Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting .243 Speer 100gr. #1220

There is a store in the Midwest called Fleet Farm that is selling the Speer 100gr. #1220 for $21.99 + tax . They are right on the shelves in many stores. They are right next to the Hornady 100 Gr. and they are $29.99 + tax. We only shot one deer with it but it sure did the trick . A big doe at 50 yds and it was down in 40'

I picked some up for a .270, .308/30-06, .243, .223. They're a good price on a decent C&C bullet.

They shoot well but are soft.

Yep. Unlike Speer Hot-Cors, which have molten lead of a relatively hard alloy injected inside their jackets, the boattails are formed by swaging the jacket around a relatively soft-alloy core. This often does result in finer accuracy, but they don't penetrate as reliably as Hor-Cors, especially on bone--which is why they tend to work more consistently when started at moderate muzzle velocities, especially at closer ranges.

That makes sense about being soft. We only shot one deer with it , but it worked fine. We found the bullet in 2 pieces, the core was seperated , but almost went all the way through a big sized doe. It was hit very high and forward , almost a neck shot but hit bone. It was a lower velocity .243 Win. round in a 16" barrel so the vel. was not very fast ,, but it did work. Would you posters still use the bullet?

A buddy of mine has been using them since back in the '80s.

Dead deer and coyotes, no complaints.

They seem to act like a Sierra Gameking.

When I rifle hunt this year I may use them in a 6Grendel. 2630 fps should be just right.

I'd use it in a 16" barrel since it isn't smoking out of there.

One of my favorite loads for my 240 Wby was with their 105 spitzer, a very good bullet for deer but…….discontinued a while back. 😡

That seems to be the fate of several very good deer bullets!

I'm shooting a 243 in a 16inch Ruger american. I've always had good luck with 100 hornady interlocks,95 nosler bt, and 100 sierra pro hunter. I'm getting 2650 fps. I've shot the speers years back with no problem. All my shots are less than 100yds. All bullets will work as lon as you hit them in the boiler room.

So your 243 and my 6 Grendel are getting nearly the same velocity out of 16" barrels?

Looks that way.

Might slow my load down a bit.

I've killed a few with that bullet in my 243 with a hot load of RL26. I found them accurate, and had all bang flops for me with two finger exit holes.

Yeah, the old .243 cal Speer 105 gr HotCor spitzer was a great deer bullet out of .243s, 6mms, and the 240 Wby. I guess the next best one they have now for deer in that caliber is the 100 gr Grand Slam.

I was one of the main wounded game trackers in our old hunting club and I don't remember ever having to track one shot with the Speer 105 gr HotCor, but LOTS shot with other .243 cal bullets (except for NPT's). This was back before bonded core and good monolithic bullets were generally available. Unless a person was somebody known to be a serious hunter that was very careful with shot placement, I hated to see folks show up with anything .243/6mm cal.

Sloppy shot placement from any cartridge is going to result in wounded deer. Poor marksmen aren't likely to shoot harder recoiling rifles better than a .243 and simple horsepower in a bad spot doesn't anchor game better than a properly placed .243 bullet.

My experience also. I killed a bunch of deer with the 105 gr. Speer and it killed well. However, I prefer the 100 gr. Hornady Interlock and the 95 gr. Nosler BT. In common cup n' core bullets I think the latter two are a bit tougher penetrate better and are more likely to exit.

Bonded and mono mean tougher, no thanks, not on a small animal.

Last thing I want in a bullet killing an animal of 250# or less is tough.

If a person isn't getting DRT or a 20 yard death run with a 243/6mm he isn't hitting the animal correctly or is using a railroad spike tough bullet.

Give me a semi soft bullet in any deer cartridge and tracking becomes a non issue if one must shoot "for the lungs".


My personal feelings are the .22 and .24 calibers get a bad reputation because people want to use a tougher bullet because it's a smaller caliber. If I want a decent sized hole in a critter from a smaller caliber I need a bullet that opens somewhat in a hurry, not explosive but quick expanding.

Quick expansion=quick kills. Part of the reason Partitions are quick killers, that front core is very soft.

