Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Speer Hot-Cor Minimum Impact Velocity - .358 250 gr

One other thing worth mentioning. The 200 grain 358 bullets, as long as they are run pretty fast, generally drop deer and pig sized animals in their tracks, while the heavier 358 bullets (or lower speed impacts with the 200gr bullets) will sometimes give you the same sort of dead run that most other calibers do (though they to make much bigger holes/way better blood trails without the bloodshot/frag damage)

I have shot (or seen shot) a ton of deer/pigs with those 200gr spire points out of 35 Whelens (bc the superformance factory ammo is often available) and all the ones hit under about 175-200 yards or so went straight down. This seems to work out to around 2200 fps impact velocity as a magic number for pointy .358 bullets, but my sample size is limited with that particular bullet at ranges beyond that.

Incidentally, the Winchester 200gr .358 spire point type bullet (current production, Winchester did a run of them in loaded .358 ammo last year) seems to act like the Hornady 200gr SP. From what I can tell, though I'd be interested to hear of other people's experiences, all three of the common pointy .358 200 grain bullets (hornady SP, Winchester SP, and 200gr accubond) seem to act harder than the round nose/flat nose .358 200 gr bullets made for the 35 Rem, about 1950fps vs 1800 fps as a lower expansion threshold.

Anyway...I should probably get back to work.

Just to follow up for posterity’s sake: I contacted Speer and they told me the same thing about this bullet (1000 ft lbs recommended for deer). I asked him to clarify that that figure means this bullet would expand at ~1350 fps on a deer, and he said yes, that is correct.

Hard to believe, but they certainly believe it. I’ll try to test some.

I have used that bullet in a Whelen with good results. Shot a 200 lb. buck at 10 yards. As you would expect
a complete pass through. I couldn't tell how much it expanded but the deer was dead. I have shot a few deer
and hogs with it and never found a bullet. But I know they all had a .358 hole through them. That's a good
enough reason to use a 35 cal. It doesn't need to expand a lot to give a good wound channel. Especially a 250 grain bullet.

I’d be interested in seeing how they fair in your test.

Maybe some unique in a 358 Win could get them to around 1300-1500?

You’ll lose the RPMs that would still be present at full speed but it might be good enough to see if they start to open.

A well placed bullet really doesn't need expansjon to kill game. Expansion does transmit more trauma than a bullet that doesn't expand. A .35 cal does a pretty good job of letting blood and air out of game. I do like bullets to expand, but I wouldn't worry about it alot.

I was going to go with the 250 gr. Speer until I got a chance to do a hunt where one of the all copper bullets was required. I tried the 225 gr. Barnes TSX and that bullet and my custom Mauser considered themselves a marriage made in heaven. Velocity was good at 2710 FPS, accuracy sub-MOA and best of all, animals hit were stopped right there at the time of impact. Six different elk on six different hunts with three bang, DRT, dead right there. The other three required a finisher shot but were literally paralyzed at the shot and were unable to get up or try in any manner to get away. Two of the DRTs dropped so fast it looked as if the ground has swallowed them. Never did go back to the 250 gr. bullets.
Paul B.

Great feedback, thanks. What were the lowest impact velocities/longest shots?

Call these guys and tell them what you want to do, they will get the right bullet made for you.

https://hawkbullets.com/bullet-selection.html

I have yet to test a 250gr Speer HC in my bullet box but I have tested many other 35cal bullets including the 220gr Speer HCFN. I can't imagine the Speer 220gr HCFN expanding at anything less than 2000fps. It's a tough bullet!

I drilled some HPs into a few of them years ago. The HP was 1/8" in diameter and 5/16" deep. As far as I could tell it made no difference in expansion compared to those that weren't HP'd. The only difference was the HP'd ones weighed an average of 15 grains less when recovered from my bullet box filled with wet newspaper. All those I have tested have only expanded to 45-47 caliber and penetrated deeply.

If you like, and if I have enough newspaper, I can load some Speer 250gr HC bullets in my 35 Whelen and 358 Win and shoot them into the bullet box to measure penetration and expansion. It may take me 3-4 weeks to do.

Thanks, Dinny

That would be very useful, especially in light of the manufacturers (dubious?) claims of expansion down to 1350…

I pretty much only use the polymer-tipped bullets for lower-speed .35cal uses and have had good luck on expansion out to 220yds or so. (225 Accubonds at 2400fps). I’m looking to move to the cheaper 200gr FTX at 2300-2400. Works great at 2150 from my 35Rem. In a bullet that size, I’d prefer it to be a bit soft, as compared to tough. Biggest thing I’ll run into is a 300lb hog.