Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Will Speer ever produce another box of handgun bullets?

Been searching all the retailers for months/years now, and I am having doubts if Speer will ever make another Gold Dot/Deep Curl in .357 or .44? Hornady, Nosler and others seem to have a fairly steady supply making it to retail over the last several months, but not a Speer to be found. Did manage to find some .40 Gold Dots......once......so I guess they are still in business?

I was told by one of their techs that the rifle deepcurl bullets are discontinued. They said that they still produce the gold dot/deepcurl for pistols though. I have not seen any in quit a while, that is why I emailed them. hope this helps.

I was going to post the same question!

The Speer 240 grain flat point (and 270) are my favorite 44 Magnum bullets. I dislike the hollow points for hunting and the Gold Dots really hold together. I used the 240 grain to put a cow down for butchering a few years ago. The bullet completely penetrated the skull and was found after penetrating a good 12 inches down the spinal column. The bullet was mangled pretty good but totally held together and didn�t separate. I have been shooting the Nosler sporting handgun bullets out of my Marlin at about 1550 fps for practice and they seem to lose their jacket regularly in the backstop.

This is the first year Ohio has allowed rifles firing handgun cartridges during deer season. I have been looking for some Speers. I guess I�ll have to go with the Hornady XTP. Remington used to make a flat point bullet too but I haven�t found any of those either.

To me Speer has lost there direction or forgot there in the bullet making business... Been frustrating for many reloaders

I was a loyal speer bullet user for years. Shoot more speer branded bullets than any others, NOT the case any more. When a bullet company quits making there bread and butter bullets in popular calibers and weights, something has got to be not good...

This last buy-out involving ATK, They seem to put there energy towards other legs of the company. In another post, I stated that speer is dead to me... because speer has become an unreliable source of the very things they manufacture, bullets.

Bite the bullet, so to say, and try other brands such as I had to. Its a shame, I think Speer was really on to something with there bullets.

I feel the same way, and am also somewhat P.O.ed at Hodgdon powder company....they are discontinuing manufacture of PB, 7625, and 4576 powders. 4576 had become a "go to" powder for me; quite versatile (shotgun slugs, handgun loads, buckshot, and nontoxic loads), and now I have to figure out something else to use....but it sure as hell WON'T be a Hodgdon product!
35+ years of reloading data....and now it's all for nothing! Guess I just load up whatever bullets I can find with whatever powder I can get my hands on and use whatever primer is available....Sadly, that seems to be the nature of the beast anymore.

Speer's current strategy is one for The Twilight Zone or The X Files.

Looking at their web site NOTHING has changed. You'd think there would be some company message or something to communicate with their customers?!

What the hell is the deal with the Deep Curl? Weird. I am still predicting the DC will reappear under a new name with a premium billing and price to match. Then again maybe not; that actually might make some sense as a marketing initiative, even if it was a ripoff.

There web site is just sweet looking propaganda...why would they advertise what was really going on like the growing list discontinued bullets....

I stuck a fork in Speer bullets and called it done with them.

Several years ago I bought a box of 500 Speer 240 gr FP, 44 cal. I felt stupid at the time as I didn't know how I would ever use them all up. I still have about 300. Not feeling as stupid anymore since you can't buy any more.

Yep, sure wish I could get my hands on some of those 240gr flat point deep curls. And some 357 158gr gold dots would be nice too. If they don't hurry up, I will be forced to stock up on xtp's before the next crisis hits.

I always liked their .358, 146 jacketed swc hp. I still have a few boxes but I believe they've been discontinued. They have always been one of the most accurate bullets in my .357's.

Yes, they did discontinue that bullet, along with the 225 grain .44 SWC HP and (I would assume) the .41 cal version for the .41 magnum (210? 215?).
As with you, those bullets were very accurate in my handguns as well....sad to see 'em go.

That was definitely NOT stupid. They are darn good bullets. I was ahead of the curve on some things but never foresaw these becoming unavailable. Although honestly, they are the only Speer product I miss.

Just checked in here. I've pretty much given up on Speers too. Even before the "big crunch", availability of those I use was spotty. My shooting needs and preferences require a reliable supply.

Of course in today's climate, good luck with any of that.

Paul

The 300 grain Uni Cor is my favorite bullet in the 444 marlin but I haven't seen a box for sale in a few years. I have a couple hundred left and a hundred or so loaded rounds and they will be used sparingly unless I see some for sale at a price that is remotely affordable.

I started out my reloading career with Speer 80 grain spitzers in a 788 6mm over 35 years ago. Loved that bullet on varmints and it wasn't too hard on fur. Over the years I used a lot of Speer bullets in a lot of calibers and had good results with them. When I started putting together my 6mm/222, I was disappointed to discover they weren't producing the old 80 grain spitzer any more. Thought it would be a good fit for the little wildcat.

I always liked the half jacket semi-wadcutter bullets they made for handguns. I shot a lot of them through various 44 mags. I haven't seen them in a few years.

