Looking at all the different bullets I have for the calibers I reload for, my small supply has speer bullets for all of the calibers. Speer bullets have done alot of work for me and freinds from distant ground squirrels to elk, few bear and pick-up loads of deer. The speer 160 grain spitzer, now apparently now discontinued, was a hellava bullet in the .280 Accurate, broke elk shoulders, SLAPPED deer to the ground. I used it ALOT till a nosler in the same shape and weight was found to tighten groops a we bit...

Very close second is hornady. Most of the work done by the hornadys has been in varmint and deer. But I did take a large fall black bear just after sst had came out with my .280 The 162 sst at about 20 yards dropped after the sst broke both shoulders and was found under the hide opposite side. Just the jacket expanded past the cannulure, no lead with the jacket but I was very impressed to say the least... AND 3 elk with the 250 gr spire point out of a 338wm. found two out of elk, one weighed 150 grains, perfect expansion looked like the hornady bullet ad years ago. shot was 305 yards dead on front chest shot, dropped found bullet sticking out of stomach like a cork. Another from a 5x5 bull hit just to the left of his tail dropping him. Hips were toast, unfortunately so was alot of backstrap as it bored onward to stop between shoulders. Looked Identical to bullet from spike. Did not weigh that bullet.

Sierra I just never used very much and have the least of. Stories of poor terminal bullet performance held me back from buying them. Do shoot some 100 gr. spitzers from the .257 roberts coyotes, crows and assorted vermin. Some in .22 cal 55 grain for the 223 and 22-250.

Just my take on this.
I could never get a Hornady over 22 caliber to work for me. Speers were soso. Sierras always worked, accuracy wise and performance wise.
As I said, just my personal experiences

actually I've gotten real good service with all of 'em

I've reloaded with Speer Hotcores for the 270, 30-06, and 300 WSM for many years. Highly successful bullets - accurate, good penetration, and good wt retention. I haven't tried their new Deep Curls yet. I haven't seen them on the shelves here.

More Hornady boxes than anything on my bench.
I've used a lot of 55 flat base spitzers in my 223s and 22-250. 50 V-maxes shoot great, but for some reason I've always held them back for future use. Kind of settled on bulk pack 50 Speer TNTs for daily use.
Have had great luck with the 100 Interlock in my 250 Savage and 257 Roberts.
The ol 270 does it's best work with 130 Interlocks and Interbonds along with 140 Interlocks. 150 Partitions are the go to for bigger game though. This Pac-Nor barrel shoots anything well.
In my 7-08 the 139 Interlock is as good as anything I've tried. 120 Ballistic Tips get some play here, but don't group any better than the 139.

Mostly Hornady for big game and Sierra for groundhogs. I ran a couple of Speer boattails (.277/130 and .243/85) for a few years, they worked well.

But definitely more red boxes than any other.

Dale

of the three c&c plain jane bullets you mentioned, i'd go hornady. but if core-lokts were in the mix, i'd go with them. otherwise, partitions have been my primary bullett.

Sierras. I really like the .30 cal 165 HP Gameking in the .308 and the 140 GK in the 7mm-08.

Ken

I was a Hornady guy for years, but have switched some to Sierra's in C-N-C bullets. I've found them accurate and reliable on game. I still have Hornady bullets, in fact I killed a big Muley this year with a 140gr BTSP out of my 270, but I am migrating away from them a bit. I have shot some game with Nosler BT's, which worked just like they are supposed to. I generally just use whatever I can find guys selling cheap in the classifieds forum, as I shoot them mostly at paper, rocks and steel plates, and am moving towards Barnes TtSX for most of my hunting....

Most of mine are Nosler seconds,mostly ballistic tips then partitions. From there Hornady mostly being V-max and match BTHP would be my next most, and finally Sierra mostly MKs. I haven't used many Speer bullets yet.

Looks like hornady is taking a lead...

I had good results from a smattering of ballistic tips on deer, varmints in 100 gr. 257 roberts, 140 gr in 280 and 200 gr 338. There performance I felt, was the same as the 'plain' bullets. But only got fifty ballistic tips for the same price that can get 100 of the 'plain'....Course' the box of 25 cal ballistic tips were purchased back when they could be had in 100 count boxes.

A bud of mine smoked a cougar out of a tree with a 100 gr. ballistic tip from his 25-06 at 3300 fps. Im positive the cat was dead long before it hit the ground from the complete destruction of the vitals.

Nothing shoots better in my .30-06 than Hornady 180 SP ILs. Horn 165 BTSP ILs shoot second best.

