Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting 30-06 and the 150 grain Speer Hotcor

This is the bullet I broke in Wyoming with when I got there in 1981. I remember getting 13 one shot kills in a row including two elk over two years. I was a meat hunter, even passed bulls cracking up talking about the out of staters eating tough old stinking elk meat. Third year I hit one in the shoulder at close range in the pine trees. It penetrated to the other side after breaking the onside shoulder bone just above the elbow but there was not a lot of it left in one piece. Still not a bad tracking job with snow and all. That year I also shot mule deer and antelope with the same bullet. Perfect results every time. I used to think I hoped they never quit making that bullet.

The hotcore magtips are my favorite. I have taken a lot of game with them including a couple of elk. they seem to be "just right" in my -06.

I use them about 20-25 years ago. I liked their mag-tip better. It seems to expand every bit as well and hold together better if it hits bone.

We used the 150 & 165 Speer BT in 30-06 for those East TX deer. I loaded the 160 Hot Cor in a 280AI I sold my friend. He killed a huge cow ek, base of the neck shot at 50yds! Pass through, dropped her. I like the Hot Cor flat bases as well as the Sierra Pro Hunter flat base. I like them better than corlokts.

I do believe in 150 grain bullets in the 30-06. They just seem to work.

No doubt they are good but I am just more comfortable with a 165-180 grain bullet in 30 caliber for larger game. If I wanted to shoot 150s I would drop back to .270 caliber. The hot core is a great game bullet almost like a bonded core, if Speer would only add some flux or something then they would be a bonded core. Can't argue with other peoples results.

I always heard they were good to hunt with, just couldn't get the damn things to shoot straight. Very poor accuracy. When I started handloading, I weighed just about every bullet in a box and the damn things were grains apart, not just .010 gr's, but grains. Accuracy was fu cking piss poor.. Some guys don't care how their rifles shoot, I guess...

150 gr Hot Cor always seemed to shoot well in my .308 and 160 Mag Tips shot fine in 7mm Mag.

Cool story

Never could get the Grand Slams to shoot in too many attempts to count. Hot Cor’s were so-so for accuracy. I moved to Hornady interlocks with much success for a number of years.

Now Hornady keeps dropping their vanilla interlocks in favor of SST/ELD/GMX, etc. Speer on the other hand has kept prices low, so have been buying Speer last couple years. Accuracy seems better, so not sure if they re-tooled or overhauled their process, but good results as of late. Still refuse to try another box of Grand Slams, but the Hot Core and Boat-tail are shooting very well.

I like hot cor's. I've used them for years

Hot Core and regular BTSP are two very different bullets. Hot cores act like a partition, and the btsp are much softer. I shoot deer with the regular 165g BTSP in the 308 and '06, and I am not a shoulder shooter.

Most accurate bullet in my 25/06 is a 100g btsp over R#19...amazing and deer flop.

I like 165 HC's in the 30-06, and have used both the 150 and 165 in the 308 since the 1980's. I've always called them "the poor man's partition."

I took my biggest bull, an old 7x7, with the 165 HC from a 308.

I hunted with the old Speer Nitrex factory loads with 165 gr Grand Slams in .308 for several years. Seemed to shoot well in my rifle. You don’t have to worry much about the Grand Slams unless you buy old stock since Speer discontinued them a while back. I think the Mag Tips are long gone, too. Happy Trails

I've used Federal Powershok, which I believe is loaded with 180 grain Hot Cor bullets, out of a 300WM and its been very accurate.

Who introduced the Boat tailed hunting bullet? Was it Speer? I think they made the first 165 grain hunting bullets also. When I started hunting it seemed the 150 and 180 grain bullets were the two choices generally, and I believe the boat tailed designs were new in the mid 80's. Funny how much game was taken before the advent of those two magnificent innovations!

Sadly discontinued.

I have around 400 180gr. Mag-Tips. I occasionally use them in my 308win with some RL15. They are very accurate in my rifle, and deadly on game. I have not shot an elk with one, but have shot some very large bodied whitetail bucks with them. Shot one head on in the chest once and recovered a perfectly mushroomed bullet under the hide of one of the hind quarters.
It is hard to believe they discontinued that bullet. I know it has a great reputation.

Hey there Rick- I used the Sierra 165 SBT in the late 70s in the old Red Box Federals. Some of their first "premium" ammo, though they didn't call it that then. I'm not sure who made the BT Hunting bullet first? But I have shot as many Speers as Sierras, never found one better than the other myself.

I have shot a bunch of Speer and Sierra bullets myself, in fact this forum is why I sort of quit using the Sierra's. Remember when the Fire guys were talking down the confetti bullets and it went on for a long time! I have generally been a meat hunter so I put the bullets in the ribs and with very few exceptions recovered the unfortunate shot animal pretty quickly. I started wanting blood trails when I was doing a lot of thick cover hunting in Washington state and then East Texas. I wore out my first 100 pieces of brass for my 7x57 shooting 160 gr. Sierra SPBT and 160 gr. Speer Hotcors. Can't say I recovered many of them either.