The #2005 speer 130 gr hp varmint bullet is my favorite supersonic bullet by a large margin in the 300 blackout. I shoot a pistol with a 9” faxon 5R match barrel 1-8 twist. The bullet stays together and mushrooms perfectly at close range of 15 yards and at 109 yards in gallon water jugs. Strange yardage, but my “long range” target is 110 yards by chance, it is between two posts just at the beginning of steep red clay bank just past the barn shooting off my front deck. The water jugs set up in front of it. The bullets start expanding in way less than 1 inch of penetration. Shots up close are generally stopping in 4th gallon jug, sometimes with a dent in back, sometimes just barely pushing through but not entering 5th, and I had one that kind of just dribbled into the front of the 5th. Perfect deer round for broadside lung shooting, I’d stay away from the shoulders. I made up some knox gelatin in a small Tupperware container(less than 1.5” thick), put it in a 1 quart Ziploc bag so I could hang it in front of the water jugs. I can’t find the 109 yard picture, only the one at 15 yards. They looked nearly identical anyway. I took this picture when I was working with IMR4227 and didn’t get the velocity I wanted, this picture is at roughly 1860 FPS muzzle velocity from labradar, shot at 15 yards.
mushroom and weight retention at 15 and 109 yards with IMR4227.
I'm now using accurate 11FS and am pushing 2000 fps, bullet mushrooms in water perfectly and stays together, retaining around 5-10 % less weight than when I was using IMR4227 around 1860 fps muzzle velocity. At the higher velocity bullet always is inside 4th water jug and doesn’t reach the back of it.
I had a problem with a few groundhogs around my barn and apple trees, over the course of 3 weeks, 3 were dumb enough to be out in daylight, I haven’t seen any signs of groundhogs since so I think those 3 were the only ones around. One I was just setting up my Ruger 17hmr to shoot groups and shot a 10lb+ groundhog at roughly 80 yards, rolled on his back and didn’t move. A few days later I was going out to smoke a cigarette and saw another groundhog almost the same size, I had my blackout out earlier working on Nosler 220 ballistic tips and it was just inside on the couch so I grabbed it. That groundhog was almost the same size as first, shot it around 75 yards and the nosler did a number on it, pretty big exit shot through shoulder and out half way down body, DRT. A couple weeks later a smaller groundhog came out as I was about to shoot a couple groups with the speer 130 with 11FS around 2000 fps muzzle velocity. The speer tore it up at close to 90 yards, it was a mess.
I think the speer 130 is the perfect all around bullet in the blackout, given it’s price, it is beyond perfect in my opinion. Could you do something better in a particular situation with something else? I’m sure you could, but it would not be a good bullet for something else. The speer just covers all bases well, maybe not perfect for what you want but still good.
Edited to add: No load I tried, no OAL was anything but accurate, the bullet just doesn't care how you send it down the barrel in my pistol. The worst groups I got were as nearly as good as the best of any bullet I've loaded for it and way better than any of the factory rounds I shot.