Speer Grand Slams from Speer bullets

[farmboy]

What does everyone think of these?

 

[Velo Dog]

Spend the extra 30 cents per bullet and use Swift A-Frame.

 

[Grady]

Depends on what you are using them for....Do you have any additional information to provide??? What are you hunting?

 

[CTDolan]

What velo said.

In their day they were great. Today, we've much better.

 

[Rob404]

I use Speers, they are very consistent in weight, the quality looks as good as anything else I've seen and used,the price makes them a bargain for range use, as for hunting use I have never read or heard anything derogatory about them, I use Sierras for hunting which also doesn't get much love on this forum

 

[Divernhunter]

I have used them. I now use Swift A-Frames. They are better.

 

[MS Hitman]

I used 165 grain Grand Slams in my .309 JDJ on Red Hartebeest, Blesbok, and an Impala. The bullets performed just as they should. I have no complaints with them.

 

[Ray B]

Bill Steigers tested a bunch of 375 bullets about 30 years ago. Included was the Speer Grand Slam. They performed as one would guess- they had better weight retention, penetration and expansion than the standard (Speer, Hornady, Sierra) bullets but less than the premium bullets of the day. I don't recall if he tested the Swift as they came on the market about the time of his testing. He tested them by firing from a 375 H&H and a 375/8mm Rem Mag into 55 gallon drums filled with water & laid on their side, top facing the gun. they were placed at 100 - 500 yards.
I tested some .308 180 gr bullets, including the Grand Slam (previously discussed on this forum) and found them as noted above. For the money, the best performing bullet that I tested was the Speer Mag-Tip. the Grand Slam bested it, but only marginally. But then, there have been a lot of bullets come & go since we did those tests so I don't know how they would compare to all of the Johnny Come Lately bonded bullets.

 

[farmboy]

Finding premium bullets can be hard at times. I have never very much cared for partitions. Accubonds seem alright. I also liked the grand slams I have used. I like Remington lok cor ultra bonded only shot one animal with them so not a final judgment. I have bought a few boxes of a frames when I find them that is rare I have not shot any yet. I liked trophy bonded bear claws. I have never seen hornaday interbonds yet.

 

[Longwalker]

I have used Grand Slam bullets to shoot a dozen or so elk and a couple of moose, a big mountain caribou and a couple deer with my .35 Whelen. 250 grain bullet at 2500 FPS muzzle velocity. I have no other personal experience, but my buddy uses 130's in his .270 at about 3000 fps for the same type of game.
I found the Whelen with GS bullets perfect for early season thick cover hunts with tough tracking conditions, where maximum penetration and bone crushing power were very important. I only recovered 3 or 4 of them, the rest all gave exit wounds, which I like. The ones recovered penetrated exceptionally well, after shooting animals lengthwise through a lot of big bones like vertebrae and humerus bones. They were too tough for deer, did not expand well on such light resistance and resulted in long tracking jobs. I cannot imagine better performance on big elk or moose. I would be completely confident in my .35 Whelen bullet / cartridge combination on Eland or Kudu or Gemsbok, but from what I've seen with my friends .270 and 130 grain Grand Slams on moose and elk, that cartridge/bullet combination is just barely adequate for animals that size.
I'd probably choose a Nosler partition or Swift A frame on an African hunt, they both provide good penetration on the big stuff and just a little better shock for the smaller species.

 

[farmboy]

As you know Speer no longer makes 358 diameter grand slams. That is the particular rifle I am wan a different bullet for. I have a 358 sta Magnum that I got 3000 fps out of the 250 grain bullet. I never found a bullet all went through. I like that as well.

 

[Ray B]

I hadn't paid much attention to Speer bullets lately, but checking their webpage I am quite surprised at the number of items no longer listed- All of the African Grand Slams are gone. I hadn't used the bullet but the .458" tungsten core FMJ seemed like a good solution for the Win mags reduced capacity by using a 500 grain bullet that was shorter than a lead core 500 gr.

