Speer bullets - insane value and performance

[Wapiti]

Didn't go well for you Fester?

I first used them in the 223 in some Hornady factory ammo in both 55 and the 60gn weights, and they shot so damn well I keep my eyes out all the time for the online specials from the big Redcliffe shop.
I don't hammer them, I only whack in 24gns 2206H with both 55 and 60, seated in to fit in the two Howa Mini short little magazines - can't seat them out to the lands - but they will print as good as anything.
I have a varmint Sako 85 that shoots them good enough to enter a target shoot, I reckon as well. Again, 2206H.

I only use them on skips heads and crows, so trying to get 223 for me to perform for bigger animals is just unprofessional. Sorry (not sorry) if that offends some.

In fact I could not see a difference in the Sierra Blitzkings in accuracy delivery, so I interchange both, and the factory ADI Blitzking load shoots to the same POA so we just interchange and they are identical in performance.

All guns and shooters are different, yes I know.

[Fester]

Yeah, some rifles may like them, but not my .223
Some say they will won't outshoot a super roo, but they are a better varmint bullet.

I never really decided on whether super roos are too hard or not.
A longer-range rabbit or a roo shot in the head = Dead is dead.

.223 has it's limitations, and animals run off more, so yeah, use enough gun.

Like using the .22lr and subs to dispatch animals.
Sure can work, if you know where to place it, but a newb may be in for a shock when it don't work so quick, like he had seen.

[Wapiti]

I bought one of those big boxes of the super-roos, and they do shoot really well don't they. Sierras never disappoint though, really.
A good many blokes on farms down this way that go out at night for cash from the box use them. A mate down on the river below the GlenLyon has used them for years and cannot stand the tipped bullets, he is a 223 fan for skip collecting but says the poly tipped bullets are too inconsistent.
He is like me, he doesn't have time, nor can stand, when a skip turns its head as the bullet is on its way and there is a poor animal with a jaw or snout hanging off, running away at 50kmh.
He's started reloading and has swapped the 223 for a Savage Varmint 308, one with a detachable AICS-type magazine as standard. He uses it on nights when the skips are skittish and that's when all that stuff happens, and is like me, the stuff-all difference in price is not a consideration when time and stuffing around is considered, as a lot of people like to forget.

I'm busting for the time to go for a walk with my 30-30 and the Speer Hot-Cors I've loaded, they shoot way better than my expectations and the ranges and country you find when out for a stroll here, would not be disadvantaged at all. I need to find one of the reasonably sized boars that have been fenced in to a few paddocks here, before they make too many more babies.

[bigrich]

I bought one of those big boxes of the super-roos, and they do shoot really well don't they. Sierras never disappoint though, really.
A good many blokes on farms down this way that go out at night for cash from the box use them. A mate down on the river below the GlenLyon has used them for years and cannot stand the tipped bullets, he is a 223 fan for skip collecting but says the poly tipped bullets are too inconsistent.
He is like me, he doesn't have time, nor can stand, when a skip turns its head as the bullet is on its way and there is a poor animal with a jaw or snout hanging off, running away at 50kmh.
He's started reloading and has swapped the 223 for a Savage Varmint 308, one with a detachable AICS-type magazine as standard. He uses it on nights when the skips are skittish and that's when all that stuff happens, and is like me, the stuff-all difference in price is not a consideration when time and stuffing around is considered, as a lot of people like to forget.

I'm busting for the time to go for a walk with my 30-30 and the Speer Hot-Cors I've loaded, they shoot way better than my expectations and the ranges and country you find when out for a stroll here, would not be disadvantaged at all. I need to find one of the reasonably sized boars that have been fenced in to a few paddocks here, before they make too many more babies.

i do okay with 55 vmax out of my 223 on the hoppers , i go for heart shots due to the reasons you stated above, and they work well with a near max load of 2206h . terrible feeling to see a horribly disfigured skip take off to die a slow death cause they moved or turned their head . i might have to try the sierra super roos . i tried some 55vmax with the cannelure last weekend , not as consistent as the plain vmax . live and learn i guess .

yes, you definitely need to take your thurty-thurty for a walk

[Fester]

I am not a headshot fan, mainly hunting deer, and their heads always seem to be moving anyway.
I sat on a feed field and decided to try the .223.
When no deer showed, and a goat was making ground fast and not sighted, I decided to take the roo with a headshot.
Sitting in my portable comfy chair with the bipod at around 100 yd, it should have worked, but the roo just stood there looking at me.
I put one in its chest, and it hopped off.