Expat

I'm about evenly split between the Hornady Interlocked and the Nosler Ballistic Tip, depending on the cartridge, velocity level and the game.

Friends, we truly live in THE Golden Age of Bullets.

God Bless,

Steve

I have used all three to shoot several deer and one cow elk. Mostly Hornady's. I have never had a Hornady Interlock fail to do its job on the deer and antelope I shot with them.

I've seen one deer killed with the Speer 120g Hotcore from a 6.5x55 and I killed my elk this year with a 165g Hotcore from a 30-06. Both worked excellently.

I have only used the 130 Sierra Game King in a 270 on deer and antelope. If I missed bone bigger than ribs they worked fine although erratic. In other words they would kill, but would sometime penetrate just enough to get to the vitals and sometime blow up creating large wounds. On shots of 300 yards or more they worked well on the few animals I shot at such distances.

The NBT has been my main go to in most of my rigs for a long time, I don't see that changing much. Have used the Horns quite a bit as well. Never done much with the Speer brand except for a fair bit of TNT work for rodents and such. Also did a fair bit of work with the Sierra's especially with the HPBT's. Aside from the fact that they have the BC of a friggin jelly bean they're darn good heads.

Side note, in this day of VLD/Amax's and gack like that I feel that the NBT is incredibly overlooked and underated. Kind of like the Nozler Pt is, they're both so darn good that people begin to get bored with them and look elsewhere...

Isn't hardly a critter in the ark that I wouldn't take with the NBT.

Dober

Nosler Ballistic Tip, because I choose Oregon companies whenever I can, and, with the NBT, I'm not sacrificing performance in keeping my dollars in Oregon

The Hornady Interlock is my first choice, Speer Hot Cor second, I've had excellent experience with both. I've never gotten around to using the Sierra (not nearly as well distributed in my area) so no experience with them.

Steve,+1 we are in the golden of bullets and scopes and firearms; life is good for the gun loony. GRF

Hornady...

dang, it. I can't decide....like 'em all.

Hornady SP have been used by me since I started reloading in 1997. They have been very accurate....typically. Had some success with Sierra BT and Speer Hot Cores, but never used on game, just reloading.

FH

Hornady and Power Points.

Most of my rifles are fed a steady diet of either the Ballistic tip, or Sierras...

i'm somewhat limited in time and patience, as for trying endless combinations of bullets...
i have tried quite a few deer bullets in my Model 70 Featherweight 25-06, and the winners so far are the 100 gr nosler in either ballistic tip, or partition.
For coyotes, in the same rifle, my search began and ended with the 75 gr Vmax bullet...

+1

The vast majority of my bullet cabinet is red, though there are flashes of green, yellow, and black/gold too.

Hornady Interlocks ROCK. I make heavy use of the 100 gr/.257 cal, 165 gr/.308 cal, and 200 gr/.338 cal and never been let down. Based upon my experience, if you can't get the Interlock to shoot you're doing something wrong or have a bum rifle. I just haven't had a rifle that didn't like 'em and they're my go-to testing medium for new rifles.

Sierras are accurate and my 6mm-250 likes the 60 gr HP as well as the 85 HPBT GameKing. The 165 gr HPBT GK that someone else mentioned is an awesome one, too. The 90 gr HPBT GK is really accurate, though I've yet to punch a hole in a live target with 'em.

Speers & Noslers are my least-used brands, though I've always had great experiences with 'em. Hot Cors seem to hold together nicely, and TNTs are UBBER accurate and explosive. NBTs are like the Interlock... if you can't get 'em to shoot you're in dire straights cuz they're just plain WORK.

I'd never messed w/ monometals before I picked up a 257 Roy on trade here at the 'fire last year. Both 100 gr ETips & TTSXs shoot lights out at about 3575 fps and I'm looking forward to seeing them blow over many animals in the next several years, as it has become my go-to rifle/bullet combination.

Honestly, I love 'em all; I be celebratin' diversity !!

I really like the A-Max, V-Max, and TTSX for specific purposes, but for bangin' steel or paper for practice, whatever I can find as "seconds" or "blems" is what I tend to use, whether Sierra, Nosler, Horn, or whatever.

I guess if you include the V-Max and A-Max, I tend to use Hornady C&C bullets more than any other. I did buy several thousand Sierra GK blems about a year and a half ago that are nearly gone now, so I've been shooting those a fair bit, too.

