Thoughts on Speer BTSP?

[Kachok]

I normally use mostly Serria products, but seeing as everyone is out of stock on my favorite bullets I have been reaching farther into my stockpile of bullets and it turns out my 308 REALLY likes the old 150gr Speer BTSP (like almost 1/2 MOA likes it), though I have never used one of these on game before, plenty of game has fallen to my very similar looking Serria Game Kings I use but never once with the Speer. I am not worried about expansion, of all the complaints I have heard about Speer products lack of expansion never made the list, my only concern is I am an exit wound guy, I have never recovered a bullet from game and never feel the need to. These bullets have an internet reputation for alot of energy dump and little penetration, but then again so does the Serria and I know that to be false. Anyone have any real world experience with these to share? Life would be so much simpler if my 308 liked 165s like my 06
BTW 44.5gr of Varget puts me right around a mild 2720fps so it won't be impacting at rail gun speeds. Deer around here run in the 100-200lbs range not huge by any standard.

 

[grubbylabs]

I hope there are some folks who can share some good feed back because my Marlin XS-7 really like the 165 grain Speers.

 

[buck460XVR]

Speer claims their 150gr BTSP gives "excellent expansion and deep penetration on the heaviest non-dangerous game." Combine this with the superior accuracy you say it brings to your firearm and I doubt that you have anything to worry about when it comes to terminal performance on average size deer.

 

[sage5907]

kachok, the Speer 30 caliber 150 grain BTSP is my favorite bullet for shooting deer and I've probably shot 30 large bucks with them. With a shoulder shot from my 30-06 the animals very seldom move out of their tracks. The bullets expend all of their energy inside the deer and that's what makes them so destructive. They always smack loudly when they strike a deer. On the other hand I shot 4 large wild hogs with them this week as my first hog hunting experience and I was surprised that they didn't make an audible sound when they hit and went completely throught the hogs like a hot knife through butter. That tells me a hog is not constructed nearly as solidly as a deer.

 

[Kachok]

Cool, that gives me a little confidence in them, just loaded up another batch to double check, only thing that drives me crazy about the speer is the tip is not as uniform as the Serria making the OAL of the load vary alot, press on the same setting loads varied from 2.778 to 2.787" that is as much variation as I have ever seen but if they shoot good and kill clean I am not at all worried about the measurements.

 

[JimKirk]

Can't offer an opinion on the .308 ones ...

But my 25/06 loves the 120 gr Speer and have killed many deer with them ...

My A-Bolt will shoot the Speer just a fuzz tigher than the Sierra 117 gr GK... both well under 1" at 100 yds. Both kill deer just fine...

 

[Mobuck]

I used Speer 165BTSP in my 308 HB rifle to kill numerous coyotes over several winters at ranges up to 400+ yards and all showed some level of expansion. Also shot several deer satisfactorily but most were meat deer and were under 200 yard broadside ribcage shots showing some but not excessive expansion.
My only reason for choosing this bullet was logistics. I had a case of UltraMax reman ammo holding this type bullet which my longe range rifle liked which produced excellent long range performance so that's what I used. I'm currently using handloaded ammo using Nosler 155 HPBT bullets which I've found doesn't expand noticeably on coyote sized animals at the ranges I use it.
I would not hesitate to use the Speer 165 on deer but personally prefer a tougher bullet if going after elk/bear.

 

[Silent Sam]

"That tells me a hog is not constructed nearly as solidly as a deer."

I wouldn't bet on that assumption.

 

[41 Mag]

they didn't make an audible sound when they hit and went completely throught the hogs like a hot knife through butter. That tells me a hog is not constructed nearly as solidly as a deer.

As mentioned - "I wouldn't bet on that assumption." Deer aren't nearly as solid as a hog. Deer also don't usually have the an inch or more of fat below a hide that is tough as a tire.

We shoot PLENTY of hogs and usually just look the deer over. When we work up loads we use hogs as a test media, and if it will drop a hog in it's tracks most deer don't stand a chance.

The Speer bullets have done well for me in the range of .243 through the 303 British. I didn't load them overly fast paced for the weights I have used. In my 25-06 however I had them running just below 3000fps and they would literally roll a deer at 200yds. They were one of the most amazing bullets I ever shot out of it. They simply didn't group as well as the 115gr Partitions did.

I doubt seriously you will have any issues with them loaded up to the mid 2800fps range. Beyond that they might get a bit messy on the cleaning part, but you won't be tracking anything very far.

 

[Kachok]

It likes the lighter charges of Vargert, tried 46gr-48gr but the groups opened up a bit. Don't need it pushing really high speeds, I have a 270 WSM if I need high speed/flat trajectory, and a 30-06 if I want to see how big a hole I can knock in them, with Game Kings that 06 makes a mess of a deer, you simply would not believe it, I don't hunt with it because I like to eat deer, but my brother loves that thing. Not looking for bowling ball sized exit wounds with the 308 so I am OK with 2700fps as long as I can get through and through.