In the morning, after losing confidence in my rifle and myself, I took the 6.5x55 Tikka, as that rig just always shoots.
I shot a yearling teddy-faced buck, as the antlered bucks were post-rut, and no upgrade for me, and the freezer was empty.
After walking and spooking a couple of does, I headed back and found the roo; he didn't make it past the fence, and had one of the redest nice foxes on him.
I was too slow, and the Swede Hotcor load would have destroyed his fine coat anyway.

Confidence back and owner keen for some roos shot, I drove up on a big boy, and he didn't take off, just stopped at a little dam in a treed area.
Looks like I blood the 30-30 if he stays while I get it out of the tub and load it.
The peep sight with the tiny target ring failed me in the shady trees; I also had to shoot through branches and crap.
I had to just sight up and down, and let the shot go when I thought it was mid-chest.
TBH, I was amazed how hard it hit, dead on the spot, but maybe I spined it.

My first missed head shot was because the .223 was last used on the 300m paper targets, and windy.
I went a few clicks to centre the group, and forgot to put it back.
I think the roo also looked at me, giving the smaller head target, and those few clicks may have been enough to miss.
The chest shot still did its job.

I asked the owner, and he said he shoots them in the chest with his only rifle, a .223.
He said they do hop off and die.

When I asked if he intended to get a bigger rifle for deer and pigs, he replied no, and he doesn't like the way it's heading in Aus for guns. That was before Bondi went down.
He had no interest in hunting or shooting, just butchery and pest control.

[Fester]

Yeah, Sierra never disappointed me with accuracy.
Super roos are all I shoot in .223 as spending big on Match Kings got no tighter groups at 1, and 200.

I do shoot Hrndy ELDm because Cleavers used to sell the 6.5 140s at half price on their sales, but did find Sierra M/Ks shot a bit tighter a group, when I was learning to shoot longer range at the local F-class range for a year or so.

[Wapiti]

Yeah that's the same for me... I have tried the ELD's (in .30 and .33) because of the crazy special prices now and again.
But I can't get the same "accuracy" meaning smallest groups were/are always with the Sierra Matchkings.
Same as the Hornady hollowpoint match bullets, they just don't match the Sierras in the same weights.
That just may be the rifles I have, we know how they are all different, like women. That's the fun.

I have these 178gn ELD's to try in the .300 heavy rifles here, but the only things to relate them with that I had before was the 175 and 190gn Matchkings. The bullets are here but the damn time isn't.

The great prices sometimes popping up make the Hornady's real desirable for cheaper Saturday arvo long range fun with neighbours on the farm ranges. Keeps the cost down!
I've had .338 Match bullets on backorder for almost this whole year now, from The Barn.

[Fester]

Yeah, it seems to be the pattern.

I do a random check and weight-sort my packs of ELDm projies, as some batches are a bit less consistent.
The Sierras always seem to be in that good +- .1gr.

I actually bought 500 Siarras last time, as that was the best deal; can't complain, and will jump on whatever deal pops up next.

[Wapiti]

Yes, with the rise in prices of so much over the last few years when one of those silly specials comes up it's " oh no, do I have the dough right now?" Because if you don't, it's going to cost twice as much later. Doh!

[Damo300]

I loaded up some Speer 160gr soft point boat tails for the 7RM and got a chance to fling a few down range.

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Loving the results.
This is with 68.5gr and 68.8gr of 2217.
Norma brass.
0.030 off lands. Lands happens to be mag length in this 7mm tikka. 4mm to short in the 300wm tikka.
Only 3 shot groups as it's a deer hunting rifle and cold bore is important.

