Speer’s 220-grain jacketed soft-point was a classic, and while it is no longer produced,
it was a favorite among sixgunners with its half-jacket and semi-wadcutter front end.
It works well in Dave’s Smith & Wesson and Ruger revolvers.
As revolver bullets go, the old half-jacket Speer 200-grain hollowpoints and 220-grain softpoints may have looked like lead semi-wadcutters with really long gas checks, but out of my .41 Magnum revolvers, they worked like champs.
Indeed, back when I started handloading, these were among the most highly-recommended bullets I could use, according to older guys from whom I sought advice.
Alas, they went out of production some years ago, and I was lucky enough to have stocked up. But time passed, I went through a lot of bullets, discovering along the way how my sixguns also performed very well with the 210-grain JHPs from Nosler and Sierra, and the 210-grain XTP from Hornady, all loaded over stout charges of either H110 or then-Hercules (now Alliant) 2400.
Propelled by propellants such as H110, the 220-grain bullet was, as described
in a Speer reloading manual, a very effective deer bullet.
As my supply of the classic Speers dwindled, I had sort of resigned myself to living without what I considered one of the best bullet designs for magnum revolvers to ever come along.
Sure, the bullet design didn’t have the best ballistic coefficient, either for the .410-caliber pills for my .41 Magnums or the .429-caliber projectiles for the .44 Magnum, but they worked for me. The .44s were offered in two weights and styles, a 225-grain hollowpoint and a 240-grain softpoint.
Checking back in time via an old Speer reloading manual, I found the company also made a half-jacket 146-grain hollowpoint and 160-grain soft point in .357-caliber, though I never used them, since in those days, I pretty much stuck with 125-grainers. My bad.
Fired from Dave’s Ruger Blackhawk, the half-jacket Speer is capable of decent accuracy, even though he had one flyer.
Anyway, a couple of months ago, the gods smiled on me because a fellow reloader on Facebook, whom I’ve never met but he says he’s been a longtime reader of my stories relating to the .41 Magnum, reported that he had acquired a box each of the 200- and 220-grainers.
This got my immediate attention because my stores of the 220-grain bullets had dwindled to less than 40. Charles Hill, who shares my affinity for the .41 Magnum, shipped the soft points to me and I was all-too-happy to reimburse him for the shipping cost. He said he’d probably never use them, and they were part of a shipment he’d gotten from another guy, and so …
During a recent range session, the 220-grainer delivered the goods in terms of muzzle velocity. This load on the receiving end packs a punch.
Don’t Download!
A couple of things apparently lead to the demise of this bullet design. One was the downloading of the half-jacket projectiles, despite advice in the Speer loading manuals to not use them in “light, low velocity loads.” Indeed, Speer Reloading Manual #11 specifically cautions readers, “Bullets of this jacketed semi-wadcutter style should not be used in light, low velocity loads.”
Jacket separation apparently was a problem at low velocity; something I’ve never done with my magnum handloads. After all, what’s the point of having a magnum-caliber handgun if all you do is shoot light loads? That has never made sense to me.
But Allan Jones, who worked for Speer until his retirement, offered more detail about why this bullet design took a bow. While he did say jacket separation was a problem with “overly light loads,” he also recalled that Speer’s expansion of its plated bullets, which, in his words, “were far better bullets.”
I’ve shot a lot of plated Speer bullets, especially in my .45 ACP pistols, and they did perform remarkably well. Still, that half-jacket softpoint remains a favorite, maybe just because it was different.
When it was more readily available, I ran this pill over 15.5 grains of 2400 over a CCI 300 large pistol primer. This load would clock right around 1,200 fps out of my Blackhawk. Now, here’s an interesting historical tidbit: In the Speer Reloading Manual #11, the data listed for the 220-grain soft point called for a beginning load of 16.0 grains of 2400 with the maximum set at 17.5 grains, with a magnum primer.
But jump ahead to Speer Reloading Manual #14 and the starting charge recommendation is 14.2 grains of 2400 with the max being 15.8 grains, and a standard primer. All bullets were firmly roll crimped.
When Dave took delivery of a full box from a fellow .41 Magnum afficionado, he immediately loaded up a bunch of empty brass. The Speer soft point has a distinctive profile.
