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

I am looking at the .277/ 150 grain ( flat base) bullet.
I have not tried them in a long while, I had switched to the Grandslam. Elk are the primary quarry.
I am not a long shooter, BC is a non issue.
Have any of you done any generation, ballistic gel, or other tests?
Back to the future, me thinks. Let me/ us know your opinion, folks

Comerade, I call the Speer Hotcore "The Poor Mans Partition." They really hang together. I have zero experience with the 270 versions, but I have used the 150 and 165 in the 308 Win. Years ago I ran the 165 into phone books - it came out like an advertising photo. I took my heaviest whitetail with the 150, and 7x7 elk with the 165.

I'll be interested to hear first-hand accounts of the 270/150, but I suspect I'll learn they behave no differently than the 30 cal versions.

I don't have any experience on elk with them. However I have shot a ton of deer with that exact bullet. I have ever only found one in a deer. I would say partition like performance. It is also the most accurate bullet in my 270. I've been using them since 1975

In my recovered-bullet collection there's a 165 Hot-Cor spitzer from a mature whitetail buck that was angling away at around 125 yards. Muzzle velocity was around 2800, and found the bullet in the far shoulder. Weight retention was 84.8%.

Did have one 105-grain 6mm Hot-Cor leave its jacket at the entrance hole on another whitetail buck. Muzzle velocity was around 2900 from a .243 Winchester, and the range about 250--but the core kept going and broke the buck's spine.

Dad's been using them on white tail for years, usually at ranges measured in feet. We've recovered one bullet over the years from a walnut tree several feet from the deer. I've never weighed it; it is a pretty mushroom though.

Speer Hot Core bullets have served me well over the years. The 6.5mm 120 and 140, 7mm 130 grain and the 165 grainer in .30 cal are what I used most. I did have one odd incidence of a 6.5/140 fired from a 6.5x55 losing its core back in the late 90s, but I'd never judge a bullet by just one example. The jacket only penetrated a few inches on a hog, but the core continued forward and even exited -- and the hog was killed cleanly.

I still use the discontinued 6.5/120 in a 24" 6.5 BRM Contender. At a muzzle velocity of around 2600 fps, it performs beautifully.

Bobby,

I've only seen a very few cup-and-core bullets separate jacket and core, and in each instance the core kept going and killed the animal. Another was a mule deer buck quartering away at around 100 yards, and the bullet was a 130-grain Sierra GameKing started at around 3000 from a .270 Winchester. The bullet landed pretty much in the middle of the left ribs, which is where the jacket was found. But what remained of the core was found in the right shoulder. The buck collapsed right there.

Bob Hagel once wrote that once the jacket and core separate, "penetration soon ceases." Obviously that didn't happen with either of the those bullets--and the only other bullets I've found that separated had the core and jacket lying close to each other on the far side, where it obviously didn't matter either....

John

I have taken several decent sized whitetails with the 150 277 hot core bullets with complete satisfaction. Deer were on the ground in very short order, all bullets exited with good damage along the bullet path. Not a large sample but not one negative thing to say about them.

I killed a few Nevada and Idaho mule deer with them back in the 70s and early 80s. I don't have an exact number but I'd guess it was about 15.
I can't remember having anything bad to say.
Never recovered one, but the exits were in good straight lines, and all deer died from "very fast" to "instantly."

I only used one Speer bullet . A 243 Win. 100gr. and it worked well. One thing I can say is they are several dollars cheaper than Hornady and way cheaper than Sierra.

cant comment on that bullet but raven precision has .277 150 grain norma oryx on sale ...might be worth a look

John-

That's pretty much been my experience as well. The bullet that has separated the most for me has been the Hornady 6.5mm 123 grain SST when driven to around 2600 fps MV (impact ranges have been 120 to maybe 215 yards). I have in my possession several of them that separated, but in each instance, there has been ample penetration and a cleanly-killed animal. So I have no valid complaints in that regard and continue to use it with confidence.

On the other hand, I have several 123 grain SSTs here that have held together beautifully.





The two bullets below were each taken from large boar. They were killed just a couple days apart and at virtually the same range. Terminal performance was very similar, and both hogs were down in a hurry. But the bullets look vastly different as one is a mushroom and the other just the jacket as the core separated exited. Sometimes I think hunters over-analyze things and worry more about how a recovered bullet looks rather than appreciating the terminal performance it provides.

Worrying too much about what the bullets look like from recovered game is akin to up-armoring the spots where airplanes get hit and still make it back to base. If you put a decent bullet through the right spot on the animal (or airplane), it goes down.

I bought 2 boxes of .284 160 grain Hot-cors a few months ago. Haven’t loaded them yet. I figure they will work good in my 7x57 at 2650-2700 fps.

Ron

I killed 5 bull elk with a box of 100 160 mag tips in a 7 RM. back in the 80's. Shot fine. Excellent bullets.

20/elk?

They'll work fine.

Have mentioned this before, but am such an obsessive-compulsive bullet tested that once went to South Africa on a month-long "cull hunt," and one of the two rifles I took was a 7x57--which happened to group bullets in the 160-grain range into the same POI at 100 yards. So loaded several different bullets with the same powder charge, the 156 Norma Oryx, 160 North Fork Soft-Point, 160 Nosler Partition, 160 Sierra GameKing, and 160 Barnes TSX. Used them on game from springbok and impala to wildebeest and kudu. They all penetrated well at that velocity--one of the virtues of the 7x57--though perhaps my favorite as an all-round 7x57 bullet might be the Norma Oryx. It killed faster than the Partition and TSX, probably due to opening wider, and penetrated sufficiently on the larger, elk-sized game.

I'm pretty well convinced that Federal has loaded lots of Hot Core's in their great blue box ammo that is sold in the big box stores, etc..........Just my opinion anyway.
Looks like 'em and kills like 'em. Hot Core's are very well thought of in the hunting world mostly ( probably most who shoot them don't have a clue what they are and don't care ) lol and usually plenty accurate too. Go kill stuff with them!

The Speer Hot Core is probably my all time favorite cup and core bullet in 30 caliber; primarily the 165 gr. spitzer flat base. Roughly 16 deer from about 30 feet to 250 yards using a Ruger M77 RSI with 18.5" barrel. Velocity 2550 FOS at the muzzle. Als 2610 FPS from a 22" barrel Winchester M70. Only recovered one bullet and that was from the 250 yard deer.

I've only shot one elk with the Hot Core bullet, the 200 gr. spitzer flat base at a lasered 530 yards. Rifle was a Winchester M70 chambered to the .300 Win. Mag. Bullet was not recovered.

The only bullets I've done any shooting with in a .270 are the 150 gr. Sierra Game King and 150 gr. Nosler Partition. Mostly with the 150 gr. Sierra. I did use it in 2009 on an antelope hunt and at the hit the "goat" ran about 30 feet and died. Shot was at about 75 to 80 yards. Bullet passed clean through from just behind the ribs to between the neck and right shoulder. Very little meat damage.

I do have a fair amount for the 160 gr. Speer HC bullets for possible use in my 7x57 and .280 Rem. although the latter shoots bug holes from the .280.
PJ

The Speer Hot-Cor is no doubt my favorite bullet and has been for a very long time. I've been using them for over 30yrs with excellent results on game. I use the 120gr in the 25.06, 150gr in 308 and i used the 120gr in the 260 when they were available. They have always been plenty accurate and their price doesn't break the bank.