It seems unfathomable to me that in these times when a bullet maker can sell every bullet they can possibly produce, that they are dropping any from their line up. It's almost as if Speer has lost interest in producing bullets. I have to agree they seem to have lost focus and direction.

Mart

Brought out the Deep Shock line
Cancelled the Deep Shock line
Introduced the Deep Curl line
Cancelled the Hot Core line
Re-introduced the Hot Core line
Cancelled the Deep Curl line
Website still touts the Deep Curls.

Clueless...

I used to shoot a lot of Speer handgun bullets years ago. Pretty much went to only cast a bit later. I have never loaded a Speer rifle bullet though. A few years ago I bought 15 boxes of the 270 gr GD's that were on sale cheap. I bought them for my old Ruger Carbine. Did the same with the 250 gr Partitions that Widener's had on clearance for $20/box a bit ago. Another great discontinued bullet. I believe they still have some 357 and 45 cal ones.

That's what I use for bear spray in my .44 mags, good bullet. I hope to find some more in stock at some point, down to about 50 rounds.

It isn't just "us" who are unhappy with the direction ATK has moved Speer. I live near to them and speak with, or stop by regularly (not so much now). Speer employees are unhappy with the way things have gone. ATK has commanded they build bullets for Federal loaded ammo first and foremost. For those paying attention at home (read your date in the latest Speer manual) there is ZERO plans to do another.
In response to the similar complaint about Hodgy, they do not nor ever have manufactured a drop of smokeless powder. So similar to Speer being directed to build something. They don't sell enough, or want to pay for, new production.

I hate to learn of this, when I started reloading in the late 1970's I began with a Speer #8 and a box of 130 grain HotCor bullets for my .270 WIN. I long ago switched to Hornady bullets due to local availability (most of the gunshops in this area are Hornady stocking dealers). I did use the 200 grain Speer HP "flying ashtray" in my 45 Colt for a home defense load - bought up about 800 of them 10 or 12 years ago when they were discontinued for the Gold Dot - but I still have plenty, however that's it when they are gone.

Their web-site doesn't show the SPBT cup-n-core rifle bullets anymore either, though a call and three transfers later and I was able to get someone to confirm that they are still making them.

The entire conversation was a bit of a clusterphuck, and left me unimpressed.

Dave

I quit worrying about handgun bullet availability about thirty some years ago. I started casting my own and have not felt the need for a jacketed handgun bullet since. Just my two cents worth...........

I know this is an old thread, but am wondering if things have changed with regards to Speer component availability in the last ~2 yrs?
Just started looking for the .429 270gr Deep Curl and am now thinking it might be a unicorn ...

Edit:

Don't forget the Grand Slam upgrade to the Mag Tip design (which was discontinued sometime later), then discontinuing some of the Grand Slam designs - like .358 for example.

And there was the "Uni-Cor" name for a while for some of their plated handgun designs.

Let's see; as a comparison, how many decades have we been able to purchase the Partition or the Interlock now?
I certainly have no reservations about developing handloads for those two bullet designs ...

A now Hornady has canceled some of their Interlocks!

Thankfully, I stocked up on the Hornady .257 100 gr Interlocks, right as they were phasing them out.

I have gone thru my .264 120 Hot Cores faster than anticipated and already found replacement loads with 120 Sierras and 100 TTSX's for my 260.

Now if Nosler would catch up on the stuff I need.

Yeah, Hornady dropping the 6mm 100 Interlock Flat Base while keeping the BT version is killing me. The Flat Base Interlock was the best thing in their entire product line.

Mark in GA

Let's face it. They're all doing it. Have you tried finding any of Winchester's "seasonal brass or ammo in the last few years? How about Remington? Federal? Load ammo is their big money maker and they're literally only loading the big sellers and most popular cartridges. What Winchester brass that's showing up is not even seconds but most likely "thirds". The big money is all the bean counters care about. They don't care if they alienate us handloaders. At least Hornady is loading some of the "seasonal" cartridges like the 7x57 which they sell as the .275 Rigby for the snob 7x57 shooters. Nosher's stuff ain't cheap but has a good reputation. I did buy 100 rounds of Nosler .280 Rem. brass but haven't had time to load any yet. Does look a hell of a lot better than any Winchester I've seen lately.
Paul B.

Same thing with the 165 in .308".

Before that it was:
Introduce Grand Slam
Change the mixture of lead
Don't tell anyone
Cancel Grand SLam line

The Texas stash. A pile more resides in Idaho.



I like the old Nosler's too. This the Texas stash.

I emailed Speer with a few questions regarding their 0.429" Deep Curl bullet; specifically because of posts in this thread that are making me wonder about the degree to which the are supplying reloading components.

I hope it's OK to post correspondence in the forums? Some forums permit this but not others - I can take it down if there are any issues with that here.






As far as replies go, that last one rates a 'zero' unfortunately.

YES!

that's the show I watched. painful and purposeless like a teen drama.