Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles What is wrong with Speer bullets?

Why is there so little mention of Speer bullets? I asked myself this yesterday when I looked over all the boxes of bullets on my loading bench. There are lots of red and green boxes, quite a few black boxes, but just a few yellow boxes from Speer. Hornady, Sierra, Nosler, Core-Lokt, and a few Barnes bullets dominate my stock of rifle bullets for hand loading. The discussion forums on the Internet spill over with various mentions of those brands I spoke of from my bench. But there is very, very, little talk or mention of Speer rifle bullets.

Why is that? Are they not accurate? Is their terminal performance lacking? Or, are they just not marketed as aggressively as the other brands? I know my local gun shops don�t stock Speer bullets. I can find about any of the other major brands on the shelves there. That probably as much as anything explains my bench inventory. But why not Speer too?

There isn't anything wrong with them. I suspect that stores don't stock them because people don't ask for them. And vice versa, unfortunately.

They do get mentioned here on the Campfire. I noted Speer in the replies to several "What's the best bullet..." posts recently, in fact.

I've killed a lot of game with Speer bullets, from .224 through .358. Speer boattails tend to be some of the more accurate bullets in several of my rifles. Speer got crossways with some of us a few years back when they changed their Grand Slam from a dual-core bullet to a glorified Hot-Cor. I suspect they work just fine still, but I'm not willing to be the guinea pig that finds out.

They don't seem to be doing the aggressive marketing that some bullet companies are, which means they aren't taking scribes hunting with their bullets, which means they aren't getting mentioned in the hook&bullet press, which means that they're not as well known as they once were. Maybe, anyway.

What's on store shelves matters not at all to me, because I have the Internet, a post office box, and a credit card... .

Dennis

Speer TNT 50 Gr bullets work very well in my .223's and 222's. The 52 Gr large hollow point bullet is outstanding in any 22 caliber from 222 to 220 Swift.

Ill use speer bullets often and I think as much of them as I do Sierra Nosler & Hornady,I use Sierra more than any brand but I shoot as tight a groups and make as clean a kills with speers as I do with SierrasI just dont run into Speers as often as I do Sierra..........excellent bullet...................

I don't shoot them at all. I used to load them all the time when I was younger and money was tight, only because the Speer bullets were cheap.

I killed my first bull moose with a 180-grain Speer bullet out of a 300 Win. Mag. Worked great.

I use Speer bullets in my hand guns, I have no complaints.

I mention the Speer Hotcore pretty regularly. They're my first choice in a "non-premium" bullet, even though they act more like a premium than any other standard cup-and-core bullet IME.

They're not always the most accurate bullet, but if a barrel likes them I use them.

The Speer Grand Slam was my favorite bullet, I took my first bull moose, blacktail, whitetail and mountain goat with them. When they cheaped out the G.S. a few years ago (while still charging a premium price) I stopped using them after I found out that they came apart (a 165 gr in 300 wsm). I may have found my new favorite premium bullet now in the Swift Scirocco II. Speer was at one time going to release the Fusion bullet as a handloading option but I don't know what happened, it would sell great I'm sure. My guess is they are doing a lot of military work now and just don't care like the other companies do. It is sad to see what my favorite bullet company has become.

I do like their 30 cal Mag Tip bullets in particular and the 6.5 mm 140 gr Hot Cor. When I get a .223 the first bullets I will try will be the 50 gr TNT and 52 gr HP.

i used to use 90 grain hot cores in my 243, before i turned it into my coyote hunting rifle. i now use 70 grain nosler bt's only in it.

the hot cores shot great and killed a few deer and other critters including a buck antelope at 493 yards, deader than dead.

i also use speers in my 7x64 brenneke, actually factory loaded 160 grain grand slams.

I have used the hot cores quite a bit..They are good bullets for a non premium, and have always worked well for me on game..I have had good luck with the Grandslams also.

I probably prefer Nosler Partitions for the difference in price they are a better bullet for just a little more money IMO...

Ive had trouble getting them to shoot in some guns, especially the grand slams. The BT and Hot-Cor have shot pretty good for me in .284 and .308, but havent taken a single head of game with them. I shoot a lot of speer's in my revolvers. During one winter I weighed a bunch of bullets. Mostly gamekings, interlocks, hotcor's, and partitions. The gamekings were the most consistent, only varied +/-.1 grain on most occasions. The hotcor's varied sometimes over a 1/2 grain. Probably doesnt matter in a hunting rig, but neither does most of the crap I spend my time thinking about.

I know partly what's wrong with them - the Hot Cor might be the single most boring looking spitzer on the market. Especially the 145gr 7mm SP. That bullet loaded in a 7x57 case (or 280, or 7 Mag) would never make the cover of a magazine - much too plain. How that darn piece of lead can shoot cloverleafs in my rifle when all the other "fancy" bullets can't do better than an inch and a half is beyond me. Since I'll probably never be featured in a magazine anyway, I'm off to buy a yellow box for my 30/06.

I have had good luck with the 50gr TNT, 30cal 125gr TNT, and 7mm 160gr Mag-Tip. I did however, have two boxes of 30cal 180gr Grand Slams that refused to shoot in 2 different .308's and a .300 Win Mag.

I agree that a total lack of advertising has kept them under the radar. I generally use Sierra, Hornady, and Nosler bullets and have been satisfied with them. I buy the 50gr bullets when I see them though.

A BIG AMEN.
Those same bullets you mention are unbelievably accurate in several of my rifles. And, the 25 caliber 87 grain TNT, plus the 110 grain 7mm TNT established a new level of accuracy for rifles I have in those calibers.

I always thought it was a bit odd that Cabela's had about everything RCBS made in their Shooting catalog but no Speer bullets. They may have them in their stores but I don't get to one often enough to know.

Nothing in my rig, 100g HotCores in .25-06 at 500 yards.

I tend to buy my bullets by where they were made... an happy coincidence that Noslers are made in my state. Speers are probably my second choice (next door neighbor). I loaded the older Grand Slams in my Whelen, but I bought a bunch of them before the .35 cal. Noslers were introduced. All the .30-30 I load feature Speers. I use a lot of Speer pistol bullets.

Is there some sort of dust-up between Speer and Cabela's? They sure don't have them on the shelves.

Yep, I have alot more yellow on my bench than any other color.