Don't even begin to tell me about the "excessive" meat loss. I hardly consider 5# at most from a larger deer excessive meat loss.

I grew up seeing deer killed with 222 and the hot 22s through .243/6mm. The big gun to me was a 25-06. All killed pretty quickly with the 243/6mm and a 100 grain BTSP Sierra or 22-250 with a 55 grain BTSP Sierra. The guys used the same rifles and bullet that they coyote hunted with when running hounds. Nobody seemed to complain that they needed more horsepower or a "tougher" bullet.

My favorite still to this day for my 6mm Remington is the 85 grain Sierra Varminter SP, kills like lightening and will fully penetrate on 99% of broadside shots. If you trail it's about a 20 yard walk and really don't need to follow blood although it is there.

Next best thing from Speer if the 105 was good would be the 100 grain BTSP or the 85 grain BTSP which some buddies have used as a dual purpose bullet with great success.

I am just not having any luck getting Speer's to shoot well enough in my 6mm. Latest batch are Hot Cores -90 grain #1217. I had such hopes for them. Got maybe half a box I won't use now.

The 140's do seem to work in my 260R and shoot to same impact as the GameKings I couldn't find.

The Speer boat tails are soft across the board, but at least they're consistent about it, unlike the Sierra GK's. Some of them are pretty frangible, others pretty tough really depending on the caliber and grain weight. Just have to figure out which ones are which with the GK's.

The Speer BT's are generally easier for me to get good accuracy out of then the HC's, although I like some of the HC's. The BT's soft nature can be used to your advantage. I've used the 165 Speer SPBT in 30-06 for deer and can't really fault it.

More than heavy enough for whitetail, but soft enough to do the necessary damage at lower velocities or on a poor hit deer too far back such as the last one I killed with that bullet. Never touched the lungs, destroyed the liver. Took a bit of tracking for 80 yds or so after a death run, but end result was a very dead deer in short order.

I get what you say ShadeTree. I love those 85hpbt's and for a Gameking and they are tough. Tougher than even the 100 grain Pro Hunters but both were hard to find and a hot core seemed like a perfect alternative. I have tried some of the other plain Speers in the past. I think ...no..I DO..over analyze things I read here and I get in trouble trying to fix what ain't broke sometimes but hey....I am a reloader....isn't that what we do?

Case in point I was told my fine shooting 260Rem had too slow of a twist for those 140 grain bullets I was slinging so well. So I changed.. Regret it - those 6.5 Gamekings are the best and most consistent bullet I ever used. Doh!

I have always had good luck with 100gr 243 bullets from all makers. The RN hits particularly well. I did have an issue with the Speer 85 or 87gr 243 bullet (I forget) on a big mule deer. Out of a 15" Encore 2 bullets blew up on impact with very little damage. There was enough damage to make the deer wander over and lay down under a rock cropping. I managed to sneak up to within 8' of him and put another shot in his neck - lights out. If that one would have failed, I would have had to jump on the antlers and cut his throat, as I was out of ammo.

The Sierra Game King isn't particularly long for its weight, so it doesn't need as tight a twist as some others. For comparison, Berger specifies 8" or tighter for their 140 grain offerings.

Ken, I like those 85 hpbt's myself. Way tougher than they should be which works out well for a lighter bullet generally traveling at faster speeds. They are a dandy C&C bullet in 6mm at reasonable ranges IMO.

As to your HC's not shooting, it could of course be that your rifle just doesn't like that particular profile of bullet and length, BUT I've run into that once myself with HC's.

I haven't shot them extensively across the board in a multitude of calibers and weights, but the 30 caliber 150 HC I've had good success with. Some batches shoot well, some very well. Also shot the 180 HC in 30 caliber and it shot well for me also.

The .284 130 gr HC I could NOT get to shoot in rifles that seemed to handle other bullets easily. I gave up on them then discovered others that were having the same issue with that bullet I believe beretz on here was one of them. He surmised that something had to be off in the internal balance, which is kinda what I was thinking just along a different line.

Must of been a problem with that particular mold because that bullet had good enough reviews in yrs past, and I've shot way too many HC's in 30 caliber to think it's a problem with their process. Anyways thought I'd pass that along.