Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Speer Hot-Cor ??

Vaguely. The shot was at 530 yards as measured by laser. The elk were moving slowly from left to to right and I shot the last cow at the tail end of the herd. Condition were perfect, about 8 in the AM, no wind and I was as close a I could get behind the only small bush between me and the elk. A good solid sitting position and one shot, elk down. I tagged the elk, and walked back to the truck to get my wife to help me do the gutting. As we walked back to do the job we saw two guys on ATVs riding off with what turned out to be my animal. hey'd done a quick job of cutting it in two and strapped it onto their ATVs. I've had a very strong dislike for ATVs on hunts ever since.

I've hunted that area before and knew shots could be way the hell and gone out there. Spent about three month prior to the hunt practicing with that .300 Win. Mag. one my clubs silhouette range out to the 500 meter line, generally twice a week. That was back in 2007 IIRC and I'm still pissed about that elk. Couldn't find a game Warden or LEO to try and file a complaint.
Paul B.

Wow. Not at all what I expected to uncover with that question PJGunner. Sorry I picked an old wound. I don't care for ATVs being around when I'm hunting either.

The Hot-Cor is no doubt my favorite bullet for the 25.06. I have killed countless deer with the 120gr Hot-Cor and have only ever recovered one and it weighed 86.4 grs after going through both shoulders and was lodged in the skin on the off side and in a nice mushroom. Fortunately I stocked up on them when Speer stopped making them and have enough to last a lifetime. My daughter shot them in her 260 briefly with the same results on game but unfortunately Speer stopped making those as well and i didn't stock up and haven't been able to find any more. She now shoots the Sierra 120gr PH. The Hot-Cor is a good bullet and doesn't break the bank on price.

The 3 on the left look exactly like the few 145 GS's I've caught in whitetails from a 7-08.

I haven't caught a 200 HC from my .338-06 yet, but I've only shot deer with it.

I have to say the Speers I've shot have worked without fail and have had the best drt ratio of any bullet I've hunted. 145 gr Speer btsp in .284 Win is my go to hunting round. Fantastic flight and kill charcteristics.

I have had good results from speer bullets. Good accuracy and good terminal results. 2 rifles I load for a speer bullet was the first bullet that shot well enough for me.

Not every batch of bullets are a good batch. The most pathetic performance i have personally had was a hot-core out of a .30-06. Not some over the top high speed magnum, and I have avoided them since. Think early ballistic tip type performance.

I used them for varmints but nothing else. They may be better now, the ballistic tip certainly is, but when you find what works well it's hard to leave them to try something that really wasn't impressive.

Most will have a similar experience in one way or another, often a completely opposing one to someone else.

If hotcor does not somehow cling to the bullet jacket, then I'm not clear why flat base are hotcor and boat tails are not, what is difference between them?

The boattails are swaged, with a softer lead-alloy core than used in the Hot-Cors.

Yes. And for the benefit of those not in the know, as lead gets harder, it is more difficult to swage. The press dies have to be more robust, and the operation is higher maintenance. That is probably why, years ago, Speer decided to pour molten lead into the jackets.

I am a fan of their stuff. It works.

This picture shows lead being seated into a bullet jacket. Thousands of pounds of pressure are exerted on the jacket and core when the punch pushes on, and seats the core. The harder the lead core, the more pressure required.

I use 270 Grain Hot Cores in my 9.3X62. I like 'em but I only use 'em on hogs and deer. I'm here to tell you They WILL do a number on a white tail doe though . But I've I ever want to hunt something bigger I might look into something heavier like the 286 Grain Nosler Partition t'hough, only because of the old saying, "If a little bit'll do a little good, then a whole lot 'll do a whole lot a good. But seriously, I'm no expert but what I read on here and other forums the NP is just Bullet Proof, pun intended.

I use 270 Grain Hot Cores in my 9.3X62. I like 'em but I only use 'em on hogs and deer. I'm here to tell you they WILL do a number on a white tail deer though . But if I ever want to hunt something bigger I might look into something heavier like the 286 Grain Nosler Partition though, only because of the old saying, "If a little bit'll do a little good, then a whole lot 'll do a whole lot a good. But seriously, I'm no expert but what I've read on here and other forums the Nosler Partition is just about Bullet Proof, pun intended.

In the 70's I used 160 hotcors for awhile, then went to 145 hotcors from a 7mmRM on mule deer and whitetail and never recovered one. They open quick but hold together. Only reason I quit using was the battered bullet tips in the magazine from recoil.

And what was the problem with the "battered" bullet tips?

The batter is usually lumpy and doesn't adhere uniformly, thereby upsetting the BC, the AC/DC, the AM/FM, and all sorts of other really important ballistic components.

Battered bullets don't affect things as much as people think. It's more aesthetics than BC. Unless of course, you are talking about reaching out a long way.

