Scott Tschirhart gave me a present the last time I saw him.

[JimT]

He gifted me some old-time Speer bullets! They take me back to the early days of my shooting and reloading. Today I loaded some of them.

1- Speer 225 JHP.JPG

2 - love the old labels.JPG

I miss those old labels!

3 - good looking.JPG

And down at the bottom, under all those bullets ... something we sure don't see anymore.

4- don't see this anymore.JPG

So I decided I wanted to shoot these in the .44 Special USFA and the 1894 Marlin carbine. Thankfully I have a loading manual that dates back to when Speer was making these bullets! Speer Loading Manual #8

5 - #8.JPG

The Data

6- loading data for these bullets.JPG

I decided I wanted a stout load and a mild load. So I loaded 50 with the maximum charge of 2400 listed in the manual .. 16.0 grains. I wanted to load some mild and dropped below their minimum for Unique. I already load the Keith SWC with 6.5 gr. of Unique and it's an accurate and mild load, so I chose to load 6.7 gr. Unique with these.

7 - change for Unique powder.JPG

I guess you could call that 6.8 gr. and be close but so is 6.7 so I am going with that.

8 - ready to load.JPG

9- seated and crimped.JPG

IMG_5739small.jpg

I will post the results when I finally get to the Range.

[samsi]

I miss those, although I preferred the 240's. I just checked and I have 26 of them left, loaded in magnum brass with HS6. A nice accurate medium load.

Looking forward to the range report.

[TedH]

I have a box of those also gifted to me by a fellow Levergunner. I have only loaded them in 44 Spl.

[Bill in Oregon]

What would Vernon Speer (and his neighbor Jack O'Connor) think of his company today, merely a label for a Czech-owned conglomerate, and whose products seem to be produced at a whim now and then, when someone in the hierarchy feels like it? (Not bashing our Czech friends here, as the whimsical production schedule dates to Vista Outdoors days.) And now I see the new "Cascade Ammunition" label belongs to a Mexico-based manufacturer with close ties to CCI Speer. Based on my experience with Aguila .22 LR ammo, the Mexicans know know how to make some good stuff.

[EdinCT]

That's all I shot in the 1970's. I always thought they would perform like a Nosler Partition where the front would expand and blow off. Then the back end would punch through.
Never found one to prove my theory. They fed great in my 1894 Marlin too!

[Scott Tschirhart]

I’m really glad you are putting those to good use Jim.

[JimT]

When the weather clears up I will take 'em to the Range. Raining today but it will clear up in a couple days. I ain't complaining about the rain 'cuz we need it. I am, however, looking forward to see how these loads do.

[AJMD429]

.
Boy that stuff brings back good memories of my teenage years...

[wvfarrier]

Oh wow! Those are neat

[tray]

I use to buy those by the pound from a shop in downtown Lewiston. Word was, if QC found a flaw they would stop the line, go several feet either side of the found flaw and rake the bullets into a plastic tub. Those were sold as seconds by the pound. I never found a flawed bullet in the ones I bought there. They didn't want to feed in my Marlin, but they were great in all my handguns.




w

[Steve in MO]

I just checked my shelf and I have 26 of them left in the box. I really miss them!