Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters The Speer, Hot core bullet

i use the Hot Cores in my 30 Remington (150gr FN) and 8x57 (170gr Semi SP) to kill deer. my dad (RIP) used a Speer 115gr HP in 7x30 Waters in his Contender 14" barrel and now i use 130gr Speer HP in 30 Herrett in Contender 10" barrel.

i used Speer's 150 and 170gr FN in my 30-30, 308 and '06 and they killed deer just as good as the Hornady bullets, that i used too.

for whitetails and black bear, use a cup-n-core bullet instead of a mono bullet. you are only trying to get a deer/black bear, not a guy with Level 4 body armor.

Raxorhog
I am pretty certain that the Federal Blue Box 270W 130 ammo is loaded with HotCore bullets. If so then I can report. For many trips for plains game I have taken a few boxes to leave for the camp rifle. I am guessing that over the years I left at least 200 rounds which have been used by hunters who don’t travel with rifles. Incidentally, I have recently been told that around 70% of hunters don’t bring their own rifles. This surprised me, actually shocked me.

Anyhow, my PH buddy says they work very very well. He says that they perform just as well as the handloads which I produce after much time, expense, and effort.

I do know that the 270W 130 gets around 3050 in a 22” barrel and that my carefully crafted handloads group a little better. BUT a well constructed 270W will shoot 3 shot groups into, on average, around .800” with that WalMart ammo!

I watched a mate shoot a chital stag (axis deer) with the 150gn 270 bullet at 100m. The bullet went through the chest and stopped under the skin on the far side. I thought it may have exited but the stag dropped on the spot.

RinB-

What I thought. I've used them ( Fed blue box ) for years to sight in rifles for myself and others. Bullets " looked " and acted familiar with the Hot Core's. I bought several boxes of Speer Hot Core 270 gr from Midway on a super discounted sale a month or two ago for my 9.3x62. They were discounted heavily and I have high confidence in them. Yukoner on here sent several ( in the field pics ) of what Speer's do to big game when field dressed. Impressive to say the least.

Thought it was intersting that the dark continent camp rifle is a 270 rather than a 3006 or maybe they keep both....................?

Razorhog

I picked up some Speer Hotcore .277/150's.
I went in looking for Nosler Partitions , the price of them was a little shocking and I reached to the side.
I have used the Hot Core bullet in the past, I cannot see how a Partition bullet is much more costly than a Hot Core to produce.
Partitions are fairly scarce to find , imo.
Partitions ( imo) work as well as or better than any other hunting bullet.
Not all hunter's are looking for a vld performing bullet, myself, I am more comfortable with a tenacious bullet.
One that I can afford to shoot on paper alot
The Speer 150 gr Hot core is affordable and deserves another try.

Anyone have any idea what bullet Federal uses in the 150-gr 7-08 blue box ammo? Speer doesn't make a commercial 150-grain 7mm bullet, but I wonder if they're making a proprietary Hot Core just for this load? I have several hundred of them from Rocky Mountain Reloading (pulled) and I know that Midway often offers "seconds" that looks like the same bullet. They shoot well on paper, but I haven't taken any game with them. Anyone have a clue if it's a Hot Core or something else?

RM

All my Dad ever used was HotCors. 130 gr in his 270. Never a failure. He started me on 87 gr in a 250 Savage. Killed way better than it should have. I have taken 3 different kids who have taken their first deer with a 250 Savage with 87 gr HotCors. Lots of excitement, but not with the bullet. Just killed within a few feet.

The 87-grain Hot-Cor was designed specifically as a deer bullet for the .250 Savage--NOT as a varmint bullet, which is what many "modern" hunters consider 87-gain .25-caliber bullets.

I recently bought a lifetime supply of them in case Speer decides to quit making them

I have visited both the Nosler and Speer factories more than once, and it's pretty easy to see why the Partition is FAR costlier to produce....

I understand what you’re saying. Much depends on what you’re hunting. In my case, and yours too perhaps, Partitions aren’t always necessary. Hot Cores and Interlocks are cheaper and work well.

In Canada, Partitions are the most expensive, regularly stocked bullets. Only the imports like Woodleighs (when they were still available) and some European bullets were as high priced.

Affordability does factor in to many of our purchases. There are situations where Partitions just aren’t needed, or too pricy given what’s being hunted.

I have never bought or used Nosler Partition bullets...ever.

Others in our group have and what was seen is that there is not a bit of difference as far as killing an animal compared to a Speer Hot Core.