Someone (I think maybe John Haviland?) had an article one time where he completely mutilated bullet tips to see what effect it had on reasonable hunting distances (very little to none).

I would believe that. We did tests with several types of military ammunition and nothing changed significantly. The only problems I encountered were feed failures. But there weren't too many of those.

I have used them in various rifles and various cartridges since about 1970. Results are mixed.
Here is a list of most of them (what I can remember as I write this)

In 6MM their old 105 grain was prone to come apart after pretty deep penetration, so coming apart was not explosive and it did pretty well.

In 25 cal I used the 120 and I was surprised it didn't do very well. Had a tendency to come apart faster then the smaller 6mm. From my 25-06 I used that bullet on 5 antelope and 7 deer. Went back the the Core-Lokt with were 1/2 as accurate, but held together better so they penetrated deeper and went straighter through the deer and antelope . The old thick jacketed Core Lokt was replaced with a thinner jacket several years ago so after the old ones were used up I just "bit the bullet" and bought 120 grain Partitions from then on.

In 6.5MM and 7MM I used to shoot them, but I never killed anything with one of their 6.5s or 7MMs from the hot core line. I did use Mag-Tips and Grand Slams in 7mm but never a hot-core

In 270 their 130 was ok, but nothing to get too excited about and I would say much the same for their 150, but they used to make a 170 in 270 which I killed 1 elk with, and it worked very well. One kill is not a good test, but I got a very deep wound in that elk with an exit and I have to say it was as good a kill as any I have ever seen.

In 30 cal I have used their RN 150, their 150 Spitzer, their 165 grain spitzer and their 180 grain Spitzer and also their 180 gr Round Nose, all on deer, and one 180 grain Spitzer on an elk from a 308 Norma, and three 180 gr RNs from a 30-06 on elk. Overall, I never had much to complain about. None blew up on impact and all seemed to go deep, even when they came apart. Both the RN weights were better then expected and the 180 was VERY good. Of all the hot-cores in 30 cal from that list (except the 180 RN )I would say about 1 in 3 would shed their jackets, but again, not explosively. Not one of the 180 grain RNs came apart, and all gave exits with excellent results.

Now the one I had high hopes for, the 200 grain spitzer, was not all that good. I used them in 30-06 and 300 Win mag and 300 H&H. They seemed to come apart faster then the 180s did. Weird, but that how they were.

Just a few days ago I killed a white tail with the 170 grain flat point from my 30-30. Same bullet I killed several other deer with back about 25-30 years ago, and all those back then were excellent. But last week I got one that broke up completely. Hit was in the center of the chest as it ran away. I expected an exit at the front of the chest on the other side. Nope. I got a good kill because both lungs were destroyed, but I only found a piece of the core and it weights only 37 grains now. I never found any of the jacket at all, so I am wondering if Speer is using thinner jackets now then they did 30 years ago.

I never used any Speer Hot Core 8MMs

I did try one 200 grain 338 on a big Mule Deer from a 338-06. Facing me, I hit the front leg at the junction of the chest, and the bullet should have gone through to the back of the chest, but it slanted to the same side and went down the deer's ribs exiting only about 10 inches behind the entrance on the same side. I killed that deer with a 44 mag after I tracked it down when it dove into heavy brush. I think that may have been a fluke, but I did find lead and jacket pieces in the short wound, so I went to the 210 Nosler after that for my 338-06s.

In 35 cal I killed 7 deer with a 35 Remington using the 220 grain FPs, and all were very good performers with quarter size exits. My friend killed a good sized black bear with the same rifle and bullet and it worked the same on the bear.

With the Hot-Core 9.3MM 270 grain bullet I have shot about 14 deer and antelope with my 9.3X74R, and a 9.3X57 and I have to say, it's a super accuracy varmint bullet. I was VERY disappointed in it's break-ups and shallow penetration, with one hitting a small white tail in the spine from a steep down-hill shot, drooping the buck, but the MEASURED penetration was 5 inches. Most accurate 9.3MM bullet I have ever used in all 4 of my 9.3 bore rifles, but also not a good hunting bullet for anything much larger then 140 pounds or so. I have stopped shooting all game with them now but I love them as practice bullets because they don't cost a lot and are SUPER accurate. Hits in the ribs are ok, but it you hit even a leg bone you get BAD break-ups.

In 375 I killed 4 elk with their 235 grain from my 375H&H. 2 worked well, 2 broke up quickly. I have killed several deer with them too, and on deer they were great, but I doubt many hunters will shoot deer with a 375H&H so that info is largely useless.

Hope you find some of the above useful.

Haviland might have, but I also remember Wayne Van Zwoll doing something similar, with the same negligible results at "normal" ranges.Of course, some hunters soot beyond normal ranges these days.

Guess another point would be that all softpoint spitzers are subject to the same magazine deforimation--one reason to use single-shot rifles!