Speer 52gr. Vamint???

S

SamuraiTrapper

New member
I picked up a couple boxes of these bullets to try out in my .223. Are they the same thing as the TNT's? Anybody have any experience with these? they look like an awesome bullet for ground-squirrels and rock-chucks. I am wondering about the use of a 52gr. hollow point on coyotes though. Does anybody use these on coyotes? Is it enough??
 
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This bullet has been around for 50+ years and it is a good killer. It was once considered the most accurate bullet made, and Speer sold a silver plated version - the huge hollow point causes the BC to be low, but they shoot well and open up F-A-S-T.

But they can cause feeding problems sometimes because the lip of the hollow point catches on the edge of the chamber on the way in - I can't use them in two of my rifles because of this feeding problem.

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The are grat Coyote bullet in both the 22/250, and 223. I have many thousands of them. No there are not the same as the TNT's.
 
Do you have any pet loads with these? Were you having feed issues in semi-auto's, or bolt guns? I will be running these in a 12FV savage.
 
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Do you have any pet loads with these? Were you having feed issues in semi-auto's, or bolt guns? I will be running these in a 12FV savage.



"Pet loads" are... not something that are transferable. Each gun has preferences - I like H-322 and BenchMark for bullets in this weight range in the 223 family.

But 10 other guys will have 10 other suggestions!

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Rick Jamison, a writer, used that bullet when he fur hunted for a living back in the 70's when the fur prices were high. He ran them pretty fast--around 3800 if I remember correctly. I used them for quite a while for my coyote load. I loaded them over H380. They will make a coyote dead but I think Jamison tried to get the head-on shots as much as possible. I had mixed results but I wasn't calling as many of my coyotes then as I do now. Definitely enough medicine just didn't always stay inside a coyote. I ended up with better fur results using the 60 gr v-max.

My $.02. YMMV.
 
tt35..Are you talking about the Speer's with the large hollow point ?? I have some #1035..The opening of the hollow point look's to big to me,I've had good luck @ the bench with them.Just afraid they might be to "explosive" on coyote's ?? I bumped into a older gentleman @ Sportsmans warehouse that swore by these bullet's & H-380 out of a 22/250..Dunno..
 
Dave:

Yeah, that's the one. It has a like a 1/8" hollow point vs a 1/16". I doubt that you'll find them too explosive. I doubt that they'll splash but they should open up faster than your average 52 gr match bullet. Back in the day, I was hoping this would end my search for a fur bullet but they still exited quite a bit when the shot was not straight on or straight away. I had pretty bad luck with the 52 gr match bullets. Tore up a LOT of coyotes. I honestly didn't try the Hornady. Les Johnson seems to have great luck with them. I used Sierra's in 52 and 53 gr and Berger 52's. I shot some Hornady's just not on coyotes.

I used to use H380 then switched to Varget. Both worked well in my rifles.

tt
 
tt35..Thank you..

I've been having some trouble lately finding my favorite soft point bullet's..Yeah i know so is everyone else..

Sooo..I've got some of these bullet's looking @ me..Might have to give them a try for coyote's this fall..
 
The 52grhp Speer has killed plenty of coyotes for me since 1983.I'm talking in the hundreds.No splashes,but maybe a few rips down the side.I've always said they were the most under rated,over looked, bullet out there.I'm talking a drt bullet out of a 22-250 or .220Swift.I haven't used them in any of the slower .22's,but I'd still bet on them.You can find bullets with a better b.c. but I think a guy would be hard pressed to find a better,fur friendly bullet,with the lock-up power that bullet has.I don't know about the 52gr match Speer,and really don't care.I shot a few on paper,and in my opinion,they don't shoot as well as the standard 52grfb.I'm glad Midway sells them buy bulk!
 
I use this same bullet in my .220 Swift. It's been the best flying for my gun. It's biggest draw back is the long down range shots you get from time to time. You'll need to shoot them at 400 and 500 yrds to see where they'll hit for you. They loose poop at this range because of the B.C. We, my hunting partner and I, have used this same bullet for over 25 years now. I got a .223 WSSM a couple of years ago. These bullets blew up coming out the barrel. I think the twist rate of 1:9 is too fast for them. But I also had blow ups with bullets of other makes and manufacturers. My old Swift has a 1:12 I believe.
 
I shoot these over 27grns Varget out of my .223. They have beeen working great for me on Coyotes. Farthest I have been able to shoot a dog with these was about 350yrds= DRT. They are accurate and when I bought them were cheap compared to other bullets but that was a ways back. Pretty good bullets.
 
I had the Speer 52g HP blow up on coyotes shoulders and ribs when shot at 3650 out of a 22/250 on shots that were 35-75 yards.

I shot loads of them on ground squirrels, jacks, and p. dogs.

Lots of guys say they have had great luck on yotes with this bullet....one of those things that makes you go Hummmmmmmm..........

Chances they made the jackets a little thicker since 1990 when I took a box of 50 of them on a trip to Mexico for yotes.

Multiples on a stand were common. I can remember one stand where we had 7 down, and the call was still going. three dogs got up an tried to hoppple off.
 
Here's some I loaded up for my NEF Ultra 223, it really likes them.
e2f67a56.jpg


I only shoot 3-shot groups with this rifle because it's not built for target shooting with the heavy trigger etc and I always throw a shot or two. But I can shoot pretty good 3-shot groups regularly. This was the first group while sighting in this season, 0.382" center to center.
042213e5-1.jpg
 
I have been shooting this bullet from my 22-250 Rem rifles for 30 some odd years. And I have never had a bullet blow up a coyote. I have had exits at ranges closer than 100 yards, but most of the time past 100 yards it won't exit.

I shoot it over H380 - 39 grs. at around 3650 fsp. I have had 5 Remington 700V rifles and several friends with Remingtons and others rifles and this load shoots great from just about any rifle you put it in.

I am getting 1/2 inch to 3/8 inch groups from 100 yards.

I have shoot a semi truck load of squirrels and rockchucks, and it does a really good job of literally blowing them up. I have shot jack rabbits, feral cats, crows, etc.... it works great. It just kills coyotes DRT. Over the years I can count on one hand the number of runners, that is because I didn't do my job just right.

My son inlaw and I went to Sportsmans Warehouse yesterday, and I bought one of their last boxs of the Speer 52 gr Hollowpoints.

They are great bullets, Good Luck with using them.
Gary
 
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Man that big hollow point just weird's me out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif



Dave...

You need to stop smoking and stay out of the sun!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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I used to use the Speer 52gr. Flat Base Hollow Point Bullet exclusively in my .223 & .22-250. I never did shoot any Coyotes with them but they sure put the hurt on Prairie Dogs and Crows.

I have a buddy that uses this bullet exclusively in his .223's. He has shot several Coyotes with this bullet out of a .223 with excellent results.

I have yet another buddy that has shot lots of the Speer 52gr. Flat Base Hollow Point Bullets in the form of UltraMax Commercial Reloads with great results. Come to think of it I have a box of them sitting here that I need to try out.

Larry
 
I have used these since the early 80's in a bunch of rifles. 221FB, 222 rem, 223, 22-250 and 220 swift. I just loaded 100 for the FB and shot some, wish I had the camara at the range. 7/8 inch at 100 yds with the XP100 w/ leupy 2x. Works good !!
 
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