Speer bullets

I think the Grand Slam bullets ARE a premium bullet design that got badmouthed for no good reason. I have used them to shoot a dozen or so elk, a couple moose, a big mountain caribou and the odd deer from my .35 Whelen. The 250 gr. .358 GS has given me perfect performance, except deer where they are a bit stout and kills are not quite as quick as other softer bullets. My buddy used GS 130 gr. in his .270 for everything. Moose to whitetails, and lots of elk in between. NO failures, lots of dead critters. And accurate. I have used regular Speer HC bullets in my .257 Rob., .308 win,, .356 Win,, .35 W and 30-06 with satisfying results. Not sure why they are not more popular.
 
I would classify the Grand Slam as the equivalent of a Winchester Power Point, at least in 30 cal. A good bullet but not a bullet worth a $1 a shot.
 
Speer Grand Slam - The Speer Grand Slam is Speer's premium bullet offering designed to provide ideal terminal performance in regards to expansion and penetration on large game. The original Grand Slam was a dual core design, with the front portion being constructed from a softer lead for expansion, whereas the rear core was composed of a harder lead alloy designed to retain weight upon impact. The new design came about as material availability made it difficult to maintain the dual core design, and as such, the single core design was created. The current Speer Grand Slam design features a drawn jacket with a thicker shank at the heel, tapering to a thinner section along the nose. A pocket is swaged along the interior of the heel to mechanically hold the core upon insertion, and fluting is cut length-wise along the interior of the nose of the jacket to allow controlled expansion upon impact, giving the bullet its expansive properties. A ternary molten alloy of lead, tin, and antimony is then poured into the jacket, which prevents oxidation between the jacket and core as seen with conventional cup and core bullets. This feature resists core slippage upon impact. The new design has resulted in improved accuracy due to the single core, in addition to better weight retention than the previous design.

So as I see it, for about 70 cents to a buck a bullet, you get a cup-and-core on steroids.
 
I shoot about any brand of bullets but I've taken a few animals with Speer. Two of them are:

57 5/8" bull moose shot with a 150 grain Grand Slam form a 270 Winchester at 166 yards. Grand Slams ARE premium bullets. They behave much like a Partition than a traditional cup and core bullet:

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And here is one of the 2 deers I shot on Anticosti last fall. I had a half box of SPEER 165 grains BT so I work up a decent load for my Winchester Super Grade in 30-06. Shot 2 deers with 2 bullets. AND BOTH DROPED ON THE SPOT with lungs shot! Great bullets!

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I use speer bullets regularly for .30-06 and .257 bee and Roberts. Shoot very accurately. Only reason not to use them is maybe dangerous game where I would opt for a more premium bullet. I don't really like the "premium" moniker as all nosler bullets seem to be considered premium only because of price. Is a ballistic tip worth double an SST, I think not. Also people tend to think the more weight retention, the better the bullet. For thin the medium skinned game nothing could be further from the truth. Shooting deer in the ribs with a Barnes tsx in an 06 is a recipe for tracking with little blood. Nothing really against Nosler or Barnes just don't think you need to spend a dollar a bullet or more for reliable performance.
 
Grand Slams ARE premium bullets. They behave much like a Partition than a traditional cup and core bullet:

Even if the definition of a premium bullet varies from person to person, I agree. You pay more for the features in the Grand Slams than their Hot Cors for a reason, just like anything else.

I don't really like the "premium" moniker as all nosler bullets seem to be considered premium only because of price. Is a ballistic tip worth double an SST, I think not. Also people tend to think the more weight retention, the better the bullet. For thin the medium skinned game nothing could be further from the truth. Shooting deer in the ribs with a Barnes tsx in an 06 is a recipe for tracking with little blood. Nothing really against Nosler or Barnes just don't think you need to spend a dollar a bullet or more for reliable performance.

I agree on this as well.

Is a bullet "premium" because of a high price? More weight retention? Or because it is designed with features to perform better for a specific task, perhaps with less emphasis on production cost? I like to think the latter, unless there is something I am missing.
 
Been using their 110 HP's in .30 Carbine plus their 105 SPs and 90 FMJ's in .243 for eons. Speers tend to get over looked due to the aggressive marketing by other makers. Daft thing is some of their so called competitors are owned by the same company. Federal and CCI, for example.
 
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