87 gr Speer H.C.

[ShadeTree]

Got a 250 Savage with the older slow twist, which handles and shoots the short 87 grain speer bullet much better than 100 gr although it does shoot the 100 gr good enough.

I'm running IMR 4350 to keep the speeds down and was itching to see if the 87 gr would show some reliability on a jug test and it done better than what I anticipated overall.

Averaged 2875 on 2 shots through a chrono set out at 15' with a 9fps E.S. so estimated muzzle velocity is 2890.

1 gallon milk jugs were set up at 25ys, estimated impact of around 2810.

Obliterated the first 2 jugs and was laying in the 4th jug. I was hoping it would make it into 3.

Shed a good bit of weight but remained intact. Core fell out of the jacket after I dumped it in my hand. Retained weight was 42 gr's, so 48%. Expanded diameter varied from .380-.420 depending where you measured it.

I want to do 1 or 2 more tests to make sure it wasn't a 1 off, but if it shows similar results in the future I can confidently use it to handle any whitetail on behind the shoulder shots.

 

[gerry]

That looks like it would work well on deer, stick one of those into the ribs of a deer and it's going to be in serious trouble. It will be interesting to see how your follow up tests go.

 

[cloverleaf]

I see some "bang flops" in your future. The 'ol 250 punches well above her weight. Good work. CL

 

[ShadeTree]

Yep Gerry, being it's somewhat on the verge I want to see another test or 2 for my own peace of mind. But if it shows similar results and doesn't stray too far off from this result, I'll have some confidence in it, instead of some serious reservations like before.

Nothing wrong with that performance for whitetail, if it reliably repeats that it's near perfect actually IMO as far as dumping energy and getting plenty of penetration.



CL, maybe me and that old classic will give a whitetail a bad day this upcoming season.

 

[SJB358]

I’d be good with those results. Looks pretty good to me and 4 jugs in my experience with testing a couple other bullets is plenty of penetration that I wouldn’t expect to keep one inside of a buck on a rib shot. Great test. Thank you ST!

 

[JD338]

That's a deer killing bullet right there. As Scotty mentioned, 4 jugs is really good penetration for deer and you most likely will have exits on lung shots.
Good work and thanks for sharing.

JD338

 

[ShadeTree]

Yep Scotty and JD, my opinion as well, just gotta confirm it's not a 1 off result.

I don't want to slant something better than what it is, but as a topic of discussion, I could care less if a bullet shakes loose it's core at the end of it's route when it's all over. Kinda irrelevant to me at that point. Just don't bust loose into small pieces on impact, or shortly after.

Maintain some kind of single solid shape on it's way through while shedding energy, and you can get a lot of desirable results regardless of bullet design or brand in my experience.

 

[SJB358]

Yep Scotty and JD, my opinion as well, just gotta confirm it's not a 1 off result.

I don't want to slant something better than what it is, but as a topic of discussion, I could care less if a bullet shakes loose it's core at the end of it's route when it's all over. Kinda irrelevant to me at that point. Just don't bust loose into small pieces on impact, or shortly after.

Maintain some kind of single solid shape on it's way through while shedding energy, and you can get a lot of desirable results regardless of bullet design or brand in my experience.

Amen, that’s what smokes deer in my book