Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Speer Bullets

I don't see very many references to speer bullets on this site. I know they really haven't updated their products much over the years but I use a lot of their 7mm and 30 cal bullets in my guns. The 7mm 130gr boat tail performs perfectly on whitetails here in west Tennessee and Southern Mississippi out of my Savage 16 in 708. I have used the "Hot Cores" as well . I use the 145 gr boat tails and hot cores on pigs in my 708 with great results. Ranges here are usually less than 200 yards but for me they are good accurate bullets for reasonable prices. I have also used them in my 3006 , 300 WBY, 7mm Rem Mag and 2506.

I also use Hornaday Interlocks as well with very good reults.

I tried the 130 hot cors in my 7mm-08 but they didnt shoot all that accurate for me but I didnt do a ton of testing with it before I found a very accurate load using 120 sierra pro hunters and stuck with them. I also have some of the 130 btsp that I would like to try in it but just haven't got around to it yet.

Jambuster,

You know what works. You also know the secret to successful hunting is not always dependent on spending big bux on partitioned, monolithic or bonded bullets.

I have used Speers for years. They are one of the best kept secrets of the hunting world.

A big, double thumbs up!

My 7-08 wouldn’t shoot the Hot Cor for crap. Switched to the BTSP and it shot way better. I was surprised myself but it was worth the switch.

My 708 will shoot 145 Hot Cor three in one hole, 30-06 will shoot 180 Hot Cor under .5 inch.

I use the 52 grain HPBT match bullets for a 223, and 125 grain tnt for a 300 savage. The HPBT are on par with Sierra, good thing too as they were about 10¢ cheaper. The 125 grain is ok. I mean it’s a lever action, how great can they be? When I was younger, maybe early 80s, it seemed to me that Hornady was the bottom of the barrel. Their packaged bullets looked like seconds do today. Now the make really good stuff and Speer I feel is at the bottom. I hope Speer turns things around, I still have a place in my heart for them.

Been using Hot Cores in my 250-3000s with very good luck. 87s in the old 99R, 100s in the Ruger M77. The 50 TNT works great in my 223 as well.

I've smoked a couple of hogs with the 85 grain 6mm boat tail, no problems.

The old 52 grain HP in my 22-250 was hell on everything it touched.

I've been shooting the140gr HotCor in my 6.5 Creedmoor, the 170gr 8mm semi sp in my 8x57 and the 200gr HotCor in my 338-06. Both have proven to be very accurate in my rifles.

I have some 130 BTSP to try in the 7x57 and some 160 HotCor for trying in my 280AckImp but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

I still like Speer bullets. The .224 52 grain HP was always a great fur bullet in my Swift. Rarely an exit.

I shot a lot of their 80 grain spitzers in my first centerfire rifle, a Remington 788 in 6mm. Shot a lot of woodchucks and plenty of coyotes with it.

The 25 caliber 120 grain spitzer is still my favorite in the 257 Roberts.

Their 150, 165 and 180 grain Hot Cores have taken a lot of deer for my wife and I in 308s, 30-06s and 300 H&H.

Good bullets.

Was never impressed with speer. When I first started handloading, I threw some on the scale and after seeing how inconsistent they are I gave up on them and started using Nosler, sierra, and hornady. Have used their very good older grand slams with success, but the other plain jane vanilla bullets you guys can put to better use than I can. I know they work well for hunting, but I demand better precision than what speer can offer. Been shooting extremely accurate centerfire rifles since I was 12, so I know what they are all about. YMMV..

I have pretty much forgotten about Speer with one exception. The 50gr TNT, just an amazing bullet for a 222 or 223

I've used the 125gr .308 TNT a lot for plinking and shooting pests with good results across several cartridges. I always keep a pretty good stock of those on hand for killing paper and dinging steel on the cheap.

The old 165 Grand Slams shoot fantastic from my .308 Win and work well on game, but they feed like crap in it. The 250 Savage shoots the 87gr HotCor great, but I haven't whacked any critters with them yet to see how the terminal performance is.

Speers aren't usually my first choice to try in new cartridges, but I've never really had problems with them either.

The Speer Hot-Cor is no doubt my favorite bullet and i've been using them for probably around 35yrs with excellent results in both accuracy and on game performance. The problem with Speer is that they seem to discontinue bullets on a whim and leave you hanging. My favorite two are the 120gr .257 and the 120gr .264 which were both discontinued. I stocked up on the 257 before they were gone and have enough of those to last a lifetime. I wasn't so lucky with the .264's so i had to find something else for the 260 rem. I also had a really good load worked up with the 120gr 257 deepcurl which was suppose to replace the Hot-cor but it was discontinued as well. The majority of my hunting is Deer with a few Coyotes and Hogs and like i said, the Speer Hot-Cor has always performed flawless for me on those animals. All this of course is just my opinion based on my experience using them and you know what they say about opinions .... everybody has one!

I use the 150 grain hot cor in my 270. The most accurate bullet to date that I've used in it.

started my hunting with a 87 gr hot cor in an old Savage 99 250 Savage. I killed a truck load of deer with it and now a few kids have killed their first deer with them also. Hits way above its weight class. Dad always used 130 gr hot cor in his 270. Don't remember him ever losing a deer and both still shoot very well.

The 160 Speer in a 7x57 is a fine killer. Would be the same in a 7-08. The 140 .264 bullet seems to be the same in the 260 Remington. Just plain works. I'm a hunter and judge bullets by the measure they work in the field. The 200 Speer in 30-06 and also in the 8x57 Mauser are both fine killers.

I have found the old yellow box standard Boat Tail Bullets to be extremely accurate and effective on deer size game. My son uses the 145 grain Boat Tail in his 7MM-08 while I shoot the 150 grain Boat Tail with with a mild load in my 30-06. Hot-Cors old or new just don’t shoot as accurately in our particular guns.

I like Speer. 130 in 7mm08,270 Win, 150gr 308Win, 180gr 35 Rem. As stated, Speer does discontinue bullets. Bought some 220gr 35 cal to try in my Whelen then found out their discontinued. All in all, pretty good bullet if your rifle will group them.