Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Speer Bullets

SPEER has had some good bullets over the years, but the bean counters get involved and ruin the product. The Grand Slams are a perfect example of that, and the TBBC's are as well. Where are the Mag-Tips? My 7mm RM loved the 160grs. They have fallen completely behind in bullet technology, yet still charge premium prices. There are many better options today. MY shooting endeavors have left them in the scrap pile.

I have used them for years, like most bullets individual rifles either like em or not. Honorable mention are the 150 and 180 gr. .308 Hotcors, the 160 gr. .284 Hotcor., the 150 gr. Hotcor .277. The BTSP's always seem to be accurate but a bit soft at times. I have been using the 145 gr. 7MM BTSP for a couple of years from my 7-08 and so far it kills well and is a very accurate bullet. I really liked the 150 gr. FNSP shot out of various 30-30 and a 30-30 Ackley. Good performance on game and good accuracy. The 52 grain .224 HP has been a stellar varmint bullet. When I think about the amount of game I have shot using this one manufacturers bullets what a pile of animals. I can say the same for Nosler, Sierra's, and Hornady's. Lucky to have had such a long and varied hunting experience.

going to give the 257/120 grain hot core a try this year seems a lot of
people like that bullet

Have a few, but don't recall the old days. Used them but drifted in a different direction. Evidence below. Note that the box of Speers have not been opened...

There's still a couple of Speers that I dream of - the old discontinued .22" 70 grain semi-pointed for the Savage .22 High Power, and the rarely available .257 87 grain HotCor which is the bullet that guarantees success in the Savage 99/1899 .250-3000's. I scarf them up when I find them which isn't often. (Luckily I'm pretty well set on both accounts at the moment but that may not last.)

I got some of the 87s directly from Speer a few months back. Prices are a bit high, but they tend to have stuff retailers don't sometimes.

Speer's problems are not their's that they made... it has been by the companies that have bought Speer after the original folks are ALL gone.

I still find Speer bullets quite serviceable in what I shoot.. maybe I am just lucky, but I haven't had issues with them...

they do what I ask of them....

What I use for deer, always seem to be minute of deer.. and result in an easy kill...

What I use for varmints, results in a lot of dead varmints... easily minute of sage rat...

I'm not real hot to try something new... which is what the market always seems to push, because that is what sells..

I tend to use stuff that has worked for me and continues to do so....why change horses in mid stream?

I've been in business a long time and still am.... much of the problems of the business world is bad management...


back in the 80s there was some business professional, who use to be on the lecture circuit, doing programs on business management.
this guy commanded $50.000 for a one day seminar.... Sadly I forget his name.... but I was with several fortune 250 companies, and they would hire this guy for weeks at a time, touring the country getting seminars at their various branches around the country... Big Bucks...

and he was always in demand... contracts 2 and 3 years out.... His books sold like crazy....

Finally he wrote a book about High Level management, that torpedoed his career. He pointed out that what was ruining American business was Universities and Colleges thru out American, were turning out zillions of MBA grads nationwide... and all they were taught were new business theory applications... in the process many American businesses were failing after decades of success and were struggling to find out what they were doing wrong.

This guy pointed out that they were adopting University Business theories, that just plain didn't work....made by people who were academics, and most had no on the street business experiences. They just got their MBAs, and then a PhD in business, and then went into Academia, with big name Universities...

He pointed out that Japan and their business management practices were being copied by many up and coming American companies, who were all doing very well... while big corporations were struggling at best... He pointed out that the USA had thousands upon thousands of MBA programs nationwide.... He pointed out Japan, had NONE. Not one single one...

Instead, people ear marked to go into upper level management, started out being put on the floor with the people in manufacturing and those in the sales dept in the field.... just like in the way our military is... you have to learn to be a private, before you can learn to be a general... you are trained for your career from the ground up....

MBA programs, filled your brains full of theory and then just let you loose on the streets, with a high paying job and big benefits and NO REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE IN ANYTHING.

He also pointed out that the average fortune 500 company president made 4000 times the hourly salary average than one of the workers on the manufacturing floor made. In Japan, the average large company president made 400 times the salary of an average factory worker on the floor.

Back on topic, this is the type of things that has happened to companies like Speer, which is owned by who in hell this week or this month?

Meanwhile Nosler, Hornady etc are still ran internally by people who know their business, and have detailed working knowledge of manufacturing processes on the floor and what the marketing dept is telling them.

And the fate of the guy, who I speak of above and whose name I can't remember for the life of me... after he put out that book, pointing out what was wrong with American business and why many of our biggest companies were failing... well his phone quit ringing and he faded into history.... but I am sure he left the scene with a very fat bank account to console himself with....

You have plenty of competition looking for 87 grain .257 HotCor's.

Don't I know it! In addition to Savge's they work a dream in my Ruger #1 .250-3000 which with its faster twist can handle heavier/longer bullets, but why change up if they work a treat? In hopes of shrinking groups a hair? Meh, 1/2-3/4MOA is plenty good enough, and those .25 87's have been killing deer with alacrity for a looooong time.

Speer's got em in stock right now (1230pm cst 7/11/22)

$29.99 per 100.

https://www.speer.com/bullets/rifle_bullets/hot-cor_rifle_bullet/19-1241.html

Speer was my "go to bullet" for years and then they became hard to find (local anyway). I changed bullets due to that fact and just never saw a need to change back. I had very good luck with them out of my 270 and 444 Marlin.

Thanks for the heads up.

BTW, if you buy 4 boxes, shipping is free.

I hope you have the 120 Hot-Cors in possession. They've been discontinued.
They only offer 120 BTSP now.

I once considered starting a thread on deer killed by a .257 87 gr HotCor, but then I would be accused of just showing off.

The Speer .284 115 gr hollow point showcases the bullet weight versatility of a 7x57mm. I have had two rifles shoot sub MOA with a load of IMR 4320.

I would love to see it.

it certainly does, but can also kill above its weight class....

shot a 210 pound blacktail, that was grazing in suburban neighborhoods of why it weighed so much...

but out of county property of about 1800 acres of woods, put its lights out at 35 yds,

with a 115 grain HP Speer, behind 30 grains of SR 4759.... he never saw me, he was crossing a notch between two hill tops on the same ridge.

heart shot out of a 7mm Mauser in a Win Featherweight....

when hit never took another step....

I shot the 115 Speer hp in my 7mm08 for prairie dogs. Easy 1/2” loads and really ruined the dogs. Remington 788 with short heavy barrel.

after seeing what it did to a deer's heart, I can imagine what it would do to a prairie dog....

probably didn't look much like a prairie dog post mortem.. probably looked more like a pizza run over by a semi....

Have used them as long as I can remember and still have a slew of green boxes on my bullet shelves. 45-70 is probably the only caliber I shoot that I don't have at least one Sierra bullet for. I also have Nosler , Winchester, Hornady, Remington , Speer , Hawk , Barnes , Privi , and some vintage and custom stuff that ain't available anymore. I miss a lot of the discontinued bullets , that is a fact . What is also a fact is that the bullets that have come along to replace most of them are so good that missing them is strictly a nostalgia thing . Now days the only thing tat would be harder than trying to buy a good bullet would be trying to buy a bad one.