In the past have used all of them. Used a lot of Speer when ground hog hunting but it seems they have become more $$ so now use mostly hornady. I have used Rem CL for most of my big game reloading as they were priced right in bulk. Not the story now so once again hornady seems to be most available. I stll have quite a supply of C-L available so I suspect I will continue with them for most of my hunting

Hmmm.... hornady mentioned every where, Ballistic tips I should have added to the list, they seem a hot number.

I'm also with dogzapper, this really is "The golden age of bullets".

I was kinda tift so to say, when I was having a hard time finding the 7mm 160 gr. spitzer speer hot core bullet. But I did not have to look far to find a close alternative.

Hornady IL's.

Jeff

I could easily exist on Hornady's for the rest of my time here on the planet!

I have used Speer for my 44 mag and 45-70 ,no complaints.I had to buy some Hornadys for my 30-30 as the Sierras were not availabe.
However I have used Sierras for many many years with no complaints,although I always use the heavy for caliber weights.

I have found that all those complaints of poor termimal performance of Sierras are from using then at velocities outside the design paramters they were intended.

It is pretty much a given if you want to see the accuracy potential of any given rifle that you buy some Sierra Match Kings in the particular bullet that best matches the twist rate and work up a load with them.If the rifle won't shoot those accureately, it most likely won't shoot any other bullet any better.

I use a lot of Hornaday Interlocks,Sierra Game Kings and Nosler partition's. I've never had a failure from any of them and they have all done what I expected of them.

I also use quite a few Speer pistol bullets and never had a problem with them either.

I agree with dogzapper's assessment that this is the golden age of bullets. Good time to be a shooter and hunter.

I tried a few Hornady's way back when I first started loading at age 12. My 6mm never liked them at all. I've shot nothing but Nosler since. It used to be the solid-base boattail, but now I load nothing but the Partition and the Accubond.

Primarily shoot Hornady ILs unless not available in the weight I want, then it is Sierra.

RH

Hornady Interlocks.

Sierra has always been my Berger of old.I still reload them for.......Remington Core-Lokts are my cheap brand if I am buying factory ammo for less than $20.....They just flat out work and hold together well.

All that said,I am Nosler from head to toe and have been for many/many years.

Jayco

ILs, NPTs, NBTs, Vmaxs, few green boxes, even fewer yellow. Nothing against green or yellow just not used much.

Wasn't the question "Plain Janes"?

Jayco

NBT in most rifles. In the 45-70 I use Hornady and Speers depending on bullet weight.
I havent found a bullet that is easier to work with than the NBT and that works so well on game.

Is the NBT considered a plain Jane?

Just asking.

Jayco

I've used a lot of Sierra's over the years, without any real issues. I've had a couple come unglued, but I can say the same for Hornady ILs, especially the 140/.277", I don't use them any more. I simply cannot get Speers to shoot well in my rifles, dunno why, but they don't respond well, and aren't distributed as well locally, either.

For ruining a prairie dog's day, I use Hornady's mostly, those VMaxes are really fun to unleash on a PD, but BlitzKings work well, too. I just shop the sales ads whenever I need bullets, and buy what I can get the best deal on.

Ya, I would consider them a 'plain jane'.... One right up there with hornady for popularity it looks like. Mabe call the NBT a 'fancy' plain jane!

I have also started hunting with all Noslers. 140 Ballistic tip in the 7mm-08 for deer and 160 Accubond in my 7mmRemMag for elk. Never had a hard time getting them to shoot well when I did my part right. Perform well on their intended targets too.

FH

I wouldn't classify a bullet that has only been around for about 25 years designed for a specific need,a plain Jane like the "standard" Hornady/Speer and Sierra.

That would be like calling the Hornady bonded, a standard bullet.It's not!!!

Jayco

May favorite plain jane is the defunct Nosler Solid Base (remember them?). I have several boxes in multiple weights and calibers. That said, I use and like Speers, Hornadys, and Sierras for our Texas deer and hogs almost as well.

Once again, your ignorance is apparent.

The NBT has a boat tail heel, a copper jacket with a lead core and a hollow point that is tipped by polymer.

Last I checked, Hornady, Speer, and Sierra ALL have BTs with copper jackets and lead cores. There are also hollow points available in each brand. Additionally, Winchester had a tipped bullets called Silvertips and Remington had their Bronze Points way back when.

In other words, EVERY aspect of the Nosler BT was used for bullet design YEARS before the Nosler BT was designed with the exception of the material the tip was made out of...how could that not be considered "standard"?

How do you say [bleep] you on the net without offending,big mouth?

