Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles Speer hot-cor bullets

There are a lot of 1-14" ROT 99s in our deer camp and they are all loaded with the 87 grain Hot-Cors and account for a lot of Whitetail deer.

My 99 has a 1-10" ROT and I use them too.

Velocity in the guns varies 2950 - 3000 fps.

No, the Fusion is a bonded boat-tailed bullet. The Hot-Cor is flat based and not bonded.

No, the Deep Curl is very much like a Fusion - heavy plated jacket. Hot Cor is cup & core (sort of).

Have shot quite a few deer with 180's in a 30-06, and 150's in a 270. My favorite bullets for deer.

The "Hot-Cor" moniker is mostly just an advertising gimmick. It is a cup and core and a very good one. The 130 gr. has been my favorite .270 bullet and has accounted for many, many deer with my 39 year old Ruger 77. I don't know what the current designation (if any) is, but since I recently used up my supply,I switched to the Sierra 130 Pro Hunter which is also an excellent deer bullet.

IIRC, the Hot core is poured into the jacket and formed, rather than a cut core being placed into the jacket and formed.

My only experience with them on game is with the now discontinued .30 180gr Mag-tip from a 30-338.
Not sleek and sexy but they killed well and didn't blood-mush a bunch of meat.

I understand that by pouring the lead into the jacket can result in tiny air bubbles in the bullet that can make the bullet less accurate. And it doesn't do much, if anything, for retaining the core upon expansion. True bonded core bullets do however do this.
I've never had very good accuracy from Speer Hot Cores. I've used them extensively in the .25-20, the 7X57, and the .280. Even some in my 7-08. All of these rifles, except the 7-08, do much better with other makes, Sierra, Hornady and both the Noslers.
The Speeer TNT's were far better accuracy wise. E

The pro hunter another good one friends daughter used my kids 250 savage with 100gr prohunters and killed a caribou with it.

The Hot core is still a swaged bullet. It's my understanding it's swaged with warm vs. cold lead cores.

I was at the range yesterday trying to get my .280 Rem. give decent groups with the Speer 160 gr. Grand slams. Nothing worth a damn regarding groups and patterns. Had planned to use it for an elk hunt coming up in a few days. I had 8 rounds loaded up with the 160 gr. Hot Cores and though about breaking them down and salvaging the components when I remembered they were pulled bullets any so decided to shoot them up. I first shot a three shot group and holy cow all in one inch. I took the last five rounds and careafully shot a group that was only slightly larger than an inch and definitely minute of elk. I still had three rounds of the Grand Slam load so after letting the rifle cool down, I again carefully squeezed off each shot and ended up with another 3.5" group. Guess I'd best hope one of my 7x57s like that bullet because the .280 hates it like hell.
Paul B.

My daughter has an old Ruger 77 in .270W, its favorite bullet for accuracy is a 130 grain Speer Hot-Cor fueled by 58.5 grains of H4831. Not only accurate but very deadly on whitetail bucks also. I took the rifle hog hunting recently intending to use 150 grain Win power points and accidentally loaded with Speer Hot-Cor. Shot a 200 lb. Russian boar. Resulted in a pass through shot and a dead hog after about a 25 yard run. Old fashioned caliber, bullet, and powder, but very effective.

Agreed! The 87 grain Hot-Cor is the perfect match for the older Savage .250 rifles. They shoot very well in my 99 and I'll probably start using them in other calibers when I can find them in stock.

I shot the 165 for years in my 3006. Never had an issue and would definitely recommend them.

Just shot a big Russian boar with a 180 round nose Hot-Cor out of my Weatherby Vanguard .30-06. It was 15 minutes after midnight so I didn't do a close wound inspection but I noted a fairly ghastly exit. It was a little bit high angle shot. He went down immediately but got up and made about 50 yards before crashing dead. The powder charge was 57 grains of H4831. Have not chronographed this load. I would guess 2700 fps or less. If it will kill a big tough Russian hog it will kill an elk.

and they did finally just come out with a new Speer reloading manual.

Shot another large boar last night (DRT) about 10:30PM with the 180 Hot-cor load referenced above. This one was shot from a stand at ground level and contacted the left front shoulder leaving a very bloody entrance wound. Didn't roll him over to check the exit. Will go drag him off after a while and check. I am learning to really like this Hot-cor load on tough hogs.

I've been using Speer Hot-Cors for about 25yrs in various calibers (25.06, .260, .308, 30.06) and they have always worked great for me. Accuracy has always been good and on game performance has been excellent. It's a shame that they have stopped producing two of my favorites which are the 120gr .257 that I use in my 25.06 and the 120gr .264 that I load for my daughters 260.

I called Speer recently to ask them about these two particular bullets and they did confirm that they were no longer producing either one. I started using the Sierra 120gr Pro Hunter for my daughters .260 and they have worked equally as well for her so I went ahead and purchased 500 of those. I purchased about 600 of the 120gr .for my 25.06 several years ago when they were still available so i'm good on those for quite some time. I guess if I ever run out I can drop down to 100gr .257 because they do still manufacture those. Mike

I used the 165g Hotcore from a 30-06 to take a cow elk at 280 yards. Shot her in the shoulder with bullet exiting the other side. She made it 50 yards because she jumped off the ridge she was on and rolled the rest of the way. That box of bullets was very accurate. Well under an inch. The next box I bought were 1.5" average. Maybe it was me, but still accurate enough for most hunting.

I read somewhere that Speer had let the dies for the Hot Cores wear a bit too much during the time they were being phased out in favor of the Fusion type bullets. Since that one didn't work out as planned they supposedly retooled for the Hot Core and quality has improved. I don't know that as fact, just internet rumor.

I've used 130's in a .270, 150's in a .300 Win Mag and 200's in an 8x57 on deer. Performance was very good in all 3 with excellent expansion and quick kills. I was especially impressed in the 8x57 200gr load, just a fantastic hole puncher.