Hi all. Bit of a question about Speer TNT bullets. I have used these before in both 22 and 7mm with excellent results. A mate bought a box of 30 cal pills to shoot out of a 308. They are loaded to 3150fps. Finding that they are passing straight through game and ranges under 250 yards. I got a few to open up last night after we trimmed the tips with a giraud and then only at 300 yards +. Out of the 6 shots I fired last night 3 animals ran off and only 2 were anchored and killed on the spot. One I hit twice at a measured 297 yards and it too ran off and was lost. The jackets look overly thick on this batch of 500. Has anyone had similar problems with TNTs lately?
Speer TNTs
- Thread starter Barossa_222
- Start date
I believe the TNTs are designed with thinner jackets than most jacketed game bullets for fast expansion and fragmentation. Not totally positive about 30 cal bullets but the smaller caliber TNTs are. I believe they are designated as varmint bullets due to the very thin jackets.
Curious about this as well....
Interesting. I'm guessing just a pencil hole thru a dog or hog eh ?
Thin skinned critters. Goats, foxes etc
The jackets look very thick on these. Wasn't sure if anyone else had similar problems.
The jackets look very thick on these. Wasn't sure if anyone else had similar problems.
Yes. They were the most accurate bullet I have ever shot but yes so many PD were just wounded and not killed.
Sounds like Quality control needs some fine tuning at Speer.
Something like that. Most of the time they are truly like TNT. Every once in a while they are the hardest match bullets they can produce.
i have only shot a few coyotes with them, but they worked very well.
I use them a lot, when I can find them. Never had a problem, they have been dead zero accurate and explosive for me, but I seem to remember something about some bad batches a while back that got out and the complaint was they would not expand. I don't remember Speer addressing or commenting on it. I am sure they will provide anyone with replacements if you give them a call. Seems like somebody at Speer might have fed the wrong jackets into the TNT bullet machine...
slancey
Gold $$ Contributor
I had a similar experience with these in .220 Swift. I loaded about 500 rounds for prairie dogs, and I used several different 50 grain bullets, including Hornady V-Max, Sierra Blitz King, Nosler Ballistic Tip, and Barnes VLC. I was trying to determine which one had the best combination of accuracy and explosiveness. The TNTs did not seem as explosive as the others, so I just concluded that they weren't for me. This was nearly 20 years ago, and before I ever imagined that not all manufacturing runs are the same. Because of that trip, I gravitated toward the Hornady V-Max for prairie dogs and small varmints. But I have read and heard that the TNTs are a very explosive bullet, so you may want to look into another lot of bullets.
You may also want to drop down in caliber. A .308" bullet in any weight is a lot of lead, and carries a lot more momentum than the varmint bullets in smaller calibers. I tried the TNT in .308 Win. myself and found that the velocity didn't seem to be high enough to cause the wide traumatic wounding that you would expect from a varmint bullet, at least not consistently. I also had a hard time getting them to group well.
You may also want to drop down in caliber. A .308" bullet in any weight is a lot of lead, and carries a lot more momentum than the varmint bullets in smaller calibers. I tried the TNT in .308 Win. myself and found that the velocity didn't seem to be high enough to cause the wide traumatic wounding that you would expect from a varmint bullet, at least not consistently. I also had a hard time getting them to group well.
Below is a test of the Sierra 110 gr varmint bullet versus the Speer TNT 125 gr bullet in my BAT 308 Win with 1/14" twist Krieger barrel. Range was 300 yards and a 2,000 page book was used to test penetration and 3 each (5 shot) groups were fired for accuracy. The 110 SRA averaged about 1.5 moa and the 125 SPR averaged about .5 moa. The 110 clearly was more explosive on this book.
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