Screenshot_2026-10-19-11-04-22-42_fba46770566bb898b44ce9aa71bdb25a.jpg (188.34 KiB) Viewed 74 times

Middle two.
EDIT....TOP LEFT IS NOT PART OF THIS.

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Got some loaded up to 72gr.
See how they go.
Should see 3000. Reckon accuracy will drop off though.

[Fester]

Nice, once I scrolled to the middle ones.

I like the idea of a fast 7mm, shooting a 160gr Speer boat tails, and great to see they can shoot.

I am half thinking of buying a few packs if they pop up on the sales list.

I don't have a rifle or dies yet, but I reckon I will, the day after my safe loses 2 of its dwellers, late next year.

[Damo300]

I think the 7rm is a great round.
Nice and flat shooting.
Carries good energy out to typical hunting distances Can see why the americans like them.

I should also add that I have pillar bedded the action and used a titanium recoil lug.
I did this on my 243 and fixed it's group pairing.
I'll be happy to see 3000 out of the 160s. May have to switch to game kings but I reckon this Speer will get mighty close.

[Wapiti]

That's excellent Damo, love those 3-shot groups man.
160gns, unreal weight and a good speed too, shouldn't be too fast to see them working absolutely brilliant.
They pretty much are made similar to the Game Kings too aren't they?

I have only used the flat-base Hot-Cors, so it' great learning for me to see what the conventional boat-tails shoot like.

[Damo300]

My bad.
I meant the tipped game kings with that nice green plastic point. Their BC is slightly better than the lead head, but it's more so for my curiosity.

I'm also going to try the 180g Speers in the 300. Like you say, they look identical to the game kings. Ill have to get a box first to confirm, but BCS are very close. I'm confident I'll be able to use the same powder loads as I do with the Sierra as well, just swap the pill.

[Wapiti]

I remember a time when I looked at BC's and chased the best numbers, and it dictated my choices a lot. I understand why you are doing that too.
Geeze we did that like it was obsession almost once.

But I completely gave up on that some time ago, even when I get time to drag the LR rifles out.
Now, for me it's about looking completely at the actual performance of the pills, both when they hit and only after they have shown on the paper they can be consistent and the groups are small enough to make them useable at the max range I am going to use them at.
If they don't group, then the rest is pointless.
The velocity and obsession about diameter in the marketing has gone out the window now. Scopes have clicks so a few more either way is just pointless argument.
At any hunting range that isn't silly, it matters nothing for my application.
And a hunting rifle doesn't need exposed turrets to click adjustments, A varmint rifle would I'd imagine. So some cross-over learning from the range PRS shooters I suppose.

But even then, you need to stick up a target every 50m out to the max cartridge range, and fire at each one, and check this against any drop info from an app or a table, and I haven't found one that is accurate enough for a first shot centre hit when fed the box BC, diameter, altitude, humidity and velocity. If anyone has, please tell me.
Then, any changes in angle of the shot - up and down off complete horizontal make a difference too, enough to miss an animals vital zone out there.

You see people brag about hitting targets out at 1000m or any range that's popular on the day, but that's after throwing a lot of lead to get on target with all these considerations of the day and the location at the time.
The real brag is getting the cleaned rifle patched out, over the shoulder, set up on a hill with gear you can carry all day and see that 6" gong out at 837m, look at the little page taped to the stock, throw in the clicks, watch the grass moving all they way to the target, take a guess and hit it anywhere on that gong first shot. That's the result of all that time pegging targets out and recording data all the way out.

However I completely understand learning the differences and how it affects drop - but that's all it does. A high BC to me now, generally means unsuitable performance in any ranges they will be used at for taking out problem animals humanely.
Somewhere I spoke about swapping a Matchking for a Gameking, and jagging the swap-over being exactly the same. The BC's told me that wasn't possible, as did all the videos and posts online. Who'da thought.
If I'd looked at the numbers I wouldn't have even tried. And I would've missed out.