 

[Catahoula]

I'm a big fan of Grand Slams for most game. I have had great success using them at modest velocities out of a 30-06, all one shot kills on medium sized game with great penetration and expansion. The 200 grain .308 version is my favorite for black bear, unfortunately they have been discontinued. Fortunately, I have sourced three boxes and will be using them this fall. I'm not sure I'd use them for larger plains game as there are probably better choices. When I go back to Africa, I'll use Woodleigh or A Frames.

 

[broncolcj]

I've used 200 gr. Grand Slams out of my 300 h&h with excellent results. Elk and larger plains game take it hard and go down quickly

 

[broncolcj]

I'm a big fan of Grand Slams for most game. I have had great success using them at modest velocities out of a 30-06, all one shot kills on medium sized game with great penetration and expansion. The 200 grain .308 version is my favorite for black bear, unfortunately they have been discontinued. Fortunately, I have sourced three boxes and will be using them this fall. I'm not sure I'd use them for larger plains game as there are probably better choices. When I go back to Africa, I'll use Woodleigh or A Frames.

I've used them on elk and wildebeest and it pretty well wrecks them

 

[enysse]

The Speer Grand Slams are fine bullets for the cost! There are a lot of hunters that have faith in these bullets. One of them thought it was the perfect leopard bullet.

 

[M McDindi]

I initially purchased 10 boxes of .308 180gr that had a huge discount offer from Speer. Intention was to just use them for range loads for several 30/06's we have. Started working up loads and was very disappointed in the accuracy out of 5 different rifles. Called Speer and the very first thing I was asked was if I was using a Lee Factory Crimp Die - yes. He said don't. Just use my regular seating die. That one change was the key. Next batch without the LFCD and those bullets shot as well or better than TSX's in all 5 rifles.

Took the Ruger 77 RSI in 30/06 for a PG cull hunt to Botswana last June (2019). That one trip I shot 20 impala and 10 blue w/b and only recovered 3 bullets. The 3 were from impala that were Texas heart shot, just off center of the spines and traveled along the spine, ruined the backstraps and stopped at the shoulder. Everything else was shot broadside through the shoulders and passed through.

I was so pleased with them that as soon as got home and ordered a BOATLOAD of them and took advantage of the Speer rebate promotion. I used them again later last year in our trip to Namibia culling mountain zebra and then over to Botswana again culling impala and blue w/b with my wife. All of last year, between those two trips there were 60+ head of PG from impala to zebra taken with them and only those first 3 were recovered.

Came home from that trip and ordered up another boatload of the 308's and a boatload of .375 285gr ones. Same thing, accuracy sucked with the LFCD. Leave that out and they shoot as good or better than TSX's too.

Will be using them again this Aug (hopefully) for another 40 head cull hunt in Botswana with a different 30/06 rifle and the 375 Ruger just to test them in that caliber.

TSX's and other premium bonded are fine, no question at all. But I really like to practice with what I'm going to use and at the price point I got one the Speer and the quantity I now have on hand, it's not likely I'll need anything else.

 

[meigsbucks]

The Grand Slams are on their third version. The initial version had a hard alloy rear core with a softer front core in front. These were not separated by a partition. At the base of the core was a heel crimp meant to keep the core from slipping. They mushroomed beautifully and retained approximately 60-70% of their weight. However, that heel crimp only retarded core slippage. I have a 165 gr shot from a .30/06 that as I recovered it looked like the perfect mushroom but the core fell out.
Version two, they added a ring similar to Hornady’s Interlock. This was a great bullet for it’s time. I used the 250 gr in a .338 Win mag @ 2640 fps. I only recovered one and it retained 74% of its weight. On a huge mule deer at ~100 yds, thru the shoulder, thru the heart, out the arm pit crushing the elbow and recovered there. All the rest were exits, even with shoulder shots on a couple elk.
The third and current version has done away with the duel hardness cores and gone to a single core. The GS’s still have a thicker jacket, particularly in the shank area and flutes in the front of the jacket. Now they are basically a thick jacketed standard cup and core bullet.
Bottom line I’d pick a Nosler partition over the GS and better still, the Swift A/F.

 

[Dirtdart]

Speer has the 285 grain .375 Grand Slams for $14.99 per box of 50 with free shipping on $99 purchase.

 

[ve7poi]

Anything I’ve shot with them dropped no complaints on performance.