The fact is the Nosler BT is not a plain Jane as the old bullets mentioned in the original post..It's been around how long??????????And...How many of the old plain Janes are ballistic tips?

Plain Jane means "No" Ballistic tips.."No" bonding" just plain Jane bullets of old..

Jayco

Hornady Interlocks for me.....

It is a plain jane with a tip on it, and as I pointed out Winchester and Remington were tipping their bullets waaaay back in the day.

I don't see how age has anything to do with whether a bullet can be considered a plain jane or not. If Company X came out with a standard CNC bullet tomorrow, would you not considered it a plain jane bullet because it is too "new"?

That was not the question,was it..He never mentioned plain janes with a tip or bonding,did he...

Jayco

I think "plain jane" usually refers to a lack of controlled expansion, simply C&C bullets.

Have used many brands of the standard C/C bullets but tend to lean away from them and go back to a Bonded or a Partition. Living in the Brooks Range can be difficult if your bullet fails to penetrate properly. My experience yeilds results due to shot placement and good bullets that truly can penetrate and/or exit. I am amazed how some bullets just "splat" when moose or grizz hides are wet after just getting out of the river or lake. Suppose C/C have there place but not with me completely. This post of mine can carry on but you get the idea. For lil' game most lower state boys shoot at a standard c/c will suffice.

This guy gets it.

Logsniffer, listen up.

Yep, simple cup/core bullets... aka plain jane, regular, standard, normal, regular soft point. Just a copper jacket housing some lead... No partitions, bonding of core, no non-monometal things.

JUST my opinion, Tips mean nothing other than a colorful, pointy addition to the general cup/core bullet....they still just a cup/core bullet!

Hornady FP's shoot great out of my 30-30. The 165gr GameKing has shot very hood out of three different 30-06s and performed great on Whitetails.

All cup and core bullets are controlled expansion. Usually accomplished by jacket thickness,tapering of the jacket and lead hardness.
BT's have very thick jackets at the heel, in fact thicker than any standard lead, non bonded and copper bullet

I use all that have been mentioned for general plinking, shooting and the like. I typically use what I can buy the cheapest. I have several rifles that like the 162 gr PSPBT in the 7mm Caliber. I use the for pre season shooting and plinking They have the same POA as does the 175 PT. I always check my Nolser PT's before I go out the door. With my 308's the 180 Sierra BT shoot same POA as my PT, but I always check prior to leaving. Other than that what ever is in the closest box.

HORNADY

Pickin' nits.....

For plain bullets, I use mostly Hornady and some Speer. I do like Nosler for semi-premium and premium.

Hornady Interlocks

Hornady and any left over Nosler Solid bases I find at gunshows,buy them ever time I see them. Gets right down to it anytime I see bullets that are bargains, blems, part boxes and the price is right. I'm a regular bullet whore cause I like to shoot and experience all the bullets I can find.Not sure I think it mught be a disease. Magnum Man

Of the 3, Speer Hot-Core.

Depends on the cartridge for me. I love Hornady 7mm 139 SP and 257 100 SP. In the Sierra the .277 130's are great. Speer make my favorite .308 165 Cup and Core bullet.


ddj

I prefer Hornady, but my guess is that they are all good. I know a lot of folks like Sierras.

It can also depend on how fast you plan to push them.

I tend to use mostly Nosler, but since I am damn near out of SolidBases I have been shooting Btips out of 7-08, .25-06, and .300 WSM. I also shoot a lot of Sierra SP's out of my .243 at steel, paper, and ground squirrels. So I guess its Sierra and Btips for me.

Hornady's and Nosler solid bases are the ones I like.

I have had good performance from Speer, Hornady, and Sierra bullets as long as I use them within their optimum design parameters. Of the three, Sierra Gamekings and ProHunters seem to be the softest, so they are used in the slower loads. Hornady Interlocks and Speer Hot Cors both seem a bit tougher to me. Some combinations I particularly like are the 300gr Speer Uni-Cor in the 45-70, 140gr Sierra Gameking in 6.5x55, and 175gr Hornady SP Interlock in 7x57.

I don't like lightweight, or even mid-weight, for caliber jacketed bullets of any brand. The "GEE-WHIZ" high velocity of light bullets makes them blowup at close range, and poop-out at long range, and they don't shoot so much flatter as many folks think they do. Heavier bullets work well at all ranges. I noticed that the OP doesn't seem to like lightweight bullets either.

Not hardly. What's a cannnelure for except to control expansion. That makes Hornady ILs to be controlled expansion bullets.

