sophisticated product so an individuals preference is probably more steeped in nostalgia and familiarity than good old fashioned quality and performance.

I order lots of stuff on line these days. It's quick and easy. I have a bank debit card. I just phone and order or fill out a form on line. I no longer run around from town to town and store to store burning up gasoline and expending time.

If your are set on Speer maybe give Midway a try and place orders. It may cost a little bit of shipping and handling but it is offset from the frustration of driving around.

In just a few days the USPS or Fed EX or UPS either drop it in my mail box or on my front door step and ring the bell.

I get an accounting on my bank website practically immediately. *( Which I check EVERY day ).

Couple of years go I used to write checks for everything. No more. I wised up.

I use the 100 gr. Speer flat base in my old 250 savage with a 1x14 twist..it shoots the flat base 110 gr. bullets but not boat tails or heavier bullets..

I love the 130 gr. Speer .284 bullet in my 7x57 at 3100 FPS with a stiff load of H414. Also like the 145 gr. speer.

Speer makes good bullets for deer and antelope and their premium grade bullet is a real good bullet on elk and bear..

I've used the .243 105 grain bullet on wild hogs with very good success.

I really miss the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw

I used 150gr mag tips in my 308 and 300 win mag for years. I still use the Speer gold dots 452 in my 50 cal muzzle loader and the 50cal hp gold dot in my 54cal muzzle loader.

Al

I use the 250gr in my 35 Whelen AI and lots of TNT in 22, 6mm, 25cal and 7mm for prairie dogs and other varmints.

The only negative thing I can say is their new product development stinks. They rolled out the Deepshok & then quickly discontinued them because they were too costly to produce. They rolled out the DeepCurl and then quickly discontinued them because? No one knows. They haven't said.

I like hot cors and boat tails but sure won't buy any new bullets they introduce.

I use Speer Hot-Cor 220 grain 35 Cal in my 358 Win with good results on paper and will try them for deer this year. The two most accurate bullets in my 7mm-08 are Speer 145 grain Boat Tails and 145 grain Grand Slams. I may be using the Grand Slams on this year's elk hunt and will definitely use the boat tails for deer this year or next.

I rarely use Speer for much of anything and it's usually because they were a good deal. In fact I've only bought one box of Hot Core since the early 90's meant for big game and that was for the mighty .30-30. The .224/52gr FBHP is a good fur bullet out of the .223 though.

The Deep Curl was a good bullet and discontinued already when I actually saw them tested in gel. I bought the last three boxes of .338" 225gr, and the last two they had for the .257 (120's?) and .270W but have not used them.

My choice has been Hornady for standard bullets, Noslers for the most part. I did pick up a whole bunch of bulk packed Woodlieghs from Midway in .308/180gr and .338/250gr and believe they are the most consistant performing bullet I've used. I'm about out of the .338" but unless I find them on close out again I'd probably buy something else.