All the animals died.

The question usually afterwards sitting at camp is "Why use the Nosler when the Speer does the same...everytime for a lot less money?

Best
Heavy

i use a partition when bullets start getting over 3000 fps anything under i would be fine with the hot core ...what velocities are you talking about where you see no difference

There was a Speer print ad, 1980s I believe, where they talked about how for whatever reason they had beefed up the jacket of the 165 grain, .308" Hot Cor. I think John Barsness found this one to be a pretty tough bullet.

I have killed a couple of does with the 87s out of a Savage 99F
250, and a few more with the 100s from 257 Robts Montana. I haven't caught one of either yet, and I haven't had to do any tracking.

I also load 180FN in 35 Rem for when I take my Dad's 336RC for its annual homage walks. Haven't shot any deer with it yet, though.

All three bullets were easy to load for and extremely accurate.

Gene,

Usually just under that 3,000 or just over that 3,000. At times higher depending on the load and cartridge.

Repeated time and time again..."put it in the right spot and the job is done".....what brand has made no difference.

An example is a 300 winchester owned by a young guy in our camp. He just started reloading around 2018 or so. First time he loaded it with a 150 grain hot core at over 3,000. Deer died 12-15 feet from where it was shot.
Same rifle same load a month later and this time with a partition same weight same speeds. Deer flopped around and died.

He laughed about it and said he would use them up and just use what as easier on his pocket book and available.

The end result is ALWAYS the same....the deer is dead.
The Nilgi is dead.
The hog is dead.
Blah , Blah , Blah.......

Nobody cared if the jacket came off or not......Hell, It was still dead.

Best
Heavy

That bullet happens to be the most accurate bullet in my handloads so far in both my 1 in 14” Savage 99 and my 700 Classic. The 100 grain Hot cores came in second as far as accuracy in both rifles.

The 250 grain hot core tied for the best accuracy in my 350 Rem Mag.

The only problem I’ve had with hot cores is with 105 grain in my 6mm Rem. The bullets didn’t open up. The pronghorn had 6 holes through the ribs before he dropped. That was a long time ago, perhaps their first production of that bullet.

A friend grabbed my 280 Rem off the seat in my pickup, loaded with 160 grain Magtips and shot through the shoulders of a cow at about 40 yards. It dropped instantly. I usually try to shoot near the heart with any bullet but that worked for him.

I’m starting to look at hot core bullets more and more due to: performance, pricing and availability. Can’t wait until fall to try a new load in a rifle I have not used for a while. It could very well be a 250 with hot cores.

My bench has stacks and stacks of Speer boxes.

Same with Hornady, Winchester power points when they are available I buy, also some Sierra not whole bunch though.

Then of course is PPU...lots of that too.

I do have Nosler BUT... only their ballistic tip stuff from SPS.

That's a lot of bullet for $0.46/pop.




GR

Heavy Docve,

You sound like you resent the fact that the Nosler Partition even exists.

Here are a few observations:

John Nosler did NOT develop the bullet for deer hunting. Instead he had a bullet, very similar to the Hot-Cor, fail to penetrate the shoulder of a bull moose in British Columbia. But he'd also killed plenty of deer, so wanted his bullet to expand on deer as well--which is why he designed it with a softer front core, and a harder rear core. This resulted in a bullet that has been popular among many hunters of "all-around" big game ever since.

Will also mention that I have hunted Texas at least a dozen times over the years, from the northeast corner to along the Rio Grande. Have used a bunch of different bullets, but the only Partitions used were 115's from a .257 Roberts, which dropped a bunch of pigs on the King Ranch a few years ago. Among the others were Speer Hot-Cors from Federal Blue Box ammo, used on whitetails during a mixed cull/trophy hunt south of Uvalde. Half were 100-grain .243s, and the other half 150 .308s. They all worked perfectly--as have a bunch of other bullets used on Texas pigs and whitetails.) Oh, and I killed my first nilgai, out of severa,) with a 250-grain Hot-Cor spitzer from a .358 Winchester, around 20 years ago.

But have also killed a bunch of big game around the world with Nosler Partitions, as has my wife Eileen, partly because we live in Montana, where we're often hunting elk along with deer--and in recent years may encounter grizzly bears, whether during our hunting or recovering game.

Have also hunted a bunch of other places where Partitions (or other deep-penetrating bullets) can be useful on game much larger than deer--some of them much larger than nilgai.

So are you pissed off that the Partition exists? Or that some people actually buy and use them?