Hornady 150 and 165gr in 30-06 and 308 have worked just fine for me on WTs. Same for 139gr Hornady SPs in 280 Rem. Still load 100gr Remington CLs in 243 because A) never had a problem with them, and B) I have several hundred left.

Man this 'plane jane' topic get'n hits! Hornady seems to still be leading...

Cannelures serve a few purposes, bullet location in case, crimpping, then help in controlling of expansion.

Hornadys Interlock feature is the litte raised ring below the cannelure. There jackets are tapered like every body elts, which has more to do with controlling expansion.

The nosler 60 gr. .224 varmint ballistic tip has a cannelure along with other .22 cal varmint bullets. I'm thinking controlled expansion polly' not on performance list for those bullets.

"Interlock" is hornadys gimmick just like the speer "hot-core" or core-lokt from remington and sierra gameking.

Sorry, the hornady interlock is not a controlled expansion bullet, but a darn good plain jane...

I like 'em all. My 35 Remington really shines with 180 grain flatnose by Speer.

TR

Day in and day out EVERY rifle I own shoot Nosler BT, Sierra GK & PH and plain old Hornady Interlock just great. Standard cup and core vs what Mule Deer calls boutique bullets always shoot better.They all kill game really well. I also use Nosler ab , swift scirocco 2 , Hornady IB, but they do not shoot as good from the bench as the simpler designs.

They pretty much all work if put where they belong. No barbs on any of the brands below but having found success had little motivation to try much of anything else. Standard cup and core designs, no polymer tips, in order of general use:

Hornady, Sierra, Speer

More recently I've found Nosler Partition QC has improved sufficiently that I find them consistently accurate and reliable. They are go to bullets for me if inclined to use jacketed bullets from .416 down.

With that said I've started casting bullets and have been paper patching for over 10 years. I like the way it works and probably have 2 lifetimes worth of jacketed bullets on hand.

I've used Sierras a lot and Hornadys some. Not sure a fellow could ever tell them apart based on performance on game. Both have killed deer and hogs very well
for me. They're so good, in fact, that I doubt I'll find the need to look further in a C&C bullet.

For big game? Hornady

That is quite cool, Disturbed Dan. How fast do you push your paper patched bullets and still get good acuracy?

I cast too, but usually pistol bullets. I really do not like casting. It is boring and can be a PITA when things don't work right. Then there's the luber/sizer work. But I can cast a lot of bullets with my 6-cavity moulds, and they shoot good too. My 45 Bishawk with 4-5/8" barrel puts my homecast 250gr slugs into one hole at 25 yards when the shooter is doing his job. Hunting rabbits and squirrels and deer with a revolver is a hoot!

Sorry for the diversion.

Yep same here.

+1 Hot-Cores all the way!

Ditto here. Have some others left over from purchases years past but A-MAX, V-MAX and FTX are all I recall buying in "plain Jane" bullets over the last couple years.

For hunting it is TTSX, FTX, AccuBond, Scirocco and North Fork.

Dunno it's a diversion as paper patch would be the original jacketed bullet. 1,600 fps for 300 grain patch in the .44 carbine and 1800 fps for 510 grain .45-70 in a friends 1895 Marlin CB. They hover around 1-1.5 MOA, this with pure lead. I ran into blown skirts in the .44 with cupped base bullets over 1,400 fps but flat base w/cardwad is limited only by the powder capacity. I've read that alloyed bullets can run on up to about 3,000 fps but never went there. Met a fellow that shot patch in the .30-30, full house loads w/something like 170 grain 1:20 alloy with fine accuracy and no issues with leading. YMMV

Soft alloy bullets retain over 95% of weight when they collide with meat and bone. Before and after transit of a quartering shot on a boar, point of shoulder to skin on offside ham. Mangled a lot of bone on the way....



DD

I used to use a lot of bulk CoreLokts for practice and on deer but they have gotten spendy so I usually get get Hornady's if they come in the weight I want.

Exceptions would be the 87 gr .257 Hot Cor in a .250, the 225 Sierra .358 in a Whelen and 200 gr Speers in some .30 cal loads.

I don't shoot many but the Winchester Power Points have been the best of the C&C's on game. The .224 64 grainer and the 150 gr .308 in particular.

Remington Bronze points

40:1 lead:tin cast flatnosed bullets. Just like in the good ol' days. Still works, miracle of miracles.

Hornady, speer, sierra, and heavy on Hornady and light on the other two. T.S.