Every now and then, a little treasure surfaces. Dave’s Facebook friend Charles Hill send these along. Bullets such as these sometimes show up at garage or estate sales, or even gun shows.Keep your eyes peeled!
Despite the fact they’ve been discontinued, published data on these bullets—and especially the 220-grain version—for H110, 2400 and other popular propellants, still shows up.
Evidently there are still supplies of these Speer bullets still out there, and people keep using them, or find them at garage sales after some handloader has either passed—and the family is selling off his/her supplies—or just grown too old to continue.
Several years ago, I shot a mule deer buck with my Blackhawk, using a 200-grain Speer hollowpoint, along with a 210-grain JHP, and the buck didn’t get up to complain.
And, out of my Blackhawk many years ago, I managed hit a distant rock at about 150 yards with a couple of the 220-grain specimens at the bottom of a coulee in eastern Washington, shooting off a backpack for a rest.
Recently, I’ve also been shooting 220-grain Rainier Ballistics plated bullets over Accurate #9 with very good results out of both my Ruger and a Model 57 Smith & Wesson with a 6-inch barrel, but to suddenly come into possession of 102 (total) of the discontinued Speer bullets was like stumbling onto a small treasure.
I’ll credit fellow writer Brian Pearce for turning me onto Accurate #9 as a substitute for 2400, and so far this propellant has not let me down. I also use it to launch 215-grain cast lead semi-wadcutters with a beveled base from Rim Rock Bullets over in Polson, Montana, and that powder-bullet combination rocks, when launched by Winchester large pistol primers. I have used them to hit game-sized steel targets at better than a hundred yards.
Naturally, Workman weighed each bullet. Speer’s jacketed soft point was, in Dave’s recollection, remarkable for hitting the scale as advertised.
My Current Recipe
As for the 220-grain Speers, over 19.5 grains of H110, ignited by a CCI 350 large pistol magnum primer, I get decent accuracy with both my 6-inch Model 57 S&W and my 6 ½-inch Ruger Blackhawk, which turned in the slightly better muzzle velocity of 1,330 fps.
A 220-grain .41-caliber bullet traveling at that velocity is going to hit like a hammer and penetrate well into the vitals. I’ll acknowledge right up front that this load in either handgun delivers a snappy recoil, but it is nicely manageable for those used to shooting magnum sixguns.
So, what’s all of this about? In addition to gleefully enjoying this bullet bonanza, my motives also lean heavily toward self-preservation in the wilds.
I happen to live in the Pacific Northwest, and in just my immediate vicinity since May 2018, there have been two unprovoked mountain lion attacks—one was fatal—and more recently, a black bear sow attacked a teenage hiker when he apparently came between her and a cub, on one of the state’s most popular (translation: busy) hiking trails.
In the Pacific Northwest during hunting season, author keeps a .41 Magnum sixgun close at hand. He’s missed opportunities when legal bucks just wandered into range.
Normally, bears tend to stay away from such high traffic areas, and since the game cops couldn’t find this critter, she’s still out there, and she obviously has no reluctance to tangle with a human.
It’s not that I’m eager or even slightly interested in having to shoot a bear in self-defense, but I’m also not keen on the idea of being mauled in the unlikely chance a bear and I cross paths. I’ve come very (make that
uncomfortably) close to black bears before, and I figure if I can’t break that habit, the odds may be piling up against me.
During the fall deer season, I invariably carry a .41 Magnum even in camp. Should a buck wander past (which has happened to me a couple of times over the years) while my rifle is in its case, I might still manage to notch my tag with a carefully administered handgun shot.
Dave lives in bear and cougar country, where a wheelgun stoked with handloads
topped by a 220-grain Speer just might come in handy!
Henceforth, I plan to keep an eye peeled for garage sales where it just might be possible to come across another little jackpot of the 220-grainers.
Meanwhile, I’ll be using the ones I now have sparingly, hoping beyond hope that I score again. The fact that loading data is still showing up in the Hodgdon Annual Manual is a pretty good hint that somewhere, someone must have a supply that maybe, just maybe, they’ll be willing to share.